MBSR Body Scan

This traditional bodyscan 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. As we reconnect with our body we connect with a vital system of knowledge that offers us support and guidance us from birth to death.

Transcript

The following meditation is a 40 minute body scan.

So if you're ready,

Let's begin by finding a comfortable place to lie down on our backs.

And if lying down on your back isn't comfortable,

It's fine to do this meditation sitting in an upright and dignified position in a chair with your feet on the floor.

And we'll begin this meditation with the sound of three bells just using our hearing as a way to bring us into this present moment.

Bells Bells Bells Bells So beginning this meditation by bringing our awareness to our full and entire body.

Noticing the posture of our body as well as the various places in which our body is making contact with the floor or whatever surface that we're resting against.

Bells Just allowing our awareness to rest on the sensations that are currently present in our entire body from the tips of our toes all the way up to the top of our head.

Bells Beginning to be aware of the stillness in our bodies and bringing our awareness to the sensations of stillness.

Bells Allowing the awareness of the stillness of our bodies and the posture of our bodies now to just fade into the backdrop and shifting our awareness to the movement of the breath.

And bringing our full awareness to this entire breath cycle.

Becoming aware of the sensations that occur during breathing.

The sensations of the air as it enters our nostrils.

The rise and fall of our chest.

The expansion and relaxation of our belly.

Just being with the sensations of breathing.

Remembering that during this meditation the breath can serve as an anchor or as a home base and if at any point it becomes too uncomfortable to focus your awareness on a particular body part you can always return to the breath.

Shifting your awareness from whatever body part we're on back to home base.

This can be the entire breath cycle or it can be a narrowing of awareness at the nostrils.

Or you can bring a narrow awareness deep inside the belly.

This is always available for you.

Now if you're ready we can bring this awareness all the way down into the left foot.

All the way down into the toes of the left foot.

Bringing your awareness to the left big toe as well as the other four toes and just noticing if there are any sensations that are currently present or arising.

This is just the simple act of noticing the sensations.

It's not even necessary to label them with a thought.

It's just to be with the sensations.

And if there are no sensations there at all that's okay too.

And now shifting our awareness from the toes on the left foot to the ball of the left foot and the arch and the heel.

Bringing our awareness here and noticing if there are any sensations.

It's possible to feel the sensation of pressure if your heel is touching the floor or if the entire bottom of your foot is touching the floor.

It's possible to notice this sensation of pressure.

Now wrapping our awareness from the bottom of our foot to the outside around to the top of the foot.

Just allowing our awareness to encompass our whole left foot.

Now we can shift our awareness from our left foot to the left ankle.

These bones,

This joint that connects our left foot to the rest of our left leg.

Noticing if you are aware of any sensations on the skin of the left ankle or even deeper within the joint.

And if there are no sensations that you are aware of that's okay too.

And now shifting our awareness again.

Moving up from the left ankle to the left calf and left shin.

This portion of the left leg between the ankle and the knee.

Again you may become aware of the sensation of pressure on your calf if you are lying down.

You may notice the sensation of fabric touching your skin on your shin.

Just being with what is present right now.

And if you've gone into thought or left this part of the body that's okay.

Just gently notice this and return to the left calf and shin.

Just breathing and bringing our awareness to this part of our body.

Now shifting again to the back of the left knee and wrapping our awareness to the outside of the left knee around to the front and to the inner side of our left knee.

Bringing our full awareness to the left knee.

What sensations are currently present if any.

Shifting our awareness again.

Moving up the left leg to the back of the thigh and the front of the thigh.

Just noticing if there are sensations that are on the back of the leg possibly different from the front.

Just noticing whatever sensations are present without judgment,

Without there needing to be something else.

Just simply letting what is be.

Now shifting our awareness again from this upper part of our left leg.

Broadening our awareness out to include the entire left leg.

From the tips of our toes all the way up to the hip joint of our left leg.

Broadening this awareness to include the entire left leg.

Just noticing what sensations are present if any right now in this moment.

And if you're ready we can now shift this broad attention narrowing this awareness again and bringing it all the way into the toes of the right foot.

Bringing awareness to the right big toe and to all four other toes on the right foot.

Becoming aware if there are any sensations present in this part of the body.

If you're barefoot you may become aware of the sensation of the air,

The coolness or the warmth.

