Bodyscan With Focus On Support From The Skeletal System

This practice brings attention to the skeleton and the support you recieve from your own body. In this practice you are guided into a state of mindful awareness, as you undergo a body scan through the whole body. The breath is used as an anchor to the present, helping to bring both, stillness and clarity of mind.

Transcript

Hey everyone and welcome to this body scan meditation.

I always talk about every day and that there's always an opportunity for a short break to fit in,

Let's say a short exercise or a meditation.

So I'm right now doing laundry which is in the laundry room downstairs and I'm sitting in my closet because that's the best place I have at home for recording without noises and whatever else might interfere.

So you see that this is possible,

Right?

Yeah but I'm sitting but I was thinking that for you actually that would be best if you could lie down on your backs.

So if you want then find yourself a nice place with a carpet or if you have a yoga mat at hand and put it on the floor and find a comfortable position on your back.

Allow your feet to fall apart from each other.

The palms of your hands are facing towards the ceiling so you get an opening in your shoulders.

Maybe lift up your head gently,

Softly and straighten the back of the neck a little bit so that the spine is long,

Straight.

Well that's actually nonsense because the spine is never straight,

It's curvy.

So the spine is long and curvy.

And just begin to notice the physical sensations on the back of your body first as you're sinking into whatever you are lying on.

And let gravity do its thing.

So there's basically no need to hold whatever.

There's no need to have tension in whatever part of your body.

All you have to do now is to release effortlessly.

You don't even have to try to release anything because that will happen on its own if you allow it to happen.

So let's say that you are adopting an allowing attitude,

Whatever is happening is happening.

And then let's see what are the physical sensations on those areas of the back of your body that are in contact with whatever you're lying on.

There's no need to judge whether it's pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral or whatever.

Just notice the sensations and let them be as they are.

And you maybe slowly start noticing that something's happening in those touch points as you are breathing.

There's no need to control your breathing.

There's no need to breathe deeper or shallower or better.

Just notice what's happening in those points or areas where your body is touching the mat or the floor when you're breathing.

Or maybe see or feel that there's more heaviness in those moments when you breathe in and that the contact feels lighter when you breathe out.

But it might as well be a completely different sensation or no sensation at all.

And that's perfectly fine too.

And then maybe you will see and feel that one of the biggest areas,

The largest areas that is in touch with the mat on the backside of your body is actually the rear side of your ribcage.

That was happening in this part of the ribcage when you're breathing in.

What's happening in this part of the ribcage when you're breathing out?

There are quite a few bony objects that are called ribs that are connected by muscles called intercostals that allow for the plasticity of movement with the breath coming in and the breath coming out,

Allowing your lungs to expand with every in-breath and shrink back with every out-breath.

That is actually a very powerful movement that is driven by something as gentle and smooth as your breath.

So if you want,

You can even steer the attention towards the whole of the ribcage,

Not only the right part but the whole of the ribcage that is hugging your lungs,

That is moving with every in-breath and every out-breath.

Now when you're focusing on the movement in your ribcage,

You're slowly shifting the attention to other bone structures that are attached to the ribcage through a very smart system that is called skeleton,

Has joints and tendons and bones.

Through the shoulder blades and collar bones and shoulders,

The ribcage is actually connected to those long bones in your upper arms.

Can you sense movement in the bones of your upper arms as you breathe?

What's happening in your elbows as you're breathing?

Does it affect the bones in your lower arms?

Can you sense the effect of your breath in your wrists?

Are there seven bigger or smaller bones in your hands?

I'd bet that those are also influenced by your breath.

Can you sense that?

Are you focusing on both hands at the same time?

If there's no sensation whatsoever,

It's perfectly fine.

Just focus on what is.

There's no need to make things happen or feel.

How does that feel to rest in the breath and its effect on your ribcage,

Shoulder blades,

Collar bones,

Shoulders,

The whole of your arms as far as fingers in your hands?

If you think it's a good idea,

Then just let the attention trip back along the arms to the ribcage.

Maybe if you can sense that bit of the skeleton where the ribcage sits on the backbone of the spine.

Maybe you can even sense that there's also a certain effect of the breath on the spine itself,

On this beautiful long curvy spine on the back part of your body.

The spine that is supporting you,

No matter what position you're in.

