10-Minute Body Meditation

A 10 minute guided meditation on the body, relaxing into the open connection between body and mind through mindful awareness.

Arrange the body in meditation posture

Find yourself in a quiet place and settle your body into a meditation posture with your spine straight, hands resting lightly with palms up in your lap. Your legs can be crossed on the floor with your seat elevated by a cushion. Or you can sit in a chair with your legs uncrossed and your feet flat on the floor.

Try and let go of any tightness or tension in the body and mind.

Your eyes can be open or closed. If they are open, you can integrate whatever you see into your meditation.

Motivation

There’s nothing better that I could be doing right now than meditating, relaxing and deepening the connection between my body and mind. I can completely relax all tension and thoughts. I can let go into this meditation to deeply experience the feeling of my body, the energy of my body, and its interconnection with my mind and thoughts.

During the meditation, if you hear or experience things you would normally call distractions, like sounds from people talking, a ringing phone, or traffic outside, realize that these are not the distraction, but really it’s our own inner irritation and tension that creates the distraction.

Though it’s good to try and find a quiet place for meditation, there’s no way to shut down the world. So as sounds and sights and experiences that could be distractions inevitably arise, instead of feeling frustrated, try and accept them and bring them also into the awareness of your meditation to become part of your meditation.

Opening the connection between body and mind

And now we open up to the connection between our body and mind.

Just notice your body for a moment without placing the mind on any specific part. ​Connect with the body—loosely, relaxed. 

And also notice your mind, however it is right now. Accept it as it is. See that it is your mind that is aware of your body, and that they are already and always connected like this.

Relaxed meditative connection between body and mind

Stay relaxed, without focusing on any part of the body. Open up and feel the body’s nature as a whole.

Deeply experience the body and whatever energy you find within the body.

This meditation itself is the connection between body and mind, your mind accepting your body, becoming aware of your body, being comfortable in your body.

If you can, feel the naturally flowing energy of the body as joy, as the pleasantness of simply being alive and aware.

Remember to remain relaxed and loose, letting go of any tightness, any tension, any holding back that grips your body or mind.

Stay with your relaxation without focusing too tightly or loosely. 

Feel your body and be deeply connected to it without pushing; just allow the experience, the connection. 

Don’t hurry as your mind and body connect like this, remain totally relaxed.

Dedication

And as we relax out of the meditation, we can wish that we carry this relaxed connection between our body and mind into our daily life, making it a cause for contentedness and joy as we go about our day. We may find that relaxed awareness of our body, speech, and mind creates not only inner happiness, but outer happiness in our relationships, as we make deeper connections with the people around us through our mindful, relaxed presence.

Further reading

The Relaxed Mind: A Seven Step Method for Deepening Meditation Practice by Dza Kilung Rinpoche

Credits

Written and hosted by Scott Snibbe
Theme music, editing, and mastering by Bradley Parsons of Train Sound Studio
Episode Art “Woman Awakening” by Paul Klee, 1920