Compassionate Body Scan

This twenty-minute body scan meditation encourages loving, spacious awareness of the body, fostering appreciation during ease and compassion during discomfort. It serves as a practice of befriending the body, embodying qualities of comfort, soothing, and validation of our experience.

Transcript

This meditation is called a body scan and we're going to bring some compassion into it.

So first I want you to get into a comfortable position.

You can either sit or lie down in what is called a corpse pose in yoga.

With your feet slightly apart and your arms slightly away from your body.

So the first thing I want you to do is just notice what does your entire body feel like right now.

What are the sensations?

Is there any pulsation?

Any tension?

Whatever it feels like,

Just notice it.

Bring awareness to it.

And now we're going to start bringing our focus of awareness to the different parts of our body.

We're going to start at the crown of our head and we're going to move all the way down to the soles of our feet.

And so now I want you to bring your focus of awareness to the top of your head where your skull makes contact with the air above your head.

And notice if there are any sensations.

And if you can't feel any sensations,

Just note that.

What does it feel like?

And now moving the spotlight of attention to your face.

Your face contains so many little muscles.

And so just notice what does your facial muscle feel like.

And bringing up some softness and releasing the tension in those muscles.

So you might want to focus on your eyebrows.

And release any tension in your eyebrows.

And allowing the space between your eyebrows to smooth out as well.

And noticing your cheeks.

Bringing softness to your cheeks.

Softening your mouth.

Releasing your jaw.

Just allowing the whole face to relax and relieve any pressure.

And now bringing some attention to the back of your head.

See if you can notice any sensations there.

And again bringing kindness and compassion to any sensations that you find.

And now moving down to the neck and the throat.

A lot of us can feel tension in the neck and throat,

Especially when we're experiencing fear.

And so just releasing any tension.

Bringing kindness and compassion to the neck and the throat.

And now moving down to your shoulders.

And a lot of us carry our tension and stress in our shoulders.

So notice what sensations are present in your shoulders right now.

And allowing any tension to release.

And also bringing kindness and compassion to any difficult emotions that we may become aware of.

That are expressing themselves as tension.

Next,

Bring your attention to your upper back.

So much tension can also be experienced in the upper back.

So just notice the sensations that are present.

Any tightness,

Any pain.

And bringing some relief.

Some caressing.

Mentally giving yourself an upper back massage.

And now moving to your chest in your heart region.

This is where emotions such as grief,

Loss and sadness may be felt.

And so just notice what does your heart feel like right now.

And bringing kindness and caring to those areas.

And to any emotions that you notice come up.

And letting the heart open.

And now moving down to your stomach.

This is a part of the body that may bring up some difficult emotions,

Some judgment.

And so first just notice what does your stomach physically feel like right now.

What sensations are there?

Is there any movement?

Perhaps it's digesting food.

Just notice what your stomach physically feels like.

And bring alowness and acceptance to that.

And now also notice any judgment,

Any resistance that comes up with this part of the body.

And give yourself some kindness and compassion for living in a society that places so much focus on appearance.

And just give yourself acceptance and kindness for any difficult emotions.

Again mentally caressing your stomach.

Letting it be.

Letting it release.

And now bringing your focus to your lower back.

This is another part of the body where we may experience tension.

And where many of us have pain.

And so notice if there are any sensations there.

And just again bringing kindness and spaciousness and tenderness to your lower back.

And now moving down to the pelvis.

This part of the body can also carry a lot of sensations and bring up some difficult emotions for many of us that we may not even be aware of.

And so just bringing some kind attention to your pelvis.

And noticing just what is there and letting it be.

And now bring your attention to your seat.

Notice where your buttocks makes contact with your chair or whatever you're laying on.

Notice what sensations are there.

Notice if there's any pain or discomfort there.

And give yourself kindness and bring spaciousness to whatever sensations come up.

Similarly,

Notice if there are any judgments coming up about this part of your body.

And if so,

Just again meeting yourself with acceptance,

Kindness and bringing some support to yourself.

And now I want you to move back up to your right upper arm.

So again,

Notice what your right upper arm feels like.

This is the part of the body that can easily get strained for many of us with activity.

And so whatever you notice in your right upper arm,

Just bringing kindness,

Spaciousness to those sensations.

And now moving down to your right lower arm,

Just notice what you can feel.

Try to focus on the sensations.

And now moving further down to your wrist and to your right hand and fingers.

And this is again a part of the body that for many of us can become strained as we work on the computer.

And so just notice what your wrist and right hand and fingers feel like.

And bring kindness and tenderness and mentally caress those areas.

And now just move over to the left upper arm.

Again,

Notice what are the sensations that are present.

Any tightness,

Any tingling.

Can you feel what sensations are there?

And whatever you find,

Meet with gentleness.

Meet with kindness.

And now move down to your left lower arm.

Notice the sensations that are present.

Meet them with kindness,

Compassion.

And move down to the left wrist,

Palm and fingers.

And bring kindness and gentleness and soothing and allowance to whatever sensations you find.

And now move down to your right upper leg,

Your thigh muscle.

This is a big muscle.

And just notice all that is present in your right upper leg.

Notice any tension or pain.

And bring allowance and gentle acceptance.

Bringing some spaciousness around any discomfort,

Any physical discomfort that is present in your right upper leg,

Your hip,

Your thigh.

Likewise,

If you notice any judgments about this part of the body,

Any feelings of inadequacy.

Just meet those with a kind,

Compassionate stance as well.

Give yourself kindness and compassion for how difficult it is to live in this society that's so outwardly focused.

And now bring the focus of attention down to your right knee,

Right calf and shin.

And notice what's present there.

There might be tightness.

There might be tingling.

There might be neutral sensations.

Just notice what's there.

And allow it to be just as it is.

Holding it in kind awareness.

And now moving down to your right foot,

Your toes and your right foot,

And the sole of your right foot.

See what sensations you can become aware of.

Just letting your attention rest.

And your right foot.

And now bringing your attention to your left upper leg,

Your hip,

Your thigh.

Again,

These are big muscles.

There's a lot that could be going on here.

And whatever you discover,

Whatever sensations or emotions are coming up,

When you think about your left upper leg,

Just bringing kindness,

Compassion and a gentle allowing.

And now move down to your left knee,

Your left calf and shin.

And mentally releasing any tightness that you might be feeling in these areas.

Allowing them to be.

Holding them in gentle awareness.

And moving down to your left foot,

Your left toes and the sole of your left foot.

See what you can notice.

And be with that.

Bringing a gentle allowing to those sensations.

And now expand the focus of your attention to include both feet,

Both calves,

Both thighs,

The pelvis,

The stomach,

The chest.

The neck.

The face.

And the top of your head.

And just breathing in and out of your entire body.

Feeling the pulsations of aliveness.

Bringing compassion to any pain or discomfort in your body.

And bringing appreciation and wonder to all that your body allows you to experience.