15 Minute Centering - Guided Body Scan Meditation

Get centered, by dropping out of your head and into your body, with this 15-minute guided meditation from ElizaBeth Alexander. We start with gentle breathing exercises, move into a body scan, and finish with a column of light-guided visualization.

Transcript

Go ahead and bring yourself into a comfortable seated or lying down position.

Taking any last stretches or wiggles that feel good to you.

Reminding yourself that there is no right or wrong way to meditate and that you've done the hardest part already by showing up.

As you start to settle in,

Let's turn our focus inward.

Maybe softening your gaze or closing your eyes.

And if it feels good,

Sealing the mouth and beginning to breathe in and out through your nose.

We'll begin today's practice by taking a moment to just check in with your breath.

What is the quality of your breath?

Is it shallow?

Is it deep?

Does it feel easy,

Labored,

Or somewhere in between?

Are you breathing into the front of your body,

The sides of your body,

The back of your body?

Do you feel a rise and fall in your chest,

In your belly,

In both?

And we'll begin with a few rounds of box breathing.

So on your next inhale,

Breathing in for a count of four.

Holding the breath for a count of four.

Breathing out the nose for four.

And holding the breath out for four.

Again,

Breathing in the nose for four.

Holding the breath in for four.

Breathing out the nose for four.

And holding the breath out for four.

And continuing this box breathing,

Counting four in each direction,

For a few rounds on your own.

On your next inhale,

Whenever you get there,

There's no rush,

Breathing in for a count of six.

Enjoy a brief pause at the top,

And then breathe out for a count of six.

Breathing in for six.

And breathing out for six.

And then go ahead and release any counting.

Allow your breath to continue at a slow rate that's natural for you.

And we'll shift our focus to the back half of the body.

Bringing your attention to everywhere the back of your body touches the floor underneath you or a surface behind you.

Noticing if the head makes contact,

If and where the shoulders and the arms do.

Feeling the back of the ribs,

The lower back.

Noticing the weight of your hips on the floor.

And bringing the focus down the backs of the legs,

Behind the knees,

All the way to your ankles and your feet.

And feel how this surface literally has your back.

It's strong,

It's stable,

It's supportive.

And it provides a great foundation for you to release and surrender upon.

Noticing if there's any tension in your body that it might feel good to let go.

Allowing the body to feel heavy on the floor or with its supports.

And then shifting your focus to the front half of your body.

Feeling your face,

Feeling the eyes,

The forehead.

Feeling for the tip of your nose,

Where your nose ends and space starts.

Feeling your cheeks,

Your jaw,

Your ears,

The front of your throat.

Feeling across the front of the chest,

The fronts of the arms.

Noticing where your body ends,

Where clothing,

Objects,

Or space starts around you.

Feeling the abdomen,

Feeling the front of the pelvis and thighs.

Going down the legs,

Feeling the kneecaps,

The shins,

The tops of your feet and toes.

And feeling the entire front of the body.

Paying attention to where your body ends and where the space around you starts.

And then we'll shift the focus to the back half of your body again.

Noticing everywhere that's supported by a surface behind or below you.

And feeling for your points of contact.

Feeling the support,

Strong foundation here for you.

And then shifting the focus forward to the front half of the body.

Feeling the space that's in front of you,

The possibilities that are ahead.

And one more time focusing on the back half of the body.

Noticing everywhere you make contact with the floor underneath you.

And then shifting forward and feeling the space.

Feeling the front half of your body,

The space around it.

And now we'll shift our focus to the right half of the body.

So feeling the right side of the head.

Bringing your attention to the right eye,

The right ear,

Right jaw,

Right shoulder.

And to the entire right arm,

Your hand.

And taking a moment to bring your attention into each of your fingertips and your thumb.

Dimensionalizing the right side of the torso.

Bringing our focus to the right hip.

And all the way down the right leg to the right ankle and foot.

Feeling each of your toes and the entire footprint of your foot.

And then shifting our focus to the left half of the body.

Starting at the head again.

Noticing your left eyebrow,

Your left eye,

Left cheekbone,

Ear and jaw.

The left side of your neck and shoulder.

The left arm.

The left elbow,

The left hand in each of your left fingertips.

And then bringing the focus down the left side of the torso.

Feeling the left hip.

And then focusing down the left leg.

All the way to your knee,

To your ankle and the left foot.

Feeling the bottom of the left footprint and each of your ten and each of your five left toes.

Feeling the entire left half of the body from head to toe.

And then shifting the focus to the right.

Feeling the entire right half of the body from head to toe.

And we'll play around with these opposites.

Shifting left.

Feeling the entire left half of the body.

And then shifting right.

And feeling the entire right half of the body.

And then can you find that sweet spot in the middle?

It's not the left,

It's not the right.

That's somewhere in between.

Can you tune in to the front part of this and the back part of this?

And can you,

Again,

Find that sweet spot in the middle?

That's somewhere in between.

Connecting with the center line of your body.

Feeling it running along near your spine.

And then extending the line up over your head and down between your legs and below your feet.

Reaching as above,

So below.

And imagining this line as a column of light.

It can be a brilliant color.

It could be a beautiful white.

It could be a dark black light.

Light can be black too.

And just imagining this column in whatever color feels good to you.

And with each breath,

Allowing the column to grow in circumference.

Every inhale,

Feeling it get a little bit wider.

With every exhale,

Maybe glowing a bit brighter.

Creating a center axis of your body.

And starting to dimensionalize the space around you.

So as the column grows wider and it gets brighter,

It starts to take up the space of your whole torso.

Eventually seeing the column encompassing your arms and your legs.

And starting to extend around you.

So that your entire body is covered head to toe.

Fingertip to fingertip in a beautiful,

Brilliant column of light.

And taking a few final breaths in here.

Drinking in any sensations that feel good to you.

Remembering that this is a feeling that you've created from inside yourself.

I'm just here to remind you of it.

Maybe anchoring a little bit of it into your heart.

A reminder that you can return here anytime you'd like.

That this feeling is available and accessible to you anytime you'd like to come back.

When you're ready,

Starting to wiggle your fingers and your toes.

Deepening your breath.

Maybe taking a full body stretch or hugging your knees into your chest.

And in a time and in a way that feels good to you,

Slowly turning to one side.

And eventually making your way to a seated position.

And whenever you're in a sit,

Stack yourself with your head over your heart.

And your heart over your hips grounding and orienting yourself vertically.

Before moving on with the rest of your day.

As always,

It is my honor and pleasure to be here with you.

To guide and facilitate this experience today.

I really appreciate you showing up.

And I look forward to being with you again soon.

Reviews

Very good body scan