Body Scan & Awareness Meditation

A guided meditation using your senses to explore your connection with them. This practice focuses on the breath and sensations within your body to cultivate calmness and relaxation, whilst experiencing mindful meditation.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Adriene and you're listening to the Body Awareness Meditation.

This meditation is a practice that allows us to connect,

Observe and explore the senses within our bodies.

It allows us to slow down and to come into the present moment.

So let's begin our practice.

Start by finding yourself a comfortable seat or you may even choose to lie down.

You might like to close down your eyes or softly lower your gaze down towards the floor.

You may even wish to place one or both hands on your belly or gently have your hands resting in your lap.

As you inhale,

Notice any sensations of the belly as it rises up.

And as you exhale,

Notice the sensations of your belly as it falls away.

Again as you inhale,

Notice the breath as it expands your belly.

And as you exhale,

See if you can relax your body a little bit deeper.

You may wish to continue this type of breath,

Breathing deeply into the belly throughout this practice or come back to a regular normal breath.

I invite you now to bring your attention to yourself in this moment right now.

How do you feel right now?

Notice any sensations in the body that may be arising as you ask yourself this question.

Or maybe there are no sensations and that is totally okay.

Just observe how you're feeling in this moment and how your body feels in this moment right now.

Invite you to soften your jaw,

Relax your tongue,

Gently soften the muscles in your forehead and around the eyes and the muscles around your face.

Feel your shoulders and your shoulder blades gently melt towards the floor as you relax.

Now bring your attention to your body against the chair or the floor.

Notice the weight of your body and the sensations in your body.

Notice the sensations of the clothes that you're wearing on your skin.

Maybe there's a softness or a firmness.

Maybe there's a warmth or a coolness.

I invite you now to bring your awareness to your sense of hearing.

And what can you hear outside the space you're in right now?

Is it the sounds of nature?

Maybe it's a dog barking in the distance,

Some birds chirping,

Maybe some traffic going by outside.

Or maybe there's nothing and that's totally okay.

What can you hear outside the space you're in right now?

Now bring your awareness a little bit closer to you and what can you hear inside the space you're in right now?

Aside from my voice guiding you through the meditation,

What else can you hear in your space right now?

I invite you to bring your awareness a little bit closer again,

Your sense of hearing to yourself and what can you hear within you right now?

Is it the soft dulcet tones of your heart beating?

Is it the gentle inhale and exhale through your nostrils or your mouth?

Maybe it's the sound of you swallowing,

But what can you hear within you right now?

I invite you now to bring your awareness to your sense of taste and what can you taste right now?

Is there a sweetness or maybe a bitterness?

Maybe a saltiness or maybe there's no taste at all,

But just observe the sensations of this sense of taste.

I invite you now to bring your awareness to your sense of sight and what can you see right now?

If your eyes are closed,

You may even like to shift your sight towards a space between your eyebrows or maybe it's just behind your eyelids.

Notice if there are any shapes,

Any colors or any patterns.

Is there a lightness or is there a darkness?

What can you see right now?

I invite you now to bring your awareness to your sense of smell and what can you smell around you right now?

I invite you to bring this sense now a little bit closer and what can you smell on you right now?

It could be a slight perfume that you have or maybe there's nothing at all and that's totally okay.

What can you smell on you right now?

And as we're connected to the sense of smell,

I invite you now to begin to become aware of the sensation of the breath with each and every inhale and exhalation.

Notice the sensation of your breath on the inhale.

Notice the coolness of the breath through your nostrils,

Down the back of your throat and into your lungs and as you exhale,

See if you can notice the sensations of the breath as it travels back up through the throat and out through the nostrils.

Maybe the breath is a little bit warmer.

Notice again the coolness as you inhale and the texture of the breath as you exhale.

What does the breath feel like?

Notice your breath if it's smooth and soft with each and every inhale and exhalation or maybe your breath is a little bit jagged and short.

Just notice how you're breathing and where you're breathing from right now.

I invite you now to begin to scan your body,

Beginning from the top of your head and scan down through your face,

Your jaw,

Notice if any tension has crept back into your face and your jaw.

Notice any sensations that may be in your shoulders as you scan down through your arms,

Into your hands,

Continue to scan down through your back,

Your stomach.

Notice if there's any tension that may be lying and present in your stomach and just continue to scan the body down from your hips,

Into your thighs,

Into your calves,

Ankles,

Your feet and your toes.

Then scan back up the body and connect into the strongest sense that you are experiencing.

If at any point your attention begins to drift away,

Just come back to the breath.

If you are connected to and observing that strong sense within your body,

See if you can send your breath to this area within your body.

Notice if the sensation changes at all,

Observe any movements within this sense.

I invite you now to bring your awareness back to your inhaling and exhaling,

Noticing the sensation of your belly rising and your belly falling.

You may even like to deepen your inhalation and inhale for a count of three and exhale for a count of three.

As you inhale,

Again,

Notice where the breath is in the body.

See if you can deepen it a little bit more as you exhale for that count of three.

If you wish to deepen your breath again,

You may wish to inhale for a count of four and exhale for a count of four.

You may also like to breathe at a normal pace.

I invite you now to bring your awareness back into your body.

You may like to bring some gentle movement into your toes,

Into your fingers,

Into your ankles,

Into your wrists,

And just gently coming back into your body.

You may like to even do some gentle shoulder rolls one way and then the other way.

You may even like to do some gentle neck circles one way and then the other way.

Gently coming to a place of stillness.

I invite you now to check in to see how your body is feeling.

Begin to notice if your body has changed since we've begun this practice.

Notice if any sensations have changed or shifted.

Maybe there are no changes and that is totally okay.

When you're ready,

Take your time,

Come back to your normal breath and gently continue on to the rest of your day.