Bodyscan - English - 35 Min

This body scan takes you on a journey through your body. We will discover what we perceive in the body. We will do this in a gentle and friendly way. This meditation is part of the 8-week mindfulness training program (MBSR).

Transcript

You're going to do the body scan, A meditation in which you direct your attention to your body. Lay down on a mat with your arms and legs stretched, With some space between your legs and your feet may fall to the sides. You can close your eyes. This may help to relax. If you want to have some extra focus, You can always choose to open your eyes again for some time. If you lay here, Feel the contact points with the ground and feel free to sink into the mat and sink in a little bit more. You're carried by the earth, Nothing to do, Nowhere to go, Just laying here. And then put your attention to your body. How does your body feel? Is there any movement in the body? Yes, The movement of the breath is always there. Direct your attention on the movement of your breath in the belly. Feel how the belly is rising by an in-breath and how the belly is going down by an out-breath. Slowly follow the movement. You can do this in a relaxed manner. Let your attention rest on the breath. Nothing to do, Nowhere to go. You may feel a sense of relief that the only thing you have to do right now is to follow the breath. Noticing that you're breathing in and noticing that you're breathing out. You're breathing and you know that you are breathing. Breathing in and breathing out. Maybe you notice that one in-breath is different than the other in-breath. Curiously following the movement of the belly. You don't need to change your breath, You can let it be as it is. Breathing in and breathing out. At some point you might notice that your mind is wandering off. That's completely normal. That's what the mind does, Wandering and thinking. If it happens, Bring your attention kindly back to your breath. It may happen many times during this body scan. It's normal. It's part of the process and it doesn't matter how many times your mind wanders off. It matters how often you come back. Time after time you can make the decision to come back and simply continue the meditation where you were. In this case you follow the breath. Breathing in and breathing out. In the next phase you're going to scan around your body. Part by part you're checking in with your body parts to notice what you feel there. Maybe you feel sensations in your body, Pain or warmth. Or maybe you don't feel so much. That's also fine. There's no need to judge what you feel or don't feel. You can be curious about what you feel in your body and scan your body with care and kindness. Even when you don't like what you encounter, Try to let it be as it is. It is like this now anyway. We're not here to fix anything. You can peacefully check in with your body. And now I invite you to direct your attention to the toes of your left foot. Feeling your toes. Maybe you feel your toes separately. Maybe more as a group together. What do you notice in your toes? Is there any tingling sensation? Maybe you feel your sock. You don't need to wiggle your toes to feel anything. You can direct your attention there. Notice what you feel and notice what you don't feel. It's fine. And then curiously you can explore the rest of your foot. Give your whole foot attention and kindly explore the upper side of your foot and the bottom of your left foot. Feeling your left foot as a whole. What's the temperature of your left foot? And what else do you notice? Nothing special to feel. Only checking in. And then you go further up with your attention to your left ankle and your lower leg, Starting with your calf. Feel the weight, The flesh of your calf, Pressing on the mat. Noticing your left shin. Noticing the hardness. Then you can go further up to your left knee and explore the area of the knee. Where does your knee start and end? Or isn't that so clear? Noticing the pit of your knee. And going further up to your left upper leg. What do you notice in your left upper leg? On the outer side, You might feel your clothes. You can bring your attention inward to the left upper leg. Feeling maybe any muscle, Maybe even the bone. Or you don't feel so much in this area. That's fine as well. And when you notice that thoughts are coming up, You're distracted from the exercise. That's no problem. But the moment you notice that, You can come back to the upper leg. No need to look back. You can just continue the body scan. And to continue, You can bring your attention to your right toes. What do you notice in your right toes? Any tingling sensations? Toes pressing to each other. Feeling your bigger toe on the right side, The little toes. And from the toes, Explore the rest of the foot with your kind attention. Allowing yourself to be with your attention on your right foot. Just being there, Giving it kind attention. What do you notice? What's the temperature of your right foot? Feeling all these little body sensations, Tingling, Itching, Whatever you may notice. You can compare your right foot with your left foot, Is there any difference? Going further up to your right ankle, The right calf, Resting on the mat. What do you notice there? The right shin. Feeling the hardness of the shin, Comparing it with the softness of the calf. In your skin, Maybe some clothes. Anything else? And then you can kindly explore your right knee. What do you notice there, If you bring there your attention? The right knee pit. Your right upper leg. What do you feel in your right upper leg? Maybe you have a sense of the different layers, Starting in the middle with the bone, Feeling a muscle, The flesh of your right leg, The skin, Touching clothes. And then I invite you to bring your attention to your whole lower body, Both feet, Both legs, And give attention to your whole lower body. Then you can imagine that you breathe in through your feet, Imagine that the air goes through your legs, And the air goes out, Out of your upper legs. Then you breathe