So just take a moment to situate the body in a manner that feels alert,
But also at ease.
And that might take a little maneuvering,
Right?
To really presence yourself to the body,
How it is now.
So you can lay down,
You can be seated,
You can be standing.
And just know that whatever position you have chosen,
Should the need arise,
You can certainly shift.
You always have a choice,
Right?
Eyes closed or open,
Again,
Whatever brings the most alertness to you.
And just know this,
You can't do this wrong,
Right?
There's no wrong when it comes to this body scan.
So just start to notice the fullness of the body,
Begin to notice your breath.
The invitation for this body scan is to bring curiosity,
To become aware,
Awakened,
Enlivened,
To the sensations of your own body.
You can stay with my guidance as I walk you through the body.
And again,
You always have a choice.
So if at any point the guidance moving through the body becomes too much or too unpleasant,
Simply draw your attention back to your breathing.
As we move into this stillness,
You might notice unpleasantness.
If it's mild,
Maybe you can stay with that.
If it's unmanageable,
You can always open your eyes or shift the placement of your body.
Continue to notice the fullness of your breath,
The noticing of your body breathing.
And the intention is to stay awake,
But know that sleepiness does arise.
So as you land here in this seat or standing or laying down position,
Begin to notice the points of contact that your body is making with the earth,
With the chair,
With the cushion,
With the bed.
As you become aware of the points of contact,
Maybe there is also a way to find just a bit of ease,
To let go of noticeable tension that you may be holding,
And to welcome this experience with an interest for the sensations of your own body.
And in this body,
Where are you aware of your breath?
How does it feel?
Where do you feel this breath?
And just know that your mind is busy.
And so the awareness will likely wander to these thoughts.
And with compassion and kindness,
When you notice the wandering,
Can you invite yourself back into the body,
Not the history or the story of the body,
But the body in this moment,
Remembering that you always have a choice and that if at any time this becomes too much,
You simply draw your attention back to your own breath or allow your eyes to open if they've been closed.
Begin to draw your attention to your left toes.
Maybe you can notice a distinction between each of them.
It's okay if not.
As you notice the sensations in the toes,
Maybe you notice tingling or tightness.
You might even be unaware of sensation.
Whatever shows up is as it is.
We're just bringing awareness here to the toes of the left foot and then the top of the left foot.
The sensations might show up as pulsations or tingling,
Tightness,
Openness,
The sole of the left foot and the heel of the left foot.
Moving your awareness to the ankle,
Tight or relaxed.
You might even notice the way a sock or the air feels against it,
Both these internal and external noticings.
Now aware of the lower half of the left leg,
The shin and the calf.
And just this curiosity,
This playfulness of bringing the awareness breath by breath to these different regions of the body.
Now to the left knee,
The cap,
And around the soft part of the backside of the knee,
Acknowledging and knowing that there is the history,
But also we can shift the awareness to intentionality of what's right here in this left knee right now.
And now to the hamstring and the calf or the quadricep.
I'm just noticing the larger muscles of the left leg from the knee to the hip,
What you are aware of here in this region,
And then just letting that dissolve and drawing the awareness and the attention to the right toes.
And there might be comparisons that come up and just stay here with what you're aware of in the right toes,
The top of the right foot,
This breath by breath awareness,
This ebb and flow of sensations as you draw the attention to the sole of the right foot,
This life inside the body right here,
And now in the right ankle,
Now to the right shin and calf.
You might notice the clothing,
The air,
The weight of the body against where you are,
Both internal and external sensations as you draw the attention to the right kneecap and the back of the right knee.
You're just inviting in awareness and you might become aware of something that you weren't before.
Coming up now to the right quadricep and hamstring,
Just breath by breath noticing,
And then letting that dissolve.
As the attention moves around the body,
Might not be a surprise if experiences arise.
Everything that's happened in our life has happened in this body.
That's why the invitation is to open to the awareness of the body as it is right now.
As you bring the awareness up into the pelvis,
Then noticing the hips,
Both right and left,
The glute muscles as maybe they touch the chair,
The bed,
The earth,
The cushion,
And see if there's a way to find some ease here,
A natural releasing of tension or gripping.
And as we move into the lower back area,
Sometimes this area is tender or tight,
But what sensations are you aware of here in this lower back?
