A Body Scan with a Difference

This body scan, with a difference, starts on the inside out and also explores how our mind and body are attached. It's a sample from my 21 Day Meditation Re-treat.

Transcript

The human body and the bodies of all self-propelled life forms are truly a miracle of nature.

In this visualization we will explore the body using perhaps a unique and even more miraculous ability of our body,

And that is our self-awareness that allows us to be mindful of our own body.

For all we know at this time,

We may be the only species who can do this on our planet,

And who knows,

Even in the entire cosmos.

This visualization is best done lying down,

And definitely not while self-propelling yourself around in any vehicle,

Or on foot for that matter.

So pause now so you can lie down with your head propped up on a pillow with something under your knees for support,

And if you do drop off,

Remember this visualization still works.

So we start,

As we do for many visualizations and meditations,

By becoming aware of our breath.

This time though,

We will dig a little deeper into the role and functioning of the breath.

We will also explore how the mind and body are actually attached to each other.

So make yourself comfortable,

Ease yourself into your bed or your sofa.

Underneath our ribcage is a complex dome-shaped muscular structure called the diaphragm.

Most of it attaches in a ring around our ribcage,

And some of it is attached to our spinal column.

At the time of recording,

The longest anyone should hold their breath for is just over 24 minutes,

And this was done by a professional free diver who hyperventilated for about 20 minutes or so beforehand.

For most of us though,

If our diaphragm stops functioning for any more than 3 minutes,

It signifies a time when our mind and body part company again,

Permanently.

Fortunately,

The functioning of our diaphragm and so many bodily functions is autonomic,

And keeps us alive without conscious thought,

And of course when we are sleeping.

So just now,

Become aware of this structure,

And take a deep in-breath,

And imagine how the dome of the diaphragm flattens out.

Now breathe out for about 4 times as long as the in-breath,

And envisage the muscle going dome-shaped again.

Repeat this process 5 times,

All the time being aware of the shape of your diaphragm as you breathe in and out.

Now the breath does much more than keep us alive.

For sure it brings in oxygen and expels carbon dioxide,

But it does something much more esoteric than that.

The diaphragm is the pump that brings in life energy or chi,

That fuels the subtle body.

This is why it is used so extensively in martial arts and in mindfulness meditation.

This chi energy infuses and energizes our whole body,

Our skin,

Our organs,

Our muscles and our skeleton.

So if you want to live weller for longer,

By far the best tonic is daily diaphragmatic breathing.

So now let's take a journey around our body from the inside out.

Now it may seem a little gross,

But when we look at a human skeleton,

It may be a little hard to imagine we actually have one inside of us.

It's the structure that supports us as we move around the world,

And to which our internal organs are attached.

So just imagine now the five toes on each foot,

And how in turn they are connected to the base of our feet by a finger-like bones known as metatarsals.

Give your metatarsals a wiggle right now.

And the foot and heel bone the metatarsals are attached to,

Is connected in a hinge-like fashion through our ankles to our lower leg bones.

So travel up your calves and shins until your awareness meets the hinge of our knees.

Move up your thigh bone or femur,

And then you reach a cage-like structure which we call our hips.

And just imagine how the femur has a ball at the end that fits neatly into a socket in the hip bones.

Our spine starts in our coccyx at the back of our hip cage,

And travels halfway up until it reaches the bottom of our rib cage.

Be mindful of two things here.

Firstly,

This is the point where our diaphragm attaches.

And while your awareness travels around your body,

Its dome keeps flattening and rising all by itself.

Thank your diaphragm for doing this for you.

Secondly,

Be mindful that there are no bones in the front of our body between the hips and the rib cage.

That's the way we are,

And most vertebrates are designed like this.

But when you finish this visualization,

Google the skeleton of a snake,

And see that's not the case for all life forms.

And if you Google images of lizards,

You'll find some are snake-like,

Having ribs that go all the way from their neck down to their tail.

And some are more like us.

And this is a good example of the beauty of the evolution of the species.

So just be mindful of how skeletons have evolved,

And will continue to evolve,

As you rise up your rib cage towards your shoulders.

Let your awareness spread out across your shoulders,

And travel down your upper arms to the hinges we call our elbows.

Move down your lower arms to the hinges of your wrists.

And attached to your wrists are your metacarpals.

So give them a wiggle now,

So you can wiggle your fingers.

And if you like,

Your toes can join in at the same time.

Now move back up your arms to the sockets which attach them to your shoulders.

And into the middle of your shoulders,

And to your neck,

The top of your spinal column.

The neck of course joins our skull to our body.

So let's move our neck now,

So our head moves from side to side,

And up and down a little.

So that our skull only has one moving part,

And that's our jawbone.

Gently move your jaw around,

Side to side,

Up and down.

And let the muscles that are connected to our upper skull relax.

Let's marvel now at how our skeleton is such a wondrous mechanism,

That of course,

Like our breath,

We take for granted.

Our muscular system is attached to our skeleton.

