Body Scan

A meditation to cultivate inner calm and non-reactivity as one explores the body sensations with attention, curiosity, self-compassion.

Transcript

Welcome to the Body Scan,

A mindfulness practice of attending to the body with awareness,

Compassion and a gentle curiosity.

Through this practice,

You will be developing the capacity to pay attention to whatever may arise,

Moment by moment,

With equanimity and non-reactivity.

It is important that you take care of yourself during this meditation and do your best to be fully present to whatever is here for you in this moment.

There is no right way to feel while doing this practice.

The way you are feeling is simply the way you are feeling right now.

And you will notice that some sensations in the body will be pleasant and some unpleasant or even painful.

And you may find that some areas of the body there is no sensation at all.

Simply noticing your tendency to avoid the unpleasant sensations and perhaps cling on to the pleasant ones.

The practice is to stay with whatever is arising with ease and not give in to your default tendencies.

If at any time the sensation is unbearable,

You can choose to return to your breath.

This practice can be done lying down on your back or sitting in a comfortable position,

Just making sure that your back is straight and that your breath is flowing easily.

Simply noticing the movement of the breath as it makes its way into your body,

Into your abdomen and then leaves the body,

Following the full cycle of your breathing as it moves in the pause in between and the out-breath and the pause between the out-breath and the in-breath.

Settling into your own rhythm of breathing.

And now directing your attention to the left side of your body,

All the way down your left leg to the left foot and giving your full care and attention to the toes in your left foot.

Noticing any sensations in the toes of your left foot,

You may find that you can sense the touch of the socks,

Any tingling,

Circulation of the blood,

Pulsing,

Temperature,

Moisture or dryness.

Being curious what's there and expanding your awareness to the top of your foot,

The bottom of your foot,

Feeling the sensations in the ball of the foot,

The arch,

The heel and expanding your awareness to the whole of the left foot.

And moving your awareness to the left ankle,

Circling your left ankle with your awareness,

Moving your awareness to the lower left leg,

The shin,

The calf,

The side of the lower left leg.

And moving your attention up to the left knee,

Breathing into your left knee,

Softening as much as is possible for you at this time.

Noticing carefully any sensations you might find in the top of the left knee,

The sides,

The back,

And moving your attention up to the left thigh.

Exploring with curiosity what's here in the big thigh muscle,

The bone,

The thighs.

It's perfectly okay if you don't find any sensations.

And now moving up the left leg across the hips to the right leg,

Bringing your attention all the way down to the right foot and the toes in the right foot.

And giving your full care and attention to the sensations in the toes of the right foot.

Feeling what it feels like to feel the temperature,

Touch,

Tingling,

Any other sensations that you might find here in the toes,

In the spaces between the toes of the right foot.

And moving your attention now to the top of the right foot and the bottom.

Feeling any sensations in the ball of the right foot,

The arch,

The heel.

And moving your awareness to the right ankle,

Circling the ankle with your awareness.

And moving your awareness up to the lower right leg.

And noticing any sensations you might find in the region of the shin,

The sides,

The calf of the right leg.

And now moving your attention up to the right knee,

Breathing into that region,

Softening,

Letting go of what you don't need at this time.

Breathing into the top of the right knee,

The sides,

The back.

And moving your attention up to the right thigh.

Feeling if you are holding on or tightening or tensing the muscles in the right leg.

And exploring what it is like to soften and let go as you give your full care and attention to the right thigh.

And now moving your attention to the pelvic region,

Perhaps feeling the contact you are making with the chair or the ground.

Breathing with ease into that region,

Softening as much as is possible for you at this time.

And now moving your awareness to the lower back.

Noticing very carefully if you are holding any tension,

Any stress in this region.

And experimenting with letting go,

Softening and even making the micro adjustments,

The smallest of letting go and noticing how does that feel in the body.

And now moving your attention to the front of the body,

The abdominal region.

Perhaps feeling the movement of the breath in the abdomen.

So as you breathe in the abdomen rises and as you exhale the abdomen relaxes.

Feeling the extension and expansion and the contraction in the abdomen region.

Moving your attention up to the rib cage.

Moving further up to the heart region.

Feeling the spaciousness in the lungs,

The chest cavity as you breathe in and the relaxation as you exhale.

And now moving your awareness to the lower back.

You may find that there is nothing happening there for you at this time and that's perfectly normal.

And now moving your awareness to the back,

The upper back and the middle back.

Mending to the back of the heart region,

The back of the lungs.

Feeling the movement of the breath through the back of your body.

And taking this time to say hello to your back.

And now moving your attention to your shoulders,

Another region we carry a lot of stress,

The weight of responsibilities.

And experimenting with letting go,

Just softening the shoulders as much as is possible for you this time.

And seeing how that feels even if only for a moment letting go of any stress you're holding in your shoulders.

Maybe even feeling the weight of gravity on your shoulders.

The top of the shoulders,

The front and the back.

And now moving down the shoulders to the region of the arms,

The elbows,

Wrists,

The hands and fingers.

Noticing any sensations in your palms,

The fingers,

The fingertips.

Feelings of touch,

Moisture,

Dryness,

Temperature.

Maybe you can feel the circulation of the blood.

And simply noticing what's alive for you in your hands this time.

And now moving your awareness up the arms to the region of the neck and your throat.

Maybe you can feel the movement of the breath or saliva.

And moving the attention up to the face,

Softening the jawline,

The mouth and the cheekbones,

The forehead and your eyes,

The nostrils.

Noticing any sensations there,

Maybe the touch of the breath.

And now moving your attention to the region of the ears,

Simply receiving the sounds from the environment without reacting to them.

And then moving your attention to the head region,

Inside and outside.

Noticing if you're holding any tension or tightness.

And if possible softening.

And now breathing through your whole body from the top of the head all the way down to the feet and toes and all the way up from down the bottoms of your feet and toes all the way up to the top of your head.

Sweeping your whole body with your breath.

And as we end this practice in this way,

Continuing to cultivate these qualities of attention,

Equanimity and a gentle curiosity through all the activities in your life.

Thank you.

Reviews

Wonderful meditation practice. Feeling super relaxed and light. Thank you 🙏

Fantastic, thank you 🙏

Did this in my big dance class and we all loved it and felt relaxed

Slow and sure. Very relaxing body scan

Love this body scan! Calming voice, good pace

That was exceptional thank you so much

As I've mentioned elsewhere in this app, I've been blessed by the opportunity of working with Shalini Bahl in person with her gentle and patient mindfulness guidance in Amherst, MA. She is a gifted teacher and mentor. This recording is no exception, and in fact a testament to her skills. You will not regret spending 20 minutes of your life with this gentle and caring body scan.

Very soothing and refreshing meditation. There is no music, and the guide speaks with a clear, calming voice, with an even pacing of silent moments.

Very good body scan. Helpful when practicing the first foundation of mindfulness.

So peaceful ❤️❤️❤️

I love this one! I do it again and again.

Great Way of scanning the body and relaxing at the same time

This made me feel really relaxed. Thank you for this ^_^

Nice guide through

Great body scan, Shalini has a calm, lovely voice