Welcome,
Hello.
So beautiful to share this body scan exploration together.
There is no right or wrong in this exploration.
It's a chance to be with your body as it is in this very moment.
Seeing what it's like to allow feelings,
Sensations,
Tingling,
Numbness,
Aliveness.
Allowing those sensations to be here,
To be felt,
To be noticed.
Paying attention with gentleness and spaciousness.
And as we begin to settle in,
You can choose to be in any shape that feels steady,
Supportive,
In a place that feels comfortable enough today.
You might like to lay down on your back.
Your head might be supported by a pillow.
You might like to cover yourself with a blanket.
Wherever you are,
Whatever shape you are choosing to begin your practice in.
Encouraging you to shift,
To wriggle.
Nestling down through your shoulders,
A gentle wave through your hips.
Letting your head be fully supported here by whatever is beneath you.
No need to hold or grip or grasp through the muscles of your neck.
What might it be like to allow whatever is beneath you to receive the entire weight of your body?
And you can choose to move as much or as little as your body needs during this practice.
Tuning into any whispers from your body to make a shift to the shape you're in.
To take a little stretch,
A sway,
A shrug of your shoulders.
And as you begin to bring awareness to your body,
Is there a part of your body that captures your attention,
A part of your body that wants to be noticed?
Maybe this is a part of your body that is carrying some tenderness or stickiness.
Perhaps carrying some stress or worry.
Can you feel and sense if there is a bracing,
A holding,
A restriction or constriction in this place within your body?
Maybe multiple places.
And without any need to change,
To fix,
Can you allow,
Recognize,
Acknowledge,
Ah yes,
There is this holding or bracing.
What might it be like to give yourself permission,
Full permission?
To release even a tiny fraction of whatever it is that is here,
Whatever is holding,
Gripping on to this place within your body.
Gently observing these habitual places that hold tension.
And as we move through this body scan exploration,
There might be parts of your body that are feeling a lot of sensation.
Parts of your body that might make it more tricky to feel,
To sense.
Knowing that sensations can feel like tingling,
Energy,
Aliveness,
Sometimes pain,
Discomfort,
Tenderness.
And sensations can also come in the form of numbness,
A blankness,
An emptiness.
Tiny flickers of a muscle,
Maybe the feeling of your clothing resting upon your skin.
Might also be temperature.
And so as I invite your awareness to rest on different parts of your body,
You can choose to linger in a place for longer than my guidance.
You can also choose to skip over a part of your body if it's not feeling useful or supportive for you today.
And seeing what it might be like to recognize anything you notice as useful information.
Whether you are feeling a lot,
A little or nothing at all.
What information might your body be giving you,
Gifting you from those discoveries?
You might like to be intentional about inviting in gentleness,
Spaciousness,
Openness.
This tender awareness.
What little movements do you have to make within your body to feel?
Find a fraction more physical comfort.
And once you arrive in a little bit of stillness.
Beginning to bring your awareness to the very top of your head.
Inviting your tender,
Gentle awareness.
To the top of your head,
The crown.
Perhaps you can feel the texture of your hair.
Maybe even the space,
The air that is all around the top of your head.
As your awareness floats down into the features of your face.
What sensations can you detect across your brow?
Perhaps tiny muscles around your eyes,
Your eyelids.
Welcoming anything that you feel,
You sense,
You notice.
If it helps you to bring a little bit of movement into your cheeks.
To feel and sense sensations across your cheeks.
And your jaw.
You can make those little movements.
And as you arrive in stillness.
Perhaps there is a fraction of softening.
Releasing of relaxing through the muscles of your face.
Is there any tensing or holding through the hinges of your jaw?
What sensations might be there to feel,
To notice?
Letting your awareness travel down into your lips and your tongue.
Sensing into the texture of your lips.
The feeling of your tongue resting in your mouth.
Letting your awareness rest.
On your left ear and your right ear.
Welcoming being receptive to any sensations through the lobes of your ear.
Perhaps feeling the temperature of the air.
Surrounding the space all around each ear.
Letting the features of your whole face.
From the top of your head.
Sides of your face.
All of the features on the front.
And the shadow side,
The back of your head.
Feeling into this softening of the whole face.
