Meditative Body Scan Inspired By Yoga Nidra

This is a meditative body scan, which is inspired by yoga nidra. You are invited to take up the position lying down; however, any other position that is more comfortable to you should be fine too. We start by feeling into the body and gently and in the spirit of the Radical Embrace, compassionately welcoming whatever we notice here already. We then go through the body, inviting awareness and noticing sensations in different body parts.

The practice ends with a 5-minute open awareness.

Transcript

Welcome to this Lying Down Body Scan.

An opportunity to connect more deeply with the felt sense of this physical body and how it is just now.

It might feel good to you to take a few deeper breaths here,

Moving from uprightness,

Possibly lots of activity,

To being still and having as much of our body in touch with the floor or bed,

Whatever you're laying on as possible.

So with these deeper breaths,

Just really inviting the body to soften into the ground.

With each out breath,

Just a little bit more surrendering,

A little bit more giving up the weight to gravity.

Feel free to make any sounds that feel good to you here.

And then allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm.

And just beginning to feel into the shape of the body just now.

Sensing into its length from head to toe.

Its width from side to side.

And its depth from front to back.

With each breath,

Just getting a little bit more of a sense of the fullness of the shape of this body.

The space it takes.

And really allowing it to take that space.

Inviting,

Even here at the beginning,

A bit of softening into space.

As we continue to drop down into ground.

And the breath can support us here.

So on the in breath,

Expanding,

Opening,

Stretching,

And softening into space.

On the out breath,

Dropping down,

Surrendering into the stillness of the ground.

And just opening to whatever's here.

So as we begin to feel into the body,

We'll notice sensations.

As well as emotions,

Thoughts,

Images,

Memories in the heart,

Mind.

And all of this we can welcome into the space of this practice.

Bringing an attitude of radical welcoming of whatever's here.

As it is.

As we go through this body scan,

We might find that there's different sensations,

Different parts of the body that are easier or harder to be with.

So I just invite you to get curious about what can support you.

To meet whatever's here.

With a compassionate,

Loving awareness.

Bring in anything that resources and supports you.

And also see what it's like to really allow yourself to notice and appreciate pleasant sensations.

You can allow yourself to enjoy them.

With anything neutral or numb or vague,

We can just stay curious about what's happening there.

How it is to stay with neutrality.

So let's start at the very top of the head,

Bringing awareness here.

Just feeling what sensations can be known just now.

At the very top of the head.

Feeling sensations at the sides and back of the head.

You might notice some pressure here if you're laying down.

Where the head meets the cushion.

Moving into the forehead,

Sensations here.

Feeling sensations in the eyebrows,

Eyelids.

Eyeballs and eye sockets.

And here we can sense physical sensations as well as visual sensations.

So even with the eyes closed,

You might notice shadow,

Light,

Colors,

Shapes.

Sensing into the impermanence of all of what's here,

Flashing in and out of awareness.

Diaphanous,

Fleeting.

Moving into the cheeks,

Sensations here.

The outside and inside of the nose and the mouth.

Nostrils,

Lips.

Sinuses.

Each breath,

Sensations changing here.

You might also be aware of smell or taste.

Noticing what can be felt in the jaw and chin.

And then for a few breaths,

Aware of the whole head,

Sensations here.

Sensation arising and passing away.

You can also be aware of sound.

Spending a little bit of time noticing vibration in the ears and anywhere else in the body.

You can feel the vibration of sound.

Gently allowing awareness to drop into the throat and neck.

Noticing sensations here.

Tops and backs of the shoulders.

You might notice a natural dropping down towards the earth here as we bring awareness to the shoulders,

A softening.

Now I invite you to become aware of the left upper arm.

Any sensations here.

The left elbow.

The right elbow.

And the left lower arm.

Feeling sensation.

Noticing what can be felt in the left wrist.

The left palm of the hand.

The back of the left hand.

Feeling the left thumb.

The left index finger.

The left middle finger.

The ring finger.

And the left pinky finger,

Sensations here.

Great.

Now becoming aware of the whole of the left hand and its fingers.

And the whole of the left arm,

Its wrist,

Hand and fingers.

Sensations in the whole of the left arm and hand.

Gently shifting awareness now to the upper right arm.

Feeling sensations in the right elbow.

And the right lower arm.

Sensations here.

Great.

Noticing the right wrist.

What can be felt in the palm of the right hand.

The back of the right hand.

Feeling sensations in the thumb of the right hand.

The right index finger.

The right middle finger.

The ring finger.

And the pinky finger.

And then becoming aware of the whole of the right arm,

Its wrist,

Hand and fingers.

Feeling sensations in the whole of the right arm and hand.

And then becoming aware of both arms and hands together as sensation.

