Body Awareness

Enjoy this guided body scan I created to help you improve your body awareness. Shift your internal default setting from reacting all the time to more of a reflective perspective. This practice helps us use our body as a barometer, to feel and help you manage you emotions.

Transcript

We tend not to pay attention to what's happening in our bodies all that much.

Sometimes we're just too busy to notice the subtle warning signs of any stress.

Even when we are aware of the stress or the stimulus,

We tend to ignore it,

Pretending that we can power through it,

Or just try to push it away until we feel more comfortable.

The body scan meditation we're going to do today helps our minds slow down and become more relaxed so we can focus easier on what's really important.

It helps us shift our attention away from our thoughts about the past and our worries about the future.

It helps dissolve the physical stress and emotion that is sometimes trapped within our body.

This open,

Spacious awareness we're trying to enliven the body,

Reconnect it with the mind.

Each time you do this type of meditation,

You're really taking an active and powerful role in improving your health.

While you're listening to me,

I think it's very important that you do your best to stay awake the entire time.

This is kind of designed to help you to get a very deep relaxation.

It's best to lay down on a mat if you can,

And do it in a place that's warm and secure,

With nothing to worry about.

Your awareness of what's really going on is the most important,

And it's far more important than your posture.

Laying down helps us get us in the most comfortable position.

Let's get started.

I want you to take a deep breath in,

And exhale out.

Take another deep breath in,

And let it go.

I want you to become aware of your breath.

I want you to notice that you're breathing.

Become aware of the breath entering the body,

How it comes in through the nostrils,

Rises up in the chest and fills up your abdomen,

And then releases.

The breath kind of falls out all on its own,

Self-force.

In fact,

You're being breathed.

I just want you to simply observe your breath lightly.

Be curious about it.

Just know at any point during this meditation,

If there's a feeling or emotion that comes up that's too strong,

That this is our home base.

We can always bring our attention lightly back to the breath.

I want you to bring your attention almost as if you're going to shine a flashlight on your left foot.

We're shining our flashlight of awareness on our left foot,

And we're noticing how it feels.

Are there any sensations present?

Can you feel the air between your toes?

You may notice some sensations of warmth or coolness.

You might even feel this vibrational quality or tingling.

Whatever is present,

Whatever comes into your awareness,

Just accept it.

It's perfectly fine if there's no feeling whatsoever in that left foot.

We don't have to move our feet around to notice if it's still there.

Put your awareness to the top of that left foot.

Can you feel the air on the top of your foot?

To the sole of your foot.

Can you feel the pressure of the earth underneath the sole of your foot?

Now I'd like you to imagine you're sending a breath all the way down to that left foot.

On the next inhale,

I want you to imagine you're breathing in from your toes,

Watching your toes expand with air and letting go,

Almost as if the toes themselves were doing the breathing.

Now we can move our attention to our ankle,

Just noticing whatever sensation might be present.

To your shin.

See if you can wrap your awareness around to include the bottom of your left leg.

Now see if you can include the ankle,

The shin,

The bottom of the leg,

And the knee.

Is there any pressure of the calf being supported by the earth?

Now on the next inhale,

Let's imagine we can breathe in from our feet all the way up to our knee.

Just breathing in from that area and breathing out.

Now we'll shine that flashlight of attention to our thigh.

Just notice what's present right now.

As we mindfully explore this area,

Letting whatever you feel be.

And noticing if the thigh makes contact with the mat.

And if you like,

You can breathe into the top of your leg.

And on the exhale,

As you settle into relaxation,

I want you to send that air all the way down to the left toes.

Breathing in from the toes now,

Sending that energy all the way up to your left hip.

And again all the way down.

Now we can bring our attention to the base of our spine,

The very section of our sitting bones.

And noticing as we move into this area how you feel.

You can introduce attitudes of mindfulness by just becoming aware if there's stress or tension.

You can see if you can let it be or just adjust in your position.

And on the next inhale we'll send all of our energy all the way down to our right toes.

And we can become aware of our right foot.

And on the exhale remember we're still looking or rather experiencing that relaxation quality.

We're not trying to force any feeling into those right toes,

But maybe we notice the air around the toes.