Maybe getting a sense of your head feeling a little heavier.
As it floats,
Sinks downwards into whatever is supporting your head.
As your awareness travels down your neck.
All three dimensions of your neck.
Are there any sensations there that want to be noticed?
Tingling,
Buzzing.
Some kind of tension or stickiness.
Do those sensations shift and change?
Perhaps inviting your awareness to travel down through the tops of your shoulders.
Traveling all the way down each arm.
Feeling and sensing into your shoulders.
Welcoming sensations.
In any form,
All of the forms that sensations come in.
Maybe really easy to detect in this moment.
Maybe a little bit more subtle,
More difficult to notice.
Your awareness flowing down each arm.
The upper arm.
On all sides.
All around each elbow,
The skin that surrounds each of your elbows.
Each forearm,
Wrist.
The tops of your hands,
The space between each of your fingers.
And as you bring awareness to the whole of your arms.
From the tops of your shoulders right down to the tips of your fingernails.
You might get a sense of your arms feeling a little heavier.
As they rest down into the surface that is supporting you and holding you.
What is it like to allow yourself to surrender into that support?
Trusting that the earth beneath you is holding you.
Receiving the whole weight of your body.
You might like to explore feelings and sensations.
Through your torso.
Letting your awareness float downwards from your collarbones.
Over your heart space and sternum.
Down into your belly.
Your side waist.
And the whole shadow side of your body.
Upper back.
Middle back.
Exploring,
Discovering,
Uncovering feelings and sensations.
Being receptive to whatever sensations your body is alerting you to.
Wanting you to notice,
To experience.
Feeling the relationship between your body and the support underneath you.
All of that space that is supporting you.
Inviting your awareness to meander down each leg.
Perhaps from the bones of your hips.
Down your thighs.
Your kneecaps,
All of the skin that surrounds you.
Each knee.
What sensations are here that want you to notice?
That want to be paid attention to?
Observing those sensations through your lower limbs.
Your shins,
Your calves,
Each ankle.
And all sides of your feet,
Your foundation.
Perhaps noticing shifts in temperature.
The texture of socks you might have on your feet.
The feeling of the air,
The space that encases each foot.
And if it helps you to feel and sense into sensation,
By creating a little bit of movement,
Know that that is welcome.
Observing how your whole lower body drifts deeper down into the surface beneath you.
Your legs that support you,
Hold you each day.
They are being supported here.
Being given full permission to rest.
For the next few moments,
Inviting you to bring your whole being all three dimensions of your body into your gentle,
Spacious,
Loving awareness.
You might imagine that your whole body here is cloaked in delicious,
Warm sunshine.
Letting the warmth of the sun soak deeply into your skin,
Your muscles,
Your tendons,
All of your tissues.
Allowing the sun to gift you its warmth and vitality.
Absorbing all of its energy.
Allowing you a few moments without the sound of my voice to rest in and with yourself.
I'll invite us to close the practice together with the sound of my voice in a few minutes.
So,
Becoming aware now of your body being held and supported.
Feeling into the relationship between your body and all the space that is underneath you.
And you might begin to feel the space that is around you and above you.
Feeling into the space that is between each of your fingers,
Between each of your toes.
Bringing some aliveness,
Some awakening to your body in any way that feels useful and supportive.
That could be a stretch feeling into the space around you.
It could be a yawn opening and closing through your mouth.
Rolling your head from side to side.
If it feels okay for you today,
You might place your hands on your body as a way of gesturing into yourself.
And as your body says thank you for paying me this attention,
This tender,
Gentle,
Open and spacious attention.
What is it that you want to say to your body?
What do you want your body to know?
You might choose to stay resting for as long as feels right for you today.
Or you might begin to move through the rest of your day with this deeper sense of connectedness.
To your only home in this world.
This body that carries you through each day.
Thank you for your presence,
For choosing to spend this time with yourself.
Choosing to deepen the relationship that you have with your body.
Learning,
Discovering,
Uncovering all of the subtle and not so subtle sensations.
It wants us to know,
Wants us to feel and sense.
I would love to practice together again soon.
Sending you a lot of spaciousness and excessive gentleness.
Take good care.
