Mindfulness Body Scan

A 40-minute mindfulness body scan with slow, steady, kind awareness to each region of the body. Use this practice to support growing awareness to the body to more somatically connect to your body, mind and heart.

Transcript

Welcome to this guided body scan practice.

Bring yourself to take this time,

Create a space that supports your practice in this moment.

So finding a way to either the floor and lying down on the floor,

Or if you choose in this practice to take a seat to practice the body scan,

That's fine too.

Practice is about intention and not form.

So honoring what feels right for your body,

For this moment,

For this practice,

And then choosing that.

And as we move into this practice,

Allowing yourself to turn the attention inward,

To allow yourself to begin to feel the points of contact that the body is making with the floor or with the chair.

Feeling those points of contact and just observing the support,

Observing those points in the body that are feeling contact,

Letting go of the comings and goings of the day.

Just allowing yourself to fully turn the attention inward.

And in this moment,

Seeing if you can bring now into awareness an intention you may want to set for practice,

So that might be to bring clarity,

To bring ease,

Well being,

Just noticing whatever intention comes to your awareness as you settle into practice and seeing if you can just hold that in this moment.

Allowing yourself to tune into what it is you want to cultivate.

Now letting go of that intention,

Letting it fade,

Still present during practice but not at the foreground of awareness.

Allowing your attention to come to the breath.

So allowing yourself to begin to feel the inhale and the exhale in the body.

Noticing that on the inhale the body expands and fills.

On the exhale the body releases and contracts a bit.

Not needing to force,

Control,

Move the breath in any particular way,

Just simply allowing yourself to be present to the breath.

Mind wanders,

The mind moves away to other experiences or activity of planning,

Organizing,

Reminiscing.

Noticing if you can let go and just come back to being aware of just the breath in this moment.

So shifting now this pointed awareness and focus from the breath,

Directing it from the breath down through the left leg to extend out into the left big toe.

So allowing the attention to rest on sensations present in the toe.

You might be curious about warmth,

Sense of touch with clothing or the passing of air.

Just allowing yourself to rest the attention here on the big toe,

Noticing that our minds may easily want to wander to other things,

Other experiences and just simply allowing yourself to rest aware of sensations in the left big toe.

Now expanding that awareness from the left big toe out into all of the toes of the left foot.

And so beginning to be curious about what it's like to attend to this region of the body,

Noticing the tops of the toes,

The sides of the toes,

Spaces between the toes,

The touch of the toes,

One another.

Being curious,

Staying present to exploring this region of the body in this way.

And then on your next exhale,

Shifting the awareness from the toes and now moving the awareness to the bottom of the left foot.

And so staying fully present to any sensations that are present at the bottom of the foot,

Exploring the ball of the foot,

The arch of the foot,

The heel,

The sides.

May notice tingling,

You may notice pulsating.

You may notice even in regions lack of sensation and any of all of this is what the experience is in the moment,

Giving yourself permission to just pay attention to it.

Noticing if judgment arises and just coming back attending to the bottom of the left foot just as it is.

And now shifting the attention from the bottom of the left foot and bringing it around to the top of the left foot.

So to explore what it's like to rest the attention in this region of the body,

Maybe noticing the bones or the muscles or the skin here.

Being able to tune into what it's like to notice sensation qualities.

There may be an urge to want to move to experience sensation.

See if you can let go of that.

We don't need to do anything.

It's just simply allowing our attention to rest on sensation on this region of the body and to be present to it just as it is.

Then on your next exhale,

Letting go of the awareness to the top of the left foot and moving it now into the ankle.

So becoming aware of the ankle and this region of the body.

So might notice what it's like to attend to the skin,

To the bones,

To the muscles.

Just checking in with sensations of temperature,

Warmth or coolness.

Just resting the attention on this region.

If you move away,

Drift to some other region in the body,

Just come back.

And then on your next exhale,

Letting go of the awareness to the ankle and now moving it into the lower leg and the knee.

So exploring sensations that might be present right now in the shin or the calf or in the knee.

Might feel various points in this region that are feeling supported.

Might be experiences of touch,

Clothing,

Temperature.

And just seeing if you can tune into just the direct experience of the sensation,

Not needing to change it,

Do anything to it.

Sometimes as we attend to regions of the body,

The mind may wander to past experiences or wander away into future experiences.

In this practice,

Just simply bring the awareness back.

Aware of the lower left leg and knee.

And now shifting the awareness from this region and moving it up the left leg into the upper left leg and hip.

So it's a very expansive region of the body that supports us in many ways.

