Body scan.
Choose a place where you will be warm and undisturbed and take time to settle comfortably lying down on the floor on a mat or on your bed.
Place your body in a fairly symmetrical posture with your back flat on the floor,
Your legs uncrossed and your arms by your side,
The palms of your hands facing upwards and close your eyes.
We are here in the now observing the body without any judgment and away from thoughts.
And taking some time now to arrive more fully where you are,
Tuning into a sense of the body as a whole,
Perhaps exploring a sense of touch where the body meets the floor or your bed underneath you,
Just exploring what is there,
Maybe a sense of coolness or warmth or softness or hardness.
And now settle your attention on the sensation of breathing.
You may be aware of the sensation of air passing the nostrils or maybe in the throat or chest or abdomen.
And if you like,
Take one or two deeper,
More intentional breaths,
Getting a sense of the movement of the breath in the body.
Maybe feeling a sense of slight rising in the chest or abdomen on the in-breath and a sense of gentle release on the out-breath,
Allowing your body to soften and to relax with each breath.
And remember that the goal here with this practice is not to feel any different.
It's not necessarily to feel more relaxed or calm.
This may happen or it may not.
The intention of our practice is as best you can to bring awareness to any sensations you detect as you focus your attention on each part of the body.
And most importantly,
To allow it to be however it is,
Moment by moment.
There is no right,
No wrong.
And now letting the breath just breathe as it does naturally and bring the focus or spotlight of your awareness down the left leg into the left foot and out to the toes of the left foot,
Focusing on the toes of the left foot,
Bringing a gentle curiosity to investigate the sensations you find there.
Perhaps noticing the sense of contact between the toes,
A sense of tingling,
Warmth or no particular sensation at all and that's fine.
Just being aware of what you are experiencing in the toes,
Whatever it is.
And now shifting your awareness to the sensations on the bottom of your left foot,
Bringing a gentle investigative awareness to the sole of the left foot,
The instep,
The heel.
Noticing the sensations where the heel comes in contact with the floor or the bed maybe.
And allowing your awareness now to expand into the rest of the left foot,
To the top of the left foot.
Maybe you can feel the fabric of your sock on your skin if you're wearing any or the coolness of the hair,
Brushing your skin.
And with the same gentle curiosity,
Moving up to the left ankle.
And shifting your focus upwards into the lower left leg.
Breathing and observing.
Moving up to the calf,
The shin,
The knee.
Perhaps feeling a sensation of touch while the calf meets the floor or the bed.
Perhaps sensing the way the skin stretches across the shin.
Feeling the long solidity of the shin bone.
Feeling the knee and the joints.
And when your mind wanders,
As it surely will,
That's just what minds do,
It's not a mistake or a fault.
Just notice where it has wandered to and just very kindly and gently bring your awareness back to the focus in your lower leg.
Feeling all the sensations that there are right now in the whole lower leg and knee,
Whatever it is.
And moving the spotlight of your awareness to your upper left leg,
The top of the thigh,
The underside of the thigh,
The inside and the outside of the thigh.
Continuing to bring awareness and a gentle curiosity to the physical sensations here.
And now expanding your awareness to your whole left leg.
Feeling the entire left leg.
And taking a deep breath in and on the breath out,
Letting go of this nice left leg and moving your awareness down to the right leg,
All the way into the toes of your right foot.
And again,
Feeling any sensations that might be there.
Maybe some cool air brushing your skin or the fabric of your sock,
Or maybe nothing at all and that's fine.
And shifting your focus to the bottom of your right foot,
Including the heel.
Keeping a gentle curiosity while you are breathing in the background.
And moving to the top of the right foot,
Noticing what is there,
If anything at all.
And upwards to the right ankle.
Our ankles and feet carry our whole body weight all day and we hardly pay attention to them.
Now is the time.
The right ankle.
And now placing your attention on your lower right leg,
The shin,
The calf and the knee.
Just becoming aware of the changing patterns of sensations along the whole length of the calf and inside the knee.
And moving up to your right thigh,
The bottom of the thigh,
The top of the thigh,
The sides.
