I have completed my first month of daily meditation and it is going very well. I have been doing a combination of breath awareness, body awareness and lovingkindness meditation.
The body scan is a form of body awareness meditation that involves shifting attention from one part of the body to another, observing any sensations that you become aware of with an attitude of curiosity about your somatic experience, while systematically covering the entire body. I have been doing a variation of the body scan taught by Dan Siegel, author of the books Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, and The Mindful Therapist.
Dan Siegel incorporates interoception into his body scan. Interoception is the skill of sensing our internal bodily states. He refers to it as our sixth sense and a crucial aspect of our self-monitoring function, that also serves as a gateway to our ability to attune to others. So in addition to focusing on external body parts, his body scan includes tuning into internal organs, etc. I have created my own version, that also incorporates aspects of HeartMath heart coherence training.
Heart rate variability is believed to be an important indicator of autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance, physiological resiliency and behavioral flexibility, which reflect a person’s capacity to adapt to stressful circumstances. The two branches of the ANS (the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches) are continually in the process of speeding up and slowing down the heart, like the accelerator and brakes of a car. That is why the interval between two successive heart beats is never identical. This heart rate variability (moment-to-moment and beat-to-beat variations in heart rate) is a sign that the accelerator and brake are working properly. Too little and too much variability in heart rate are both detrimental.
Heart coherence training is like giving your heart a tune-up. With practice, you can develop a finely tuned brake that can be counted on, even when circumstances are difficult, because the ANS is more flexible and responsive and easily adjusts to stressors.
The steps of the HeartMath Quick Coherence Technique are as follows:
- Heart Focus- Focus your attention on the heart region of your body
- Heart Breathing- Imagine breathing through your heart
- Heart Feeling- Think of something or someone for which you are grateful
Here is an audio excerpt of my body scan meditation:
andrea_goldberg_body_scan_meditation_excerpt
I would love your feedback about this post. Anybody who leaves a comment will receive an audio file of the full 10 minute version of my body scan, as a token of my appreciation.