The three centers of belly, heart, and head are often the locus of strong emotions. We experience strong sensations in these areas, both unpleasant and pleasant. With mindfulness, we can practice feeling whatever we feel in these areas, while softening labels of good or bad, right or wrong.
In this guided meditation, Sean Fargo of Mindfulness Exercises presents a mindful body scan with a particular focus on the three centers of belly, heart and head. The practice invites a gentle, accepting presence with whatever arises in our experience.
Please listen in a safe, quiet place where you can be relatively free from distraction. Practice with eyes open or closed, in a posture that balances comfort with alertness. May this meditation be of benefit to you.
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Mindfulness practice treats the whole body, not only the brain, as a source of information about what we feel. The three centers of the belly, heart and head are often where our strongest sensations show up.
The belly aches and the heart hurts, for example, when experiencing unpleasant emotions. And when joy or pleasantness arises, we might feel more spaciousness in the head, a sparkle in the heart, or warmth in the belly.
When bringing mindfulness to these areas, our task is to simply feel what we feel in the body, versus thinking about it or conceptually analyzing it. This entails allowing for all that we observe and applying an open, gentle curiosity that pushes nothing away and is free from expectation.
In the belly, we might observe movement. In the heart, chest, and lungs, we might notice temperature or the presence or absence of constriction. As we bring mindfulness to the head, we take care to stay with the field of sensation, versus getting caught up in thoughts and content.
Practicing presence with these three areas may help ease resistance in the body and emotional reactivity, and may support emotional awareness and compassion.
In this Three Centers body scan meditation, we move from the feet toward the head, pausing to explore sensations in the belly, heart, and head. We are reminded that there’s nothing we need to do, other than bring our presence to what is felt in the body.
With practice, we may be able to bring this caring presence into more moments of our day.
Learn more about body scan meditations and how to sense emotions in the body with these additional free mindfulness resources:
- Blog: Six Ways to Deepen Awareness with Mindfulness Body Scans
- Podcast: A Deeper Mindful Body Scan with Sean Fargo
- Podcast: Connecting With Emotions Through the Body, with Sean Fargo
- Podcast: Using the Body to Identify Emotions, with Sean Fargo
- Podcast: Sensing Into the Heart Meditation, with Sean Fargo
- Podcast: Mindfulness of the Head Space, A Meditation with Sean Fargo
- Meditation Script: Notice and Accept Your Body in the Present Moment
- Mindfulness Worksheet: Clarifying Emotions
About Sean Fargo:
Sean Fargo is a former Buddhist monk who founded Mindfulness Exercises and leads the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification.