Right now,

Can you just give your attention over to this region?

Seeing the top,

The bottom,

The sides of the upper leg and hip.

Exploring maybe what it's like to sense the muscle here or the bone.

Again,

Just simply allowing the attention to rest here on this region of the body.

Exploring and being curious about what you notice in your body in this moment.

I'm now shifting the attention from the upper left leg,

Moving this pointed awareness over to the right hip,

Down the right leg and to extend out into the right big toe.

So it might be easy to want to notice or compare and contrast between the right and the left.

If the mind or the attention wanders to comparing or contrasting,

Seeing if you can just let go of that and let your experience be fresh,

Be new to just sensing and feeling the right toe as it is with sensation in this moment.

Now shifting from the right big toe and allowing the awareness to hold all of the toes of the right foot.

Simply exploring one toe and the next and the next,

Allowing yourself to fully observe any sensations of touch,

Temperature,

Tingling.

And then on your next exhale,

Letting go of the awareness to the right toes and now moving the awareness to the bottom of the right foot.

So becoming aware of the ball of the foot,

The arch of the foot,

The heel.

Seeing if you can scan the bottom of the right foot as though a copier scans for information.

Seeing if you can allow yourself to just scan whatever sensations are present right now at the bottom of the right foot.

Returning the attention again and again,

Just being present in the body to sensations.

And now shifting the focus of attention from the bottom of the right foot and directing it now around to the top of the right foot.

This is a fairly active and supportive region of the body.

Just tuning in right now to any sensations that might be there.

Letting yourself be fully aware of this region of the body.

What's it like to notice the muscles,

Notice the bones?

Now letting go of the awareness to the top of the right foot and bringing it now into the right ankle.

Feel fully aware of any experience of sensation in the ankle.

Noticing the front,

The back,

The sides of the ankle.

Noticing the places that feel support,

Maybe the places that feel the experience of air.

And now on your next exhale letting go of awareness to the right ankle and moving the awareness now into the right lower leg and knee.

So including the right shin,

The right calf and the knee.

Paying attention to this region in a way that allows you to just open,

To be curious.

To feel and sense what it's like to attend to the knee or the knee joint or the shin,

The muscles of the calf.

Skin that covers this region and protects the body.

And on your next exhale letting go of the awareness to the lower right leg and knee.

Now moving it into the right thigh and right hip.

Becoming aware of this region.

Maybe being curious about the density of this region.

Just allowing the attention to rest,

Noticing the bones,

The muscles,

The skin.

Noticing if your mind wanders to other sensations in the body,

To other thoughts or maybe even emotions and in this practice,

In this moment,

Simply observing that wandering.

Seeing each wandering as an opportunity to return and to return into the moment of awareness to the upper right leg and hip.

And now moving the awareness from the upper right leg and hip and shifting now the awareness into the pelvic region.

And so becoming aware of the pelvic bone,

The buttocks,

The points of contact and support that are occurring with this region.

Maybe noticing any activity here of the digestive system,

Noticing any sensations may be caused or affected by feeling the subtle expression of the breath here.

Noticing the organs in this region.

Allowing your attention to rest on this region of the body and any sensations or lack of sensations that make themselves known.

Just an opportunity for us to stay aware of the very subtle expression of sensation that is occurring in the body in every moment and in this practice,

Giving yourself the opportunity to attend to it.

And now on your next exhale,

Letting go of the awareness to the pelvic region and moving it now up into the abdomen.

So becoming aware fully of the experience of attending to sensations in this region of the body and how this region houses and holds a very active experience of the breath.

Seeing if you can just notice the sensation qualities created by the breath in this region.

So an expansion or lengthening,

A letting go or contraction.

Maybe noticing temperature here or touch,

Pressure.

Fiddling into an awareness of this entire region.

Now letting go of the awareness to the abdomen.

Moving it around now into the back,

The lower back.

So feeling and sensing the low back,

Sometimes a point of place of discomfort or unease in the body.

And right now seeing if you can let go of needing to judge it in any particular way,

But rather just be present to the sensations that are there.

Might notice tingling,

Tightness,

Warmth or coolness.

Maybe even noticing subtle expression felt by the breath in this region of the body.

And now moving the awareness from the low back to the middle and the upper back.

So holding the entire back now in awareness.

Seeing if you can explore what it's like to attend to this region so much here in this region that supports our life,

Supports our day-to-day functioning.

Right now in this moment giving attention to noticing whatever sensations are there.

Seeing or experiencing the vertebrae,

The muscles,

The skin.

