Body Awareness (Body Scan) the Gururaj Way

This Feed is from the International Foundation for Spiritual Unfoldment Virtual Campus Meditation Techniques – IFSU Virtual Campus an organization dedicated to teach meditation and mindfulness.

Body awareness, as Gururaj taught it, is a simple, powerful practice: you place attention, gently and methodically, through the body until awareness becomes steady, vivid, and spacious. From there, you can soften pain, quiet the mind, and even radiate balance to others.

Below is a faithful, practice-ready guide distilled from his satsang instructions and commentary.

Why it works (in plain words)

• Attention is medicine. Where awareness goes, energy organizes. Gururaj often reminded students: use your own thought-force—don’t let the mind just chatter.
• Sensation before analysis. We “look,” not “see.” Seeing is filtered by conditioning; looking is innocent presence. The scan trains this innocence.
• From center to periphery. After a full sweep, awareness gathers at the navel (often visualized as blue). From there it radiates through the whole body—calm, coherent, alive.

The guided sequence (verbatim-style flow)

1. Settle
   
   • Sit or lie comfortably—chair or floor—no strain (strain distracts attention).
   • Let the breath be natural.
2. Feet to thighs
   
   • Toes → tops and soles → heels → ankles → shins/calves → knees (front/back) → thighs (underside/top, whole).
     
   • Don’t search for sensations. Place awareness, let sensations reveal themselves.
3. Pelvis & torso
   
   • Groin → genital area → buttocks (feel the contact with chair or floor).
   • Lower back & navel/abdomen → up through chest → upper back.
     
4. Shoulders to fingertips
   
   • Shoulders → upper arms → elbows → forearms → wrists → hands → fingers to the tips.
     
   • Notice tingling or heaviness at the fingertips (common and fine).
5. Return up the arms
   
   • Fingers → hands → wrists → forearms → elbows → upper arms → shoulders.
     
   • Many feel the whole arms become heavy—normal relaxation response.
6. Neck & head
   
   • Throat/back of neck → scalp/skull → ears → cheeks → eyes & lids → forehead → down the nose (note the breath at the tip of the nose)
   • Upper lip → lower lip → chin → throat, and back down the chest.
7. Centering at the navel
   
   • Rest awareness at the navel. “Feel the color blue” there—any shade that comes naturally.
   • Let a blue haze gather; then rays of awareness spread from the navel through the whole body.
   • Many feel the body heavier yet deeply relaxed—exactly right.
8. Open-eyed awareness (innocent look)
   
   • Open eyes slowly. Don’t detail or label—just look ahead.
   • Sense the whole room at once; then (fun exercise) recall the person to your left and right—their clothing, hair, features—with eyes closed, then open again.
9. Close & reset
   
   • A few deeper breaths.
   • If you feel heaviness in arms or body, shake out hands and limbs briskly—as if flicking off water.

Timing: 10–20 minutes is plenty to start. Go slower for a richer field.

Working with discomfort or pain

Gururaj’s practical tip:

1. Place awareness gently on the aching area (e.g., back, calves).
2. Bring your mantra mentally to that spot and bathe the area in its vibration.
3. Stay about five minutes. Many notice the ache soften or dissolve.

(Use this as supportive self-care; it’s not a substitute for medical advice.)

What you might notice

• Tingling, warmth/coolness, pulsing, heaviness/lightness, or a sense that the body “disappears.” All normal.
• A subtle buzz at the forehead (ājñā) during/after the scan.
• A clearer, quieter mind—the point isn’t visions, but everyday ease.

Common pitfalls (and fixes)

• Trying to feel something. Fix: just place awareness and wait. Sensation is a consequence, not a quota.
• Racing mind. Fix: keep moving the scan at a steady, unhurried pace; let thoughts pass without argument.
• Efforting the breath. Fix: don’t manage it unless you were given specific pranayama; natural breath is fine here.
• Over-focusing one spot. Fix: note it, then continue the sweep; you can revisit it later with the mantra method above.

Variations Gururaj encouraged

• Room-wide awareness: After the navel-centering, practice wide-angle seeing—taking in front, then behind you (eyes open, then closed). It trains non-local, spacious attention.
• From center outward: Start at the navel (blue) and spiral or ray outward, then return—good on days when the scan feels scattered.

Post-scan sending: After centering, quietly send goodwill (gurushakti) to someone—especially in relationships needing softening. Thought, directed after meditation, is powerful.

How often?

• Daily is ideal (morning or evening).
• As a reset: 5 minutes mid-day can clear tension and refocus attention.

The spirit of the practic

Keep it simple and sacred. No forcing, no judging. You’re learning to look—innocently—first at your body, then through it, into the quiet brightness that moves the body. From that still center, your actions in the “other 23 hours” become easier, kinder, and more precise.

Namaste.

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