Hi there friend,
I'm Christina.
Thank you so much for joining me for this body scan and needs inventory mindfulness practice.
I want to invite you to sit comfortably,
Whether it's on the floor or in a chair.
Allow your spine to be long and spacious.
Take a moment to soften your shoulders.
Relax your jaw.
If you'd like to close your eyes,
You're more than welcome or you can just soften your gaze down toward the floor.
As you breathe,
And you can just breathe normally,
I want you to gather a little bit of data about your current state.
So right now,
If you were to rate your physical tension on a scale of 1 to 10,
1 being totally relaxed like you just got a massage,
Or 10 being wound up like a top super tight,
What would your physical tension be?
Without judgment,
We're just getting curious.
Second question,
If you were to rate your emotional or mental tension on a scale of 1 to 10,
What would it be?
1 being like an open road,
Very little traffic,
Just smooth sailing,
Not a lot of stress,
And 10 being a bumper to bumper traffic jam,
Lots of thought traffic,
Maybe some anxiety,
Some stress.
Just take note.
Again,
No judgment.
We're just observing where you're at right now.
As we move through this meditation,
I'm going to be suggesting that you notice the physical sensations in your body and your breath for a few minutes.
We're not trying to change anything and we're not looking for a particular outcome.
We're just observing.
Think of it as gathering data.
If something I ask you to notice isn't noticeable to you or it just doesn't make sense,
You can just ignore it and wait for the next instruction.
So if you can put your feet on the floor,
Get comfy,
Get out the last-minute wiggles,
And we'll begin.
Start by feeling the sensation in your feet.
Maybe you actually want to wiggle your toes or slightly move your feet around to feel that sensation a little bit more easily,
But you don't have to.
Sense all your toes on the left foot,
In the right foot.
Feel the soles of your feet resting on the floor,
The feeling of both your feet touching the floor right now.
Now sense the left lower leg,
The left knee,
And the left thigh.
Feel the left leg,
Foot,
And toes.
Now notice the right lower leg,
The right knee,
The right thigh.
Observe the right leg,
Right foot,
And toes.
Now feel both of your legs,
Both of your feet,
And all ten of your toes.
Now feel your torso,
The lower,
Middle,
And upper torso.
Feel your whole midsection.
Notice the chest,
The lower back,
The middle back,
The upper back.
Now bring your attention to the sensation in your left thumb.
Feel the sensation in the rest of your fingers on your left hand.
Now your left palm,
Now the whole left hand.
Now shift your attention to the thumb of your right hand.
Notice your right palm and the whole right hand.
Now notice both hands,
Both arms left and right,
Elbows,
Upper arms,
And shoulders.
Notice your neck,
That connection between neck and shoulders.
Now notice your mouth,
Any sensation in the mouth.
Notice your ears,
Any sensation in your ears.
Notice your eyes and any sensation there.
Sense the skin on your face,
And now bring attention to the sensation of your entire head.
Spread your awareness and sense your entire body.
Feel your whole body as sensation now.
As you notice and observe your body,
Begin to notice that your body is breathing.
Feel the breath coming in and going out.
Note that you don't need to force or change the breath.
We're simply noticing that your body is already breathing and observing how it feels.
If you can,
Breathe through your nose and notice the feeling of the inside of your nostrils as the breath goes in and out.
As the breath goes in and out,
It creates sensation in the inside of the nostrils.
Without straining,
See if you can feel that sensation,
Whatever it is.
Now notice the feeling of your breath as it passes through your throat.
How does it feel?
Notice the movement of your chest as you breathe.
Even if it's subtle,
Can you sense some movement in your chest or side ribs?
What does that feel like?
Now notice any movement in your abdomen as you breathe.
If you can't feel any movement of the belly,
That's okay,
That's normal.
But if you do,
What does it feel like in this moment?
Now notice the rhythm of your breath.
Is it even or uneven?
Is it slow?
Is it fast?
No need to change it,
Just observe.
Now notice the length of the inhale compared to the length of the exhale.
Are they the same?
Is the exhale longer?
Is the exhale shorter?
We're gonna finish this practice with a few breaths together.
Let's count them.
We'll do a total of four.
Go ahead and inhale,
Exhale,
That's one.
Inhale and exhale for two.
Inhale,
Exhale for three.
Inhale,
Exhale for four.
When you're finished,
You can slowly and gently blink your eyes open.
And let's take a moment to gather a little bit of after data.
So first,
What did you notice about your experience in that exercise?
Just take note,
Everyone's gonna have a different experience and any response or observation is fine.
And then I want you to ask those same questions that we asked at the beginning.
Right now,
If you were to rate your physical tension on a scale of one to ten,
What would it be?
Is it the same or has it changed?
Either is fine.
How about your emotional or mental tension on a scale of one to ten?
Is it different?
Is it the same?
Again,
We're just gathering data,
There's no right or wrong,
You're simply observing what's true in the moment.
And now I want to offer you an opportunity to do a quick needs inventory.
Based on what you noticed in that exercise,
About your physical tension,
Any sensations in your body,
Or your mental and emotional state,
What are your needs right now?
If you could name one physical need,
What would it be?
Maybe it's stretching,
Maybe it's movement,
Maybe it's some stillness.
And then if you could pick one mental or emotional need,
What would that be?
There's no right or wrong answer.
We're just practicing giving ourselves space to notice and acknowledge our needs.
And if you're not sure what the answer is,
That's okay too.
The fact that you're asking the question is an important first step.
I would invite you to write down anything that you've noticed,
That you want to take with you and spend some time thinking about.
And maybe you want to journal a little bit more after this practice to further explore any sensations,
Any thoughts,
Or any follow-up questions that you'd like to ask yourself.
Thank you so much for joining me for this practice today.
I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.
Take care and I'll see you next time.
