Welcome to this bedtime body scan for busy minds.
You can use this practice when you go to bed to help you sleep at night or you can use this practice if you wake up in the night.
And please know if you do have a busy mind,
Particularly at bedtime,
You're not alone.
The good news is we don't have to stop the thinking in order to help ourselves rest.
Instead,
We can learn how to work with the mind and the body and emotions and the breath.
And this can help us to change how we relate to thinking by placing our attention in other areas of our awareness and experience.
And this helps our whole system to settle and rest.
So no matter how your mind feels right now,
How busy it feels,
Or how busy your day has been,
You can come to this practice just as you are.
So let's begin.
And taking a moment to get nice and comfortable and cozy.
Finding a position that feels supportive and comfortable for you right now.
In this moment,
It might be helpful to maybe bring your shoulder blades a little further down your back.
Finding a comfortable place and position for your head,
Your arms,
Your torso,
And your legs.
So taking time to get comfortable.
And when you feel ready,
Just taking a few deeper breaths.
So as you breathe in,
Breathing all the way down to the lower belly.
And as you breathe out,
Inviting the weight of your body to rest a little deeper into whatever is supporting you.
And it might be helpful to make your out-breath just a little bit longer than your in-breath.
And as you're breathing out,
Feeling the weight of the body melting into the support behind you.
And if you feel you want to yawn or sigh,
Then enjoy that.
Enjoy that yawn or sigh.
So allowing the breath to find its own natural rhythm now.
Letting go of the deeper breaths and just feeling the breath find its own pace,
Its own rhythm.
And appreciating how the breath has been offering you energy and support all day long.
So taking a moment to thank and appreciate your breath for supporting you all day.
And inviting the wisdom of the breath to support you as you rest now.
So just trusting the breath to breathe itself and supporting you as you and the breath begin to settle and rest.
And from here,
Moving awareness into the movement of thoughts in the mind.
So noticing how it feels to step back from those thoughts instead of being caught up in them.
What's it like to step out of them?
And just notice them with a kind,
Compassionate awareness.
And maybe your mind has been very busy today.
It may have been problem-solving,
Worrying,
Ruminating,
Planning.
Whatever your mind has been doing,
Even if some of these thoughts have not been helpful.
Remembering that our mind is trying to help us as best it can.
So offering compassion and appreciation for the mind.
It's doing the best it can.
And maybe inviting the mind to rest now as much as it can.
There's nothing to fix,
No problems to solve.
Giving your mind permission to settle and slow down as best it can.
And even if it keeps piping up with busy thoughts,
As kindly as you can,
Just remembering it's trying to help and reminding the mind it can soften and rest.
And that we can step back from those thoughts any time we remember and simply observe them rather than absorbing them.
And noticing how it feels to shift awareness from the mind,
Which can be very loud when it wants to be.
Again,
Just trying to help us.
But shifting awareness now into the emotions,
The emotional weather pattern that's here for you right now.
And there may be a very prominent emotion.
There may be many emotions.
So again,
Noticing how it feels to observe the emotions with a kind,
Compassionate awareness.
And remembering that our emotions have been trying to help us to navigate our day.
So appreciating all they do for us.
And inviting the emotions to settle and rest.
As best they can.
And from here,
Allowing awareness to move from the emotions into the physical body.
So taking a moment to appreciate all that your body has done for you today.
And noticing how your body feels right now.
And we're going to gently take a tour through every part of the body.
So starting with the muscles of the face.
Bringing a kind,
Gentle awareness to the muscles of the face.
Our face helps us connect with others,
Express how we feel and communicate.
So appreciating all the service our face has given us today.
And giving the face permission to settle and rest.
So noticing the muscles of the forehead and allowing those muscles to soften and smooth as much as they want to right now.
Becoming aware of the muscles around your eyes.
All those tiny muscles that have supported your eyes today.
All the expressions they've made.
So allowing those muscles to soften,
Relax and to settle and rest.
Feeling the weight of the eyes resting into the support of the head.
And moving awareness down into the cheeks,
The nose and into the muscles surrounding your mouth,
The muscles of the jaw.
Noticing how the mouth feels right now and inviting the mouth to rest.
Allowing those muscles to soften.
And appreciating all they've done for you today.
The words you've said,
The food you've eaten.
Allowing them to rest.
And then taking a kind,
Gentle awareness to the muscles of your scalp.
So scanning through the top of the head,
The sides of the head.
And the back of the head.
Noticing where the head and the neck meet.
And becoming aware of the weight of your head.
And giving your head permission to rest as completely as it can into the support of the pillow.
No work for your head to do now.
Just allowing rest.
And shifting this ease and rest into the muscles of your neck.
They've been busy holding your head up all day long.
And this too is time for your neck to rest and relax.
So bringing a compassionate interest into the muscles at the front of your neck,
Around your throat.
The sides of the neck.
And the back of your neck.
And appreciating all that your neck has done for you today.
And then shifting awareness into the shoulders.
And if you notice tension here,
Seeing how it feels to bring some kind awareness into your in-breath.
Almost as if you can breathe into that tension.
And as you exhale,
Feeling the breath supporting those shoulders to soften.
Noticing the natural release of the exhale.
And appreciating all that your shoulders have done for you today.
All that they have supported you with.
And then bringing awareness into your arms,
Your hands.
Noticing how your arms and hands feel.
They might feel heavy.
They might feel light.
And inviting your arms to rest.
Noticing the contact points they're making with whatever is supporting them.
And as you exhale,
Just really feeling those arms resting into that support.
And shifting awareness now into the shoulders.
Or into the torso.
Noticing the front of the torso,
The chest,
The stomach.
Thanking your torso for all it's done for you today.
Appreciating all the food it's digested.
The heart that has been beating for you all day.
And how your torso has taken care of you.
And noticing how it feels to take care of the torso.
Inviting the torso to rest and settle.
And bringing this kind,
Compassionate awareness into the muscles of the back.
From the top of the spine all the way down to the tailbone.
From the center of the spine all the way out to the sides of the back.
And appreciating all that your back has done for you today.
And however our back might feel,
It's been trying to take care of us.
So let's take care of our back by offering appreciation and inviting our back to rest.
And maybe even noticing the wave-like movement of the breath in the back of the body.
And shifting awareness down into the hips.
Noticing the heavy pelvic bones.
And if you become aware of any tension in this part of your body inviting that tension to soften as best it can as you breathe out.
Giving this part of our body permission to release and relax.
And appreciating all that our hips have done for us today.
And then bringing awareness down into the legs.
And noticing how our legs feel.
So appreciating all that our legs have done for us today.
And giving our legs permission to rest and to settle.
If you notice any tension in the legs inviting that tension to soften as you breathe out.
Noticing the muscles of the thighs.
The muscles of the calves.
Really feeling the weight of the legs resting into whatever is supporting them.
Those contact points of support.
Taking awareness into the ankles.
The feet have been supporting our whole body today appreciating all they've done for us.
And inviting the feet to rest.
And gently expanding this kind caring awareness down into the back of the body.
And allowing this awareness to include the whole body.
From the tips of the toes all the way to the top of the head.
Holding awareness of the body in a kind caring embrace.
And noticing that wave-like movement of the breath.
And sometimes when we're very still,
We can feel the echo of the movement of the breath in the whole body.
Almost as if the whole body is breathing in and the whole body is breathing out.
And allowing your whole system to rest here.
Whether you're asleep or whether you're awake,
You're already nourishing yourself with rest.
