Mindfulness: The Body Scan Exercise Part 2 of 4

Mindfulness can be used to strenghten the ability to remain calm. Here is the second part of the body scan, a continuation of the mindfulness exercise from last week that you can record and use:

… Move your attention away from your breathing and instead pay attention to the inside of your left leg and follow it to the left big toe and see if you can feel something: how does the foot feel: tingling, vibration, heat, cold or humidity – or nothing at all – just note what is.

Try not to change anything – note if it’s scratching or something bothering, but see if you can just leave it without responding to the impulses.

Proceed along all the toes and out to the left little-toe – how does it feel? What do you feel in-between the toes? Do the toes touch each other? Then go to you right side: big toe … little toe … and the space between them. How does that feel?

Now notice both feet: the forefoot, midfoot, hindfoot, the brides, soles, ankles and the heels resting on the ground – How does it feel? Feel all of both feet and what’s going on in them … also see if you can experience your feet from within…

Then release your attention from your feet and move on to the lower legs: the skin and muscles of the front and the back, both the shallow and the deep muscles. Long bones. Note how it feels without changing anything. Your breathing is present all the time – sometimes in the foreground sometimes in the background.

Let go of the lower leg and pay attention to the knees: the knee bones, the sides of the knees and knee folds. Notice how fast your attention may change. Go up to the thighs, hips and entire pelvis. Can you feel all that? What kind of impressions do you notice? Weight, ease, heat?

See if you can imagine your breath: how it enters the lungs – into the body – down the left leg – into the toes and then how the respiration comes through the foot, the leg, the body and through the nose.

Or see if you can imagine how to breathe through the lungs and then breathe out through your legs and feet (!). You can also imagine how to breathe in and out through the skin on both legs and feet…

#bodyscan #mindfulness #mindfulnessexercise #selfhelp