Allowing yourself to fully become aware of whatever experience is happening right now in sensation in the back.

Again,

The breath is fairly active and vivid in this region so maybe tuning into what sensations are felt or known by the experience of the breath in this region of the body.

And on your next exhale letting go of the awareness to the back and bringing it now around to the chest.

Being aware now of any sensations here.

Maybe noticing an expansion or lengthening of the skin as you inhale or exhale.

Maybe noticing expansion contraction of the lungs or the rib cage.

Maybe even the beating of the heart.

What that sensation feels like.

Seeing the attention just be present to the region of the chest.

Being willing to meet each moment with curiosity,

Openness.

And now shifting the focus of awareness on your next exhale.

Letting go of the attention to the chest.

Bringing it now into both the right and the left arms and hands.

So seeing what it's like to hold in awareness both of these regions of the body simultaneously.

The capacity that we have to be able to do that.

And tuning now into sensations that you might be feeling in these regions of the body.

So allowing the attention to take notice of the hands.

Maybe noticing temperature,

Coolness or warmth.

Noticing points of contact or pressure.

Noticing the palm,

The fingers,

Fingertips.

Just allowing the attention to rest on sensing,

Feeling,

Observing the hands.

And now moving the awareness up into the wrists and the forearms.

Being aware of whatever sensation is here.

The sensation makes itself known and feels particularly troublesome or difficult.

Simply honoring what's best for you in that moment.

Meeting the sensation just as it is.

And choosing to be present to it.

No need to do anything in particular.

Just simple curious open awareness.

And now moving the attention from the forearms up the arm to the elbow and the upper arms.

Exploring this entire region here.

Maybe curious about the muscles,

The bones,

The joint,

The elbow.

Fully engaged with focusing the awareness on this region of the body.

Being present to it just as it is.

Now on your next exhale letting go of the awareness to the arms.

And now the awareness to the shoulders and the neck.

So this region of the body often has and carries tension,

Tightness in it.

And if that makes itself known to you in this moment just allowing yourself to be present to it.

Seeing it by being curious about the sensation rather than needing to do anything with it.

But by attending to it,

Giving it your full attention.

Might allow an openness to occur.

Working with the sensations.

Exploring the tops,

The sides of the shoulders.

The neck,

The front,

The back,

The sides.

Noticing the muscles here.

The bones that support the muscles.

Maybe even noticing the breath as it affects subtle movement in this region.

What sensations are felt or known by the breath as you attend to it in this region of the body.

And on your next exhale letting go of the awareness to the shoulders and the neck.

Moving now the awareness to the jaw and to the face.

And so becoming aware of any sensations that are present in the jaw.

One may notice tightness,

Tension,

Exploring what it's like to maybe sense or feel the mouth and inside the mouth,

The teeth,

The gums or the tongue.

And just noticing the experience of any sensation that might be there,

Warmth,

Tightness,

Maybe relaxation.

Moving the awareness into the face.

Being aware of the cheeks,

Cheekbones,

Muscles here.

Aware of the nose,

The bridge of the nose,

The sides of the nose,

The nostril,

Space between the base of the nose and the mouth.

Aware of the eyes,

The eyelids,

Eyebrows,

Space between the eyes,

To the forehead,

The temples and the ears.

Just fully aware of this entire region,

Very expressive and active region of the body.

And right now just aware of sensation,

Warmth,

Coolness,

Tingling,

Tightness,

Pulsating.

Whatever's there just allow yourself to be present to it.

And now shifting the awareness from the face,

Moving it up into the top of the head and the back of the head.

So the entire skull region of the head,

Sensing or feeling any experiences of sensation.

Even noticing what it's like to sense or feel the brain being held inside the skull.

Now on your next exhale,

Taking this pointed attention from the head,

Top of the head,

And expanding it now out into the entire body.

Becoming aware of the entire body and any and all sensations present in it right now from the top of the head to the tips of the toes.

Realizing yourself to feel and experience any sensations simply present to being in this body in this moment.

And now shifting the focus of attention from the body and returning it now to just the breath.

Coming back and feeling the experience of inhale and the exhale.

Letting it come and go.

Exhaling with just the breath.

Now bringing back into awareness this moment,

The intention that you set for practice.

Seeing yourself this moment with this body as you've been attending to it to allow that intention to be known and held in your awareness.

If you can integrate knowing this intention a little deeper as you sense and feel the body and the presence to the breath as it is right now.

And taking a moment to give yourself thanks for being willing to practice,

Being willing to cultivate this attention.

This ability to be present to your life,

To your experiences just as they are.

Every moment.