Intro: the Merit of our Practice (14:37)

guided Meditation: Body Scan (17:34)

For a 30-minute body scan led by Jon Kabat-Zinn, click here.

For this week’s resources related to the merit of our practice, click here.

Several members of our community of practice are experiencing chronic pain, illness, anxiety, or insomnia. Mindfulness can be a great help, and today we revisited mindfulness of the body with a body scan meditation.

Jon Kabat-Zinn has been a pioneer in integrating mindfulness practices into mainstream medicine. Participants in the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction workshop at his Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts begin with four weeks of body scan. He invites participants to enter each day’s practice with the new eyes of a child, as if they had never experienced their own bodies before. This is a welcome reminder to all of us, a lovely intention with which to greet each day.

If you are experiencing chronic pain, illness or emotional distress, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction can be life changing. You can learn more about Jon Kabat Zinn and his work through his books and online resources. A good place to start is the book Full Catastrophe Living. You can find dozens of guided meditations and talks on YouTube by searching his name. You can find a link to a 30-minute body scan at the top of this page.