Hello and welcome to this short body scan.
Body scans are a very familiar element of meditative practice.
They can be an exercise in their own right or they can be a regular beginning to a longer meditation.
Very often body scans are seen as a way of relaxing or even as a way of preparing to sleep.
However,
A body scan can be an invigorating and lively experience and the following mindfulness meditation is an example of how you can use a body scan to start your day and to revitalise yourself.
So we'll begin in the usual way.
If you would like to sit comfortably or to lie down and take one or two deep breaths in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
And with each exhale allow your body to gently relax.
Now I'd like you to bring your awareness to your fingertips.
Only to the very tips of your fingers.
Don't try to move them,
Don't try to initiate any sensation in your fingers.
Simply bring your awareness to your fingertips.
What can you feel there?
Is there a sense of tingling,
Of warmth,
Of cold,
Of contact?
And now expand that awareness to your fingers,
To the whole of your fingers on both hands.
What can you feel?
What sensations are there?
What evidence is there that you're alive?
And now take that attention further into the whole of your hands.
And again focus on sensations that you feel.
Focus on any tingling,
Any warmth.
Perhaps you can feel movement of air.
And now expand your awareness again up your forearms as far as your elbows.
Focus on the sensations,
The physical feelings in your fingers,
Your hands and your forearms.
Maybe you can even feel the blood flow inside your arms and your hands.
Visualise that flow of energy matching the sensations that you can feel.
And now move your attention up through your arms to your shoulders.
And again really immerse yourself in the sensations that you can feel from the tips of your fingers right up through your arms and to your shoulders.
And now I'd like you to move your attention to your toes.
Again without moving them to elicit any kind of sensation.
What can you feel at your toes?
Can you feel a tingling?
Can you feel a movement of energy?
Are you able to focus your attention on one particular toe?
Perhaps the big toe of your left foot?
Or the second toe of your right foot?
And as you do that bring your attention to the sole of your foot and to any sensations you feel there.
And now extend your attention again through your ankles and up through your calf muscles and your shins to your knees.
Can you feel tingling sensations?
A flow of energy from your feet up to your knees?
And you can expand your attention once again now up through your thighs into your buttocks.
You can focus your attention on any sensations you may feel in your buttocks.
Contact where you're sitting or lying on the ground.
It's also perfectly okay to allow your attention to focus on any sensations you may have in your genitals as you pass your awareness over this area of your body.
And you can continue to expand your awareness now up through your stomach,
Through your chest,
Up through your lower back,
Through your spine and between your shoulders.
And as your attention focuses on different body parts,
Be aware of specific sensations.
Be curious about how they feel.
Do you feel movement within you?
Again,
Maybe you're aware of a pulse.
Maybe you can visualize a flow of energy through the extremities of your toes and fingers up through your arms and legs as it rises into your torso and up towards your neck.
Allow that awareness to move into the back of your neck,
The back of your head and into your face.
And with each exhalation,
Allow your face to soften the muscles around your eyes,
Your cheeks and your jaw,
Your tongue in your mouth.
And expand your awareness now to cover all of your physical body and to draw sensory feedback from all of your skin,
From all of your body parts.
And visualize the energy,
The life moving through you,
Coursing through your body.
That tingling sensation is the physical evidence that you are alive.
And now with each in-breath,
You can visualize that energy coursing up through your body.
And with each out-breath,
You can relax your body.
And you can stay in this awareness of your physical self for a few moments,
With each in-breath pouring energy up through your body.
And with each out-breath,
Relaxing gently.
And as you consciously focus on the energy moving around in your body,
You can use that energy throughout the day.
You can use that life force within yourself to motivate you to reconnect,
To ground yourself and to move forward with your day.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes and stretch.
And perhaps give your hands an invigorating shake.
Wriggle your fingers.
Maybe roll your head from side to side.
Thank you for sharing this body scan mindfulness meditation with me.
