Within
When you bring your attention to your body and your sensory experience, you learn how to “work with” both physical and emotional “dis- ease.” “Being with” your body as it is and understanding how to work with pain and dis- comfort establishes a deep intimacy.
In meditation, mindfulness of the body uses body sen- sation as the “object of attention.” Once you’re grounded in the physical sensations of breathing, when you notice body sensations you explore them in minute detail: What does each sensation feel like? Is it dense or fluid, warm or cold, tight or relaxed, piercing or soothing, tingling or throbbing? Without analyzing or evaluating whether it feels good or bad or whether you like it or don’t like it, you get to know the sensation by delving into it. By not trying to change or resist how you feel, you’re more able to “be with” your sensations as they are.
The body scan is a practice used in Jon Kabat- Zinn’s MBSR program (Kabat- Zinn 1990, 76– 79). In this medita- tion, you identify sensations by systematically moving your attention from one part of your body to the next, begin- ning with your toes and feet and ending with your head
and scalp. Scanning your body is like being a scientist looking for tiny microbes with a magnifying glass. As in mindfulness of the body meditation, this focused attention enhances concentration and cultivates such qualities as patience, nonstriving, nonjudgment, and letting be.
A full body scan typically takes twenty to forty minutes. But it’s not necessary to follow any set pattern or length of time. In two to three full sweeps, you can scan your body for tension from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head by zeroing in on segments, such as lower extremities, torso, and face/head. While it’s most common to scan from the bottom up, for some purposes it can be helpful to reverse direction.
Both mindfulness of the body meditation and the body scan teach you to steer toward discomfort by simply acknowledging what’s there. You notice how fighting against what you feel only increases the pain and discom- fort you wish weren’t there. Both practices prepare you for the subsequent meditations of mindfulness of thoughts and mindfulness of emotions (parts 2 and 3). Through “working with” your body, you’re preparing for the work of counterintuitively steering toward disturbing thoughts and distressing emotions.
Try This
An audio version of this meditation is available for down- load at www.newharbinger.com/27954.
Carve out ten minutes (or longer, so you can go more deeply into this meditation on the body). Lie on your back, with your legs slightly apart and stretched in front of you; arms straight but relaxed, away from your sides; and palms loosely opened and turned toward the sky. Gently close your eyes. Allow your jaw to soften, allow your tongue to drop, and allow your eyeballs to sink into their sockets. Feel how the weight of your body is held by the earth. Notice the current of your breath in your body as you sink and dissolve into the present moment.
Once your mind is settled, when you clearly notice a body sensation, gently bring your focused attention to the sensation, with a kind intention to be fully present. Steer toward the sensation. What does it feel like? Is there tight- ness or tension? Tingling or trembling? Heat or cold? Numbness or itchiness? Obvious or subtle vibrations? Notice sensations both on your skin and deep within your body; feel into your muscles, bones, organs, tendons, blood flow, and pulsations.
Without resisting the sensations, simply acknowledge what you physically feel. You can know resistance when you’re judging, clinging to, avoiding, or denying the sensa- tion. Rather than analyzing or evaluating your experience, explore and get to intimately know what your body feels like. Imagine breathing into and out from the sensation, making room for sensations to run their course or simply be. Or just keep breathing and acknowledge what it is you’re feeling, because acknowledgment itself can be enough to soothe and soften.
As you make room for sensations to be, notice whether they soften, dissolve, or dissipate. If they remain the same, observe whether acknowledging sensations just as they are enables you to stay with them— to experience them without feeling the need to do anything about them.
When your mind wanders into a stream of thought, return to your “object of attention”— body sensations. When your mind goes into evaluating, assessing, or inter- preting a physical sensation, come back to the direct expe- rience of your body. When the physical sensation is no longer central or if it’s too painful or difficult to stay with, return to the sensations of breathing.
End this meditation by returning to your breath, float- ing upon a few breath currents. Do you feel greater inti- macy with your body?