So as you're settling into this brief body scan,
You can start to get comfortable either on the floor or seated in a chair.
And if you're in a chair,
Just checking to see that your feet are both placed flat on the floor,
You have a soft support for the back.
And if you have arm rests,
It's perfectly fine to rest your arms there,
Or you can have them in your lap.
And if you're lying down,
Just seeing if you need any soft support for the head or perhaps some support under the knees.
And in either position,
Sometimes we tend to get a little chilly.
So if you think you might need a light covering or a shawl,
It's fine to have that handy.
And as we settle into this body scan,
This practice of focused attention,
Maybe just bringing our awareness first to our breath,
Wherever we feel it in the body.
We may find that as we bring our attention to the breath,
There may be an urge or a tendency to change how we're breathing.
There's no need to do that,
Although it's perfectly fine if that happens.
Perhaps sensing into where the breath is felt.
In the body either perhaps at the nostril.
Perhaps at the chest.
Maybe deeper in the belly.
And noticing where you feel it as well as the breath leaves the body.
And just settling into maybe a little more stillness here.
We'll bring our attention now to the toes of the right foot.
And the invitation here is to observe what sensations there are in the toes.
Tingling,
Numbness,
Warmth,
Chilliness.
Maybe we feel the fabric of our socks or.
Our shoes.
Perhaps we feel the toes touching each other or maybe the space between them.
Just mentally describing to yourself what if any sensations you're noticing in the toes of the right foot whatever sensations are occurring to you are perfectly fine.
If there are no sensations,
It's perfectly fine as well.
And then you can let.
Your focus on the toes dissolve and move your attention now to the bottom of the right foot,
The balls,
The arch,
The heel of the right foot.
Perhaps we feel the floor underneath our right foot if we're seated.
Perhaps we just feel the air.
Maybe we feel.
Some sensations of soreness,
Achiness.
Or maybe we don't feel anything.
And now shifting our focus to the top of the right foot.
Maybe imagining the.
.
.
Small bones or tendons that make up this top part of the foot.
And then leaving the top of the right foot and moving up to the right ankle.
And maybe just observing all the intricacies of the joint.
Bringing attention to the tendons and the small bones of the ankle.
You may notice sensations of aching or tingling.
Maybe some tenderness.
If we have any injuries.
Or perhaps just a sense of warmth.
Maybe the sense of fabric or.
.
.
Sock touching the right ankle.
And when we practice this.
This present moment awareness.
We can do so with a.
.
.
A gentleness.
So we don't have to force the attention if we find our mind wandering away from the right ankle,
Simply guiding our attention back.
Now allowing the ankle to fade from the mind.
Moving our focus.
To the calf and the shin of the right leg.
Noticing what there is to notice here.
Perhaps feeling.
Floor or the mat against the calf.
Maybe there's.
Some soreness or numbness or warmth.
As we pay attention,
We may have a tendency to.
.
.
Think that's unpleasant or this is uncomfortable.
And those thoughts are fine.
In fact,
To be expected.
When we notice that.
We might have gone off to judging or evaluating the sensation.
We just guide our attention back.
To the calf and the shin of the right leg.
Now letting go of the mind's eyes,
Focus on the shin and the calf and moving up to the upper part of the right leg,
The thigh.
Sensing into our thigh muscle,
Inner and outer thigh.
What is there to sense here?
What is there to observe here?
And now allowing your focus to shift from the right thigh to the toes of the left leg.
Of the left foot.
If it hasn't already happened,
At some point your mind will wander away onto some other thought or event or story.
And without any judgment,
We simply bring our focus back to the toes of the left foot.
Can.
The mind is used to doing.
All the time,
Thinking,
Feeling.
Planning.
So we just gently guide all of that activity.
Into this present moment awareness of the toes and our left foot.
You may even notice we're comparing.
How the toes and our left foot feel compared to the toes on the right side and this is a Very human thing to do.
And we just notice that.
And come right back.
To the toes on the left side.
And now allowing your mind's eye to focus on the bottom of the left foot,
The ball,
The arch,
The heel.
Or do we sense the bottom of the left foot?
And now letting our focus on the bottom of the left foot dissolve,
Traveling up to the top of the left foot.
Sensing whatever there is to sense there.
Recognizing that whatever sensation is there is right at this moment.
We're not trying to.
Feel or sense any certain experience.
This is simply the practice of focusing our attention.
Cultivating that skill.
Just being present.
Right now.
At the top of the left foot.
Now bringing your attention to the ankle of the left foot.
And if you've noticed,
Your mind has gone off onto other things.
Perhaps.
Just using the breath to.
Help us refocus.
You can imagine the breath flowing into the body,
Down into the ankle of the left foot,
Directing our attention here.
And now shifting our attention to the calf and the shin of the left foot.
You may notice an urge to move or shift in some way.
And it's perfectly fine to do so if the position you're in is causing pain or discomfort.
Taking away our focus from the calf and shin of the left leg.
Perhaps considering before we make that movement.
Bringing a sense of curiosity.
Perhaps asking why or in what way we need to move right now.
And if moving is necessary,
Then doing so.
So that you can refocus.
Your awareness on the shin,
The calf,
The left leg.
And doing so in a mindful.
Conscious way.
And now moving your focus up to the thigh of the left leg.
Sensing into whatever you can observe in the thigh.
