Male Announcer: You’re listening to From Pain to Possibility with Susi Hately. You will hear Susi’s best ideas on how to reduce or even eradicate your pain, and learn how to listen to your body when it whispers so you don’t have to hear it scream. And now, here’s your host, Susi Hately.
Welcome, and welcome back. Today, I have a treat for you, which will be an extended body scan. This is a recording that I’m actually doing post-trip to Italy. My husband and I have been back for a couple of days and there’s a little jetlag. We’re getting back into our rhythm. And so, I offered to guide Stu through an extended scan to settle into his body, to provide an embodied space with the breath.
So, if you’re ever feeling like you’re not quite in your body, if you’re feeling a little fried or wired, or a combination of the two, this might just be the ticket for you to help you reconnect.
To begin, find yourself in a comfortable, comfortable position. That might be laying on your back. It might be lying on your side. It might be sitting. You might be on the floor, or on a bed or a couch. The key here is to find a place and a position that’s comfortable, where you can just be with yourself
As you’re setting yourself up, as you’re settling in, consider how you might become 5% to 10% more comfortable. Maybe it’s a blanket, or an eye pillow. Maybe something underneath the knees, or even something over your feet or a pair of socks.
Ask yourself what could bring just a little more comfort?
From this place of settled, just notice whatever it is that you’re feeling, whatever is present. It might be just profound tiredness. It might be wired ness. It might be agitation. It might be trying to find breath. Just notice what’s present. Nothing to change. Simply to notice.
Because it’s in this act of noticing, this drawing in of our senses toward listening and perceiving sensation, that we get drawn into our body really quite magically. Nothing to do except to notice.
You might find that, as you’re noticing, you may want to, or notice, an intention bubbling up. Maybe it’s an intention for this practice and how you might feel at the end. Or maybe it’s for some other state or result. Say it to yourself in one sentence. And as you say it, notice how that feels in your body.
Then draw your noticing to the movement of your breath and how your breath moves your body.
You might feel movement of the abdomen, belly, ribcage. You might feel the air coming in through your nostrils.
Feel the waves coming in and going out.
And from that place notice the back of your body. Notice what’s touching the back of your body and what your back of the body is touching in return. From the heels to your head, pelvis to the shoulders. Notice the fabric or the air that caresses or touches your skin.
And then notice your right hand, your right thumb, your right finger, second finger, third finger, pinky finger.
Notice the palm of your hand and your right wrist. Your right forearm and right elbow.
Notice your right upper arm and armpit.
Notice from the right armpit into the collarbones. Cross the collarbones, do the left shoulder. The left armpit, the left upper arm, the left elbow, the left forearm, the left wrist, the left palm, the left thumb, first finger, second finger, third finger, fourth finger.
Noticing both arms now from the tips of your fingers, up your arms, elbows, to your armpits and shoulders.
Feeling from the shoulders now, noticing your neck. The front of your neck, the back of your neck, the sides of your neck.
Noticing the back of your head now. The top of your head.
Noticing your ears, your temples, your eyes, the inner corners of your eyes.
Noticing the bridge of your nose.
Noticing the tip of your nose.
Noticing the shape of your nostrils and how the air is coming in and out of your nostrils.
Feeling the space between the nose and your lip, the upper lip, the lower lip, and then coming in to your mouth.
Noticing the left side of your mouth and the right side of your mouth.
Feel the roof of your mouth and the floor of your mouth.
Notice your tongue, your gums and teeth.
Noticing again your neck, your breastbone, and the movement of the breastbone as you inhale and as you exhale, your abdomen and navel and how the abdomen connects into the pelvis.
Feeling the whole of your pelvis, the right side, the left side, the sacrum, the pubic bone.
Notice your right thigh bone, front of your thigh, back of your thigh, outside of your thigh, inside of your thigh, into your right knee, kneecap, the right side of your knee, the left side of your knee, the back of your knee.
Into your calf now, and Achilles tendon connecting to the heel, the right side of your right calf, the left side of your right calf, front of your shin, your right ankle, in and around your heel.
Feeling the arch of your right foot, the right side of your right foot, and your pinky toe, the left side of your right foot, and your big toe, to the bottom side of your foot.
Noticing the top side of your foot, and feel each of your individual toes. Your right big toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, fifth toe.
Feel all of that right leg from the toes, the foot, heel, ankle, calf, and shin, knee, thigh.
Notice your left thigh bone, your left hip, the outside of your left thigh, inside of your left thigh, front of your thigh, the back of your thigh, your kneecap, the outside of your knee, the inside of your knee, the back of your knee.
And then noticing into your calf all the way down to your Achilles tendon and heel.
Feel the right side of your left calf.
Feel the left side of your left calf.
Feel the shin.
Noticing your left ankle now, and heel and the arch of your foot.
Noticing the left side of your left foot, and your pinky toe.
Noticing the right side of your left foot, and your big toe.
Noticing the bottom of your foot, and the top, and each individual toe. Big toe, second toe, third toe, fourth toe, fifth toe.
Notice now from your toes through your foot, ankle, heel, calf, and shin, knee, thigh, and in to your hip.
Notice the entire leg.
Notice both legs now and both feet.
Noticing your pelvis, and your navel.
Notice just two inches below your navel.
And then notice just the base of your breastbone, the middle of your sternum, the notch of your collarbones and neck, the space between your eyebrows and the top of your head.
Notice all of your body now from your head to your heels, from your toes up the front of your body, to the top of your forehead, both arms, hands, all your fingers and your thumbs.
Noticing your breath now.
Inhale coming in, exhale going out.
If you set an intention at the beginning of the practice, this is the time to bring it back. You can say it to yourself as a single sentence.
In a moment, my voice will trail off and you can be here for as long as you would like. Thank you for your practice.
If this episode has resonated and you’re looking to deepen this idea of getting your body back on board, of listening deeply to your symptoms, of listening to the whispers so you don’t have to hear the screams, and you’re looking for one-to-one support or professional training, then reach out to us at [email protected] where we can customize your learning path. Looking forward to hearing from you.
