Happiness Break: Being Present from Head to Toe, with Spring Washam

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Try this body-scan meditation to ground your mind in the present moment and in your body, guided by Spring Washam.

How to do this practice:

Find a comfortable seat where you can relax your body.
Beginning with the top of your head, relax any sense of tension, one body part at a time.
Slowly scan down to your face, neck, upper arms, hands, feeling their presence.
You might want to place your hands on your belly to feel your breath and let go.
End by placing your hand on your heart and offer your body some kindness.

Today’s Happiness Break Host:

Spring Washam has been a devoted Buddhist practitioner in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism for more than 25 years. She is a founding teacher of The East Bay Meditation Center and has spent more than a decade studying Shamanic indigenous healing practices. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground.

Learn more about Spring and her book: https://www.springwasham.com/

Follow Spring on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springwasham/

Check out Spring’s YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/22njyd29

More Resources from the Greater Good Science Center:

Six Minutes to Connect with Your Body: https://tinyurl.com/2337f85e

How a Body Scan Can Help with Strong Emotions: https://tinyurl.com/58wfsvnd

Krista Tippett on Being Grounded in Your Body: https://tinyurl.com/59pkp324

Turning Into Your Body Can Make You More Resilient: https://tinyurl.com/5av68v62

Your Anxiety Might Be Coming From Your Body: https://tinyurl.com/dwb9vvue

What Self-Compassion Feels Like in Your Body: https://tinyurl.com/2p9rdepk

Seven Ways to Have a Healthier Relationship with Stress: https://tinyurl.com/m6mbv2np

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your experience of embodiment meditation. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave us a 5-star review and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

We’re living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That’s where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Bakker Keltner, welcome to Happiness Break, a series by the Science of Happiness that
0:08.0	provides research-backed practices to give you a boost in your day, all in under 10 minutes.
0:14.7	Today we're going to do a short meditation that will help us get into our bodies.
0:20.4	Embodied awareness is the idea that our minds are not only connected to our bodies, but
0:25.0	that neurophysiological processes below the brainstem influence the contents of thought.
0:31.5	Research shows body-focused meditations can help reduce anxiety and give us a better sense
0:36.2	of self-control during stressful times.
0:39.5	It also creates more space for self-acceptance, mindfulness, and empathy.
0:45.6	Guiding our Happiness Break today is Spring Washing, a meditation teacher and author of
0:50.5	the spirit of Harriet Tubman, awakening from the underground.
0:55.6	Here's Spring.
1:02.8	So let's begin to do a meditation on embodied presence through the doorway of the body.
1:13.0	So wherever you are, find a comfortable position that you can relax your body into.
1:20.4	It's nice to be upright where you can feel the flow of the breath.
1:25.9	As you said, you want to be able to connect to the energy of the breath and feel your sensations.
1:32.2	And also we want to do this with some sense of being attentive, aware, present.
1:41.9	We notice when the mind goes off and we notice when the mind is present.
1:47.7	So as you begin to feel into your body, I always like to begin this process with a body
1:54.6	scan.
1:55.6	So as you begin to slow down and quiet the mind and close your eyes, begin by feeling
2:04.2	the top of your head.
2:07.0	And you might need to move your neck and head around a little bit, but we want to do
	...

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