And just as for the diaphragm,

Our muscles can move autonomically,

Or under the control of our mind.

Become mindful that we have telekinetic control of our muscles,

Which gives us indirect control over our skeleton.

We cannot control movement of our skeleton directly.

The control mechanism from our brain to our muscles is our nervous system,

Which mainly runs down our spinal column,

And then is distributed to all extremities.

And be mindful that signals pass both ways,

Up and down our nerves,

With command signals going one way,

And sense,

And sometimes pain signals coming back the other way.

So just now,

Send a signal out to any area of your body,

And sense what comes back.

Now our muscles do much more than hold our skeleton together,

They also hold our internal organs where they ought to be.

Our primary organs all have specialised functions,

And are all served by the bloodstream,

And controlled by our nervous system.

Mostly automatically.

The bloodstream takes oxygen around our body,

And removes toxic gases,

And toxins in general.

And apart from the fuel,

Which is the air that we breathe,

We also have to bring in food and liquid,

Which are processed by our stomach.

And our stomach and digestive system is a whole autonomic ecosystem,

All of its own.

It tells our brain when we need food,

And when we need to go to the toilet.

As we can see in babies,

And those with age related dementia,

This whole system can run itself without much external influence,

Apart from regular fuelling,

And dealing with what must leave the body.

All in all,

Our bodies are the most wondrous system.

But what makes us come really alive,

Is our external interfaces to the world.

Our skin layers hold all the muscles in place,

Which in turn keeps the skeleton from flopping around too much.

The nerve endings in our skin let us sense the world around us.

They can feel heat and cold,

And how hard and soft surfaces are.

In other meditations,

I show you how we can sense without direct touch too,

And indeed send out healing energy.

Then in our head,

We are blessed with some detectors that are the envy of every android.

We can see,

Hear,

Smell and taste.

And based on what we perceive,

Our brain can then direct the body to perform some wondrous acts.

It can drive us to the supermarket to get some food,

And then cook gastronomic delights for our stomach.

It can also pick up a phone,

Using our metacarpals,

Modulate our voice box,

And send instructions out for a takeaway to arrive.

So for most of the time we are completely unaware of the complexity of what we are and what makes us.

And for the remaining time in this visualization,

Take a trip around your body,

Move your limbs around,

And be mindful of how our thoughts can move our body around at will.

This is a video of the Dr.

Marco Paret's course on Hypnotic Fascination.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

This video is dedicated to the students of Dr.

Marco Paret.

Reviews

Thank you. Another perspective. Another reason to be thankful for my body.

Loved this body scan
How amazing are our bodies? So much to be grateful for
Thank you Tom 💜

Lovely body scan with amazing information about the structure of a human body. Thank you so much .❤️🙏

Wow. We are amazing creature's. That is really anazing how our body works, if not a little freaky when you really think about it. 🙏😬

Truly different than other body scans. Imbues a special gratitude for the body & brain collaboration ✨

Loved this. A great, meditative journey through the body!

18.1.2022 Afternoon
Hello Tom.
Long time…
That was pleasure, effective, educational.
It is always good to be reminded and be thankful for what -most of the time - we take for granted; our body in its entirety, its functioning, the fact that it’s holding and sustaining us (soul, spirit, mind) alive on this planet.
Thank you Tom.
p.s.
I could not find the recording of your transmission from about a month ago: “Love Alchemy”.
Is there such recording at all?
🌀🧚‍♀️🌀

Increased my appreciation for the intricate miracle of my body. Thank you!

Your meditations are creative and amazing. Visualisation was super. Never imagine the body inside out. Thank

Enjoyed the detailed and scientific body scan. Tom has a wonderful tone, pace and intonation.

Dear Tom, also this one is a fantastic new approach.

I know something simillar from my healing master. He studied Japanese health system called Seitai. This means “Tune in your body” in translation.

There are these three important layers. The system uses it for healing, through sending energy first to the skin (Pili pili), to the mussels (Moko moko), and finally to the bones (Kotzo kotzo).

Every time the healer sends love to that layer using his breath 3 times for each layer.

This connection and synchronicity made me wonder today. My teacher has passed away in the age of 85 years this summer. He was Italien, from Praiano. A dear friend of our faimily.

I am marking this meditative visualisation with a heart. I would love to make this one in Czech.

Blessings, gratitude and big thanks. Halka. Prague.

Thank you I really enjoyed the visualising of all the body parts it really it took me away from my naughty monkey mind and helped me relax 🙏

Always a pleasure Mr Evans!

WOW! We are truly wonderfully made! Thanks for the reminder! 🏃🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️🤾🏻‍♂️

Always appreciate your wonderful guidance in meditation 🙏

It's in the title! I see my body differently now. Thank you

A very enjoyable body scan. 😊

Wonderful. I love my body 😊

Thank you 🏝🧘‍♀️🌺for the relaxing and wonderful body scan meditation 🙏Namaste

I love the background noise on this one and the guiding. Always helps me sleep well.