Kindhearted Body Scan

Beginning by finding a comfortable position, resting on your back. And as you begin to settle in, allow your eyes to lightly close. And take three long, slow, and deep breaths. And with each exhale, can you get a sense of allowing any tension or tightness held in the body to begin to soften, relax, and let go. And breathing out, softening the jaw, shoulders, belly, and hands.

And on this final exhale now, just seeing if you can allow the body to really surrender and be held by gravity, knowing that the ground beneath you is more than able to take your weight. Good job. And now, let go of any, and of control of the breath. Let the body breathe now in its own rhythm. And in this practice, we're going to be bringing a caring and compassionate attention to each part of the body as we move from one part to another.

So as we do this, you'll be aiming to bring the kind of attitude that you would have towards a loved one who was hurting to each part of your body. So aiming to bring caring and soothing to yourself and your body moment by moment. And if you find that you have really strong judgments or emotions with particular body parts or you experience something really difficult, difficult sensations. You might like to place a hand on that body part as a gesture of kindness and imagining kindness flowing through your hand and into your body. And if any part of the body feels too difficult to be with, you can always come back to the breath or move to a different body part.

Just allowing this practice to be as gentle and nourishing and peaceful as possible for you. So starting with the feet now. Beginning by tuning into the sensations in the feet. What can you feel in this moment? Maybe tingling, or pulsing, or the touch of fabrics, or the air. And seeing if you can have a sense of appreciation, a sense of kindness towards your feet.

Imagining, perhaps, breathing, a soothing and kindly awareness right into and out from the feet. And then moving to the lower legs. Tuning into the sensations that are arising in this moment. And bringing a kindly attention here as you make contact. Shifting the focus to the knees.

And then the thighs. And if you feel uneasy or judgmental about any body part, remember you can put a hand over the heart, or place a hand on that body part, and you can even try saying some words of kindness mentally. Something like, may my thighs be met with kindness. And then just tuning in to the sensations once again and bringing them a sense of acceptance and care. And shifting to the pelvic area.

The whole pelvic girdle, including the hip bones, the buttocks and the sacrum, the pelvic floor and the genitals. And noticing sensations with an attitude of kindness. And then moving to the whole torso. Perhaps feeling the breath moving and can you saturate the breath with a sense of compassion and appreciation? And then focusing on both arms, including the hands and fingers. And then the head and neck.

And now a sense of this compassionate awareness beginning to flow down from the top of the head throughout the length of the whole body. The whole body now held in the light of your kindly and tender and accepting awareness. Feeling the body and yourself as complete and whole. And saturating the entire body in tenderness, kindness, and compassion. Not needing things to be different.

Just opening to how things are in this moment. And allowing yourself to be soothed, comforted, and cradled in this compassionate, accepting, and healing awareness. And then bringing the focus back to the breath in the belly and take a deep, slow breath in now. And as you breathe out, beginning to wriggle the fingers and the toes. And notice how your mind and body feel after taking this time out for meditation.

And when you're ready opening the eyes. And wishing you a great day, and we'll see you back here tomorrow.