Body Scan

The body scan was popularised by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1980's and is an adaption of ancient relaxation and awareness methods. It forms a major part of modern day mindfulness and is often used for stress reduction and calm.

Transcript

Good morning,

Dear friends,

Welcome back.

It's Mark here.

This practice is called the famous body scan.

Why is it famous?

Well,

It was introduced into secular mindfulness back in the 1980s by Dr.

John Kabat-Zinn,

Who made it famous,

By the way,

And had tremendous results with stress reduction and pain management with his delegates.

I find it especially useful during the day to practice the body scan,

Whether lying down in your bed or on the on a floor with a mat,

Or even sitting,

It's fine.

It's an adaption from an ancient practice called Yoga Nidra,

Which is thousands of years old,

And it promotes deep relaxation.

What Dr.

John discovered is that it also brings insight and promotes equanimity in our mind,

Which is a massive power for mental wellness.

It balances our body and boosts our immune system.

I find it especially useful at night if I'm struggling to sleep,

Because I can easily switch off my worrying mind by just moving my awareness into my body,

And before I know it,

I'm in a deep sleep.

So let's enjoy this practice together,

Dear friends,

Choosing your position,

Whether it's lying down or sitting.

You may even be sitting cross-legged,

That's fine.

Let's enjoy three beautiful deep breaths as we start this practice,

Breathing in through the nose,

Nice and deeply,

And breathing slowly out the nose with control.

Good,

Another deep breath in through the nose,

Slowly exhaling with control out the nostrils once again,

And last big breath in through the nostrils,

Opening the mouth,

Gently sigh the breath out.

Coming now to a natural,

Normal breath at the nostrils if you can.

There may be a lot of thoughts,

Emotions that are swimming around your mind at the moment,

We're going to let go of them now,

Gently,

By bringing our awareness to our feet.

And your toes,

Give them a little wiggle,

Just to know they're there.

And you can stop wiggling,

Bringing your attention into your feet,

Your soles,

The tops of your feet.

And how are my feet feeling today?

Is there a sensation there,

Or a lack of sensation?

And I give gratitude to my feet for what they do,

Where they carry me,

My journey.

Breathing in and moving our awareness into the shins and the calves,

And just observing how are our shins and calves today.

I am mindful of my shins and my calves,

With non-judgment and open-heartedness for who I am.

Breathing in,

Moving your awareness into your knees,

And just scanning the knees.

There may be some history there of injury.

We let go of any reactivity or judgment,

And experience our knees for what they are.

Breathing into the legs,

Your quads,

Your hamstrings,

Down deep into the femur.

How are my legs today?

With gratitude for my legs,

I have this intimate connection with them,

Deeply grateful for what they do.

Shining the light of your awareness into your buttocks,

And the contact with the ground underneath you,

And noticing any sensation or lack of.

Gently moving that awareness into the pelvic region and the reproductive organs.

Shining the light of your mindfulness in this region,

Promoting good health,

Letting go of distracting thoughts and emotions or external distractions as we do this.

They're there,

But we keep bringing our mind back into the body,

Uniting our mind and our body.

This is the true meaning of the word yoga.

Now gently moving your awareness on the in-breath to the lower back,

A place where a lot of pain or tension could be stored.

In healing practices,

We know that just by bringing awareness into our body,

The body wakes up.

It heals.

It's the miracle of mindfulness.

How is the lower back feeling today?

Scanning the region for any feeling or non-feeling.

Moving that awareness into the abdomen,

The stomach area.

And as you breathe in,

You can feel your tummy rise and fall on the exhalation.

Feel the breath in the body as you breathe.

We're aware of our internal organs,

Digestive system working,

Our liver,

Our kidneys,

Our spleen.

You might not know where they all are,

And that's okay.

With gratitude for what they do and how they work,

We just observe.

Is there any feeling in our abdomen today?

Moving your awareness into the rest of your back,

Moving up the spine one vertebrae at a time.

Feeling the contact with your back against the seat or the ground underneath you,

Which unconditionally supports you.

Observe how the back is feeling,

And if there's any pain,

Breathe into that,

Release and open.

And we rest with non-judgment and open-heartedness for our backs.

Once again,

Shifting your mindful awareness into the chest region.

Moving across the ribcage,

Taking a breath and feel the chest rise and fall on the out-breath.

And as you breathe,

Feeling the breath in the body in the chest.

And as you breathe,

Can you feel your heart beating in your chest?

If not,

That's okay.

My dear heart,

Thank you for working for me.

Bringing your awareness now into the shoulders,

A place where a lot of tension is stored.

But as we become mindful of our bodies,

Our bodies relax and soften and release.

How are the shoulders feeling?

Is there a sensation or a lack of sensation?

Cascading the sun of your awareness down into the arms,

The biceps,

Triceps,

Down into the bone.

How are my arms feeling?

Are they energized or tired?

Is there any sensation or lack of sensation?

How are my elbows feeling?

Just scanning the elbows and the arms down into the forearms.

The sun of your awareness today,

Keeping you in the present moment,

Because this is where we're safe and this is where we find happiness,

Is in the now and in our bodies.

And we become embodied.

Moving that awareness then into your hands and you can open your hands to just feel the strength of them being open.

How are my hands feeling today?

And we contemplate all the work that our hands do,

All the things we do and how we use our hands.

We write,

We type,

We build,

We plant,

We wipe away tears,

We caress,

We prepare food lovingly.

All the things that your hands do we are grateful for.

Scanning the fingers one by one,

Moving your awareness back through the arms into the neck.

We may feel our breath travel through our windpipe.

Moving that awareness into the jaw,

Softening the jaw,

Relaxing the jaw.

Often when we stress we clench,

Soften,

Soften.

Being aware of the chin and your mouth and your teeth and your tongue.

As you breathe,

You're aware of the air coming in at the nostrils,

Being aware of the nose and your breath.

Breathing once again into the body,

Soften the cheekbones,

Awareness of our ears and what we hear,

The miracle of sound.

Being aware of our eyes,

How are our eyes feeling today?

And contemplating the miracle of sight.

Soften that space between your brow,

Soften your brow,

Soften the forehead.

Moving that awareness into the scalp region,

Your hair if you have hair.

And then into your brain,

This remarkable machine,

The most advanced machine in the universe.

80 billion neural connections,

So much energy.

20% of our body's energy is in the brain,

What makes us human.

How is my brain today?

Then concentrating all of our awareness at the top of the head,

The crown.

And finally being aware of the entire body and the skin that surrounds our body,

Protecting us.

Full body awareness.

And learning from our skin when we get hurt,

We get bruised or cut,

But we heal.

The skin teaches us how to be resilient.

And now we end this practice with a lovely deep inhalation,

Breathing in through the nostrils and exhaling it out the mouth.

If you're lying down,

You may want to roll over onto your right side and in your own time,

Pushing yourself back up.

And give yourself a pat on your back for enjoying this practice with me today.

This is such a dynamic and wonderful process that brings amazing benefits and good mental health.

And allows us to speak from our body,

Connect with our body,

Be more with our bodies.

Our bodies are not just something that carries our head around.

It is intelligent,

It is alive and can teach us so many beautiful lessons,

Friends.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe and live in peace.

Reviews

Thank you for your meditation session I am very relaxed and happy 😊 for my health and wellbeing