Bring Gentle Curiosity To The Body

This is a 40-minute body scan suitable for use as part of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR) or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy course (MBCT). Pay attention to different parts of the body in turn, bringing friendly curiosity to your experience just as it is.

Transcript

This is a guided body scan.

So finding a place on a mat or a rug or maybe your bed and covering yourself with a blanket for warmth if needed.

Making sure that you won't be disturbed.

And making sure you feel comfortable at the start of the practice.

If you feel sleepy you may like to try doing the practice with your eyes open or maybe in a sitting position.

The posture you adopt is not so important as the attitudes you bring to the practice.

And openness and curiosity to your experience as it is in this moment.

Seeing if it's possible to let go of wanting things to be a certain way.

And allowing them to be just as they are.

Meeting them with kindness and gentleness.

So beginning the practice by taking your awareness to the body as a whole lying here.

Noticing all the places where the body is in contact with the floor.

Noticing the sensation of contact.

And noticing all the space the body takes up.

And then when you're ready bringing your awareness to your breathing.

Following the movements of the air as the breath enters and leaves your body.

Perhaps becoming aware of the breath sensations at the nostrils.

Or maybe in the chest area.

Or perhaps right down in the belly.

Feeling the abdominal wall gently rise as you inhale and release as you exhale.

Sustaining your awareness with the breath for a few more breaths.

And then when you're ready with the next breath moving your awareness from the set breath sensations in the belly.

All the way down the left leg and into the left foot.

And into the big toe of the left foot.

And noticing what sensations are here right now.

Perhaps sensations of warmth or coolness.

Maybe sensations of sock against skin.

Perhaps no sensations at all.

And if this is the case then simply registering a blank.

And now moving the awareness to the left little toe.

What sensations are here?

And now becoming aware of all the toes in between.

Holding all the sensations of the toes on the left foot in your awareness.

Breathing with them.

And with the next breath letting go of the toes of the left foot.

And now exploring the sensations in the sole of the left foot.

The heel,

The instep,

The ball of the foot.

Being present to whatever is here.

And now with the next breath letting go of the sole of the left foot.

And now moving the attention to the top of the left foot and the left ankle.

Aware of sensations on the surface of the skin.

And deep inside the muscles and tendons and the joint.

And with the next breath letting go of the top of the left foot and the ankle.

And now moving and focusing the attention on the left lower leg.

The calf at the back,

The shin bone at the front.

Tuning in to whatever is here right now.

And then with the next breath letting go of the left lower leg.

And now exploring the left knee,

The soft back of the knee.

The bony front of the knee.

The sides of the knee.

Bringing a gentle awareness to whatever is here.

And if the mind drifts off,

Just noticing where the mind has gone to.

And gently and kindly bringing it back to the place we're exploring.

Which at the moment is the left knee.

So with the next breath letting go of the left knee.

And now moving our awareness to the top of the left leg.

The thigh.

Front and back.

What sensations are here?

Listening in.

And then with the next breath expanding the awareness to include now the whole of the left leg and the foot and the toes.

And if you'd like to,

Exploring this imaginative type of breathing whereby you could breathe in all the way down the left leg and into the foot and the toes.

And then breathe out from the toes back up the leg and out through the nose.

Trying this for a few breaths.

And then with the next breath letting go of the left leg as a whole.

And moving the awareness across the pelvis and then down the right leg into the right foot and into the big toe of the right foot.

Sensing.

What sensations are here right now?

And then moving the awareness to the right little toe and the toes in between.

Breathing with the sensations here.

And with the next breath letting go of the right toes.

And moving the awareness to the sole of the right foot and the top of the right foot.

Holding the whole of the right foot in our awareness right now.

Sensing.

What sensations are here inside and out?

And then with the next breath letting go of the right foot.

Now shifting the attention into the right ankle.

What sensations are here?

Noticing if they stay the same or if they move and change.

Sustaining our awareness as best we can.

And then with the next breath letting go of the right ankle.

And now moving the awareness to the right lower leg.

Tuning in.

Breathing with the sensations present.

And if we notice feelings coming up,

Maybe boredom or irritation.

Just noticing whatever arises.

And then gently and kindly moving the awareness back to the place we're exploring.

Which at the moment is the right lower leg.

And then with the next breath letting go of the right lower leg.

And now moving the attention to the right knee.

Bringing a kind curiosity to whatever is here.

And then with the next breath letting go of the right knee.

And now moving our awareness into the right upper leg.

The big thigh muscles,

The front and the back.

And then when you're ready,

Expanding the awareness from the right thigh back out to the right leg as a whole.

Including the right foot and toes.

And if you'd like to,

Returning to that type of breathing where we could breathe in all the way down into the right leg and foot and toes.

And then breathe out from the toes back up through the leg and out through the nose.

Doing this for a few more breaths if you choose to.

And then when you're ready,

Letting go of the right leg as a whole.

And now moving your awareness to the pelvis.

Starting at the back with the buttocks and the sacrum against the floor.

And then expanding your awareness to include the hip joints.

What sensations are here?

And then becoming aware of the front of the pelvis.

The pubic bone.

The groins.

The pelvic floor.

Cradling this whole area in our awareness.

Working with the sensations that are present.

And then with the next breath,

Letting go of the pelvis.

And shifting the awareness to the low back.

Often an area where tension resides.

So now bringing this kind attention and noticing what sensations are here.