You can include the arch,

The top of the foot,

And the ankle.

And on that next inhale you can imagine breathing in from your toes,

Filling up your foot and exhaling as the air enters.

You can bring our awareness to our ankle.

Can you feel any heat?

Is there any stress or tension?

To the calf.

Do you notice some pressure?

Or maybe that same vibrational quality between the calf and the mat?

Can you feel the air on your knee?

Maybe the fabric?

And on the next inhale I want you to imagine that air coming in through the toes and now filling up all the way to your knee.

And on the exhale we're letting it all go back out the base of the foot.

And now we'll slide that tension all the way up to our thigh.

And you have some awareness deep in your thigh.

And on the next inhale we'll breathe in from our feet all the way up into our right hip.

And then sending that energy back out our foot.

And we'll bring our awareness to our lower back.

Base of our spine,

Maybe a little bit higher towards the stomach.

And usually when we get to the midsection of our body we start to experience some stronger sensations and more awareness.

So you can choose to follow along or you can always go back to the breath.

You can choose to put your attention anywhere.

And you feel any awareness in the midsection of your back.

Maybe the ribs touching the floor.

The pressure from the spine.

Is there a sense of loosening up on your exhales?

And if you like you can practice breathing in to the middle of your back.

And then imagining the exhale breathing out.

And then shining that flashlight up all the way to the shoulder blades.

Aware of whatever sensation is present right now.

Is there stress or any tension?

Is it uncomfortable?

Or maybe there's no sensation at all.

We're just attending to whatever is present.

Whatever you're feeling is what you're feeling.

So just let it be.

I will wrap our awareness to include our chest.

Maybe feel the rise and the falling of the breath.

Some expansion.

Some pressure.

Maybe by now it's a gentle rising.

Maybe you're noticing that this is happening all by itself.

You don't have to do anything.

You can just relax and observe it.

Now I'd like you to imagine that next inhale coming in through the center of your chest.

And then back out through the chest.

We'll bring our awareness on the next inhale.

It will come in through the nostrils and then we'll send that air all the way down both of our hands.

And then rest our attention in our fingertips.

Is there any awareness or vibrational quality here?

Can you notice the individual fingers?

Can you feel the back of your hands on the mat or the air on the back of your skin?

Is there heat or coolness in the palm of your hand?

Just notice whatever is present as we slide our attention up to our elbows.

To our upper arms and our shoulders.

To the neck.

And wrapping around to the throat.

Do you have any awareness in your throat area?

Is there any temperature?

Do you feel loose in the neck area?

Is it tight?

And on the next inhale we'll breathe in through the neck and out through the neck.

Now we'll notice the muscles along the jaw bone all the way to the back of our ears.

Is the jaw tight?

Can you notice your ears?

Is there any temperature here?

Can we place some awareness on our lips?

Our teeth?

The roof of our mouth?

Deep inside the nostrils?

To the eyes?

The eyelids,

Do they feel heavy?

Do they feel warm?

Can you feel deep within your eyes?

Just as if you're experiencing the face from the inside.

To the forehead.

To the temples.

And then finally the very top of our head.

On the next inhale I want you to imagine there's a very small hole about the size of a quarter.

Much like the blow hole of a whale.

And it can open and close as you breathe.

So on the next inhale you're going to bring all of that air into the very top of your head.

And when you exhale you're going to send it all the way down out to the soles of your feet.

So let's let our awareness just drift.

Allowing this calm energy to wash all over us.

Giving gratitude to yourself for experiencing the body just as it is.

And gratitude for taking the time for you to tune into this relaxed awareness.

Because this relaxed awareness is available to us anytime.

And we can get this deep sense of balance every time we lay down to do the body scan.

And what I hope you find outside of meditation is there's more spaces.

So we can make appropriate choices on how to live a more integrated and happier life.

As you start to deepen your awareness back into the space you can gently roll to one side.

And slowly and mindfully move back into the activities of your day.

Reviews

Excellent meditation - so helpful!

Really wonderful. Thanks Andy.

Very relaxing bodyscan when laying down. Helps me to allow nervepain and regain energy.
Only the audio quality is not that great