10 Minute Body Scan

A simple mindful body scan based on the MBCT and MBSR teachings. This practice is ideally done lying down, place support under your knees to support your lower back. There is no right way of doing this meditation, listen to my guidance only if it feels right for you.

Transcript

So, Taking a moment to arrive and settle as we begin the body scan. So, To begin with, I invite you to bring your attention to your breath, Not changing the rhythm in any way, Simply breathing in and breathing out. And I invite you to find a point within the breath that's most vivid for you today, And you can use this as your anchor within the practice. If you lose your way, Or get distracted, Or reach a part of the body that you don't want to explore today, The breath is always there to guide you and ground you into the present moment. And now expanding your attention away from the breath to include all of the body and the points of contact that you're making with the earth. And now I invite you to bring your attention to your left and your right leg and your feet. Noticing the feet, Shining the spotlight of your attention around your feet. What can you notice here? The arches, The tops of the feet. And then moving your attention away from the feet to the ankles. What can you notice here, With a childlike curiosity? And now narrowing your attention away from the ankles and expanding this awareness to the lower leg, Between the knee joint and the ankle joint, And including the knee in your exploration. Bringing a torch beam of awareness to what you notice, Coolness, Lightness, Tingling, The feel of fabric, Throbbing, Pulsing. Remembering that there's no right way of doing this practice, Following my guidance only if it feels right for you, And that the breath is always there as an anchor. So now moving your attention away from the lower legs to the upper legs, Between the hip joint and the knee joint. What's most present and vivid for you here, That feel light or heavy, Warm or cold? And now I invite you to be playful with the breath, If that feels right for you, Picturing breathing into the spaces of your legs and breathing out of the spaces of your leg. So breathing down to the tips of the toes and back out again, Just for a few moments, With a playful and childlike curiosity. And now we're going to move our attention away from the legs and bring the spotlight of our attention to the trunk area of our body. And to begin with, We're going to explore below the waist, So from the belly button down, The hips, The pelvis, The sacrum, The buttocks, The internal organs, What's going on for you here in this moment? Organs, Doing what they need to do, With very little input from us, From our conscious mind. And now moving your attention to the part of the trunk above the belly button, So the middle back, Upper back, The chest, The ribs, The lungs, The heart, The stomach, These organs busy away. You might feel the beat of your heart or the expansion of your lungs, Tightness, Openness, Movements, What's most present for you today here? And now an invitation to hold the trunk in your mind's eye as a whole, And being playful with that breath if that feels right for you, Simply breathing into each nook and cranny and breathing out of each nook and cranny. And now moving your attention away from the trunk area altogether and bringing the spotlight of your awareness to your arms, Your shoulders, Elbows and your hands, The backs of your hands, The palms of your hands, What's most vivid for you today here? Colours, Shapes, Textures, Movements, Warmth, Coolness, Pleasant, Unpleasant. What's here now in this moment? And each time your mind wanders, Which it will, Gently guiding yourself back, Back to the felt experience of being you in this moment in your hands, Knowing that the breath is always there as an anchor throughout this practice. And now moving your attention away from the hands to the lower arms, Between the wrist joint and the elbow. What can you notice here? And then just as we pull our attention here, We're going to narrow and move away and expand our awareness to the upper arm between the shoulder joint and the elbow joint. The warmth of your armpit maybe, The coolness, The rise of the ribs slightly at the side, The contact that your arms are making with the earth, What's most vivid for you now? And then expanding your attention to include all of the arms and just being playful with that breath, Breathing in to the fingertips and breathing out from the fingertips past the elbow and the shoulders to the lungs and out of your body again, Breathing in and breathing out. And now bringing your attention away from the arms altogether to the neck and the head, The points of contact that you're making with the earth, The facial expressions that you're making. Where does your tongue sit in your mouth? Are you clenching your jaw? Not changing anything, But simply noticing what's there in this moment. Tingling, Coolness, Warmth, Lightness, Heaviness. Aches, Pleasant sensations. The things that you're drawn to and the things that you are repelled by. There's room for it all. And then expanding your awareness of the head to include all of the body, The arms, The trunk and the legs and being playful with that breath and breathing into each part of your body, Perhaps giving a sense of cleansing, A sense of spaciousness. What's your experience of breathing in this way? And then narrowing your attention back to the breath, Simply breathing in and breathing out and then expanding that attention to include all of the body. And as best you can, Taking this sense of presence and connection and awareness into whatever you have left to do today.