Body Scan For Relaxation

A mindfulness body scan to help release physical tension, pain or discomfort as well as mental and emotional stress or anxiety to leave you feeling more calm, grounded, relaxed, peaceful and focused and with a greater sense of ease in body, mind, heart and soul.

Transcript

I want to welcome you to your body scan meditation.

My name is Allison Richard and to start off,

Just go ahead and get yourself comfortable.

So that could be either sitting on the floor,

It could be sitting in a chair,

It could be lying on the floor on your bed.

So whatever it is that's comfortable for your body,

But choosing a position that will encourage you to stay awake through the meditation.

So if you know that lying down might encourage you to fall asleep,

Maybe choosing to sit as long as that's comfortable for you.

And then lastly,

Just allowing yourself to make sure that you can stay warm throughout your meditation.

Since the body temperature tends to drop when we relax,

Maybe putting on socks or having a blanket to cover yourself with to make sure that you remain in a comfortable state throughout the entire few minutes of your meditation.

And then once you're situated,

You're just allowing your eyes to gently float closed.

And then with your eyes closed,

Just taking a deep breath in through your nose,

And then letting that breath go through your mouth.

And then again,

Just breathing in through your nose and exhaling,

Sawing it out through your mouth.

And then one more time.

I'm just starting to feel where your breath flows in your body as you inhale and exhale.

Allowing your body just to bring in a little bit more space on your inhales,

Softness.

And then as you exhale,

Just letting it take with it anything that you don't need.

So any tension,

Stress,

Tightness.

Just using your breath to begin that relaxation process.

And then as you feel ready,

Taking your internal attention up to the top of your head,

And just beginning to feel your forehead.

And then as you inhale,

As though you can breathe all the way up into your forehead,

Drawing your breath up.

And then as you exhale,

Just letting your forehead soften.

So letting go of any of those worries,

Tensions that tend to sit in our forehead.

And then inhaling,

Breathing behind your eyes,

Just feeling your eyes relax behind your eyelids.

And then drawing your breath into your cheeks.

And then as you exhale,

Just feeling your jaw soften,

Letting go of any tightness or stress that sits in your jaw.

And then gently breathing into your throat.

And on your exhales,

Just letting go of tension that might sit at the base of your skull in the back of your neck.

And then taking your attention to your shoulders,

And just inhaling into your shoulders.

As you exhale,

Just letting your shoulders drop,

Feeling them get a little bit heavier.

And then following your attention down the length of your arms.

So letting that sensation of heaviness,

That sensation of relaxation,

Slowly work its way down your arms,

Into your upper arms,

Down to your elbows,

Forearms,

Your wrists,

All the way into your palms and the tips of your fingers.

And then drawing your attention towards your chest.

And then just taking a deep breath into your chest,

Just filling your lungs with your inhale.

And then as you exhale,

Just letting your whole rib cage soften.

And then again,

Just breathing into your chest,

Filling up your ribs with your inhale.

And then as you exhale,

Again,

Letting your ribs soften,

Letting the front of your body start to sink towards the back of your body,

Releasing any tension from your shoulder blades.

And then just drawing your mental attention down right below your rib cage,

Just feeling where your diaphragm sits and expands across that length of your rib cage from side to side.

And then as you inhale,

Again,

Just filling your lungs,

Picturing your diaphragm pressing down toward your belly.

And then as you exhale,

Letting your diaphragm just gently retract back up as your lungs empty out.

And then again,

Just filling your lungs,

Filling your ribs,

Letting your diaphragm press down towards your belly.

And then as you exhale,

Letting it softly retract back up,

Letting the air go,

Letting any tension in your diaphragm relax.

And then taking your attention to your belly as you inhale,

Letting your abdomen expand.

So as your diaphragm presses down,

Allowing it to expand your belly out with your inhale.

And then as you exhale,

Just let your abdomen soften.

So not trying to draw the navel in,

Not forcing the air out,

But just inhaling,

Letting the belly stretch.

And then exhale,

Letting your belly and abdomen soften.

And then drawing your attention to the back of your body,

Just feeling your lower back.

So a place where there tends to be lots of tension and tightness from sitting,

Walking,

All of those things that we do throughout the day.

And then on your next inhale,

Just imagining you can draw your breath into your lower back.

So bringing in a little bit more space or freedom where there might be tension or tightness.

And then as you exhale,

Again,

Just feeling that any tension or tightness start to soften around the edges.

And then breathing into your back one more time.

Again,

Just releasing any tension,

But also allowing that breath to nourish your kidneys on either side of your spine.

And then drawing your attention down towards your hips.

And then as you inhale,

Just imagining that you can fill that entire bowl,

That entire basin of your pelvis from your right hip to your left hip,

From the front of your body to your sacrum and your tailbone at the back of your hips.

And then on your exhale,

Just releasing,

Softening through your hips.

And then taking one more breath,

Filling that bowl of your pelvis.

As you exhale,

Just feeling your hips settle a little more deeply into wherever they're resting.

And then taking your attention to your right leg,

Breathing into your right thigh,

Your right hamstrings.

As you exhale,

Letting that upper right leg get heavier.

And then breathing into your right knee from front to back,

Just filling that joint with a little bit more space,

Nourishment,

Love.

And as you exhale,

Letting go of any pain,

Stress,

And then inhaling into your lower leg,

So your shin and your calf.

And as you exhale,

Let it get heavy.

And breathing all the way down the length of your leg into your ankle,

Your foot,

And your toes.

Letting your entire right foot relax.

And then taking your attention over to your left leg,

Starting at the top,

Again inhaling into your thigh,

So the front and the back as you exhale,

Allowing it to get a little bit heavier.

And then breathing into your knee,

And filling that left knee with your breath,

With that space,

That nourishment,

Oxygen.

And exhaling,

And breathing into your lower leg,

Into your shin at the front,

Your calf at the back,

And allowing the lower left leg to relax.

And then breathing into your ankle,

Your left foot,

All the way into the tips of your toes.

And allowing that left foot to relax.

And from this place of relaxation,

From head to toe,

Just taking another breath,

As though you could fill your body from the top of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes.

And as you rest in this state,

Feeling that connection with each part of your body,

Just appreciating everything that your body does each day.

All of those little things that we don't think about,

From swallowing to digesting food,

To the breathing that happens every moment when we're awake,

When we're asleep,

Without having to think about it.

And just slowly starting to bring your attention back to your physical body,

Beginning to wiggle your fingers,

Beginning to wiggle your toes.

And then just letting yourself stretch from head to toe in any way that feels good to you.

And in your own time,

Just gently beginning to let your eyes float open,

Bringing yourself back into the room,

Into your space.

And just giving yourself a moment of gratitude,

Of true appreciation for taking the time to give yourself the gift of doing your meditation.

And as you continue throughout your day,

Just remembering to take care of you.

Reviews

Great Meditation! Thank you!

A very calming and thorough body scan. A relaxing vocal and lovely way to end the day. Thank you ❤️

Wonderful and thorough and deeply relaxing.

Really good. Very relaxing meditation. Powerful. Thanks.

Beautiful, gentle, soothing practice. Thank you 🙏

Wonderful! Thank you

Very effective body scan, beautifully guided. Thank you!

This was great, a no nonsense body scan. Got my totally connected to my body. Thank you! ☺️🙏

Simple and pleasant.

Very soothing and relaxing, thank you!!

Wonderfully relaxing meditation! Thank you!