Full Body Scan Meditation For Deep Relaxation

A deeply relaxing full-body scan meditation for when you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed or in need of a reset. This meditation is designed to help you ground into the present moment by observing how your physical body feels without judgment.

Light a candle or incense, turn your phone to silent, and turn the lights off to allow for a deeply healing and restorative meditation experience.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to this full body scan meditation.

My name is Katie Doyle and I'm excited to lead you through this deeply relaxing meditation today.

So take this time now to get settled in,

Finding a comfortable position for your body to rest in for this meditation.

You can stay seated in a chair,

Sitting up nice and tall,

Your feet grounding into the earth,

Or you can choose to lie down completely.

If you choose to lie down,

Just allow yourself to rest on the ground,

Perhaps using a blanket or a pillow or a bolster to support yourself.

And then wherever you are,

Take a moment to get settled.

So adjusting anything that feels like it needs to be adjusted,

Getting all of the fidgets out,

The movement out.

So fixing the clothes,

Fixing your hair,

Making sure your phone is turned to silent.

And then finding that nice sweet spot so you can just melt into the surface beneath you,

Letting the body be relaxed and supported.

This full body scan meditation is a really good meditation to come to when you are feeling stressed.

This is also a great meditation after a long day when you really want to just unwind and release.

This meditation allows you to pay attention to your body and this will help ground you.

In a body scan meditation,

We are checking in with each body part to see how you are feeling.

So let's start now by connecting with the breath.

Just take a big inhale through your nose,

Fill your lungs,

Fill your belly with air.

Take a long exhale out through your mouth,

Just allowing the body to soften and release as you exhale.

Let's do that two more times.

Big deep inhale through your nose,

Long slow cleansing exhale,

Releasing,

Letting go.

Big inhale through your nose,

Fill your lungs,

Fill your belly with air.

And a long exhale out through your mouth,

Let it go.

Good.

Now lightly seal your lips together and start to establish a slow circular breathing pattern,

Inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your nose.

Let this breath be slow and smooth.

And then let's begin to bring your awareness to the very top of your head.

Just notice what you feel here in this one specific area of your body.

Remembering there is no right or wrong answer,

There is no judgment,

Just observing how you're feeling.

This gentle awareness as it hovers above the crown of your head,

Noticing if you feel any sensations here,

Maybe you feel coolness or warmth or tingling.

Perhaps you feel nothing at all,

Just observing.

Letting this awareness travel down into the forehead,

Softening and smoothing out the forehead.

This awareness can travel over to the left temple,

Then gently slide all the way across the brow bone and the forehead and come over into the right temple,

Circling around.

Softening and releasing,

Noticing any sensations you feel here.

And then allowing this awareness to gently travel down into the eyes,

The eye sockets,

All the little muscles and tendons of the eyes,

Softening,

Relaxing.

Down into the cheeks,

The cheekbones,

The jaw,

The jaw bones,

The hinge joint on both the left and right side of your jaw.

Just softening and relaxing here,

Finding space between your upper teeth and your lower teeth.

Noticing any tension or tightness that you may be holding onto and just allowing yourself to release a little bit more.

Bringing your awareness to your nose,

To any sensations that you may feel here,

Noticing the breath moving in and out through your nostrils.

Letting this awareness travel into your mouth,

Noticing if you're holding the tongue at the roof of your mouth,

Allowing it to release.

Noticing how the teeth feel,

The gums,

The cheeks,

Really finding softness here.

Let this awareness travel down into the neck,

The front of the neck,

The sides,

The back of your neck where your vertebra live.

Letting the neck soften and relax and then letting this gentle awareness travel down into the shoulders,

Easing any tension or tightness you may be feeling in this area of your body.

Softening the shoulders,

Letting them just fall away from the ears.

And then this awareness will travel to the very top of your spine,

Right where the spine connects with the skull.

And then one by one,

Vertebra by vertebra,

Allow this awareness to travel down the spine.

And as it travels down,

Let a nice calming energy and warmth start to spread across your entire back.

So beginning at the very top of the spine that's connected to the skull,

Traveling down,

Softening and relaxing the neck,

Softening and relaxing all the way out through the shoulders and the shoulder blades,

All the way across the upper back,

Down to the mid back,

All the way down to the lower back,

Down to the very bottom of your spine where your tailbone is.

And then just let your awareness travel all the way through the back,

From the spine to the base of the skull,

Noticing any sensations you're feeling here.

Just softening through the entire back body.

Breathing deeply.

And then releasing this awareness from your back and bringing it to your shoulder joints,

Your left shoulder joint and your right shoulder joint.