Maybe even bringing some breath there to explore this area.
Going to the middle of the back now,
As we move up this backside of the body,
Maybe you become aware of the way the ribs wrap around this cage for our organs.
Maybe you're even aware of the movement of breath.
Now to the belly,
You might notice the way this body in this area moves together,
The back,
The rib cage,
The belly,
And the chest,
Where you may or may not become aware of the beating of your heart.
The curiosity of how this all moves together,
This experience in the front of the body.
Now,
Just allowing that to dissipate.
We'll do both hands together,
Bringing awareness to the fingers.
Sometimes this area alive with sensation,
Awareness of tingling,
Pulsation,
The temperature of the air.
You might notice the palms feel like and the backs of the hand.
Now to the wrists.
Depending on the experiences and the awareness we've brought,
We might be touching into parts of the body that we've not often given our attention to.
What are the parts of your arms like from elbow to wrists,
The forearms?
Can you sense the elbows,
Like the kneecaps,
Right?
This bony part of the elbows and the soft interior.
Moving now to the upper part of your arms,
The triceps and the biceps to the armpits,
Aware of sensations here.
And again,
Now,
As we move into the area of the shoulders,
Much like maybe as we moved into the area of that low back,
As we come to the shoulders,
You might notice tightness or tension.
You might notice the way the air feels against your shoulders or aware of the way the clothing feels against your skin.
Just bringing a relaxed observation,
A presence here as you experience yourself,
This body.
And now to the neck,
Which again might hold tightness or tension,
Noticing not just the back of the neck,
But the sides,
The entirety of this region as you move to the throat,
Maybe swallowing or breathing.
And now to the face,
The jaw,
Maybe even opening and closing the mouth to notice the way that the hinge of the jaw works and what you're aware of in this area,
The lips and the mouth,
The teeth,
The gums,
The tongue.
You might notice a different temperature and moisture,
All of this life right here.
In the cheeks and the cheekbones,
The small bones here in the face,
Usually so much tension.
So can there be an ease,
A release?
Now the nose,
Where you may sense the air coming in and out to the eyebrows and the lids,
Maybe even a little noticing of the light as it moves against the eyes if they're closed.
Aware now of the temples and the ears.
Just lingering here for a moment,
Maybe aware of the sensations of sound that enter and exit the ears.
In the forehead,
Again,
Maybe an area of tension that can soften with awareness.
You might even be noticing sensations that there's not a name for.
It's just a noticing of the sensations here in the entirety of this face.
Now aware of the head and the skull,
Just sensing here the structure of the bones,
The top of the head,
The crown of the head.
And now just this opportunity to feel the whole body breathing from the top of your head to the bottoms of your feet,
Staying close here to the sensations in this moment,
What's here right now.
And in this period of silence,
Allowing yourself to simply be right here in this body,
Aware of sensation from the top of your head to the bottoms of your feet.
And the mind might drift.
The awareness shifts,
Of course,
Compassionately come back to the noticings of this body in this moment,
Moment by moment awareness of sensations,
Moment by moment awareness of this life right here.
We'll end this practice with the words of Dana Faulds from the poem,
Self-Observation Without Judgment.
Release the harsh and pointed inner voice.
It's just a throwback to the past and holds no truth about this moment.
Let go of self-judgment,
The old learned ways of beating yourself up for each imagined inadequacy.
Allow the dialogue within the mind to grow friendlier and quiet.
Shift out of the inner criticism and life suddenly looks very different.
I can say this only because I make the choice a hundred times a day to release the voice that refuses to acknowledge the real me.
What's needed here isn't more prodding toward perfection,
But intimacy,
Seeing clearly and embracing what I see.
Love,
Not judgment,
Sows the seeds of tranquility and change.
Begin to notice with a bit more intentionality the fullness of your next breath in and the release of your next breath out.
And just bring some movement back into the body,
Small movement,
A wiggling of fingers and toes,
Maybe even a moving of the head side to side.
Just taking a moment here to extend some thanks to yourself for the engagement you brought to the practice.
And no matter what occurred,
Wakefulness or sleepiness,
It was a practice and you took the time to experience it.
If your eyes have been closed,
Let them open.
