- [Instructor] Mindfulnessexercises.com.
The Body Scan.
(bell dinging)
(water babbling)
Let's begin by taking a moment to allow your body to settle
in a comfortable position.
Finding a posture that feels relaxed and alert.
You can be standing, sitting, or lying down.
A lot of people use the body scan practice
as a way to feel more grounded,
feel more embodied,
and that can, in turn, help us to fall asleep faster,
to feel a sense of ease and relaxation throughout the body,
to diffuse some of the excess energy out of the head.
Can also be a way to open the heart.
Just feel a sense of ease and wellbeing.
So this body scan will offer an opportunity for us
to really sense into our whole body with our awareness.
We're essentially scanning our body
with nonjudgmental awareness.
So we'll be starting with the toes,
and gradually moving up the feet and legs
through the rest of the body.
Just seeing what we can sense.
Sensing into the physical sensations,
whatever feels predominant to you,
just noticing what we can notice
without judging anything to be good or bad,
without judging ourselves to be right or wrong.
So let's get started by simply bringing awareness
to the sensations in our feet and then our toes.
Just noticing the physiological sensations in our feet.
If it's helpful to wiggle your toes,
or press your feet against the ground, that's fine.
Just seeing what you can notice in your feet.
Maybe you can feel the skin,
or your bones.
Maybe there's pressure somewhere in your feet.
Gradually moving up into your ankles and calves
and scanning your awareness through these areas.
And sensing into physical sensations.
What do your calves feel like?
Maybe you can feel the muscle,
or your shin.
And then scanning awareness through your knees,
and thighs,
and your hamstrings.
Sometimes these are difficult areas to bring awareness to.
Just seeing what you can notice.
And then scanning your awareness up into your torso,
and your sit bones, pelvis.
And your stomach.
Perhaps you can notice your stomach moving in and out.
Maybe the curvature of your lower spine.
Pressure of your sit bones on the ground or your chair.
Perhaps you can feel your hips.
Just scanning your awareness up into your chest area.
Movement of your lungs.
Beating of your heart.
Feeling the cage of ribs.
What about your shoulders?
Can you sense into your shoulders?
Is one shoulder tighter than the other?
How is your posture?
Are your shoulders hunched forward?
Are they back?
Scanning awareness through the arms and hands.
Inviting a sense of ease throughout your hands.
And then up through your neck.
Scanning awareness through the neck, and your skull.
Feeling into the muscles of your face.
Excellent.
So this is a practice
that you can be creative with over time.
You can start with the toes and move upward.
Or start at the crown of the head and work down.
You can explore by sensing into flesh,
skin,
blood,
and bone.
You can choose to flex certain muscles,
if that feels appropriate for you.
Do some minor stretches or wiggling.
All in the name of feeling the sensations of the body
to stay connected with the physical nature
of what's manifesting moment by moment,
without judging anything to be good or bad.
And over time, you'll be able to
more quickly assess emotions that live in the body
as they occur,
so that you can better regulate your emotions
to something that's very healthy
and appropriate for your circumstance.
So this is the body scan.
I hope that you're able to utilize it in your daily life.
Something you can use as you're driving,
going to sleep,
waking up.
It's a very useful exercise to feel embodied and grounded.
Thank you very much for your mindfulness.
(bell dinging)