Body Scan Practice

A short body scan practice. Gently guided to encourage the attention to be with the body from moment to moment.

Transcript

So we're going to practice the body scan.

So begin by gently closing the eyes or just soften the gaze,

Lower the gaze if that's more comfortable.

And having a sense of our whole body,

Whether we're sitting here or lying down,

Whichever posture you've chosen for this practice.

Having a sense of the posture,

Let's briefly feel into the shoulders and rolling the shoulders gently down and back.

Having a sense of length in the back,

In the spine and in the back of the neck.

So very subtly bringing the chin downwards,

Open in the back of the neck.

Soften in the torso,

The tummy area as best we can.

Just noting the posture of the arms,

While they're resting.

And posture of the legs,

Relaxing.

And to begin our body scan,

Dropping the attention down into the toes of the left foot.

And you can briefly wiggle the toes or even tense and relax.

Really bringing the attention into the toes.

Can you feel the big toe,

The smaller toes?

Or does it feel like one mass?

And moving the attention along the sole of the foot.

So feeling into the ball of the foot,

The arch area and the heel.

And feeling the whole of the inside of the foot as best we can.

From the top of the foot.

Now bringing the attention up into the ankle joint,

Both sides and inside.

And gently upwards into this left lower leg.

From the finer ankle area,

Softly upwards.

Strong calf muscle.

Two finer bones inside this lower leg,

Shin.

And bringing the attention up into the knee.

The patella,

The kneecap at the front of the knee,

Around the sides and the back.

Just checking in with the attention if the mind has wandered.

That's okay,

That's what minds do.

Just gently but firmly bringing the mind back,

Now in the left knee.

And gently bringing the attention upwards into the left upper leg.

The longest bone in the body,

Large muscle groups,

Front of the upper leg,

The back,

The hamstrings.

And whether we're scanning inch by inch upwards with the mind,

Or more generally,

Knowing there's no right or wrong way.

And scanning upwards into the left sit bone.

Maybe if we're sitting feeling sensations of pressure here,

Or if we're lying down where we meet the bed.

And letting go of this area and dropping the attention down into the right toes.

And again you can briefly wiggle the toes,

Or tense,

Tense up and relax.

And bringing the attention along the sole of the foot,

The ball of the foot,

The arch area and this heel area.

And bringing the inside of the foot as a whole,

The top of the foot and up into this ankle joint.

Gently bringing the attention upwards into the right lower leg,

This calf muscle,

And into the right knee,

The front of the knee,

The back of the knee.

And carrying on into the right upper leg.

Again large muscles here,

Long bone.

And maybe we can't sense these things directly,

Not worrying about this,

Just bringing our attention here as best we can.

Up this right upper leg and into the right sit bone.

And the area of the pelvis,

The pelvic bowl.

Noticing any tendency to judge.

Just trying to direct the attention to any and all sensations,

Or nothing at all.

So now we're going to move into the torso,

The lower torso,

The front of the body.

So the lower abdominal area here at the front.

So sensing into this area as best we can.

The intestines tightly packed into this area.

And soften as we go,

You notice any tension or resistance.

Sometimes we can soften with the out-breath.

As we move upwards,

The front of the body.

Large organs here,

The liver,

The stomach,

Tightly packed in.

As we move gently upwards to the area of the diaphragm.

This is a large band of muscle in the centre,

Front centre of the torso,

Which controls the breathing.

Sensing into this as best we can,

We might be able to feel the movement with the contraction and expansion of the diaphragm.

And softly moving upwards,

The lower lung area,

Thoracic area.

Area of the heart,

The chest,

The mid-chest,

The upper chest area.

And into the shoulders.

Let's briefly scan down the back.

So into the back of the shoulders.

Large muscles in the top of the back,

Deltoids.

As we scan down towards the mid-back.

From the mid-back down towards the lower back.

Noticing any and all sensations that we meet in this moment and in this moment.

Sensing in and around the lower back.

And into the sides of the body.

All the way up to the underarms.

To the shoulders.

And briefly scanning the left arm now.

So travelling down this left upper arm into the elbow,

Along the forearm,

Into the wrist.

Feeling the back of the hand,

The palm of the hand.

And scanning each finger.

And the thumb.

Letting go of this hand.

Back up this arm.

And into the right shoulder and down the right upper arm.

Elbow.

Forearm.

And this wrist.

And you feel the back of the hand.

Palm.

And briefly scanning each finger.

And the thumb.

And coming back up to this shoulder.

And feeling into the front of the neck,

Throat,

Collarbones.

Around the sides and the back of the neck.

And bringing the attention up into the jaw.

The jaw starts just underneath the ears,

Along to the chin.

Just feeling into the area of the mouth.

And you feel the tongue resting.

The lips.

Feeling into the area of the cheeks.

Lots of tiny muscles here.

Soften as best you can.

In and around the eyes.

Can you feel the eyes?

And up to the forehead.

And if you want to,

Imagining you could smooth and soften any lines,

Any tension in and around the forehead.

And scanning up to the top of the head.

Around the sides and the back of the head.

So having engaged with scanning the whole body,

On and off with the attention.

Let's widen the awareness,

Have a sense of the whole body.

Sitting or lying down here.

Having a sense of the space we take up.

The weight of the body going down.

And the air and the environment around us.

And to finish let's just bring the attention to focus on the breath.

Just following one or two breaths.

Noticing the inhalation,

The in breath and the out breath when it comes.

And just once more breathing in.

And breathing out.

And just finishing the practice with a sense of thankfulness for this time.

Giving yourself the time to practice and to take care of the mind and the body in this way.

Reviews

Very enjoyable and relaxing. Would appreciate some music to distract from other background sounds and a final bell though

Kind and friendly voice. Very nice body scan. Would like an ending bell though.

Beautifully relaxing ! XX

Very good body scan. Thank you

My favourite body scan so far, I like the detail on different body parts as it kept me engaged. Nice pace and very soothing.

Great! Just what I needed.

Awesome. Thank you.

Soothing voice, nice pacing. A wonderful body scan!

Very comprehensive and helpful. Ended abruptly. Prefer some kind of ending cue. Thank you. Namaste

Very straightforward, nice meditation.

Wonderful. Quieting use of voice, clear and compassionate guidance.

Beautifully clear and well led. Thank you.

Namaste 🙏 thank you