The body scan

[JonW]

Hello mybubble,
Welcome to the forum.
The breathing into body parts does seem to present a challenge to some people. So you're not alone in this.
I tend to employ it only when the physical sensation is particularly intense in a certain area - usually tension around the shoulders and neck for me. I then imagine my breath opening and softening into that area, then letting go of any tension as I breathe out.
I would advise playing around with possibilities. It's not necessary to follow the guided meditation to the letter.
Let us know how you get along.
Cheers,
Jon

[Peter]

Yep, breathing into body parts to relieve tensions and pains also seems to work pretty good!

Peter

[mybubble]

Thanks for the advice. During the body scan last night I tried just doing the breathe in and out to release that body part and let go as opposed to breathing "with" the sensations in that part. It allowed me to focus purely on the sensations and works quite well.

After almost 3 weeks of the Body Scan I feel amazing, awareness of the body spills over to the rest of the day. I also do 20 minutes sitting practice. It's like an elastic band that has been wound up and twisted for 15 years, just released.

The greatest benefit of finding out about the MBSR and mindfulness practice; I don't have to beat myself up over thoughts, following each one in an ever darkening circle of thought. I acknowledge it and let go. They still come at the same rate but have less power. For 3 weeks practice I think that is pretty amazing and look forward to the benefits future practice will bring.

[Peter]

Hi MyBubble,

Thanks for reporting back! You're doing great!

Peter

[JonW]

"It's like an elastic band that has been wound up and twisted for 15 years, just released."

What a brilliant description.

"The greatest benefit of finding out about the MBSR and mindfulness practice; I don't have to beat myself up over thoughts, following each one in an ever darkening circle of thought. I acknowledge it and let go. They still come at the same rate but have less power."

Yes, one thing that mindfulness does is makes us realise that we actually have a choice in terms of how we respond to thoughts.
Victor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist/psychiatrist who chronicled his experiences as a concentration camp inmate in the book Man’s Search For Meaning, wrote that, “In between stimulus and response, there is a space; in that space lies our power to choose our response – there lies freedom.”
As Elisha Goldstein says, "In essence, the practice is to notice when the judging is happening so we can recognise the space in between what we’re judging (the stimulus) and the judging itself (the reaction) and choose to make a change. The power to choose our responses comes with an awareness of that space."
Wise words indeed.
Cheers,
Jon

[Happyogababe]

I feel like I finally clicked with Body Scan, years ago I found myself resistant to it and it became a chore, now I relish it and it really does spread out into the day. I find it strongly grounding. I just sampled Mark Williams free Body Scan meditation and my shoulders and neck have eased and relaxed somewhat, I pulled a muscle and have been extremely tense so it's a great feeling to have relief.

[Weir]

Unable to perform sex, which practice of mindfulness is good

[Peter]

Unable to perform sex, which practice of mindfulness is good

Hi Weir,

You're giving us very little information. Could you please be more specific in your questions?

Peter

[KernelOfWisdom]

Great post Peter! It is funny because I find it is a very human thing to dislike the things we probably need the most of. For example, I always HATED doing push-ups, mostly because I found them really hard to do. But, the only way to get better at them was to do more push ups! Some meditations are the same. We want to be gentle with ourselves, of course, but I think it would be an error to think that every meditations should be completed with ease... or even enjoyment. Often we learn a lot (if not more) from sitting with more challenging emotions and developing new skills to deal with them in meditation than by avoiding those meditations.

One thing I found really helpful when starting with body scans is adding a gratitude component. For an example you can check out a video I have with a guided version (here: https://youtu.be/I99XUAfWm4U) but, essentially, you follow the same process but take a few moments to consider the way that different parts of our bodies help and support us on a regular basis, what they (and our body overall) makes possible for us. This seems to help those just starting with a body scan because it gives the practice a secondary purpose (developing gratitude) so the meditation feels at least somewhat gratifying, even if it is still hard.

In any case, I completely agree that body scans are an AMAZING practice and getting into our bodies is SO important as meditators. Also, research has shown that body scans really help to thicken the insular cortex which allows us to be even more self-aware, and more empathetic to others as well.

[Peter]

Thanks for the additions, Joelle! Really nice advice about 'the gratitude-thing'. I'll try that next time (ie tomorrow ).

Peter