1If you are moving attention through the body, start at the feet and work up. Leave the throat, the chest and the face until last.
The far edges of the body carry less charge, so they are a gentle place to find your bearings. Include the back, which people tend to skip: attention to what is behind you, resting against the chair, usually feels like being held up rather than exposed. Stop wherever it gets loud. Reaching the top of the head was never the point.
Islamic evidence
God is aware of the most furtive of glances, and of all that hearts conceal (Quran 40:19). Even the parts of you facing away are not out of view, including the back you cannot see.
“God is aware of the most furtive of glances, and of all that hearts conceal”
Qur'an 40:19
Psychological evidence
A meta-analysis of MRI studies of meditation found consistent involvement of the insula, the region that maps the internal state of the body. That tells you attention to the body has a reliable footprint in the brain. It says nothing about which order to move through the body in, which remains clinical practice rather than a finding.
Boccia M, Piccardi L, Guariglia P. (2015). BioMed research international · doi
Review detail
Why it works. Beginning where feeling is quieter lets you build some confidence before you reach the tender places.
Feedback
none yet2There is a difference between watching your hand and being in your hand. See whether you can move from looking at a part of your body to living inside it.
Observing keeps a small distance, which is useful early on and can quietly become the whole practice. Inhabiting is the further step: filling the space, taking up residence there. Try it with one region only, somewhere easy like the hands, and give it longer than feels necessary.
Islamic evidence
by the soul and how He formed it (Quran 91:7). The soul and its forming are named in one breath, which is a fair picture of what living inside your body means.
“by the soul and how He formed it”
Qur'an 91:7
Psychological evidence
A controlled imaging study found that long-term meditators had greater grey matter concentration in regions associated with body awareness than matched non-meditators. The design compares groups at a single moment, so it cannot show that practice caused the difference. What it does support is that sustained attention to the body is bound up with the parts of the brain that map the body.
Hölzel BK, Ott U, Gard T, Hempel H, Weygandt M, Morgen K, Vaitl D. (2008). Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · doi
Review detail
Why it works. Watching from outside is still a way of staying out, and being inside your body is what you are actually after.