Day 8 The Body Scan

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23 Jan 2021

#mindfulness #breathing #bodyscan #calm

Welcome back! If you are still following my mindfulness posts, that means you’ve been quite serious about mindfulness and possibly willing to try more. If so, great, because you’ve already mastered some of the basics. If you’ve liked and practiced the exercises in previous posts, congratulations, you’ve practiced mindfulness for 7 consecutive days already! Way to go!

Today's post will talk about the Body Scan, which is one of the "classics" in Mindfulness exercises.

The Body Scan

In the Body Scan exercise you feel for ‘sensations’ in different parts of your body. When you do the scan, some of the sensations you may feel include tingling, numbness, lightness, heaviness, warmth and throbbing.

What you want to do, is start off with a comfortable position, and set yourself 5-10 mins to practice this exercise. You can sit comfortably in a chair, or on the floor on a cushion, arms and hands dangling down from each side of your body, or simply lie down. I like to practice this exercise lying down.

Then, slow your breathing, 6-2-8.

Now, start to gather your focus onto your toes and start to become aware of your toes. Chances are you’ve probably never really noticed them before, but take a few seconds to really try and feel any sensations that are present there.

Did you feel anything? For me it’s often a tingling sensation. If you didn’t feel anything, that’s ok. As long as your awareness was on your toes, feeling nothing is also a sensation. It is still Mindfulness as you are observing what is happening in the present moment.

You can do more than sense your toes!

To do a full Body Scan, you can move your awareness through different parts of your body ranging from feet to fingertips to shoulders to your head.

Sensing parts of body like this is one of the best ways to instantly bring yourself back to the present moment.

第八天：身体扫描。

欢迎回来！如果你还在持续关注我的正念推送，那意味着你认真对待着正念这门学问，而且说不定还想试试更多相关练习。如果是这样的话，那么很好，因为截至此刻，你已经掌握了一定的正念基础技巧了。如果你兴意十足地实践了之前所提到的那些正念练习法，那么恭喜：你已经连续练习正念长达7天之久了！让我们继续这趟正念之旅吧！

今天的推送主要探讨一项经典正念练习方法——全身扫描。

在全身扫描练习中，你能感受到身体不同部位的知觉。当你扫描全身时，各种可能感受到的知觉包括了刺痛、麻木、轻快、沉重、暖热与抽动。

这一练习十分简单，你只需好以下步骤即可：选定一个舒服的姿势，然后花上5-10分钟来完成练习。你可以舒服地坐在一张椅子上垂手悠思，也可以铺块儿垫子坐在地板上，甚至直接躺平。（我自己就很喜欢躺下正念练习。）

接下来，按照6-2-8规则，逐步放慢呼吸节奏。

现在，始把你的注意力放在自己的脚趾上并时刻关注其感觉。你大概从来没有仔细留意过它们，但现在，请你花上几秒钟时间以真正感知那个部位的一切知觉。

感觉到些什么了吗？对我来说，这往往是一种麻刺感。如果你什么也感觉不到，那也没关系。只要你的注意力还集中在脚趾上，那“什么也感觉不到”照样也算是一种感觉：它依旧属于当前时刻你所正在进行的正念观察。

其实，感知脚趾只不过是万千正念练习中的区区一种，你可以得比这更多！

在全身扫描的过程中，你还可以将注意力在全身从双腿到指尖、从肩膀到头顶的各部位之间往复转移。

以这样的方式感知身体各个部位无疑是不断将你自己带回当前时刻的最好方法之一。

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels