The body scan meditation.
Firstly choosing a lying down posture if that's comfortable.
You may wish to put some cushions under your knees,
A folded blanket under your head and maybe even cover yourself with a blanket.
So take a moment to be as comfortable as possible.
If your lower back is painful with the legs outstretched you can also bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor when you lie down in a semi supine position.
If at any point you need to move during the practice that's fine.
It can be quite helpful to rest the hands on your belly and when you're ready I invite you to close your eyes and just begin by settling the body onto the floor,
Really giving the weight up to the floor and letting the floor support you.
Letting go into gravity.
Feeling the weight of the bones of the body,
Allowing the skin to be soft.
With each out breath you might just let go a little more,
Allowing the floor to provide the support.
Just beginning to notice the feeling of movement of breath deep in the belly.
This can be a natural breath,
It doesn't need to be altered or forced in any way.
And as well as noticing the breath deep in the belly,
You may become aware that the chest is rising and the ribs expanding.
As you breathe in the diaphragm pushes down in order to draw air into the lungs,
Which causes the belly to swell on the in breath and then subside on the out breath as the diaphragm rises and air is exhaled.
Can you feel this rise and fall of the breath like an ocean swell?
Tuning in to the ebb and flow of the breath in the body.
And as you tune in to the feeling of the breath,
You just begin by also noticing where you have contact with the floor and how it changes as you breathe in and out.
Without changing anything,
Noticing where your heels are,
The backs of the legs.
Does one leg contact the floor in the same way as the other leg?
Feeling the back of the pelvis,
The back of the ribs and the shoulder blades,
Do they contact the floor in the same way?
And how does it change as you breathe in and out in the back of the body?
Can you feel the weight of the head?
Noticing the breath in the back of the body,
The back of the pelvis,
Noticing the lower back,
The middle back,
The upper back,
Noticing how the ribs and the lungs are as much in the back of the body as the front.
Coming up towards the shoulders,
Can the shoulders be soft,
Heavy,
Released?
Scanning down the upper arms,
The elbows,
The lower arms,
The hands,
Fingers and thumbs.
What sensations can you feel in your hands?
What sense of warmth?
Scanning back up the arms to the throat,
Can the throat be soft,
Open?
Can the back of the neck be long?
Feeling the weight of the head,
Softening the scalp,
Softening the forehead and between the eyes.
Allow the eyes to be soft,
The cheeks to broaden,
The jaw to be loose,
And the teeth to unclench.
And scanning down now back towards the hips,
Feeling the weight of the hips once more,
The rise and fall of the belly.
Noticing where the legs meet the hip joints.
Scanning down the thighs,
The knees,
The lower legs,
Ankles,
Soles of the feet,
Top of the feet and the toes.
Is it possible to discern each individual toe?
And now I get a sense of the whole body lying here,
The weight,
The shape,
The sensations arising and passing.
Feeling the breath in the whole body massaging and soothing any painful areas.
Breath flowing in,
Breath flowing out.
Sensations in the body continually changing,
Fluid like the breath.
Even sensations of pain or discomfort are not as solid as you think.
We only experience a flow of sensations one moment at a time.
And just staying with this whole body sense of sensations and breath coming and going for a moment or two.
And then coming back to sense the weight of the body lying on the floor,
The shape of the body.
Perhaps the air on your skin.
And we begin by making small movements with fingers and toes.
And maybe with a bigger in-breath you may want to take that into bigger movements,
Perhaps a stretch.
And whenever you're ready,
Opening your eyes and slowly rolling to one side and pausing there just for a moment.
Have an intention to take this more fluid,
Pliable awareness with you.
Being saturated by kindly,
Gentle breath.
When you're ready,
Using the hands to come up to sitting and upright.
