Body Scan (With Music)

A mindful body scan to help draw us out of the busy thinking mind, connect deeply with ourselves & the richness of the present moment.

Transcript

Welcome to the Stillpoint Meditation.

Today I'm going to be taking you through a body scan.

This type of mindfulness meditation can be really helpful in drawing us out of the busy thinking mind and reconnecting us with our bodies,

Leaving us hopefully feeling a little more calm,

More centered and grounded within ourselves.

It's also an opportunity for us to dive into the richness of the moment and deepen our understanding of ourselves and what's going on for us right now through a process of relaxed non-judgmental observation.

On a body scan we rotate our awareness through different parts of the body and we simply sit with and notice what is there as we do so.

So you might experience sensation,

Heat or coolness,

Tingling,

Itchiness,

Tightness,

Aches,

Sometimes even pain.

Well,

There may not be.

You might find that thoughts and emotions,

Memories are triggered.

On the other hand there may not be.

And that's okay too.

If there's a sense of nothingness then let that be there.

Notice that.

Because remember any mindfulness practice we're not trying to mold the experience or shape it,

Make it different from how it is.

Instead we're cultivating this idea of sitting in receptive awareness and allowing.

So let's begin by finding a position that's really comfortable.

You can lie down to do this meditation but if you're tired then maybe choose a more upright position as it's likely you'll fall asleep and we want to try and remain alert.

And spend a moment or two once you've found a comfortable shape just nestling into it.

Making little wriggles and micro adjustments to your posture so that you're even 10% more comfortable.

Good.

We're going to begin our practice by gathering up the scattered strands of awareness and beginning to draw them inside us.

So let's spend a few moments initially simply becoming aware of any sounds that we can hear in our environment.

So noticing sounds that are close by you and those that you can barely hear in the distance.

Listen to a sound but try not to get involved in the labeling of it.

Simply let it float in and then out of your field of awareness.

Keep listening to sounds for a few more moments rotating your attention in all directions moving from sound to sound to sound.

And in your listening of the sounds that make up this moment perhaps you also start to become aware of the field of stillness from which the sounds emerge.

So make that part of your listening to.

Notice the richness of that silence.

Good.

And as you're listening perhaps you're also becoming aware of the faintest whisper of sound from your breath.

Let's take our attention there now.

And perhaps you notice the breath at the nostrils or passing over the top lip.

Maybe you notice the breath in the body.

Wherever your attention is best captured that's where I want you to rest your awareness following the inhale noticing the exhale.

Remember not trying to shape the breath or control it in any way.

Just rest easily and If you find the mind has started to wander away that's okay.

Just redirect your attention your focus back to the breath.

Use it as an anchor to help you to stay present in this moment noticing the breath in the body the swell and expansion that happens with the breath in the gentle contraction and softening of the breath out or noticing the breath at the nostrils the upper lip.

Good.

Now that we've begun the process of drawing the awareness inside ourselves,

We're going to begin to rotate our attention throughout the body,

Noticing what we notice with a sense of relaxed,

Open curiosity.

And see as you rotate your awareness if you can have the sense of experiencing yourself from the inside out.

Let's start with the mouth.

Take your attention to your mouth,

So the inside of the mouth,

Feeling the teeth and the gums.

The roof of the mouth.

The tongue.

Inside of the cheeks.

Outside of the lips.

Inside of the lips.

The jaw.

The cheeks.

The nose.

The forehead.

Feeling if you can smooth out the brow and then notice what you notice.

Crown of the head.

The back of the head.

The neck.

The throat.

Now take the attention down into the shoulders,

This area of the body where we hold so much attention,

Let them soften and then take your awareness to your right shoulder.

The right arm,

To being with whatever comes up for you when you take your attention to each aspect of your right arm.

So the upper arm.

Elbow.

Lower arm.

Lower arm.

Now let the attention drift down into the right hand,

Noticing what happens if anything when you take your awareness to the right hand,

So feeling into the right thumb.

The fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Now gently wander the awareness back up the body,

Come to rest at the left shoulder,

Bringing a sense of receptive awareness that anything might come up for you here.

Now each aspect of the left arm,

Noticing what happens in the left upper arm.

Elbow.

Lower arm.

Now bringing that open curiosity to the left hand,

Experiencing yourself from the inside out,

Starting with the left thumb.

The fingers.

Palm of the hand.

Back of the hand.

Now gently,

Slowly let your awareness drift back up the body to the chest.