How does the breathing influence the feeling of the spine?

Can you let your attention travel along the spine downwards to the spine in the lower back,

Which often is an area where we carry a lot of tension,

Maybe pain sometimes.

Can you feel the effect of the breath on the area of your lower back?

Can you feel the effect of the breath on the spine even lower in the pelvis where the spine then ends in the tailbone?

Is there any effect that the breath has as far down as the tailbone and the hip joints and hip bones?

Do they also receive a message from the breath in the ribcage?

What is this message?

What does your breath say to the whole of your body through the contact with the bones?

And those long bones in both of your thighs,

Long and strong bones,

Give you stability and strength.

Your knees and bones in your lower legs,

Can they also perceive the impulse that your ribcage is sending down there from every in-breath and out-breath?

Your ankles and those smaller and bigger bones in your feet,

There's 26 of them,

Different shapes,

All wonderful,

All play a role in carrying you upright when you walk and stand.

How does the breath impact those bones that are so far away from the source in the ribcage?

If that feels okay for you then let the attention travel along the legs,

Upwards,

Along the spine to your neck,

Which quite unsurprisingly is also connected through the skeletal structure of your ribcage.

So it's most probably also receiving this breathing message from your ribcage and the ribs that move in sync with your in-breath and out-breath.

And the skull bone,

Maybe you can even sense that spot or place where the skull sits on the spine,

That is a very stable and at the same time a very flexible connection so that you can move with your head in all possible directions and at the same time so that the head actually sits on the same place.

Can you let the breath gently stroke that point of connection between the spine and the skull?

Just like the ribcage is protecting and hugging your lungs and your heart,

Your skull is hugging and protecting the brain,

The centre is basically controlling everything that's happening at this moment.

And the great news maybe is that the brain is controlling everything that's happening even without you having to control it or telling it to do its job.

So if you want you may as well just relax and let the brain do its own thing.

And if you focus on your skull,

It's not like a monolithic bone,

There's actually a few bones connected by so called scenes.

Maybe you will even be able to sense the movement in those individual bones through your breath.

Just something like contraction and expansion when you're breathing.

And all the bones in the facial area,

Is there anything particular that you can sense in your face,

The bony structure behind your face when you're breathing?

Now it's time to,

If you want,

To move or to kind of zoom out from that particular focus on your face,

To broaden the field of your attention to the whole of your body slowly.

Just expanding,

Zooming out,

Including the neck,

The rib cage,

The core of your body,

The pelvis,

The pelvic area,

Your legs and feet,

The arms,

Shoulders,

Lower arms,

Hands.

Let's again feel the effect of your breath,

The skeleton in the whole of your body.

What happens when you're breathing?

What happens when you breathe out?

And then,

As good as you can,

Start focusing again on those touch points in between the rare part of your body that is in contact with the mat you're lying on,

On the effect that the breath has on that contact,

On the quality of the contact.

Feeling this lift when you're breathing.

And then maybe more relaxation when you breathe out.

You may want to bring some life into your fingers and your toes by slowly moving them,

Extending the movement to the wrists and ankles.

Maybe just very,

Very,

Very softly,

Gently move your head from left to right,

From right to left,

Just so you know that you're still here and that that's your body to support you.

And then when you feel like that,

You can maybe even make use of this rebouncing power of the floor that you're lying on to help you get up to a seated position.

You do it very slowly and gently.

You can use your arms to help you push your hands into the floor to help you lift up.

Remember that the head comes last.

And you can see about how you perceive the support that you get from your skeleton and from your bones right at this moment.

And if there is something that you can take away with you,

Like I will for example,

I'll have to get my skeleton up now and go downstairs to the laundry room and bring it up the whole laundry so my skeleton will be helped myself.

First I need to get myself out of this closet.

Thank you for this time that we have spent together.

And hopefully you will find opportunities to include this body scan into your daily routines and see what happens.

Let me know if you have some feedback.

That's contact information on my website.

And talk to you soon.

Bye.

Reviews

Caught end of your live this morning. So glad I found the repeat (less amazing live commentary)✨ gratitude for this🙏🏽

Thank you for sharing your gift- feeling very grounded

Really enjoyed sending this breathing message to my bones. At the end I got a massive tension release with lots of pops and cracks in response. Mission accomplished!