Hey there,
This is Ryan.
Welcome to today's short body scan meditation.
First things first,
Let's make sure we're comfortable.
So settling into our seat and we want a relaxed posture with a straight spine.
You're welcome to close off the eyes or keep them open.
It's up to you.
And we'll take a few deep cleansing breaths.
So in through the nose and let it out with an audible sigh.
We'll do two more of those in through the nose and sigh it out.
Deep breath in through the nose and letting it go with a sigh.
And coming back to your normal breathing pace now.
I invite you to notice the sounds around you.
Are there sounds in your environment?
And just noticing what's there.
We don't need to label or explore the sounds,
Just letting them be in awareness.
And drawing awareness in now to the sensations of sitting.
Can you feel gravity pulling you down into your chair or your cushion?
How about your feet on the floor or the air on your skin?
Just noticing the sensations.
Drawing awareness now to your left foot.
Noticing what's there.
This might be tingling,
Warmth,
Coolness or nothing at all.
And that's fine.
And now shifting awareness to our left lower leg,
The shin and the calf.
What can you notice here?
The left knee.
Can you feel fully into this part of your body?
And if at any point you notice you are distracted by thoughts or any stimulus in your environment,
Just gently acknowledge the distraction and compassionately bring yourself back to the practice of noticing sensations in your left knee.
The left thigh.
The top,
The sides and the back of the left thigh.
The left glute and left hip.
Just noticing what's there.
The right foot.
From your ankle,
The heel,
The sole and the toes.
Just noticing what's here in this space,
This cloud of sensation.
Moving now to the right lower leg,
The shin and the calf.
And if any of the sensations are uncomfortable or even painful,
I encourage you to regard these sensations as temporary aspects of experience.
Not something that's happening to you,
Rather something that you're experiencing in this moment.
And compassionately breathe into it and let it be.
Moving to the right knee,
Noticing whatever you can feel here.
The right thigh.
The top,
Sides and back of the right thigh.
The right glute and hip.
Coming now to the belly button.
Perhaps you can feel your tummy expanding and falling with each breath.
The chest and the ribcage.
Can you feel your lungs expanding and falling?
Can you feel your heart beating?
And coming to the base of the spine,
Just taking in all of the sensations of the lower back.
Moving up to the middle back.
Can you feel each vertebra?
Can you feel where the ribs connect to your spine?
And now the upper back and your shoulder blades.
Any sensations here at all?
And again,
If you notice you've been lost in thought or distracted,
Gently acknowledging the distraction.
And compassionately,
Without judgement,
Bring yourself back to the task at hand and notice what you can feel in your upper back and shoulder blades.
Shifting awareness to the right shoulder.
Perhaps you can feel the weight of your arm gently pulling down on the shoulder joint.
The right arm.
Can you feel the weight of your arm here?
The right upper arm.
The bicep and the tricep.
Just noticing what you can feel here.
The right forearm and the wrist.
And now the back of the right hand.
The palm of the right hand.
The thumb,
The fingers,
All the way to the fingertips,
Encapsulating the whole of your right hand in awareness.
The left shoulder joint.
The left upper arm.
The bicep and the tricep.
Just noticing what you feel here.
The left forearm and wrist.
Any sensation at all?
And if you feel nothing here,
Can you lean into that absence of sensation?
The left hand.
The back,
The palm,
The fingers,
The thumb and the fingertips.
This cloud of sensation at the left hand.
Coming to the Adam's apple.
And working awareness around the sides of your neck,
To the back of your neck,
At the base of the skull.
And focusing on your jaw muscles.
If I carry any tension,
I can feel it.
And focusing on your jaw muscles.
If I carry any tension at all,
It's usually here.
So,
If you notice that you may be carrying tension in your jaw,
Can you perhaps let that go on your next exhale?
And focusing on the lips.
Drawing your attention to the nostrils now.
Perhaps you can feel cooler air coming in and warmer air coming out.
Moving to the eyes.
Even though the eyes are closed,
You may be able to see a whole cosmos of light and patterns on the dark of your eyelids.
Coming up to the ears.
Just noticing any sensations at all.
Moving up to your forehead.
And shifting awareness to the crown of your head or your scalp.
Noticing what you can feel here.
Let your next breath be deeper,
And as you inhale,
Imagine expanding awareness to encompass the whole of your head and face,
Encompassing all of these sensations.
And on the next breath,
Expand that field of awareness to include your upper body.
And again,
One final breath to expand that cloud of sensation to encompass your whole body,
Your head,
Your upper body,
And your lower body.
Experiencing the totality of bodily sensations.
And now you can let awareness relax,
And gently open your eyes when it feels right to do so.
Thank you for allowing me to guide you today.
I'll see you next time.
