Scanning the body is one way to stay in the present moment. Here is a practice inspired by the Body Scan exercise in Pema Chodron’s book How To Meditate, and the poem below.
Meditations on Mindfulness, by Rachel E Watson
I meditate.
I scan my body,
noticing everything.
My left great toe, my right great toe,
my ankles and joints,
my parts great and small,
the sections that make me whole.
The winter in my heart,
the spring in my brain,
the fall in the pit of my stomach,
when I heard your life-changing news.
The summer I felt when last
we were together.
In noticing myself, I’m here to observe,
not to judge or to blame.
But the factual truth about noticing,
is noticing won’t let me go.
In the rhythm of my breath,
the rise and fall of my chest,
I find new marching orders.
I reach inside and seize my plough,
ripping up those old, worn cow-paths
and seeding the ground
with vibrant perennials.
A garden I sow
in the earth of my mind—
all because of this little thing
called noticing.
Guide: Noelle Lim
Image credit: Tracy Anderson, Unsplash
Kindermind Center 