Body scan.
So begin just by noticing all the points where your body makes contact with the floor.
The soles of your feet,
Your toes,
Your heels,
Your buttocks.
Elbows down by your side.
Head resting on the cushion.
Your body fully supported by the floor,
The ground and the earth.
Noticing the touch of the fabric and cloth of your clothes against the body.
The temperature of the air against the skin.
Your sense of smell.
The sounds that surround you.
The sounds of your own body.
And just spend a moment describing to yourself how you feel.
Your emotional tone.
Whether you feel happy,
Sad or something in between.
And your physical experience.
Whether you feel tired,
Energized or something in between.
So however you feel,
That's okay.
That's a good place to start.
Beginning just by bringing your awareness down into the belly.
And noticing how the belly rises and expands as you breathe in.
And how it falls and reduces when you breathe out.
Resting in awareness of the natural depth and rhythm of your breathing as you find it.
No need to change or modify the pattern of your breath.
So just staying with the rise and fall of the belly.
With the in-breath and the out-breath.
Take your attention out to the chest.
And noticing how the chest expands as you breathe in.
And reduces when you breathe out.
So bring your attention to the chest area on the in-breath.
Letting go and softening on the out-breath.
Again just resting in awareness of the natural depth and rhythm of your breathing as you find it.
Now taking your attention from the chest to the tip of the nose,
Edges of the nostrils.
Into the place where the air first enters the body on the in-breath.
Last leaves the body on the out-breath.
A subtle sensation.
And from the tip of the nose,
The edges of the nostrils and the tip of the upper lip of the mouth.
And paying attention to the focus of the breath within the body.
That point where you first or most intensely experience a sensation of breathing.
That could be in the belly,
The chest.
Tip of the nose.
The little toe.
The focus of the breath within the body can be experienced anywhere.
Just noticing where that point is for you right now.
Imagine you can breathe in and out of that part of the body.
And from that focal point,
Taking your attention once more down to the soles of the feet,
The toes,
The heels,
The ankles.
Perhaps moving your toes around a little.
Manipulating your toes.
And noticing the sensations there.
The feeling tone.
Whether those sensations are pleasant or unpleasant,
Or something in between.
Taking awareness along the soles of the feet and the instep,
Towards the ankles and the heel.
To the shins and the calf muscles.
To the knees and the backs of the knees.
To the thighs,
Inner leg and hamstrings.
Breathing through those parts of the body.
Noticing the sensations there.
Taking awareness into the groin,
The pelvis and the hips.
Breathing through those parts of the body.
Taking awareness to the base of the spine,
The sitting bones.
Along the base of the spine,
Into the small of the back.
Noticing the natural curvature of the spine.
Where the backbone makes contact with the mat again.
And bring awareness between the shoulder blades.
To the base of the neck,
The base of the skull.
And across the shoulders,
The tops of the arms.
Laying the weight of your shoulders to fall towards the floor.
From the tops of the arms,
Stand through the upper arm towards the elbow.
Breathing through that part of the body.
Now from the upper arms to the elbows,
Along the forearms to the wrists.
And into the palms of your hands.
And towards the tips of the fingers.
Perhaps moving your fingers around a little.
Noticing the sensations in the tips and pads of your fingers.
There's a lot of sensitivity there.
And bring that sensitivity now to awareness of the face.
Allowing the face to soften.
Perhaps slightly slackening the jaw of the mouth.
Allowing the lips of the mouth to be a little open.
Noticing the flow of air over the tips of the lips and to the roof of the mouth and the back of the throat.
Letting go of any tension around the eyes.
Breathing into that part of the body.
Bring your awareness around the back of the head towards the ears.
Noticing the sensations in that part of the body.
And expanding your awareness once more back into the room,
Back to the sounds that surround you.
The sounds of your own body.
Your sense of smell.
The touch and the fabric of your clothes against the body.
The temperature of the air against the skin.
Your weight supported by the cushion.
The mat,
The floor,
The foundations of the building,
The ground and the earth.
I'm spending a moment now to describe to yourself how you feel.
Once again noticing your emotional tone.
Happy,
Sad,
Something in between.
Your physical experience.
When you feel tired,
Energized or something in between.
And just spend a moment resting in that awareness.
And with the bell gently rolling onto one side.
Noticing sensations of lying in a new position.
And spend a moment doing nothing.
Going nowhere.
Making no effort.
And when I ring the bell again,
Rolling further forward onto your hands and your knees.
Pushing yourself up gently.
And then just sitting comfortably.
