Guided Meditation For Circles: Body Scan

This meditation is designed to be used as a group meditation in Insight Timer Circles. The recording begins with an introduction as to what to expect in the 30-minute session, and invites participants to welcome each other and acknowledge the group. It continues with an introduction and then goes into a version of the body scan that is a little over 10 minutes long. The meditation closes by inviting the participants to share about their experience and to thank themselves and one another.

Transcript

Hello,

Good morning,

Good afternoon,

Good evening,

Wherever you are.

I'm Ryan in Hong Kong and welcome to the very first guided meditation for circles.

So just to give you a little introduction as to what this guided meditation is about,

It's creating a meditation that can be used in insight timer circles,

One that kind of simulates a live meditation experience.

So I've been doing live meditations on insight timer for quite a while now and I know there are some days that I just can't make it and in fact I have something coming up soon so I wanted to create these recordings to kind of stand in for me while I'm not able to be live.

And I realize now as well that this kind of meditation can be used in other circles,

Not just mine,

Following this kind of format.

So the format is to have a little bit of time at the beginning to get settled,

To get everyone to be comfortable being here,

Then we do our meditation,

And then at the end maybe having a little bit of time to debrief.

So with that out of the way,

Please go ahead and greet the other people who are here live on this guided meditation here in circles now.

Feel free to introduce yourself,

To say hello,

How you're doing today perhaps,

And if you like maybe even sharing your intention as to why you've chosen to come here today.

What is it that you're hoping to achieve or what do you think about joining a live meditation like this is going to help you accomplish in your life or to change about yourself or maybe you just want to be a little bit more peaceful today.

And so did you notice any commonalities between the things that you've written and anything else anyone else has said?

So just connecting in with that,

Maybe commenting about what you notice is similar between what you and other people have been writing.

So just spending this time to connect as best you can with the other participants,

Maybe even starting by sending well wishes out to them,

Maybe imagining them feeling peaceful and happy,

And maybe even bringing some of that kind of feeling into yourself as well.

So wishing yourself well,

Wishing happiness for yourself,

Wishing peace.

And so in honor of this very first guided meditation for Insight Timer Circles,

I want to guide in the foundational practice that I began in when I first started meditating.

And so this is the body scan practice.

So the format of this will be,

Like I said,

We greet for a while,

Then we go into the main meditation,

And then we debrief.

So the main meditation will only be about 10 minutes long.

So the body scan is this meditation that helps us to ground into our bodies.

So often our mind is way out there.

We're thinking about all kinds of different stuff.

We may be worrying about the future.

We may be ruminating on the past.

We may be reliving those experiences in our lives that maybe we wished had turned out in a different way than it has.

We might be thinking about what might happen next.

So all of this time is really spent way up inside the head.

So instead of spending this time there,

This meditation is a way for us to ground down into the body,

To be with ourselves,

To observe viscerally what's going on.

What is the experience of being alive right now in this moment?

And,

You know,

One of the benefits of the body scan meditation as well is that just through paying attention to the body,

This kind of relaxation can begin to come over the body.

Just by observing,

Bringing attention to various parts of the body,

You might notice,

Oh,

There's some tension in this part of my body that I wasn't aware of.

And through that attention to your attention,

You may be able to gently let go of it.

So this meditation can be not only useful for training present moment awareness,

Which really is the heart of mindfulness,

Is what is mindfulness,

In fact.

Being aware of what's happening in the present moment non-judgmentally.

So this is trained through the body scan.

What also can happen is naturally we may become more relaxed.

So remembering that you don't need to try to become relaxed to feel relaxed.

In fact,

Trying to be relaxed could be counterproductive to the relaxation process itself.

So not trying to do anything at all,

In fact,

As we go through this practice.

So just being with yourself exactly as you are right now without trying to be any different,

Without trying to be more relaxed,

Without trying to be better or more patient or anything.

Just being comfortable with who you are as best you can as we go through this practice.

And that's really how you'll see the best results for mindfulness practice in general,

And specifically since we're going through the body scan,

Seeing how it can help in the body scan practice as well.

So let's go ahead and begin to get into this practice.

So feeling free to lie down as the body scan,

Especially from the beginner point of view,

Tend to do this meditation in the lying posture.