It's possible to pick up on some vibrations or tinglings.

Or maybe there's no sensation you're detecting at all in the right toes.

And again that's okay too.

Now shifting our awareness from our right toes moving our awareness to the ball of the right foot and the arch of our right foot all the way to the heel of our right foot.

And expanding our awareness wrapping around to the front of the right foot.

And noticing.

Noticing the sensations that are present in the right foot.

Now moving our awareness from the right foot up to the right ankle and the bones of the right ankle,

The skin of the right ankle.

Just allowing your awareness to rest here for a moment.

Being with whatever sensation is present,

If any.

Moving now from the right ankle moving our awareness up the right leg to include the calf and the shin,

The area between the ankle and the knee.

And as your body has been still now for a little while,

One of the sensations that might be arising is one of discomfort.

Discomfort as well as pain are just different types of sensations.

And most of us are very conditioned to when we feel discomfort or pain to move away quickly.

And in this meditation I'm suggesting that you might just stay and investigate this sensation as well if it is arising.

Not to experience extreme discomfort or extreme pain,

But just to simply be with it because pain,

Discomfort,

All sensations arise and pass.

Change,

Morph,

Sometimes lessen,

Sometimes increase.

Just to notice what sensations are doing,

What is the dance.

And of course if it becomes too painful,

Too uncomfortable,

To make a slight movement in your body in a mindful way and notice the sensations that arise from that movement.

And now shifting our awareness again from this lower portion of our right leg to the right knee,

The back of the knee,

Moving around to the outside,

The top of the knee and the inner part of the knee.

Just noticing.

What's arising right now if anything.

Moving our awareness up the right leg to the back of the thigh and the front of the thigh,

This area between the right knee and the right hip.

Bringing our awareness fully here.

What's present.

And now shifting our awareness from this upper portion of our right leg to the entire right leg,

All the way from the toes on the right foot to the hip joint.

Just being with whatever is coming up or whatever is present now in the right leg.

Now shifting our awareness from this right leg,

Broadening to include the left leg so that our awareness is incorporating both of our legs.

It might be that you become aware of different sensations in different parts of your left and right legs.

Just being with both legs with whatever is arising.

Now moving from this broad awareness,

Narrowing in to the area of our body between our hip joints,

This pelvic bowl.

This area that holds our organs of sexuality,

Reproduction and elimination.

It's not uncommon for us to tense the muscles in this area of the body and you may just bring awareness here and notice if there's any tension here.

If there's anything you're holding on to that could simply just be.

Moving around to the back,

To our lower back.

This is an area of our body where many of us hold enormous tension.

Bringing our awareness to our lower back,

What's present right now?

Moving from our lower back to our mid back,

Bringing our awareness to our spinal column,

To the muscles of our mid back,

To the skin of our mid back.

Moving up to the top portion of our back,

The back sides of our shoulders.

Another place that is often tired and tension filled.

What are the sensations present in this moment?

Just right now.

Now moving our awareness again from the back to the front of our torso,

Narrowing our focus into the abdominal region.

It's here that we may be experiencing the sensation of breathing or there may be some sensations related to digestion that are present right now.

Or remembering that there may be no sensation and that's okay too.

There's not a right or wrong here.

Moving up the front of our torso into our chest region.

This portion of our torso that contains our heart and our lungs.

Bringing awareness to our chest.

What sensations are present right now?

This is another place that it's for many people easier to make contact with the breath.

What are the sensations associated with breath right now in the chest?

Moving our awareness from the chest region,

Broadening out to include our entire torso.

This portion of our body from our hips all the way up to our shoulders,

Including the back side and the front side.

Bringing our awareness here.

Just resting in this awareness.

These sensations.

Without judgment.

Simple awareness.

Now shifting our awareness from our entire torso,

Moving into our shoulders and moving our awareness down both of our arms all the way to the fingertips of our right and left hands.

It's possible to become aware of sensation shifting from right to left and back again or it's possible to experience sensation simultaneously.

Just noticing whatever is present right now in the fingertips of the right and left hands.

Shifting again,

Moving up into the hands,

The palms of the hands,

Our wrists on both the right and the left side,

The tops of our hands.

Just allowing your awareness to encompass both hands.

And being with whatever sensations are arising in your body,

In this part of your body.

Moving our awareness from our hands through our wrists into the forearms of both arms.