Rest your awareness in the chest.

So experiencing the right side of the chest.

Left side of the chest.

The front of the chest.

Back of the chest.

Now let your soft internal focus wash down the body and come to rest in the abdomen.

Now whatever is there to be there,

Remembering if there's nothing,

Notice nothing.

Drifting further down the body,

Come to rest at the pelvis,

Very base of your body,

Your seat.

Now take the attention into the right leg,

Noticing what happens as you place your awareness into the right thigh.

The knee.

The lower leg,

The calf and the shin bone.

The ankle.

The heel of the foot.

The sole of the foot.

Top of the foot.

The right toes.

Now let your attention slowly drift over to your left leg,

Noticing what you notice in the left thigh.

The knee.

The left lower leg,

So calf and shin bone.

Left ankle.

Heel.

Toe of the foot.

Top of the foot.

The toes.

Now gently draw your awareness back up the body and back into the right leg.

See if you can bring your awareness to the whole of the right leg at once.

The whole of the right leg,

Experiencing it from the inside out or having a sense of that.

Now take the attention back into the left leg,

Experience the left leg as a whole.

Both legs together now.

Experiencing,

Noticing,

Feeling both legs together.

Now let your soft internal gaze drift up the body and come to rest in the right arm.

Have an experience of the whole of the right arm.

Now the whole of the left arm.

Now take the attention into the torso.

Experience the whole of the chest,

The abdomen,

The torso as a whole.

Now see if you can hold your awareness,

Experience the entire right side of the body.

Right side of the face.

Right arm.

Right side of the torso.

Right leg.

Now take the awareness into the left side of the body.

Feel the whole of the left side of the body.

Good.

Now see if you can experience the body as a whole.

So rest your awareness in the whole body,

Head,

Arms,

Torso and legs.

Start to Keep the awareness in the whole body for a few moments longer,

Noticing what you notice with a sense of allowing and inviting.

Good,

Now letting go of the awareness in the whole body.

Allow yourself to just lie or sit in stillness,

To be and to breathe.

We're going to begin to slowly come back to the surface.

To take your attention back to your breath,

Reconnect with that effortless flow of breath in and out of the body.

When you feel ready to,

Take a couple of deeper inhales and exhales and feel the energy of the inhale spreading to every cell of your being,

Waking it up.

And let's start to initiate some small movements back into the body,

Some little wiggles and flickers of fingers and toes.

When larger movements feel possible and there's no rush at all to do this,

Take a nice big stretch.

And when you're ready to,

Start to rub the palms of the hands rapidly against one another,

Creating some heat from the friction.

And then place the warmed hands over the eyes,

Letting the heat soak into the eye sockets into the face.

Feel free to just sit with eyes closed for a few moments longer.

If you're ready to,

Begin to blink open the eyes behind the hands.

The practice of meditation is now complete.

Namaste.

Reviews

Loved it, nice soothing voice and relaxing background music..namasté

Soooo relaxing. I maybe felt asleep in the middle, but certainly come back to this meditation. Thank you🙏💫✨

Fabulous 🙏

Veey good. Calm, clear voice, lovely accent. Slow-paced. Detailed. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle. I will return to this body-scan again and again.

Edit.
Returned to this in the morning, not sleepy, laing down. Brought me to a very deep place of rest and relaxation. Love it!

Could you please another body scan, but longer? ^^ Or a long yoga with a long body scan like this? The body scan part of yoga nidras are usually bit too short for my taste...

Beautiful body scan with a heavenly voice. So much thanks.

A powerful session, and beautifully delivered. Thank you! 🌟

This was so lovely. I’m feeling really relaxed and my mind feels still and calm. 🤍 Thank you!

A really thoughtfully done body scan. Music was unobtrusive and the directions were gradual and progressed at a slow pace through the body.

Very soothing voice and even progress through the body scan. Very nice!

This session was so powerful and strong, I thought I was in different world while meditating.
I'm so grateful for this session and your efforts.
Thank you

Wow, so connected to this meditation. Thank you

Very good thanks 🧘‍♀️👌

So relaxing 🧘🏼‍♀️

loved the pace, the music, the tone thank you

Perfect. Very detailed body scan with subtle music and a soothing voice. Thank you.

One of my favorites

Very nice no-frills body scan with soft non-intrusive background music. Pleasant voice and pacing.

The unconditional acceptance of "what is" feels so relaxing. Namaste.

Soooo good! Relaxing which was what I needed after travel.