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Chapter 1: What is body scan meditation and how can it help with presence?
Welcome back.
Chapter 2: How do we begin to notice sensations in our body?
In today's meditation, we're going to move a little more deeply into awareness of the sensations of the body. The gift of meditation, or at least one of its gifts, is it allows us to dwell in deeper and deeper awareness of our own being. Often in the distracted days in which we're all living, It can be difficult to dwell in the present moment with awareness of sensations as they're happening.
Chapter 3: What sensations should we focus on in the left foot?
Meditation allows us to be mindful of these sensations, to be aware of them.
Chapter 4: How can we explore warmth and weight in our foot?
And often we can find that there is wisdom present within these sensations, within the reactions of our body, within the movement of our mind and our emotions. While in stillness meditation we simply notice these and let them go, there is a wisdom from the noticing, from entering into awareness that these sensations are moving and happening.
And then later we can ask ourselves why they might be present. But for now in this meditation we're simply going to take a part of the body
Chapter 5: What is the significance of finding pulse points in our foot?
and examine deeply the sensations we find there.
Chapter 6: How do we expand our awareness from the foot to the whole body?
Let's begin.
Chapter 7: What practices help us return to a state of calm and balance?
As usual, we take our seat. We do so beginning with a ritual gesture. a gesture that allows us to recognize that this is a special time, a gift we are giving to ourselves, a gift of stillness, a gift of peace. We make the intention to dwell within this gift as fully as we can, to use it as fully as we can. And then sitting gently,
We begin by bringing our awareness once again to our feet against the floor, our back against the chair. We come into the awareness of our breath as we breathe in and breathe out. Aware of our breath as that wonderful background music of our whole life. Our breath is the one thing that is always happening in the present moment.
Our breath is the music that has followed us from the beginning of our life and will move through our life until the very end of our earthly existence. And so touching the breath with awareness, we begin to relax. Breathing out all tension, all stress. Breathing in peace, calm and stillness. And taking a moment to simply be aware of our body as it sits now in meditation.
We slowly draw our awareness from the soles of our feet all the way through to the crown of our head as we have done so many times. Noticing any particular part of the body that is calling for our attention. Our back may need to be adjusted in the chair. Perhaps our feet haven't settled absolutely or fully yet. Our hands may need to be adjusted as we keep them folded upon our lap.
Oftentimes we make many tiny adjustments to our posture without really noticing that we're doing this. We might be adjusting because of temperature or balance. Or maybe if we're in conversation with someone, we adjust our posture so as to be seen to listen or as to get ready to make our own point. But here and now in this moment, we simply notice.
And noticing if there is anything that needs to be adjusted in the body. We make those adjustments gently and slowly with kindness and compassion. All the while breathing in and breathing out. And as we breathe, I'm going to invite you now to draw your attention particularly to your left foot. At the start, it might sound a funny thing to do.
We don't spend a lot of time usually focusing just on one part of our body. But in meditation, awareness of the subtle sensations that exists within the body is an important way of coming to deeper levels of awareness. So really bring your attention now to your left foot. How does it feel? Start with the broader sensations. Is it warm or cool? Can you feel the weight of your foot?
Or are you holding the weight in some way? If you are, release the weight of your foot onto the ground, unclenching the calf muscle. or the muscles of your upper leg. Feel your foot flatten against the ground. If you're sitting cross-legged on the floor, it will be the side of your foot that is against the ground. If you're sitting in a chair, it will be the sole of your foot.
But really feel the points of contact between your feet and the ground. If there's a difference in temperature from the side of your foot that is in contact with the ground to the side of your foot that is not, notice that difference. If your foot is surrounded by socks or shoes, notice the feeling of the texture of those materials.
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