Noticing anything you feel here and allowing the awareness to spread down through the upper arm,

The elbows,

The left and the right elbow,

The lower arms,

The wrists,

Observing anything as you go.

And all the way down into the left hand,

The right hand,

And down into the thumb of each hand.

And then one by one,

Let this awareness travel one finger at a time until it reaches your pinky finger.

Letting both arms completely relax and soften,

Holding and releasing any tension.

Both arms are completely at ease.

Going now into your chest,

Noticing how your heart center feels.

Maybe as you hold in stillness,

You can feel the heart beating.

Noticing if your heart center feels light or if it feels heavy.

What energies are swirling around here through your heart center?

What sensations do you feel across and within your entire chest cavity?

Take a few breaths here.

On your next exhale,

Releasing the chest,

Coming to the rib cage,

The left rib cage,

The right rib cage,

Feeling your breath as you inhale,

Expanding the rib cage.

And as you exhale,

Contracting the rib cage,

Letting the rib cage soften from the very back,

Wrapping around the sides,

All the way to the front.

Noticing any sensations that you feel here.

And as you exhale,

Soften and release this area of your body,

Allowing the awareness to travel down into your belly,

This area of your body that holds so many organs,

That is responsible for digestion.

Notice if you feel any sensations of digestion.

Just allowing your awareness to swirl around here,

Softening and relaxing all the way through the belly.

Releasing any judgments about this area of your body.

Just allow it to just be as it is right here,

Right now.

And then this gentle awareness travels down into the pelvic region,

Noticing anything you feel here.

Releasing any judgment.

Just taking a big inhale and sending a big,

Deep,

Loving inhale into this area of your body.

And as you exhale,

Just soften and let go.

This awareness travels down into your sit bones,

Your glutes,

Feeling this area of your body resting heavily on the surface beneath you.

Observing any sensations.

Coming now into the hip region,

The left hip and the right hip.

Noticing where the hip socket connects with the lower body.

Letting both the left and right hips release and soften.

Letting this awareness travel down into the left thigh and the right thigh.

Noticing any sensations you feel here,

The weight of the leg resting on the surface beneath you.

Maybe you feel some tingling sensations,

Some hot or cold sensations.

Completely relaxing through each your left and your right thigh.

This awareness travels down into your kneecaps,

Your left kneecap and your right kneecap,

And just let it swirl around here.

Exploring all the muscles and tendons at this hinge joint.

Notice how your knees feel.

Top of the knee,

The bottom of the knee.

Feeling each of your knees relaxing completely.

Let this awareness travel down into the left lower leg and the right lower leg.

Rushing through the calf muscle,

Down into the shin bone,

Down into each of your ankles.

Coming to the tops of the feet,

Noticing anything you feel here.

The bottoms of the feet,

Feeling the sensation of the feet pressing into the ground or the sock or perhaps a shoe.

Feeling any change of temperature or sensation here in your feet.

And let this gentle loving awareness travel into your left big toe and your right big toe.

Noticing how your toes feel.

This awareness will travel one by one into each toe until you reach your pinky toes.

Taking a great big inhale,

Breathing all the way down into the bottom of your belly.

And a long,

Slow exhale,

Letting the entire body from the very top of your head all the way down to the tips of your toes.

Be completely relaxed,

Completely at ease.

Just stay here for a few breaths.

And slowly and mindfully,

Start to bring your left hand to your heart center and your right hand to your belly.

That area of your chest where your heart lives,

Press your left hand into that area so you can feel your heart beating.

Bring your right hand on top of your belly so you can feel the breath flowing in and out,

Feeling the belly rising and falling.

Just tuning in deeply here,

Noticing any differences,

Any shifts that may have occurred since you first began this session.

Noticing if you feel differently now than before you started.

Notice if the body feels different,

If the mind feels different.

Let's take a big breath together.

Take a big,

Deep inhale through your nose.

And this time a long exhale out through your mouth.

Let it go.

Then gently releasing your hands,

Letting them rest in your lap or on the ground.

And when you're ready,

Blinking your eyes open,

Coming back to the space around you.

Welcome back.

As you reintegrate into your regular schedule,

Just take a few deep breaths here,

Maybe even a few stretches.

Thank yourself for showing up for this meditation,

For giving back to yourself,

To your mind and your body as a whole.

And as you start to move back into your regular routine,

Your regular activities,

Just be kind to yourself.

Let yourself move mindfully and gently,

Holding this feeling of peace and ease with you as you move through the rest of your day or night.

And I thank you for joining.

I hope you feel amazing.