Hi,
My name is Allison and I would like to take you through a short body scan of your bodily sensations.
This helps us to drop out of the thinking mind and into the feeling body.
So to start,
If you are seated,
Perhaps scooting back in your chair,
Sitting upright,
In an alert but relaxed position,
Planting both feet firmly on the ground.
If you are laying down,
That's fine too.
Starting with our breath,
Let's put one hand on our chest and one hand on our belly.
Feeling the breath moving throughout the body.
Feeling the breath moving as you breathe,
The body moving against the back of the chair or the ground beneath you if you are laying flat on your back.
Encouraging deep belly breaths if you don't find the breath going all the way into your belly.
Inviting more and more deep cleansing breath into your body.
Maybe extending your exhale just a little bit longer than your inhale.
Letting your brain and your body know that you are safe and that you are okay.
And now if you haven't already,
You can begin to close your eyes or rest your gaze,
Whatever makes you feel safe.
And we'll start with a body scan.
Beginning with our feet.
Maybe wiggling the toes to bring your sense of awareness into your feet.
Feeling into the toes.
Feeling into the bottom of your feet.
The arches of your feet.
The pads of both feet.
The heels.
The tops of your feet.
Bringing the awareness up to your ankles.
Maybe rotating the ankles to bring awareness into your ankles.
And now bringing your attention up the back of your legs,
Your calves,
Your shins,
The front of your lower legs,
Your entire lower legs,
Up the knees,
The backs of both of your knees.
Coming up the thighs to the upper legs,
The inner thighs,
The outer thighs.
Bringing the awareness up to your hips,
Your glutes.
And now feeling into your entire lower body as sensation.
Noticing any difference or changes that have occurred since you first started checking in with your sensations.
Continuing to bring our attention up the lower body,
The lower abdomen,
The lower back.
Making any adjustments here if you can make yourself any more comfortable.
Coming up the upper back,
The chest,
Feeling into the chest,
The heart center.
Bringing your attention to your shoulders now,
On your upper arms,
Both of your elbows,
Your forearms,
Both wrists,
Your hands,
The tops of your hands,
Your fingers,
Your palms.
Bringing the awareness back up your arms to your shoulders,
To your heart center once more.
Feeling into your chest again.
And now coming up the throat,
Maybe swallowing the back of the neck,
The back of the head,
The crown of your head,
Your forehead,
Relaxing the facial muscles if you're holding any tension,
Relaxing the jaw.
And now the entire body as sensation,
Noticing any differences that have occurred or not.
Just being a curious observer of your own bodily sensations.
When we take a few moments to feel into our body,
We are able to drop out of our thinking mind and separate ourselves just a little bit from our thoughts so that we can have more choice.
So I encourage you whenever you have time and think of it to focus on your bodily sensations,
Feeling into that body that we so often ignore as we go throughout our day and the many distractions that that entails.
From my heart to yours,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
May you be peaceful.
I hope that you found some calming in this short meditation today.
Thank you for listening with loving kindness.
