The body scan meditation.
Take a moment to find a place where you will be undisturbed for the next 15 minutes.
You can be lying down or sitting in a chair or sitting on the floor,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
And just take a moment to settle into a place where you are.
I'm really noticing where your body meets the floor or the surface on which you're sitting or lying.
We're just noticing the body at this point.
Just a general overview of how we're feeling physically and emotionally.
We're just going to imagine now that we're scanning our body from the top of our head down to our feet.
Very gently,
Compassionately.
So we begin at the crown.
Just a very gentle scanning of the head,
Your neck,
Shoulders,
Tops of the chest,
Down your arms,
Elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists,
Palms of the hands,
Fingertips.
Scan down our torso,
Noticing the back,
All those muscles,
The ribcage,
Soft parts of your belly,
Down into your hips and down the thighs,
The trunks of the legs,
Down to the knees,
Calves and shins,
Heels,
Ankles,
And the feet,
Balls of the feet,
Down to the tips of our toes.
You can just get a general sense of how you're feeling.
There's no judgment here at all.
Feeling really,
Really deep compassion for yourself.
If there are any parts of your body that are feeling tender or tight,
If you notice any pain,
Discomfort,
Just have an allowing,
An acceptance.
Now we're going to go a little deeper into your body scan,
Starting at your big toe on the right foot.
You may have no sensation at all,
No real awareness of that toe,
And that's okay.
Again,
There's no judgment.
If you feel nothing at all,
Also just allowing the noticing.
If your mind at any point drifts off to all sorts of busy things,
That's completely natural.
Just gently bring your attention back to your body.
So we're going to notice the other toes now on your right foot.
You can give them a tiny wriggle if you want to,
To help notice the feeling.
And then coming up to the ball of the foot,
The inner arches,
Soles of the feet.
Can you notice how they feel?
Is there any sensation at all?
What about the tops of your feet?
Coming up to your heel,
Your Achilles tendon,
Your ankle bones.
Again,
If there's any discomfort,
Tenseness or pain,
Then just sending some loving attention to those parts of your body.
Really using compassionate language when you think about it in your mind.
Coming up to your shins,
Your calves.
Noticing the backs of your knees,
The kneecap.
Coming up into the bones,
Those strong thigh muscles.
Right up into the right hip.
Now we're just going to allow the focus to go down to the big toe of the left foot,
And all the other toes.
Really sending your attention right there.
Down to the edges of your feet.
Coming up to the ball of your foot,
The sole of the left foot now,
Where all the meridians meet,
The body,
All those reflexology points.
The top of your foot,
With its softer skin.
Taking your attention to your heel,
Up your Achilles tendon,
To your ankle,
And ankle bone.
Up into your shin and calf,
Soft part of the back of the knee,
The kneecap,
And up into all those strong muscles of the thighs.
Really enjoying the attention bestowed on this part of your body.
Up to your left hip.
Then we take our focus to our groin area,
All the reproductive organs,
The lower belly,
Around the back of your torso,
To your tailbone.
And really enjoying the feeling of connecting with all the precious organs in your torso.
This miraculous set of organs that keep us going,
Keep us alive.
Enjoying the feeling of our digestion,
Allowing it to feel completely soothed.
The whole digestive tract,
The kidneys,
And the liver,
The stomach.
Coming up to your lungs,
Noticing the area around your solar plexus,
If there's any tension there,
Or whether it feels soft and open.
Really noticing all the sensations of the back,
Shoulder blades,
Coming round to the chest or the breast area,
The heart.
Really enjoying the expansiveness,
The energy of the heart,
This powerhouse that is keeping us going.
The motor of our being,
And giving real thanks for its hard work,
And surrounding it with gratitude.
Coming up then to our shoulders,
Just noticing the feeling there.
If there's any releasing that needs to happen around your neck and shoulders,
Just imagining some softening.
Breathing into these parts of your body,
Taking your attention down your right arm,
Down to your elbow,
Forearm and wrists.
Really just take your attention to your right hand now,
The palm of your hand.
See if you can really sense the tips of your fingers.
Now the same with the right arm,
Flowing your attention down to your elbow,
Elbow,
All those exquisite muscles that keep us able to do all the things we want to do.
And if there's any difficulty or discomfort,
Again,
Just remembering to have a gentle compassionate acceptance of all that we are.
Enjoying the feeling of the wrist,
Palm of the left hand,
All the way down to the tips of the fingers.
And then our attention comes up,
Back up to the neck,
Into the head,
Jawline,
Just really consciously releasing any tension that you're holding there.
If you have your jaws clenched,
Just allowing a little softening,
Scanning over your face,
All those muscles around your eyes.
Enjoying the attention of your earlobes and ears,
Your scalp,
Even to the ends of your hair.
And now if you like,
Just have an overview again of your body.
Gentle sweeping down over your whole body,
Just to get a sense of how you feel now.
When you're ready,
You can gently just begin to notice the contact of your body to the chair or the floor,
Bed,
The surface that you're resting upon.
Begin to gently wriggle your fingers and your toes,
Expanding your awareness into the room,
Noticing any sounds in your environment,
A sense of temperature,
Reconnecting now with this space that we're in.
And when you're ready,
You can just gently open your eyes,
Keep your focus soft for a moment or so as you adjust to coming back into this space.
Have a lovely stretch,
Put your hands on your heart space,
Really appreciating yourself and thanking yourself for taking this time to deeply connect with your body and your emotional self.
And knowing that you can go into the day now feeling connected and replenished.