Both arms and hands.

Feeling sensations here.

Inviting an awareness now of the upper chest.

Sensing into the rise and fall here of the breath.

Movement of the ribcage.

In the back,

The sides and the front.

Aware of sensations in the lower abdomen.

Soft organs and tissues of the belly.

And again,

The movement of the breath here.

Rising and falling.

Aware of the whole front of the torso.

As well as the sides and back.

Feeling sensations here.

And then for a few breaths,

Just aware of the whole of the upper body,

Torso,

Arms,

Neck and head.

Opening to all the different sensations coming and going here.

This diaphanous cloud of sensations we call the upper body.

And then beginning to drop the awareness down into the pelvis.

Sensations here.

And again,

The hips.

Feeling sensations in the groin.

And buttocks.

And then becoming aware of the left thigh.

Sensations here.

The left knee.

Feeling sensations.

Or perhaps the absence of sensation.

Noticing that.

Becoming aware of the lower left leg.

The calf and shin.

The left ankle.

Becoming aware of the sole of the left foot.

The top of the left foot.

And feeling sensations in the left toes.

And then for a few breaths,

Aware of the whole of the left leg,

Its ankle,

Foot and toes.

The whole of the left leg.

Sensations here.

And again.

Inviting an awareness now of the upper right leg.

The right thigh.

Sensing here.

Sensing into the right knee.

And feeling sensations in the lower right leg,

Its shin and calf.

The right ankle.

The sole of the right foot.

The top of the right foot.

And the right toes.

Feeling sensations here in the toes.

And then for a few breaths,

Aware of the whole of the right leg,

Its ankle,

Foot and toes.

The whole of the right leg.

And becoming aware of the whole of the lower body.

From hips to toes,

The whole of the lower body.

Sensations here coming and going.

Inviting now an awareness of the whole of the left side of the body.

The whole left side from head to toe.

Sensations here.

And then becoming aware of the whole right side of the body.

The whole right side from toe to head.

And then becoming aware of the whole left side of the body and the whole right side of the body together.

As sensations,

Right and left sides together.

Becoming aware now of the whole back plane of the body.

The whole back plane of the body supported by the ground.

Feeling sensations here.

Feeling into the back plane of the body.

And then feeling sensations along the whole front plane of the body.

From toes to head,

The whole front plane.

Sensations.

Becoming aware now of the whole back plane of the body and the whole front plane of the body together as sensation.

The whole back and front of the body together.

Now I invite you to become aware of a place in the body that feels hot or warm.

Somewhere in the body that feels relatively warm or hot.

Sensations of heat or warmth.

And then noticing a place in the body that feels cold or cool.

Somewhere where there's coldness or coolness in the body.

And now noticing both the warmth and the coolness together as sensations.

Feeling both hot and cold together.

As an invitation now to just notice if there's anywhere in the body where the sensations are unpleasant.

Or maybe even painful.

Painful or unpleasant sensations.

Seeing if we could meet these with compassion,

Warmth,

Acceptance.

And just get curious about how it actually is.

How is it?

The unpleasantness or pain.

Sensing now into any place that feels neutral or numb.

Where there's maybe a lack of sensation.

Or sensations that are neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

What's it like to explore these sensations or lack of sensations?

And finally an invitation to explore any sensations that are pleasant.

Easy to be with.

Even joyful.

Any pleasant sensations that are enjoyable.

How is it to stay with these,

To appreciate them,

Dwell within them?

And then inviting an opening to all of what's pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neutral.

A whole host of ever-changing sensations coming and going.

Beginning to tune into the impermanent and insubstantial nature of all of it.

Nothing here to hold on to or to push away.

To suppress or to numb to.

What's it like to hold it all in a warm,

Open awareness?

Just as it is.

So for the last five minutes of this body scan I won't lead us anymore.

I'll just let you keep exploring and then I'll gently guide us out in about five minutes.

Just sitting in a warm,

Open awareness of all of what's here.

Very gently starting to deepen the breath.

Sensitive to the whole body breathing in.

Sensitive to the whole body breathing out.

And then beginning to very gently start to wiggle fingers and toes.

Rotating wrists and ankles.

Stretching arms and legs.

And if you're laying down,

Just really gently rolling over to one side.

Staying here for a few breaths,

Just sensing what it's like to be on the side now.

After laying on your back.

If you're sitting,

You could open the eyes and just start to gently look around.

Taking in the space.

A bit of orienting.

Stretching.

And if you're laying down and when you feel ready,

Just very,

Very gently lifting yourself up to a seated position.

And just taking a few breaths there.

Just noticing what it's like to transition to sitting after laying down.

In a moment I'll ring a bell to mark the end of this practice.