in through your upper legs, And out through your feet. Breathing in through your feet, Out through your upper legs. Just notice how it feels to breathe through your legs, Imagine it. Do this a few times in your own pace. And then continue with the body skin, By going to the pelvic area, Starting with the right pelvis, Feeling that area. The left pelvis, What do you notice there? And in the middle, Your genitals. And on the bottom, The sit bones, Touching the mat. Going a bit further up, Feeling your lower back, What do you notice in your lower back? There's a place where there can be some tension. And if you notice tension in this body skin, Then also give it your kind attention. There's no need to change it, Because right now, It is like it anyway. So we're not here to fix anything, We're here to give our body kind attention. And then feel where your lower back is, Touching the mat. And then follow your spine, Piece by piece upwards, Noticing how the spine is leaving the mat. And piece by piece, Explore your spine, Until your spine touches the mat again. You feel your shoulder blades, Your left shoulder blade, And your right shoulder blade. You can bring your attention to your lower belly, The softer area. What do you notice in your lower belly? Maybe you notice your breath. And be curious, As if you can look inside your lower belly, What do you encounter there? As if you feel your lower belly for the first time, Be curious about it, Maybe enjoy it. Curiously paying attention to your lower belly. Going further up to your upper belly, The area where your belly is still soft, Before the chest begins. What do you feel in that area? Pay attention without any judgment. Purely paying attention is enough. It might happen that during the body scan, Emotions come up, Or thoughts like, How long is it still lasting, I'm getting impatient, Or I'm distracted all the time, Or I feel pain. So difficulties can come during this body scan. And that's also part of the body scan, So we check in with the body how it is right now, And the mind with the thoughts how it is right now. The invitation is not to try to change anything. You can accept how it is right now, And with curiosity simply continue. And everything that happens during the body scan is part of the body scan. And then we continue by going to the ribcage, Exploring the ribcage, The chest, Going inside the chest, Feeling some organs, The heart area, The sensitive area, Feeling your lungs. And where are the lungs creating movement in the body? Feeling them expand by an in-breath, And become smaller by an out-breath. Then going back to your chest, And then bring your attention to your left hand. What do you notice right now in your left hand? Feeling the left finger, The pink, The ring finger, The middle finger, The pointing finger, And the thumb, And the whole left hand. Do you feel any tingling sensation, Any itching? You can go to your lower arm, Your left upper arm, And then going to the other side, Feeling your right hand. Take your time to curiously, Kindly explore your right hand. If you compare it to the left hand, Do you notice any difference? Feeling your right lower arm, Your right upper arm, And then you can pay attention to both arms at the same time. Like we did with the legs, You can also breathe through your hands and arms. Breathing in through your hands, Up to your shoulders, And breathing out going down, And breathing out through the hands. Breathing in through the hands and arms, And breathing out flowing down through the arms and hands. And breathe through your hands and arms in your own pace, A few times. Then I invite you to bring your awareness to your shoulder area, A place where there can be tension, But kindly explore this area, Maybe explore the tension that is there, Where does it start, Where does it end? Is it everywhere or in certain places? You feel muscles? Do you feel your skin and the temperature? What do you encounter when you explore your shoulder area? No need to judge it or to think about it, Simply observe. Notice how your shoulders go to your neck, The muscles in your neck, And on the other side your throat, What do you notice there? And going up towards your face, Feeling your jawline, Scanning your jawline from the right to the left, Giving it kind attention, Feeling your lips, The inside of your mouth, Your tongue, Your cheeks, Your nose, The area around the eyes, And your eyes themselves, Your forehead, And your face as a whole, Feeling it, Bringing kind attention to your ears, The sides of your head, The back of your head, And the top, The crown of your head, And then you gave kind, Careful attention to your whole body, And then you can pay attention to your whole body at once, Like there's an extra layer of kind attention laying around your body, Feeling your whole body as you layer on the mat, Then you can breathe through your whole body as well, You can imagine as if you breathe in through your head and the air flows through your whole body, Pulsing down, Going out through your feet, Imagine that you breathe in air through your feet, Up, Up, Up, And then breathing out through your head, Breathing in through your head again, Through your whole body, Breathing out through your feet, And do this again and again in your own pace, As if waves of attention go through your body, And then you can let go of that effort, Let go of any meditation effort, So you just lay here on the mat, Just as you are, Rest, Enjoying for one more time that you made time for yourself, That you paid attention to your body, You put in some effort to go and do this body scan, Now the only thing you need to do is to lay down, To just be, Now you're getting towards the end of the exercise, You can do that gentle by bringing a little bit of movement in your body, Wiggling your toes and fingers, You can make some bigger movements, Follow your intuition, What is now nice for your body to do, What does your body want to do, Maybe some stretching, And then slowly come back up, And you completed your body scan, Good job.