Allowing the left thigh to dissolve in the mind now,
And bringing into the mind's eye,
The hips,
Pelvic area,
Groin.
Maybe sensing into.
The feeling of the hips.
Resting in your chair or on your mat.
If it's helpful,
Just visualizing the breath traveling down into the hips,
The pelvic area.
And now shifting your awareness to the lower back.
The lumbar area of the spine.
For many,
This is a place of much tension.
And we may notice.
Achiness.
Or numbness.
We may just notice that there's pain there.
And if that's the case,
We can choose to stay with this awareness,
Describing this pain in some more detail.
What kind of pain?
How is it showing up for us in the lower back?
If we feel at any time that we need to step back from our focus.
Due to pain or discomfort,
It's okay to do so,
To come back to the focus on this part of the body when we feel ready.
Perhaps there's no pain or unpleasant sensation.
Maybe a sensation of the small arch of the back in this area.
Maybe there's a sense of being supported by the mat,
The chair.
If you've noticed yourself going down any storylines or narratives or thoughts or feelings about the sensations you're having here.
I can recognize that.
And then gently guide the mind back to the center.
The lower back sensations that are happening right now.
And now allowing your attention to travel around to the front,
To your stomach,
Your abdomen,
The belly.
You tend to have quite a bit of activity in this part of the body.
Digestion,
Hunger.
Sensing into whatever is happening,
Whatever is physically occurring in this moment.
The stomach,
The gut.
Moving the attention now from the stomach and the abdomen up into the ribcage,
The lungs,
The chest.
You may notice the movement as you breathe up and down.
In and out.
You may notice some discomfort or pain or Perhaps a lightness.
We just describe this to ourselves,
Whatever is coming up for us.
Knowing whatever sensation that is occurring right now is the right one.
No need to force ourselves into any other feeling or physical state.
Simply checking in what's happening right now in the chest and the lungs and the ribcage.
You know,
Releasing your attention to this part of the body and moving to the upper back,
The shoulder blades.
Perhaps feeling the support of the ground or the chair.
Perhaps feeling the fabric on your skin.
Gently guiding the mind back to the upper back if it's wandered away to some other thought.
Or thoughts.
We can leave our focus on the upper back now and move into sensing.
Into the fingers of the right hand.
Perhaps bringing into our mind's eye the fingernails,
The joints of the fingers,
The knuckles.
Perhaps simply noticing if the fingers are touching.
Or if you can feel air between them.
Warmth,
Coldness.
Even noticing any urges to fidget or.
A sense of achingness.
Tightness.
How moving your attention.
To the whole right hand,
The palm,
The back of the hand.
What is there to feel or observe in the right hand right now?
Moving now into the right wrist.
Shifting our awareness to all the intricacies of the wrist.
This joint.
We may notice in this practice that when we experience things that are uncomfortable or painful,
You may notice a tendency to.
Not want to pay so much attention to the sensation and that's an observation too.
Just being gentle and patient with.
The tendencies of the mind to want to move away or towards certain feelings.
Now moving your focus.
To the right arm.
The forearm and the upper arm.
Perhaps noticing.
Feeling of the ground or your mat.
Maybe the armrest.
Perhaps your arm on your lap.
And then any internal sensations,
Tightness or tension,
Heaviness,
Warmth.
Bringing your attention now into the right shoulder,
The shoulder joint.
What do you observe in the right shoulder?
And now moving your focus from the right shoulder to the fingers of the left hand.
Allowing your attention now to take in the whole left hand.
Palm,
The back,
The hand.
Moving your attention.
To the left wrist.
Allowing the hand to dissolve from awareness.
Bringing the focus to the left wrist.
And then allowing the left wrist to dissolve from your focus,
Bringing your awareness now to the whole left arm,
Forearm,
And the upper arm.
Bringing into awareness the bicep,
Muscle,
Tricep.
What do we sense happening in this part of our body?
You bringing your attention now to the left shoulder,
The shoulder joint.
Sensing into.
Anything that's going on in this part of our body,
The left shoulder.
Now letting the left shoulder dissolve from your focus.
And bringing the awareness.
To the front of the neck,
The throat.
Gently and patiently guiding your attention back to the front of the neck if it's gone off some other thought or story.
And shifting your attention now to the back of the neck,
The nape of the neck or the spine.
Meets the head.
Perhaps sensing hair touching the nape of the neck or your shirt.
Cushion or other fabric.
Sensing a coolness or warmth.
Or tightness,
Tension.
And now allowing your attention to move into the face,
The muscles of the face.
The eyes.
The jaw,
The tongue.
The forehead.
And allowing your attention now to reach the scalp,
The crown of the head.
Sensing whatever.
There is that is occurring there.
Gently and patiently guiding your attention back to the top of the head from wherever it has wandered off to.
And now allowing your attention on the top of the head.
To dissolve.
Bringing your awareness to the whole body.
To the whole body in this present moment.
And as we come out of this practice,
Recognizing.
We're not really coming out of anything.
Simply allowing this awareness of the body to expand.
Begin to take in the sounds around you.
Inviting gentle movement.
Stretching.
Wiggling the toes or the fingers.
Expanding our awareness to our surroundings,
Perhaps fluttering the eyes open if they've been closed,
Allowing light.
Bringing awareness now to our body in this space.
Allowing whatever's happening in the room around us to come.
Into our awareness.
And taking your time as you shift.
And go into the rest of your day.
