Week 1 formal practice: Body Scan

[Ke****]

Day 7

I guess I only had to do 6 but Today I chose to guide my own. Say in silence and scanned my body- I’d say for about 15 minutes! More tension in left side of my body, which I connect to  the feminine! Interesting because I have recently had surgery and have had to call on help and receive and it has had its challenges to do so. Not surprised, also surgery was on the left foot, so likely tension from other side working overtime! 
also some tension in neck and traps ( need to reflect on if I am trapping anything thoughts feelings etc) 

Wow it was amazing!! When I was done my legs it felt like my arms were crossed on my stomach /pelvis region , and they were in place. I didn’t try to force them to move( knowing they were not actually across my body) 

I've never experienced that...

 

?

[Fa****]

I just finished week 1 and have very much enjoyed learning more about mindfulness. I had been practicing different types of meditation a few months prior to starting the course and felt I was benefitting from it. I had an amazing experience with the body scan right from the start-- my mind wandered very little during the scan, then towards the end, when it was silent for a while, I finally experienced no thoughts. It was just pure peace-- it felt absolutely wonderful. This has happened a few times so far. Looking forward to week 2.

[em****]

I just completed my first mindfulness body scan ever. It was relaxing... as I concentrated on each area it grew heavier and sunk into the floor. Also some tingling. I realised I am not particularly kind to, nor accepting of my body. It was quite profound. 

[Ks****]

Week 1

ive learned my best time of the day to meditate with body scan is mid morning to mid afternoon.

My mind wonders often but I am finding more moments of peacefulness as I practice. Those peaceful moments are beautiful and I’m starting to gravitate towards them.

 

mindful eating is a bit more challenging as I’m still really focusing on this more. I tend to stand and eat quickly. I’m leaning to sit and breathe and really take in my time of nourishment. 

 

Im really enjoying this class. Although it’s very challenging the reward is greater. I’m actually seeing progress! Looking forward to week 2.

[Te****]

Do any of you have any thoughts on experiencing resistance when you try to let go or adopt a compassionate view toward yourself? I tried the body scan for the first time today and I felt a lot of resistance from my thoughts, that stopped me from being aware of different parts of the body. It almost felt like my mind was worried I'd lose my identity if I let myself just be. Does anyone have a constructive way of viewing these thoughts, sometimes I find myself saying "let them be, be compassionate" and it doesn't seem to help, it feels quite detached and almost like I'm trying to brainwash myself through thoughts into feeling more relaxed. 

[Guest User]

Hi, does the "resistance" come in the form of "verbal " thought? Like for example, "you can't do this" or "I doubt myself" (these are just examples). Or does it come in the form of feelings?

[Te****]

Thanks for the support :) It's more of a feeling, feels a bit like a block but it's accompanied by thoughts saying "no you can't let go" or "this isn't right" and I try to tell myself new thoughts but that seems to be quite detaching and feels combative like I'm trying to force myself into feeling differently...

[Guest User]

So I used to (and still do occasionally) get a resistance. They were mostly verbal which lead to a feeling.

I realised that the resistance wasn't me. I mean, why would I inhibit myself from  doing something that I wanted to do? (Another example, I'd get this when sending off some of my music to record labels - "they won't like it." "I'm not good enough" etc)

So I asked myself, if this wasn't me then who was it? Amazingly enough I would remember a situation earlier in my life when someone else said that exact thing! The situation always had some element of pain, physical or emotional. But the "impact" of that moment seemed to do something with what was said at the time. Almost like the pain  or emotional pain hypnotised me and the "i can't do this" type of statement became a hypnotic command. 

So whenever I feel or "hear" that resistance, I think "ok, so who said that? When? What was I doing? What were they doing?" etc etc

So I would try asking yourself "who said that?" Or "who's saying this?"

See where it goes.

If I get a recollection, I go through it and strangely enough the resistance in the here and now seems to vanish or at least reduce to a level in which it could be overcome. 

I honestly don't know if this works on everyone but I have a friend I tried this on and she said that she really got to the roots of her negative considerations.

 

I hope this can help you too. I would be so interested to find out.

 

Also, another question  (sorry). Do certain activities which should be pretty straightforward drain you? 

Edited November 18, 2019 by Guest User

[sh****]

Today was the 1st day of the body scan practice.  It is very hard to focus on the guided words. I found myself drifting in the thought stream multiple times. I would come back to the words of the guidance realizing that I had missed about half of that section. I noted several different areas of dull ache. I noted several different areas of itch. Over all, it was very relaxing. Even though I am awake, I feel very calm which is different than normal mornings where when I am finally totally awake just start the day, I am normally stressed. I look forward to seeing how tomorrow goes.

[KK****]

I did the 33 minutes yesterday and was able to stay present until the end (with some wandering - but no sleep), but I am going to try for a shorter one tomorrow - and like Rina66 suggested, I’m going to try it before I hop out of bed in the morning.  Wish me luck.