Sensing whatever is present on the skin as well as anything deeper within this body part,

These forearms.

Moving our awareness again up both of our forearms through our elbows and into the top portion of both our right and left arms.

Noticing any sensations that are here on the back side as well as the inner portion of our right and left arms.

And moving our awareness from this top portion of our right arm and this top portion of our left arm.

Broadening our awareness out to include both arms all the way from our fingertips up to our shoulder blades.

Both arms bringing our awareness to whatever sensations are present now in this moment.

Moving our awareness again now from our arms and moving into the back of our neck.

Wrapping our awareness of the front of the neck.

This is a place in our body where it's possible to notice the sensation of swallowing.

Bringing awareness to this part of our body that works quite hard each day holding our head up.

Just notice what's present right now in the position and in the posture you're in.

What sensations are here in the neck.

Moving our awareness from the neck into the face and narrowing our awareness into the jaw area.

This is another part of our body where it's not uncommon to hold tension.

Just bringing our awareness here now what's present in the jaw.

Shifting our awareness to the inside of our mouth beginning to be aware of our teeth and our tongue.

You might become aware of the placement of the tongue whether your teeth are together or slightly apart right now.

You might be aware of the sensation of moisture or dryness in your mouth.

As you bring awareness to your lips you might become aware of whether your lips are together or slightly apart.

Lips are a part of our body much like our fingertips that have a lot of nerve endings.

It's possible to be aware of sensations like tingling,

Pulsating.

What's currently present?

Moving our awareness from the interior of our mouth and our lips up our face into the nostrils and the nose.

Another place in our body where it's sometimes easier to detect the breath.

You might become aware of the sensation of smell is present right now and what's there.

Moving up our face bringing awareness to the eyes and to the eyeballs,

The eyelids,

The eyelashes.

Really seeing the face from the inside out.

It's possible to notice the sensation of light even with the eyes closed.

Moving our awareness from the eye region up to the forehead.

This is a place where some of us experience the sensation of pain in the form of headaches.

What's currently present in this moment?

Shifting our awareness to the top of the head.

If you have hair this might be a sensation that you experience as the hair makes contact with the scalp.

Or if there's no hair on top of your head it may be possible to notice the sensation of air as it touches your scalp.

Whatever's present without judgment just simply noticing bringing awareness to the top of your head.

Broadening this awareness from the top of your head to include the back of your head.

If you're lying down this may be a place that you come in contact again with the sensation of pressure.

Wrapping the awareness around to the sides of the head and coming into the awareness of the ears and to the sensation of hearing.

Just noticing what's present now in the ears.

Are you aware of any sensations on the skin,

On the earlobes?

Are there sounds you're picking up?

What's present?

Now shifting again to broaden the awareness to include the entire head.

All the way from the back of the neck and the front of the neck up the sides of the head including the ears,

The back of the head,

The front of the face.

Just bringing an awareness to this entire portion of our body.

Just resting in the awareness of the sensations of the head.

Broadening our awareness again moving from the awareness of the head down the shoulders down both the right and the left arms all the way into the fingertips.

Down the torso,

The front and the back down the pelvic bowl and the buttocks through the hips down the right and left legs all the way to the toes.

Broadening this awareness again to include your entire body.

Just resting here in the awareness of the sensations in your body,

This entire body right now in this moment.

There's the sensation of aliveness.

Notice the sensation of aliveness.

Whatever's present just allowing it to be as it is in this moment.

Resting in the awareness of this body,

The only body you have in this lifetime,

This body that allows you to interact with other bodies.

Carries you from point A to point B,

Holds your history,

Feeds you information and travels with you this whole lifetime.

And if you'd like to,

You can take a moment to just say a silent thank you.

Giving gratitude to this body,

Your body.

Resting in the awareness of awareness.

Awareness of all that is here,

All that is arising and passing in your body.

Bell Bell Bell Bell

Reviews

Nice voice, very good experience. Thank you

Thank you.

Soooo relaxing and quietly invigorating.

🙏🏻 thank you! I really connected with this practice.

Calm voice. Perfect body scan.

I just love that pause at the end before we say “thank you” to our body. 🙏🏼

Such peace. A feeling of stillness and solitude.

Thanks for the body scan. It was really helpful and thorough :)

Drifted away into sleep...

Thank you. Well paced and peaceful.