Hi and welcome to the body scan meditation with Stephanie Zito.
I invite you to start out by finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
A place without distraction where you can take about 10 minutes just for you.
The purpose of the body scan is to get to know your body,
To kind of get to know the base points of how you feel in a given moment,
Where you might hold tension,
Where you find ease in your body,
And to use this information as a guide in future situations.
So when you practice the body scan you get better at knowing what starts to bubble up in a situation before you actually react.
So for example,
If you're with your husband or with your kids and you start to feel like you're getting tense or you're getting frustrated or upset,
When you practice the body scan you get better at knowing that this is about to happen before we erupt,
Before we yell or we say something that we don't mean or that we regret later.
So it's a very useful tool just to get to know what's happening in your body to gather information to help you moving forward.
Sometimes we even get information like,
I'm thirsty,
My body needs to be hydrated,
Or you notice a certain type of tension in your chest.
And as you practice the body scan and work through that,
You can begin to find the origins of that and heal it.
So we will begin here.
And as you close your eyes,
I invite you just to start by feeling your feet grounded towards the earth.
Notice your breathing.
Notice where you feel your inhales through your belly,
Your chest,
And your exhales.
We'll begin the body scan at the very top of our heads.
And as you scan through your body,
Bring curiosity to what you notice.
There are parts of your body where you might feel something and you might feel nothing.
And we take all that in just as information.
Without judgment,
It just is what it is.
You might notice a certain part of your body feels a quality like heavy or light.
Maybe you feel tension in that place or ease.
You may even feel sensations like tingling or you may feel your temperature rise.
Just take notice of these things.
Maybe some images come to mind or you can bring a quality to what you're feeling.
Like if you do feel some tension between your shoulder blades,
You can notice where else you might see that or feel that in a different situation.
Like that tension feels as tight as what might come to mind is like a vice or it might feel dry or wooden.
If you feel some lightness,
Perhaps you feel lightness like you are floating on a cloud or you are floating in the sky or you're on some cotton candy.
So you can bring some imagery to what you feel as well.
And starting with the very crown of your head,
Just take notice of what you sense there.
Notice what you sense across your hairline,
Across the very top of your head.
If you feel something or even nothing,
Just taking it in and draw your attention down to your forehead.
Notice what you feel through your forehead and back towards your temples.
Bring your mind's eye to your forehead.
How does your forehead feel?
And drop your attention down to your eyes.
How do your eyes feel as they are closed?
What do you feel back towards your eye sockets?
And wrap your attention to the very back of your head.
Bring your awareness down through your nose.
How does your breath feel with your inhales and exhales?
And draw your attention down to your jaw.
How do you hold your jaw?
How does your tongue feel?
Draw your awareness down into your throat.
Scan through the back of your neck.
Notice how your breath feels through your throat.
Drop your attention down into your shoulders.
Notice how you hold your shoulders.
Bring your awareness towards your right arm.
Notice what you feel through the top of your right shoulder.
What do you notice through your upper arm?
Draw your mind's eye to your elbow and your forearm.
Bring your attention to your wrist.
Notice your hand.
How it feels as it rests against your leg?
See if you can bring to your mind's eye each finger.
With a breath,
Bring your attention back up your arm,
Across your shoulders,
To your left arm.
Scan through your arm,
Noticing your upper arm,
Your elbow,
And your forearm.
Notice what you feel through your wrist and out through each finger.
Draw your attention back up your arm,
Back to your shoulders,
And begin scanning through your torso.
Notice your back body.
Drawing your attention down your spine,
Through your upper back.
How do the muscles feel on either side of your spine?
Notice your shoulder blades.
Scan down through your mid-back and the back of your rib cage.
Bring your mind's eye to your lower back and the muscles on either side of your spine.
Walk your attention back up your spine,
Just taking notice of anything in particular that stands out for you,
And bring your attention to your chest.
Notice your collarbones,
Your rib cage.
Notice the space inside your chest.
Can you feel your heartbeat?
Bring curiosity to what you feel,
And bring your attention just to your lower ribs and to the soft space that becomes your belly.
Notice the space above your belly button.
What can you notice here?
Can you feel your belly move with your breath?
Bring your attention to your lower belly below your belly button.
Notice what comes to mind here.
Any sensations?
Reminded if you might feel temperatures or even see images or emotions.
Walk your attention into your hips.
How are you holding your hips and your legs as they insert into your hip sockets?
Notice how your hips feel.
Notice your sit bones and your glutes.
How those touch points of feel against your chair.
And bring your attention into your legs,
Walking down through the right leg first.
Notice your upper leg.
Bring your mind's eye to your knee.
See your shin and calf,
What you feel there.
Mock your attention down to your ankle and take your time exploring your foot.
What you might feel through your heel,
Your arch,
The top of your foot,
And each toe.
Walk your mind's eye back up your leg,
Across your hips,
And down through your left leg.
Scan through each part,
Taking your time.
Take a moment to register what you've felt or not felt through your legs.
Take a breath present to your body in this moment.
As you take a full few deep breaths,
Bring to your mind's eye anything particular that stood out for you during your body scan.
Any sensations you noticed or even things you really couldn't feel at all.
Any temperatures,
Any colors,
Any images or emotions.
Just take that as information your body is giving you in this moment.
And as you practice again and explore deeper,
You can feel into what shifts,
What deepens,
What changes.
And that completes our body scan.