[xo****]

I practice body scan (yoga nidra) since 1992 as part of my yoga routine. I start and finish the lesson with ten minutes of yoga nidra when I run my yoga classes. In the beginning it is done to get in contact with our somatosensory system and relax every part of the body. In the end it is done to relax the muscles and start releasing the lactic acid produced during the yoga positions. Nidra means dream/sleep. It is a several thousands years old practice. It connects the body with the motor homunculus. This represents a map of brain areas dedicated to motor processing for different anatomical divisions of the body. The primary motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus, and handles signals coming from the premotor area of the frontal lobes. All the above is part of the somatosensory system together with the neurons that make sensing touch, temperature, and position in space possible. This just to say that body scan is much more important that what we may think. What we experience (boredom and sleepiness included) is just the top of the iceberg.....

[Sf****]

Hello, I have just completed week 1. Although I have used similar meditation techniques in the past what struck me about practising the body scan every day this week was a feeling of warmth spreading throughout the whole body as I focused on each part of it. This feeling lasted for quite some time after the actual body scan...

[Ri****]

On 11/5/2019 at 3:27 AM, Tine said:

Thank you for your contribution. An essential part of the MBSR course is sharing and hearing about other peoples experiences. Such a wide range and so much beauty, connection and insight is gained by the different viewpoints of the same practice.

 

[Ri****]

Did body scan and felt relaxed , fell asleep for a few minutes .  Hard to focus on a consistent basis.  

[Ri****]

practicing the body scan is becoming something I look forward every day. It relaxes me and helps me really focus on my body and also how I’m feeling emotional.  Really enjoying the practice.

[Tine]

Thank you, everyone, who has commented here so far. I am amazed by the broad spectrum of experiences that @Bzzzzzzzzt, @HappyChristian, @Jo_Mind, @angmasserini, @Seaopal, @Kelsey, @Drumgirl, @Kstalians, @Rina66, @sammybby13, @Fararene, @emmaoconnor, @shywolf1969, @KKPinkowski, @xochi, @Sfi and @Rina60174 are reporting.

 

Some are familiar. Some are not. Sometimes we fall asleep, or we have a hard time concentrating, or we recharge or feel relaxed, sometimes we are focused, and deep into the experience another time we need to pull through our thoughts telling us that we have much more important things to do and much more. 

 

Another topic I saw pointed out several times is that it's always changing, during the body scan but also form day to day. Just like two breaths are never exactly the same no meditation will ever be the same one of the ones before.

 

@xochi talked in greater depth the deeper implications of this simple practice and @Kstalians comment on mindful eating seeing it as nourishment for the body and really taking your time and enjoying it was beautiful. So much insight and inspiration!

 

[ma****]

I noticed big differences in my ability to stay focused on the exercise between the different days. Most of the time it really helped me to regain my focus and calmth, other days I really got restless with thougths like 'waste of my time', 'so much to do still today'.

[Aw****]

I started day one today. I personally found the body scan exercise really relaxing. I am looking forward to day 2.

[Aw****]

So I completed day two today and had a mixture of emotions. First of all I felt deeply relaxed and found the voice very relaxing, which half way through turned into an unpleasant emotion which did pass over time. I realise that I don't think I was listening to the words much and I think the emotion came from the fact that I wanted to daydream and the voice was bringing me back. Very interesting.

[ro****]

I just did my first day, my first body scan today. It was rough. My mind was constantly wandering, I wasn’t comfortable lying down, I struggled with the idea of scanning rather than visualizing, and I had no comments for most of my body parts. I know there’s a learning curve I will get used to. I was nearly falling asleep sometimes and feeling bored. I think there’s is much improvement to be had which is exciting. Onwards and upwards! 

[Aw****]

I am on day 4, I forgot to post after I listened to the meditation on day 3. The meditation on day 3 seemed to go quickly, either that or I fell asleep as before i knew it it was the end of the meditation. I felt super relaxed. Today on day 4 I felt my awareness more in my body in comparison to before I listened to the meditation. 

[Bo****]

So I'm doing the body scan first thing when I wake up. I've found that I struggle to stay awake. Sometimes I open my eyes for short periods of time to get more awake. But I like to do the entire scan with my eyes closed. I do it on a yoga mat with a fuzzy blanket on top. It's really cold in the morning. I use an audio recording. I use a pillow under my head. It looks like a perfect sleep scenario. But my head hurts if I dont use a pillow. And I cant focus if I'm freezing cold. Any ideas how I can stay awake better?

[Tine]

10 hours ago, Borahbestie said:

Any ideas how I can stay awake better?

I easily fall asleep lying down as well unless I am incredibly well-rested. So I sometimes do the bodyscan in my regular meditation position, which helps a lot staying awake as well as staying warm as I do use a warm blanket.

[Bo****]

Good suggestion. Thank you

[Ri****]

So I have tried the body scan , sitting ,and yoga   Out of the three my favorite is yoga.  It’s the one practice 

that enables me to focus more on the experience and on my body.  I can feel how my body stretches and to pay attention 

without my mind wandering off constantly.