15-Minute Embodiment: A Calming Body Scan

Take just 15 minutes to reconnect with your body through this calming embodiment practice. This guided body scan will help you release tension, ground yourself in the present moment, and cultivate a deeper awareness of your physical and emotional state. Perfect for anyone seeking a quick yet powerful way to relax and find balance in their day.

Transcript

Hello beautiful people you are so welcome here my name is Stella and this is a body scan practice and this practice can be done in any position but if you're able to lie down you might be able to get more benefits from the practice but if you're seated that's fine as well.

If you're laying down just allowing the legs to fall out and away from you and for the arms to rest down by the side of the body and if you're in a seated practice and just noticing your posture and trying to find a position that will be supportive for you so that you may sit for the duration of the practice so just selecting your starting position now If you're comfortable and safe enough to close the eyes then closing the eyes is available to you however if for whatever reason closing the eyes is not safe or it's not appropriate right now then you're encouraged to find one spot to look at preferably allowing the gaze to lower and the body scan is a very useful practice to return to for beginners and experienced practitioners alike and there are a few reasons for this so coming back to the body coming away from the chitter chatter of the brain and the mind is an invaluable practice and when we come home to the body returning home to the physicality of the body we are essentially being embodied and so just encouraging you to let your body rest in whatever position you find yourself in and it's important to state that there's no real aim for this practice other than that of curiosity and a returning to the physical body and so just letting go of any expectations of what the practice might be like or what you want to gain out of the practice letting that go and then you're invited to drop your focus down into your toes and your feet and just noticing whatever there is to notice about the toes and the feet if you're seated it might be the sensation of the soles of the feet touching the floor and if you're laying down perhaps it's the sensation of the floor underneath the ankles and the feet falling freely just noticing likewise you might notice warmth or coolness or other sensations like socks or blankets no judgment just noticing and then we'll shift our focus to the calves and the shins the lower part of the legs and again just noticing whatever there is to notice so perhaps sensation of clothing comfort or discomfort and likewise for some of the body parts you might feel quite neutral there may not be anything specific to notice and that's okay as well that's welcome too now let's shift our focus towards the knees the joints of the knees the space around the knees the front and the back whenever the attention goes away which it will inevitably just gently bringing it back to the named body part staying with the knees and shifting the focus now to the thighs so the back of the thighs and the front of the thighs let your awareness encompass the whole of the upper part of the legs noticing weight or lightness of this body part noticing when the mind takes you away just gently encouraging it back to the thighs and then shifting the focus now to the backs of the glutes and the pelvis in its entirety so the organs of the pelvis perhaps seeing if you can allow the glutes to soften and having a sense of any internal sensations so perhaps movement of fluids the solidity of this part of the body just noticing how are your glutes and your pelvis and then let's shift the focus to the lower part of the back perhaps noticing again the places that the lower part of the back touches and comes in contact with so your seat or the surface that you're laying on and we all have different bodies and our bodies carry different memories different injuries perhaps even traumas and so also encouraging you just to notice if a narrative or a story becomes part of the experience and that's okay as well as much as we can just gently bringing the mind and the body back to observation of the lower back and then let's shift the focus up the spine so coming to the middle part of the back now space between the tips of the shoulder blades and the lower ribs and you might start to incorporate an awareness of the breath in this part of the body as well so in whatever position you find yourself in can you start to relate to the middle back in relation to the breath that's just happening naturally without any supervision or guidance from you how's the middle back and then we lift our focus up once again now to the top of the back so the back of the shoulders and the connective tissue between the shoulders and the neck and for many of us this can be a part of the body that carries a lot of tension and just noticing if the connective tissue around the top of the back can just relax a little bit so shoulders melting away from the ears how do the shoulders feel once again shifting our focus now to the abdomen and the stomach area lower part of the torso and so this is a part of the body that is deeply touched by the in-breath and also the exhale and again you might just allow your focus and your attention to rest on the abdomen the space around the navel while incorporating an awareness of the breath so no need to change it or force it how is it to breathe just as you are how is the abdomen and noticing if there's any other sensory feedback in that part of the body and sometimes when we come and do these practices the belly might growl just noticing and again shifting the focus up to the top of the chest now so the space just below the collarbones top of the chest and as we move our attention around the body noticing as well those impulses there will come the impulse to move or itch or scratch and it's always our own responsibility to look after ourselves so if you need to change anything to look after yourself changing position or pulling the blanket up a little bit tighter of course you can and equally it might be interesting if you feel those urges to move or to adjust just to sit with them maybe just for a breath or two before acting how's the top of the chest how is your breath moving in this part of the body and then again let's shift our focus to the weight of the arms to two arms falling away from the body individual weight of each arm any sensation from clothing or surfaces and then shifting the focus to the hands so two hands in their entirety perhaps noticing the temperature in this part of your body that sensitive touch that comes through the fingers maybe moving a thumb against a finger or against the surface on which you lie just noticing and now again we shift the focus to the face all of the facial muscles and for so many of us we have to wear this mask this performative mask smiling when really we feel like crying sometimes swallowing our anger and just seeing if you can relax the mask relaxing the facial muscles relaxing the space behind the eyes just noticing anything that there is to notice in the face and finally noticing the back of the skull and the skull in its entirety so returning to this idea of embodiment embodiment as a practice the brain and the head and the skull are not separate from the body they are part of the body just having a sense of the weight of the head temperature of the skin a sense of the weight of the hair and then as we close the practice the invitation is just to expand your awareness outwards so can you encompass the attention over the whole of your body in this moment and perhaps you imagine that you've got a bird's eye view and perhaps you imagine that you've got a bird's eye view from the top corner of the room that you're in and so looking down seeing the whole of your body and then expanding that awareness out so now having a sense of the body in the environment perhaps from your bird's eye view you can see some details around your body and then coming back in into your body practice of embodiment and we'll just close with a long slow round of breath here in through the nose and if it feels comfortable to exhale with a sound or a sigh through the mouth feeling free to do so thank you so much beautiful people for joining me wishing you a beautiful day