So feeling free to lie down if you aren't already.

And just listening for my voice as I'll guide you through this short 10 minute or so body scan meditation.

So as you're getting arranged,

Seeing if you can begin to bring a bit of stillness into the body.

So you may want to move a little bit.

So just letting those movements come out,

Especially if you're feeling a bit jittery or tense.

And then coming into this meditation posture.

So the posture of lying down,

And you may have a pillow beneath your head,

You may be on a yoga mat,

You may be on your bed,

Perhaps a rug,

Just something to protect you from the hardness of the floor.

And being as comfortable as you can be.

Letting your legs stretch out if that feels comfortable.

Your feet gently falling away from each other,

With a little bit of space between the legs.

Your arms alongside the body,

Palms open toward the ceiling.

Also a bit of space between the arms and the body.

If you like,

Allowing your eyes to close.

And tuning into this body as we start to rest in stillness.

Feeling how this body feels right now.

Grounding into the sensations of the points of contact between your body and the supporting surface.

So noticing your heels,

Perhaps parts of the lower legs,

Maybe even parts of the thighs,

The buttocks.

Noticing exactly where the buttocks is in contact with your bed or your mat.

The shoulder blades,

The elbows,

The backs of the hands,

The back of the head,

And maybe even part of the neck.

So just tuning in to what it feels like for your body to be touched by something else.

Noticing the pressure as gravity pulls down on your body and this supporting surface pushes back.

So seeing if you can really tune in to that feeling of being touched.

And then as you feel ready,

Letting go of those feelings of being supported,

Of that sense of touch,

And guiding your attention to the abdomen,

To the belly.

And noticing as we lie here,

None of our muscles need to be engaged.

Our spine is not compressed by gravity either.

So noticing the movement,

The space that's available in the belly as the belly moves with the breath.

It's almost as if there's a balloon inside of our bellies.

It inflates every time we breathe in and deflates every time we breathe out.

So just observing that gentle flow,

That rising up on the in-breath,

The letting go of the out-breath,

And letting go of any desire you may have to control the breath.

So just trusting in the body,

Letting the body do the breathing for you as you just sit as a passive observer.

And if you notice any sounds in the background in your experience or on the recording,

Just letting those be like any distraction.

Letting go,

Reorienting the attention back,

Observing once again the breath,

The movement of the abdomen,

Tasting the breath,

Feeling the expansion,

The skin expanding,

The relaxation as the breath continues cycling on its own.

And then on the next out-breath,

Letting go of this feeling of the breath at the abdomen,

And slowly bringing the attention down the body,

Through the pelvis,

Through the legs,

Into the ankles,

And the feet,

All the way out into the toes.

So becoming aware of the feeling in the toes,

The big toes,

The little toes,

Each of the toes in between,

The spaces between the toes,

Drinking in everything that's happening with your toes.

Are you wearing socks?

Can you feel the socks?

Are your feet bare?

Can you feel the movement of the air in your room?

Are your toes warm or cool?

So the idea of this meditation is really to bring complete awareness to these physical sensations,

Noticing everything,

No matter how minute that's happening in various regions of the body.

So holding attention here in the toes as we begin to expand into the feet,

Noticing the soles of the feet,

The tops of the feet,

The ankles,

The heels,

And again remembering that contact,

Observing,

Experiencing that contact with our bed or our mat,

Expanding into the lower legs,

Noticing the shins,

The calf muscles,

Holding attention here as best you can,

Guiding the attention into the knees now,

Into the thighs.

So holding an awareness,

Everything from the hip joint all the way down to the tips of the toes,

Feeling the left leg in its entirety,

The right leg in its entirety,

And noticing anything that may be the same in the legs are different,

Noticing that input of the sense of touch,

What it is you're feeling in each and every moment.

And then on your next out breath,

Releasing the legs and the feet as we bring attention into the pelvis.

So maybe coming in through the hip joints,

Noticing the hips on either side of the body,

The buttocks,

The perineum,

The anal and genital regions,

The pelvic bowl in the front.

So holding this pelvis in awareness.

And on your next out breath,

Releasing the pelvis as we guide the attention into the lower back,

Maybe noticing the tailbone,

The spine,

Following the spine upwards.

