Dear Friends,
In the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha set out the four foundations of mindfulness, the first being mindfulness of the body. There are many ways we can practice mindfulness of the body, including mindfulness of breathing, mindful walking, mindfulness of movements of the body in everyday activities (as mentioned yesterday), and through a body scan meditation.
In the article “5 Reasons to Bring Mindfulness to the Body“, Ed Halliwell says “by training us to pay attention to sensations in the body, mindfulness brings us down from our heads and into our whole being.”
For me, part of the challenge of the body scan is that I often get stuck in the mental picture of a hand or foot. In A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein advise, “When you practice the body scan, first simply become aware of physical sensations by exploring their felt sense. This is distinct from thinking about your body…. just feel and acknowledge whatever sensations are present.”
Some of us might have trouble feeling parts of the body, and that’s okay too. During a Q&A session at the retreat I was on last May, Susie told us we could approach these blank areas with kindness and patience, and bringing in curiosity, for example by investigating around the blank area – where is its edge? And if there’s nothing felt, then investigate that.
Haliwell’s article includes written instructions for a body-scan meditation, but there are many guided body scan meditations on-line. If you’re looking for a short practice, Elisha Goldstein has a guided 10-minute body scan video on his website:
https://elishagoldstein.com/videos/10-minute-body-scan/
He even has 5-minute and 3-minute versions, if you’re looking for a quick scan to do during a coffee break.
With best wishes,
Andrea G