Allowing them to be just as they are.

And then beginning with them.

And if the mind drifts off,

Just noticing where it goes.

And then gently and kindly bringing it back.

Back to the low back area.

Seeing sensations here.

And then with the next breath.

Expanding the awareness from the low back up into the mid back.

What sensations are here?

Just noticing contact between the back and the floor.

Sensations inside the body.

Being curious.

Attending as best we can.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the low and the mid back.

And moving our awareness now to the upper back and the shoulders.

What sensations are here?

Bringing points of contact between the body and the floor.

Sensations at the back of the shoulders.

And in between the shoulder blades.

Seeing this friendly curiosity.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the upper back.

And moving our attention now to the front of the body.

And down into the belly.

What sensations are here?

Perhaps noticing the sensations of breathing.

The expansion and release of the abdominal wall.

Maybe connecting with the sensations of digestion.

Or any holding or bracing that may be present.

Breathing with it.

And allowing.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the belly.

And moving the awareness up to the solar plexus.

Just under the rib cage at the front of the body.

What sensations are here?

Breathing with them.

Sustaining our attention as best we can.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the solar plexus.

And now moving the awareness up into the chest and the heart area.

Sensing all the sensations that are already here to be felt.

Perhaps becoming aware of the sensations in the rib cage.

With a gentle expansion and release.

Becoming aware of sensations in the chest wall.

The breasts and pecs.

Perhaps becoming aware of sensations inside the body.

The beating of your heart.

Cradling it all in your attention.

With kindness and gentleness.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the chest area.

And moving the attention now down to both hands.

And into the palms of both hands.

What sensations are here?

Noticing any movements and changes.

From one moment to the next.

And then with the next breath.

Expanding the awareness to include the fingers.

And the backs of the hands.

Holding the whole of both hands in your awareness right now.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the hands.

And now exploring both wrists.

Sensations on the surface of the skin.

And inside the wrists.

The bones,

Muscles and tendons.

And then with the next breath.

Expanding the awareness from the wrists.

To include the whole of both forearms.

Sensing directly.

Whatever is here right now.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the wrists and forearms.

And now exploring both elbow joints.

What sensations are here?

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the elbows.

And now moving and focusing the attention.

On both upper arms.

Exploring all the sensations that are here.

And then moving the awareness to the shoulders.

The fronts and sides and back of the shoulders.

Holding both upper arms and shoulders in your awareness right now.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the upper arms and shoulders.

And now taking your awareness to the muscles at the back of the neck.

What sensations are here?

Another area where we often store tension in the body.

So bringing this gentle kindness.

With our curiosity.

Breathing with the sensations that are present.

And then with the next breath.

Moving the awareness to the front of the neck.

And to the flow of air through the throat.

Expanding your awareness to include the whole of the neck right now.

And then with the next breath.

Letting go of the neck.

And if you'd like to.

Now exploring.

Breathing down into both arms.

All the way down to the hands and fingers.

On the in breath.

And breathing up out from the hands up the arms.

On the out breath.

Continuing for a few more breaths if you'd like to.

And now letting go of both arms and neck.

And moving the awareness into the face.

Beginning by exploring the sensations in the jaw.

From the angle of the jaw just underneath the ears.

All the way round to the front.

To the chin.

What sensations are here?

And with the next breath.

Exploring sensations around the mouth.

And the lips.

And then noticing if the mouth is open or closed.

And where the tongue lies in the mouth.

What sensations are here?

And now moving the attention to the cheeks.

And the ears.

Noticing sensations inside the ears.

And outside the ears.

And now exploring sensations in the nose.

And the nostrils.

Noticing the flow of air through the nostrils.

Connecting with the sensations here.

And now moving our awareness to the eyes.

And the muscles around the eyes.

Noticing sensations of the eyelids.

And the eyebrows.

And the space between the eyebrows.

And now moving our awareness to the forehead.

What sensations are here right now?

And now exploring the temples.

And the whole of the scalp.

And now expanding your awareness to include the whole of the head.

The face and the scalp.

Inside and out.

Breathing with the sensations that are present.

And if you'd like to for a few breaths exploring breathing into the face and the head and the scalp.

And then out from the face and the head and the scalp.

Filling this area with our awareness.

And now letting go of the head.

And moving your attention back out to the body as a whole.

Sitting or lying here.

Aware of sensations throughout the body.

And then if you'd like to,

Exploring this imaginative type of breathing.

So taking your awareness up to the crown of the head.

And imagining that you could breathe in through the crown of the head.

All the way down into the belly.

And then breathe out from the belly down the legs.

And out through the soles of the feet.

And then breathe in from the soles of the feet up the legs into the belly.

And breathe out from the belly up through the body and out through the crown of the head.

Imagining breathing in through the crown of the head down into the belly.

Breathing out from the belly down the legs and out through the soles of the feet.

Breathing in through the soles of the feet up to the belly.

Breathing out from the belly up through the torso and out through the crown of the head.

And now letting go of this imaginative type of breathing.

And bringing your awareness back to the breath.

Back to the sensations of the breath down in the belly.

Breathing present with the body as a whole and all the sensations that are here.

Being present with our experience just as it is.

Allowing it to be fully present moment to moment and breath by breath.

Breathing out through the soles of the feet.

Breathing out through the soles of the feet.

Breathing out through the soles of the feet.

Breathing out through the soles of the feet.