Sleep Easy - Active/Passive Body Scan

This body scan meditation is suitable for anyone who may be noticing extra tension throughout their body or who are feeling fidgety. During this practice, you will be guided through each area of your body and you are invited to explore the different sensations that activation and settling may bring to each body part. There are options for how you might choose to activate each body part and you are welcome to find a variation that suites you. This may guide you to a greater state of rest.

Transcript

This meditation is designed to meet any anxious energy in your body and to redirect that energy towards a parasympathetic response in your nervous system,

So that rest and digest response.

And you're welcome to practice this lying down or it might be in a seated form,

Anything that might be relatively comfortable for your body.

And feel free to use any cushions or blankets,

Anything you might have to bring a little bit more comfort to your experience.

And so just taking a moment to get as comfortable as you can possibly be and know that throughout this session if you need to adjust in any way,

Feel free to do that.

If you need to change the shape or the form then you're welcome to do that as well.

And this practice will be a body scan,

So I'll direct you to each part of your body and you're very welcome to explore that part of your body in an active and in a passive way.

And I'll go through a couple of different variations through each part of your body,

But how you choose to engage with that is entirely up to you.

So to start with bringing your awareness to your left arm and becoming aware of any sensation within your left arm.

And if you're interested you might choose to engage through your left arm and one way of engaging might be to open up through your palms,

So create space between your fingers and you might lift your arm,

You might engage all of your muscles through your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder,

Everything engaging together and then letting that go.

And then you might choose to engage in a different way,

This time you might draw your fingertips in towards your palms,

So curling your fingers in,

Perhaps engaging,

Maybe lifting through your arm,

Everything engaging together,

Your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder,

All of your muscles,

Contracting and then letting that go.

And then perhaps coming into that a third time you can either revisit one of the two variations we've explored or perhaps finding another way of engaging through your left arm.

So everything engaging together,

Your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder,

Engaging all of your muscles,

Contracting and then letting that go.

And noticing what it's like to do less with your left arm now,

Perhaps bringing your awareness to your right arm now,

Becoming aware of any sensation in your right arm.

You're welcome to invite some engagement through your muscles,

Through your right arm,

Perhaps lifting your arm,

Opening out through your palms,

Your fingers,

All of your muscles engaging together,

Your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder,

Contracting and then letting that go.

Perhaps coming into a second round,

This time drawing your fingers in,

Curling your fingers in,

Engaging your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder muscles,

All contracting together and then letting that go.

And you're welcome to try that a third time if you're interested,

Perhaps revisiting one of these two variations again or maybe finding a different way of finding engagement through your right arm.

So your hand,

Your arm,

Your shoulder muscles engaging together,

Contracting and then letting that go.

Perhaps noticing what it's like to do less with your right arm now,

Maybe noticing both arms doing less here,

Maybe noticing both arms,

Bringing your awareness to your left leg,

Noticing any sensation in your left leg.

If you're interested,

You might choose to engage through your left leg and one way of engaging through your left leg might be to draw your toes towards you,

As though you're pressing your heel away,

Perhaps even lifting your leg,

Maybe all of your muscles through your foot,

Your ankle,

Your leg,

Your hip,

Everything engaging together as you lift and then letting that go.

Another way of engaging through your left leg might be to point your toes away this time.

You're very welcome to lift your leg if you like,

Engaging all of your muscles through your foot,

Your ankle,

Your leg,

Your hip,

Everything engaging together,

Contracting and then letting that go.

You might choose to revisit one of these two variations we've explored before or maybe finding a different way of engaging through the muscles of your left leg.

So perhaps lifting your left leg,

Finding another way of engaging,

Everything contracting together and then letting that go.

Maybe noticing what it's like to do less with your left leg,

Perhaps bringing your awareness to your right leg now,

Maybe noticing any sensation through your right leg.

You might choose to engage through your right leg and one way of engaging might be to draw your toes in,

Perhaps pressing your heel away,

So dorsiflexing your foot and you might lift through your leg and everything might engage together,

So your foot,

Your ankle,

Your leg,

Your hip,

Everything engaging together,

Contracting and then letting that go.

