A body sensing practice.
Set yourself down in a comfortable position,
Lying down on the floor,
The bed,
A mat,
Or sitting in a chair.
Let the weight of the body drop.
You might like to have something like a pillow or a blanket under the head or neck,
Knees slightly bent with a pillow,
Bolster,
Or a rolled up blanket under them for support.
Adjust the body so it feels supported.
Go into this meditative inquiry.
A body sensing practice.
There's nothing to change,
Get rid of,
Or fix.
A practice where we're just going to sense and feel the body as sensation.
Adjust the body so it feels supported.
Senses are opening.
Curious if any sounds are coming and going.
Any lingering tastes from something you've drunk or eaten.
Sounds,
Smells,
The touch of the mat,
The touch of the floor,
The touch of the bed or the chair,
The air on the skin.
Take some time now to set an intention.
The intention of this practice is to explore a body sensing practice.
There may be something that wants your attention.
What's your intention?
Phrase it in a short,
Concise,
Positive phrase to yourself.
Just a knowing that this is what you're doing.
I'm doing this body sensing practice.
Taking time to scan and sense and feel the body.
What's your deepest wish for life?
What do you want from doing these practices?
Could you put it into a sentence?
Just have an inner knowing of what it is you want to do.
You might be connecting with calmness,
Peacefulness and contentment.
Find a new direction of things you really want for your life.
If so,
What is it?
What are the things you want to connect to?
To be happy,
Safe,
Peaceful and content.
Know you are the safety,
The comfort,
Peace and happiness.
You might be masked by some of the other stuff you've identified with,
But know you are the seed of this deep wish.
It's not a goal we have to get anywhere.
It's something that's alive in you.
Each time we practice,
We nurture it,
Connect with it to help it grow,
Become it.
Take a moment now to connect with a sense of inner comfort and safety.
It's an internal resource of feeling at ease that you can use to soothe the nervous system and any discomfort.
Calling images of places and things that feel comforting,
Nurturing and supportive.
Let go of the images and use the senses of sounds that help you to feel soothed or touch of something safe.
Tastes and sounds that help you feel at ease.
If there are people who help you to feel safe and at ease,
Sense how they don't want or need anything from you.
They love and accept you for who you are,
Just as you are.
Animals or colours.
Maybe you have a faith.
Favourite spiritual teacher or deity.
Imagine their presence is here with you,
Sitting with you right now.
Deepening the feeling in the body of ease and comfort.
Feeling in the body of well-being,
Of softness,
Of warmth,
Of nurturing.
Feel the breath,
The soothing and comforting of an out-breath.
Feeling a safety that's there if you take the time to connect with it.
A natural medication,
An antidote to stress,
Tension or dis-ease.
A tool to dissolve the anger,
Frustration or sadness.
It's there at any time.
Now we're just going to scan the body and feel the body's sensation.
Pay your attention to the mouth,
The tongue,
The lips.
Feel the sensation,
Whatever that is for you.
Pulsing,
A vibration.
Feel the jaw.
Maybe there's a tension or a tightness in the jaw.
Just feel the jaw as sensation.
The bubbles dissolving in the jaw.
Feel the jaw and the mouth pulsing.
The skin as sensation.
The left ear and the right ear,
Both ears as sensation.
The nose as sensation.
The air coming in and going out through the nostrils.
The left eye,
The right eye.
Balls of sensation.
The whole head is a ball of sensation.
Nothing to change,
Nothing to fix.
Now you can recall the feeling of inner comfort and safety.
At any time if you need it.
Your inner resource and the feeling of comfort and ease when and if you need it.
Just feel the head as sensation.
Pay your attention to the neck and the shoulders.
The left shoulder,
The right shoulder.
Just feel the sensation pulsing down the left arm,
The upper arm,
The forearm,
The palm of the left hand and the fingers.
The whole left arm and hand as sensation.
Pay your attention to the right shoulder.
Sensation pulsing down the right arm,
The upper arm,
The forearm,
The palm of the hand,
The fingers.
The whole right arm and hand as sensation.
Both arms as sensation.
The trunk of the body,
The chest and the tummy,
The upper back and the lower back.
Feel the pelvis as sensation.
The left hip,
The right hip.
Sensation pulsing down the left leg,
The thigh,
The calf,
The foot and toes.
The whole left leg as sensation.
Pay your attention to the right hip.
Feel the thigh as sensation.
Pulsing down the right leg,
Calf,
Foot,
Toes.
The whole right leg as sensation.
Both legs pulsing.
The whole body's pulsing sensation.
Curious where the edge of the pulsing is.
Where's the centre?
The whole body as sensation.
Pay your attention to the breath.
Belly rising and falling.
Feel the breath as sensation.
An energy,
A vibration.
The breath entering and leaving the body.
Feeling the body being breathed.
Feelings coming and going.
Emotions coming and going.
Thoughts coming and going.
Sense how you can be aware of the body being breathed.
And all those other movements.
Step back.
Become the watcher.
The awareness.
The sensations of the body and breath.
Sense yourself as the one who's the watcher.
The listener to the sensation of the body.
Feel yourself as the space.
You're the awareness of the breath.
Just resting in that place.
The space around the body.
Where you can just watch and observe.
Become the timeless,
Limitless,
Spaciousness.
As the watcher.
Feel how you can be watching.
Aware of watching.
Then as awareness itself.
Feel back into the body.
Feel the body sitting or lying.
Connected and supported by the surface you're resting on.
Call something you're grateful for.
Sense how being thankful can open a door to a sense of joy and happiness for no reason.
Happiness without an opposite.
Feeling it in the body.
Take a moment to reflect on the journey you've just taken.
Noting thoughts,
Feelings and emotions.
Feeling the breath and the body as sensation.
Recall your inner comfort and safety.
Feeling of ease and well-being.
An internal resource that's always available.
If you need it to help you feel okay.
Call your deep wish for life.
Curious of the words that come up.
This inner calling and knowing of what's in your heart.
Call the intention for this practice.
This body sensing practice.
Or an intention to do another practice sometime.
When you're ready this practice is complete.
Take your time to reorientate yourself.
Moving the body,
The toes and fingers.
Stretching out if you need to.
Coming back to your waking state.
When you are ready continue with your day.
Whatever you are doing next.
