20 min Body Scan (MBSR)

This meditation invites you to connect with your body as you bring awareness to each body part, opening to all sensations with curiosity and without judgment.

Transcript

This meditation is a 20 minute body scan.

Let's begin by first coming into a lying down posture on your back,

Legs extended out and arms by your sides.

This posture is referred to as corpse pose or Shavasana.

If you would prefer,

You can also take a comfortable seated posture either in a chair or on your cushion.

Over the course of the next 20 minutes,

You will have an opportunity to be in touch with your body just as it is.

You might consider this a vacation from self improvement,

From doing anything,

Really.

This is simply an opportunity to intentionally bring attention to the various parts of your body,

Ultimately connecting mind and body.

As you take this vacation from self improvement,

I also encourage you to notice if you move into any kind of judgment and then willingly release this judgment,

Returning to whatever body part we are on in that moment.

Now that you've found your preferred posture,

Bring your full awareness into your breath and into the breath cycle.

As you inhale,

Notice the air moving in through your nose,

Traveling down your windpipe into your lungs,

Your diaphragm contracting,

The rib cage moving outward and upward.

And as you exhale,

Your diaphragm relaxes and the air is forced out of your lungs and windpipe.

Take a few moments here to continue following the full breath,

In and out.

This breath,

And now this breath.

Noticing all of the various body sensations that are involved in just one breath.

And as we progress through this body scan,

Remember that the breath is always here for you,

An anchor or a home base.

If at any point focusing on a particular body part becomes too uncomfortable,

You can always return to the breath,

Grounding in the comfort of the breath as the present moment.

And now if you're ready,

I invite you to shift your attention all the way down into your left foot,

Bringing your full awareness to your heel,

To the sole of your foot,

The sides and the top of your foot,

And all of your toes.

And resting here for a moment to notice what sensations are present.

Pressure,

Temperature,

What's here.

And now shifting awareness from your left foot,

Moving up your left calf and shin all the way to your knee,

And taking a moment to rest your awareness in this lower part of your left leg.

And being with what can be known here.

And now moving up from your left knee,

Up your left thigh,

The sides of your thigh and the back of your thigh and the front,

All the way up to your left hip joint,

This upper part of the left leg.

Noticing perhaps any sensation that you can detect on the surface of your skin,

Perhaps as your clothing makes contact with this part of your leg or particular temperature that can be noticed,

Or perhaps sensation that is deeper inside the leg,

Whatever is here to be known.

And now expanding awareness from this left hip joint all the way down the left leg to the toes,

Bringing the full left leg into awareness and pausing here to see what's here right now.

And you might find that there are no real words to describe the sensation that arises,

And that's really okay.

The language of the body is sensation,

And it often doesn't have a conceptual counterpart.

So we learn to be with what's experienced in the body,

And right now in the left leg.

And now if you're ready,

We'll narrow awareness again and move all the way down to the right foot,

The right heel,

The sole of the right foot,

The sides and the top,

And all of the toes on the right foot,

Pausing here in stillness to allow whatever we can know,

Whatever sensations present themselves.

The pressure the heel makes with the floor,

Or if you're sitting perhaps the entire sole of the foot,

The sensation of pressure letting us know that we're grounded,

Not floating away or caving in,

But here.

Now allowing that right foot to fade into the backdrop and bringing our awareness into the shin and the calf,

All the way to the knee of the right leg.

So bringing awareness to this bottom portion,

Again noticing pressure,

Temperature,

Perhaps the sensations that our clothing makes as it makes contact with this part of the body,

Or something deeper inside,

Muscle,

Bone.

Now shifting awareness again and moving up from the right knee all the way to the right hip joint,

Including the back of the thigh and the sides of the thigh and the front.

Not needing any particular sensation to arise,

But simply resting and receiving whatever is here,

If anything.

Letting go of the idea that there's a right and a wrong and being with what is.

And now expanding awareness out again from the right hip joint all the way down to the toes on the right leg.

Just bringing the fullness of the right leg into our awareness and noticing whatever's here in your body in this moment.

And now letting go of this right leg and shifting our awareness into the pelvic bowl,

This area between our hip joints that includes the buttocks,

The organs that can be found here,

The organs of reproduction and elimination.

And breathing in and breathing out of this area,

Noticing what's here.

This is an area of the body that we often hold some tension in that isn't actually necessary for us to function.

And so you might just become aware of if there's any tension,

Seeing if we can relax the body a bit more.

And notice,

Notice the sensations that occur as the body is relaxed,

Open.

And shifting awareness from this pelvic bowl into the lower half of our torso.

So this area that includes the small of our back,

The sides and the front,

Our belly,

This area beneath the belly button,

The navel.

Perhaps detecting the breath again,

The sensations of the breath in this deepest point of the breath cycle that can be known to us.

And allowing that to fade into the background and bringing our awareness into this top half of our torso,

The mid and upper back,

The rib cage,

The chest,

This area that holds our heart and lungs.

And as we breathe in and out here,

What sensations are available to you?

What is it that you notice here in the body?

And now expanding awareness to include the entire torso,

Where we again are put in contact with the fullness of the breath cycle and all of the nuanced sensations that arise and pass with each breath and whatever other sensations might be available to us right now as well in the torso.

And now shifting awareness from the torso and moving to the left shoulder and down the left arm all the way into the fingers and the fingertips of the left hand.

The fingertips have lots of nerve endings and this is a place where we often can become aware of tingling,

Vibrating,

Pulsating.

What's here in your body right now?

What can be known?

And including the palm of the hand and the back of the hand and the wrist.

Up the forearm all the way to the elbow and all the way back up to the shoulder of the left arm.

So bringing into awareness the entire left arm and being with whatever can be known in this part of the body.

And now allowing it to fade into the background and bringing our awareness into the right shoulder all the way down the right arm into the fingers and fingertips of the right hand.

And pausing here to notice what sensations are available.

And including the palm of the right hand,

The back of the right hand,

The wrist,

Up the forearm all the way to the right shoulder to include the entire right arm.

Perhaps detecting different sensations in the right than in the left.

But being with whatever is here.

And now allowing the right arm to fade into the background and bringing awareness into the neck.

The front of the neck and the back of the neck.

Perhaps you can detect the sensation involved in swallowing.

And shifting awareness to the back of the head,

The side of the head,

Both the left and the right side.

The top of the head and the entire face.

So resting here in this full awareness of the head and the face.

The interior of the mouth.

And being with all that can be known right now in this part of the body.

And now expanding awareness again from the head and the face and the neck down the shoulders,

Down both arms,

Down the front and the back of the torso,

All the way down both legs to the bottoms of our feet.

And coming back in to our entire body,

Resting here fully in this mind-body connection.

And saying yes to whatever is present in your body right now.

Accepting,

Allowing,

And being with what can be known.

Just as it is.

Again.

Thanks for watching!

Reviews

Feel relaxed, and high on life; feel happy joyous and free

It’s feels good to listen to your lovely voice it sounds so good 😊

Just what I needed

This is wonderful body scan experience for me. Thank you ever so much!

Thanks, Stephanie

Lovely ! A detailed scan at the right speed, giving time to explore. 💜🙏

A solid, reliable and effective body scan. Thank you.

Lovely 🙏🏽❤️💚💜💙

Beautiful voice. Being with what can be known. Thank you.

Thank u for this meditative exercise. I have never scanned my body in this manner before and I found it to be very relaxing.