So we feel the muscles in the lower back,

The rib cage,

The shoulder blades.

So being fully aware of these sensations in the lower back and in the upper back,

Reaching around now to the front of the body,

Maybe following the ribs around,

Noticing where the ribs come together in the front of the body at the sternum,

Feeling perhaps the heart beating in the chest,

The lungs expanding on the inhale and releasing on the exhale,

Tracing down as well to the abdomen,

Coming back,

Noticing the inflation on the inhale,

The deflation on the exhale.

And this time even tuning in inside,

Noticing the other internal organs that are here.

So holding the entirety of the torso in awareness,

Noticing everything,

The back,

The abdomen,

The chest,

Feeling what's present in this moment.

And then on the next exhale,

Releasing the torso,

Just letting it dissolve into the background of your awareness.

As you bring awareness into the fingers on both the left hand and the right hand,

Into the palms,

The backs of the hands,

The wrists,

The forearms,

Tracing slowly up each arm,

Noticing maybe that one arm is a little easier to tune into than the other,

Noticing the elbows,

The upper arms,

The biceps and triceps,

And noticing now the shoulders,

An area which may hold tension for some of us,

So just observing how are my shoulders feeling right now.

So holding the shoulders all the way down to the fingertips in awareness.

And then on the next out breath,

Releasing as we bring attention into the neck,

Noticing the soft tissue in the front,

The trachea and the blood vessels,

The spine coming in and connecting into the base of the skull,

And then expanding into the face,

Noticing the jaw,

The mouth,

The lips,

The teeth and gums,

The tongue,

The opening to the throat,

Noticing now the cheeks and the ears coming back across to the nose and nostrils,

Feeling the air moving as you breathe to the eyes,

To the eyebrows,

To the forehead,

To the temples,

And remembering that the face need not make any expression.

We don't need to express our emotions outwardly in this moment,

So just seeing if you can let your face relax completely,

Expanding awareness into the crown of the head,

The scalp,

The back of the head,

The skull,

And maybe even into the brain.

And then letting go.

As we bring into attention the entire body,

From the crown of the head all the way down to the tips of the toes,

Noticing everything in between.

So you may notice an itch here or a small pain there,

So just observing where it is that your attention moves as you bring attention to the body as a whole.

And so in a moment we'll draw this practice to its close,

But I'd just like to invite you to take a moment to thank yourself for having made the time today to nourish yourself in this way,

As doing practices like this regularly is a way for you to take an active role in your mental and your physical well-being,

So it's worth taking credit for that.

So in a moment I'll ring the bell three times and when you hear the sound of the bell subside,

Feeling free to move the body in any way you like,

And that might start by wiggling the fingers and toes a little bit.

So now if you like you can move in any other way.

Maybe sit up.

Just do whatever feels comfortable right now.

Any movements you might like to make.

And so thank you everyone for joining in this practice today.

And would encourage you just to take a few moments to thank everybody else who's here with you.

Thank them for not only making the time to be with you but also perhaps thank them for having this time for themselves.

And thank you for being part of this circle and for joining in this meditation today.

And so maybe taking a few moments to leave a little bit of feedback for each other.

Maybe what came up during this meditation?

What did you notice?

How were you feeling when the meditation began?

How are you feeling now?

Did you find yourself getting distracted a lot?

Were there any interesting or surprising thoughts that came up?

So just feeling free to take these moments to share with each other what was your experience like today?

And so much gratitude to all of you who are here today.

I hope you do also appreciate each other.

Maybe send some well wishes to one another as this recording comes to a close.

But as you may know for Insight Timer Circles,

Even though the recording ends,

You don't need to leave immediately.

So if there is some sharing that's going on,

I would really encourage you to keep going.

Keep talking about how things have gone or whatever it is that's coming up for you.

Spend this time to share with each other as of course whatever you're writing here won't go back into the main circle.

So feel free to share whatever you like.

And then once you're out,

Of course you can continue to share in the circle.

So I hope that this guidance was useful for you.

I hope that if it is useful that you'll feel free to use it again.

So do take care.

Have a wonderful day or evening going forward wherever you are.

Wishing you all the best.

Bye bye.

Reviews

Thank you. I enjoyed the body scan. I felt relaxed and peaceful .