This is a recording for the Mindfulness Tools course at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass
Memorial Health. We are going to do a body scan together. Find a comfortable position for your
body, lying down on your back with your legs stretched out, or sitting in a chair, or on a
cushion, or standing, or in whatever position is comfortable for you right now. You can close
your eyes or keep them open, resting your gaze downward or ahead of you, not looking at anything
in particular. We are going to explore the present moment. Notice the sensation of breath in the body
as the body is still. You may feel it at the nostrils, or maybe inside your throat or airway,
air passing in and out. Or you may notice the motion of your abdomen or chest rising and falling
as each breath begins and ends. No need to change or control your breathing in any way.
Just observe how the body breathes on its own, by itself.
If you'd like, you can rest your hands on your abdomen to feel the rising and falling
as your body breathes. Now let your attention rest wherever you notice the breath.
Now let your attention rest on your left big toe. If you don't have this body part, you can let your
attention rest on a nearby body part. What do you notice at your left big toe? How does it feel in this
moment? If you don't feel anything, that's okay. No need to move it. Just simply be aware that you have a
left big toe. If you have a sock or shoe on, do you feel the sensation of your toe making contact with it?
Or if you don't have anything on your foot, do you feel the air on and around the toe?
Maybe you can feel temperature in your left big toe. What do you notice at your left big toe right now?
If your attention strays from the left big toe, our current object of attention, that's okay.
This is natural, expected, and just what minds do.
When this happens, we notice that the mind has wandered away from our object of attention,
and then we notice when it returns to our object of attention.
We watch the movements and sensations of the mind in the same way that we watch the movements and
sensations of the body. Now let your attention rest on your other toes, one by one, scanning all parts of
your toes.
What sensations do you notice right now?
Can you notice the nails, the tips of your toes, the bottoms, and the tops?
Maybe the spaces in between the toes.
Now let your attention rest on the top of your foot, your left foot.
Do you notice sensations at the skin?
Maybe deep within the foot?
Maybe deep within the foot.
Now let your attention come to the bottom of your foot.
The ball, the heel.
Do you notice the sensation of contact with the floor at any part of the foot?
During any part of our practice, you may notice discomfort.
Or tension.
The mind disliking.
Or maybe pleasantness.
Relaxation.
Calm.
The mind liking.
Whatever arises.