Perhaps pointing your toes away this time,

Maybe lifting your leg,

Engaging all of your muscles,

Contracting together and then letting that go.

And then another way of perhaps engaging through your right leg,

You could revisit one of these two variations again or you might find a different way of engaging.

So feel free to lift through your leg if you want to come through a third round,

Finding your way of engaging all of your muscles through your foot,

Your ankle,

Your leg,

Your hip,

Everything contracting together before letting that go.

And maybe notice what it's like to do less through your right leg,

Maybe noticing both legs together now,

Maybe noticing both legs together.

You're very welcome to bring your awareness through to the central part of your body,

So through to your torso,

Just noticing any sensation that might be present in your torso and if you're interested you might like to explore what it's like to engage through the muscles,

Through your torso here.

And one way of exploring your muscles here might be to find some contraction through the back of your torso,

So through to your spinal muscles.

And one way of doing that if you're lying down,

You might like to arch your back a little bit here,

So your lower back or your middle back rather might lift off the floor.

And if you're in a seated form you might draw the front of your body further forward so that it creates a slight backbend.

So maybe creating a slight backbend here,

Perhaps engaging through the spinal muscles and then slowly letting that go,

Maybe noticing what it's like to do less.

You might choose to engage through the front of your torso,

So through to your abdominal muscles.

And one way of exploring that if you're lying down might be to even lift your head and your shoulders off the floor.

If you're in a seated form you might draw your torso forward slightly,

You might kind of rock on your sit bones as you round through your spine,

Maybe engaging through your abdominal muscles,

Shortening through the front of your body and then letting that go,

Maybe noticing what it's like to do less.

You might like to come into a third round of this,

You can find a different way or you might like to revisit one of these two variations we've already done.

So finding your way of engaging through the central part of your body,

So your torso,

Taking a moment here,

Contracting all of your muscles together,

Everything engaging and then letting that go and noticing what it might be like to do less with your torso now and then perhaps exploring what it might be like to engage through your facial muscles,

Perhaps your neck muscles as well here.

So one possibility might be to create contracting through your facial muscles,

So you might close your eyes really tightly,

You might kind of scrunch through your face a little bit,

All of your muscles contracting,

Drawing in all of your muscles,

Engaging here and then letting that go,

Maybe noticing what it's like to do less through your facial muscles.

And then another way of engaging might be to open your eyes really wide,

You might open your mouth really wide,

Almost like a yawn,

Everything engaging together and then letting that go.

And you might like to revisit one of these two variations or maybe finding a different way of engaging through your facial muscles,

Perhaps your neck muscles.

So engaging here,

All of your muscles together,

Everything contracting and letting that go,

Maybe noticing what it's like to do less through your facial muscles and your neck muscles.

And then bringing your awareness to your whole body now,

Noticing your whole body,

Any sensations that might be present in your whole body.

And if you like,

You're welcome to create engagement through your whole body now.

So in whatever way might be useful for you,

You might possibly lift through your arms or legs a little,

Maybe contracting through all of your muscles,

Through your whole body,

Everything together,

Contracting and then letting that go.

And maybe noticing what it's like to do less,

Maybe noticing what it's like for your body to move towards rest.

And just noticing the natural rhythm of your breath,

Perhaps noticing the weight of your body against your support,

Whether that's the ground or some other form of support.

Take a moment to rest here.

And then just slowly starting to become aware of your body against your support,

Becoming aware of the environment around you as well,

Maybe taking in the sounds,

Noticing any smells,

Perhaps even noticing the air against your skin or the pressure between you and your support.

And in whatever way might be most useful for you in this moment,

Perhaps inviting a little bit of movement back in,

Just starting to wake your body up.

Whenever you feel ready to come out of this,

You might like to roll to one side if you're lying down,

Perhaps using the ground to support you before gently pushing into the ground and coming up into a seated form if you're not already there.

And this brings us to the end of this practice.

So perhaps just taking a moment just to settle yourself,

Perhaps reorientate yourself in the space that you're in,

Maybe seeing where your body is in relation to the space around you,

Perhaps inviting a little bit of movement in as well,

Perhaps also feeling where your body is in relation to the space around you.

And this brings us to the end of this body scan,

This active and passive body scan.