Relaxing 15-Minute Body Scan

Sometimes the most supportive thing you can do is press play and be guided.

My collection of audio practices has been created to support your nervous system between sessions, during difficult moments, or simply as a regular daily practice.

This short body scan offers a gentle invitation to slow down, turn inward, and come back to yourself. You may return daily, or find it useful at moments of high anxiety stress or sleeplessness.

Lie on the floor or sofa with a soft blanket, get comfortable and switch off for 15 minutes.

Transcript

Body scan. Lie down on the floor or in your bed, Somewhere that's comfortable, Where you can lie with your limbs fully extended, Maybe with a blanket because your body temperature might drop a little as you relax. So just making yourself comfortable, Closing your eyes, Maybe using an eye pillow if you have one, And just taking a few breaths to become still. Noticing the weight of your body on the floor, Just becoming aware of the back of your body resting onto the floor, Noticing all the points of contact with the floor. Which parts of your body can you feel really resting, Being supported, Just letting the surface underneath you hold you, Releasing your body, Releasing the weight of your body to the support beneath you. I just want you to take three deep breaths, Just a nice deep breath in through your nose, You can exhale through your mouth if you want to, Like a sigh, And then just return to your natural breath. So we're not going to try and control or change the breath in any way, Just allowing the breath to be as it is for you right now. Noticing your breath, How is your breath today? We're just going to let the breath be and take your awareness down now to your feet. Your traveling feet, How far have they traveled today? Just taking a moment to acknowledge all the work that our feet do every day, Moving us around, Walking from place to place, A lot of work that goes unnoticed and unacknowledged. Just feeling the parts of your feet that are in contact with the floor, Again noticing that surface area, Those points of contact, Feeling the weight of your feet. Just bringing your awareness into your toes, Acknowledging all of your toes, Soles of your feet and the tops of your feet. Notice any textures, Texture of the floor or your mat, Carpet or your bed beneath your feet. Socks, Notice if your feet are meeting the air. Notice any temperature, Do they feel warm or cool? Is there any tingling sensation? Maybe nothing at all, Everything is welcome. Just slowly meandering your awareness up, The ankles up to the legs, Just a very slow melting, Moving, Meandering that awareness up. Noticing calf muscles, Maybe some contact with the floor there, Letting those big muscles release, Soften, Relax. Just noticing your knees, Letting them go, Letting them rest. Moving your awareness up to the thighs, Again just noticing if you become aware of any kind of holding sensation. You can use your breath again, Just take a couple of breaths, Linger there, Imagining that you're sending the inhale into this part of the body and then with the exhale letting it release and soften. Sometimes it can take quite a few breaths to get certain parts of the body just to become a little bit softer, A little more open, A little release. Now bring your awareness up to your lower back, Resting on the floor, Back of your pelvis, Sacrum, Noticing how the weight of your body rests here. Maybe you notice one side feels slightly heavier than the other side, That's okay, Don't need to change that. Breathing in again to the pelvis, To the hips, The anchor of the body, The basin of your pelvis, Letting it soften, Letting it be. And we're going to bring the awareness up again a little higher up into the body, That same meandering pace, Meandering awareness. You're taking a little journey through your body, Coming up into the core of your body, Coming into the belly. Bringing your awareness to the rise and fall of the breath, Belly moving like the tide, The tide of the breath. Just again and noticing, Not trying to change, Not trying to take a deeper breath or lengthening the exhalation, Just noticing the breath as it is right now in your body. Belly rising, Belly falling, Gentle flow of the air moving in and out of your body, Very light, Very delicate, Your body is still, Breath can be very fine, Finest little thread, Silk thread of air moving in and out of your body. Just let the awareness sink down and through to your back, Your back body, And a part of our body that we don't think too much about, It's behind us. Feeling the lower back and maybe the arch of the spine where there's no contact with the floor. Space there, Bringing your awareness up to the backs of the ribcage, The ribs. Just really letting this part of your body rest, Again releasing the weight of the body down, Letting the ribcage soften, Letting the organs rest, Breathing softly and just noticing the weight of your body resting on the floor, Bringing the awareness through and up again, Coming to the front of your body, Chest area. Thinking about your lungs as they're breathing, Very gentle movement of the diaphragm, The bottom of your lungs, Jellyfish like movement as the diaphragm breathes. With the inhalation the diaphragm moves down in your body, Allowing the lungs to expand, And then the diaphragm moves up and the air releases out of your body with the exhale. Noticing any gentle movements of your chest and ribcage as you breathe, Bringing your awareness into your heart, Heart centre, Centre of the chest, Just noticing, Just noticing. Maybe we become aware of the physical heart, Maybe we become aware of some other sensations in the chest. What lives here? Do you feel any sensation? Do you notice anything here? Maybe warmth, Maybe tightness, Maybe spaciousness, Maybe you don't notice anything. Bringing your awareness now to the shoulders and really letting them go, Heavy shoulders sinking down, The contact between the shoulder blades and the floor, Complete release for the shoulders, They're not holding anything, Not doing anything, Just let them drop. We're going to slowly again, That meandering of awareness all the way down the arms, Bringing your awareness down to your fingertips, Just noticing the thumbs, All of the fingers, All of the fingertips. And just letting the hands be at rest still, Busy hands, Busy all day when we're awake, Letting them rest now. Let's travel slowly back up the arms, Elbows, Arms, Shoulders, Collarbones, Coming up to the neck, Reach between your mind and your body, The neck that does a lot of work all day, Holding up the weight of your head. Just letting the neck soften, Slowly coming to arrive at the head, Top of your body, Bringing your awareness all the way up to the crown, Your scalp, Just noticing any sensation there, The scalp, The skin on the top of your head. Slowly bringing the awareness down through the face, Like a slow creeping liquid awareness, Travelling down through your forehead, Releasing, Softening the muscles there, Coming to the eyebrows, Eyebrow centre, Softening, Relaxing, Letting go. Eyelids heavy, Forehead calm, The mouth, Jaw, Maybe a little loose, Maybe your mouth is a little bit open, The jaw is soft, No holding. Just feeling that your whole head is being cradled, Your whole head is still. Now bring your awareness around the whole of your body, All at once, The whole body, One body, One living, Breathing thing. Your body is not a collection of parts, It's one whole body, Whole body, Being held in stillness. And slowly, Slowly, We make our way back. I invite you just to take two or three deeper breaths again. And as we start to bring some movement back into the body, Starting with fingers and toes, Just a gentle movement, Moving fingers, Moving toes. And then slowly, In your own time, Going to start to stretch and wake up again. And I hope that you can carry some of this stillness and quiet with you now through the rest of your day.