Maybe feeling the fabric of your clothing on your skin,
Maybe feeling your muscles.
Maybe feeling some tingling here,
Warmth or coolness.
And expanding your awareness to your whole right leg,
Getting a sense of the right leg as a whole,
Sensing and feeling what is going on there.
And taking a deep breath in and on the out breath,
Letting go of the right leg.
And moving your attention to the pelvic area,
The groin,
The hips,
The buttock.
Maybe feeling the contact of the buttock with the floor or the bed beneath you.
Just sensing what is there in the pelvic area in this moment.
And now moving attention to the lower back,
And if you find there is any tension here in the lower back or anywhere else in the body as a matter of fact,
You might want to direct your breath into that area of intensity.
Breathing in all the way into that area of tension and exploring the sensations,
Letting them be and also letting your breath explore,
Soften and soothe this area.
And now shifting your attention to the middle of the back,
Breathing and observing.
And moving to the upper back,
Including the shoulder blades,
The space between the shoulder blades.
Just observing with gentle curiosity what sensations are there.
And just opening to whatever sensations there may be throughout the whole of the back,
Letting your breath flow all along your spine,
Noticing,
Accepting what is under the light of your awareness.
And on the next out breath,
Letting go entirely of your back.
And now moving your attention to the front of your body,
Feeling your abdomen,
Feeling the rise and fall of your belly with the movement of the breath,
Gently up and down.
Maybe sensing and feeling your organs in your abdomen doing their marvellous job without you knowing your stomach,
Your liver,
Your spleen.
And moving up to the chest,
Feeling your lungs expanding.
Maybe you can feel your heart beating in your chest,
Feeling your lungs expanding on the in breath and deflating on the out breath.
Maybe you can feel your heart beating.
Just notice and allow your chest to be.
And breathing into the whole front of your body.
And on the next out breath,
Letting go of your awareness in this area and bringing your focus into your hands.
Both hands together,
Starting with the fingers and thumbs.
Just breathing and observing the fingers and thumbs.
And then letting your attention move to the palm of your hands.
Noticing the sensations there you might feel warmth or tingling in the palms of your hands.
And moving your awareness now to the back of your hands.
And to the wrists.
Just noticing whatever sensation or known there may be in the wrists right now.
And then the forearms.
And the elbows.
And then the arms.
And the upper arms.
And now sensing and feeling both your entire arms,
Feeling their weight,
Feeling the muscles,
The bones.
And on the next exhalation,
Letting go of the arms.
And starting to breathe into your shoulders now.
And paying attention to your shoulders and the back of your neck.
Observing,
Maybe feeling the weight of your shoulders.
Letting them melt down into the floor or into your bed.
We all hold tensions in our shoulders because of the amount of time spent in front of a computer.
So take this opportunity to feel your shoulders and breathe into them and into your neck.
The neck that carries the heaviest parts of the body always working hard for you in the background.
Feel your throat,
Noticing the sensations in the throat.
Breathing and observing.
And bringing your awareness to your face now.
Beginning with the jaw,
The cheeks,
The tongue,
The lips,
The nose.
Maybe feeling air passing through the nose.
Maybe noticing that the air coming in is slightly cooler than the air coming out of the nostrils.
And bringing your awareness to your eyes,
Your eyelids and your eyeballs.
The area around the eyes,
The temples,
The eyebrows,
The space between the eyebrows,
The forehead and the rest of the head,
The scalp and the ears.
And sensing and feeling your entire head from neck up.
And taking a deep breath in on the next out breath,
Letting go of the head.
And now we've scanned the whole body,
We've brought awareness to every part of it and we have let go of it too.
Let's spend a few minutes being aware of the breath flowing freely in and out of the body.
Just breathing and sensing the body as a whole.
Staying with your breath and with your body.
And gently coming back into this room,
Maybe starting to listen to noises around us.
Noises from outside,
Noises from other rooms.
Feeling the whole weight of your body lying down and maybe starting to wriggle your fingers and toes,
Waking up your body from stillness.
And when you are ready,
In your own time,
Open your eyes and start re-engaging with the amazing world around you.
