Hello and welcome to this guided body scan and breath awareness practice.
Together,
We'll bring a sense of ease into our bodies and calmly rest our focus on the breath.
Doing so helps us calm our nervous system,
Reduce tension,
And allow us to be more in our bodies and less in our minds.
You can do this practice either seated or lying down,
But if you choose to do it lying down,
Ensure you don't fall asleep.
Begin just by making yourself comfortable,
Having an upright but not rigid posture,
And gently close the eyes and allow your focus to shift from the outer world to your inner world.
Taking a few nourishing,
Deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Feeling tension slip away on the exhale,
Letting go of anything you don't need to hold on to,
And just allowing yourself to land in this moment,
In this body,
In this space.
And just slowing everything down,
Dropping into your body,
And just being aware of what you find,
Seeing if you can get a sense of how the body feels in this moment,
Not changing it.
And I invite you to bring your focus into one of your feet and just notice any sensations that might be present in that foot,
The contact point between your foot and the ground,
Perhaps,
The feeling of a sock if you're wearing one.
And just invite the foot to release any tension it doesn't need to hold,
Inviting the foot to release any resistance,
And just notice what happens.
Now gently gliding your focus to your other foot and inviting it to do the same,
To just soften,
Release.
If it helps,
You can imagine a golden stream of warm sunshine flowing into that foot,
Permeating every cell of your foot,
Bringing with it a sense of expansion,
Nourishment,
And ease.
And let that focus,
That sunlight,
Gently glide upward through your body,
Through your ankles,
Up through your calves,
The knees,
Letting that sense of relaxation and ease flow through the front and the back of the thighs,
All the way to the top of your legs and your hips,
Just inviting the legs to be a bit softer,
A bit more at ease.
And just notice how they respond,
Inviting that sense of expansion and ease to flow into your belly,
Your pelvis,
Imagining that golden sunshine flowing into the low back,
The mid-back,
Your obliques,
And your sides,
Just inviting the lower half of your trunk to be soft,
Easeful,
And relaxed.
Not trying to make anything happen,
But just gently inviting these parts of the body to release anything they don't need to hold onto,
Letting your focus and attention glide upward into your chest,
Your ribcage,
Your upper back,
Imagining that sense of ease and expansion in your shoulders,
Broadening your shoulders,
Filling your upper chest with this sense of ease,
Expansion,
And light,
And inviting the shoulders to just drop ever so slightly away from the ears,
Releasing any tension,
And inviting that relaxation to flow all the way down through your arms,
Through the upper arms,
The forearms,
All the way into the hands,
Into the palms,
And even the fingertips.
And imagine that light spreading through your neck,
Your throat,
Your jaw,
Bringing with it a sense of relaxation and comfort,
Releasing any tension in your cheeks,
Allowing your tongue to be soft,
The eye muscles to release and relax,
Letting the forehead become long until the entire head is just enveloped in this sense of ease,
Warmth,
And sunlight.
Just taking a moment to soak in this feeling in your body,
This expansion,
This calmness,
And as you do so,
You might notice that the body is gently breathing,
Like a feather gently landing on a crystal glass.
Just gently allow your awareness to land on your breath,
Noticing the sensations of this body being breathed,
And wherever you feel the breath most vividly in your body,
Just let your awareness dwell there.
Might be the passage of air in and out of the nostrils,
Or the rising and falling of the chest or belly,
Wherever you feel the breath most vividly,
Let that be a magnet for your attention,
Just gently resting your awareness there.
And when the mind wanders off into thought,
It's not a problem,
Just gently bringing your focus back to your breathing,
Not controlling it,
Not judging it,
Just becoming aware.
And continue to bring this expansive,
Light awareness to your breath for the next few moments.
Very nice.
Now,
Letting your focus drift away from your breath,
And bring back into mind your entire body,
From head to toe,
Noticing if your body feels any different than before we started,
And taking a nice,
Deep,
Nourishing breath in through the nose,
And letting it go.
Gently letting a smile curl to your lips,
Bringing some movement back into your fingers and toes,
And whenever you're ready,
In your own time,
You can gently open the eyes,
And have a very pleasant rest of your day or evening.
