Hey friends,
My name is Danny,
And I'm gonna be guiding you through a 10 minute body scan meditation.
I love body scans because oftentimes we're living most of our day up here,
And we're missing out on a huge,
Vast intelligence system that exists within us,
Exists within our bodies,
And when we begin to relax and slow down,
We can start to access that wisdom.
We can start to release stress and tension in the body,
And be able to access the present moment.
So,
I'm gonna invite you to get into your meditative position.
As you can see,
I'm sitting,
But you're also welcome to lie down,
And I'll guide you in a sitting posture.
So,
Taking a upright position,
Spine reaching up towards the sky,
Not too rigid,
Dropping the shoulders.
At this point,
You're welcome to close your eyes,
Or also,
If you would like,
Can have your eyes slightly opened,
Having an unfocused gaze about three to five feet in front of you,
Almost like you're looking through the floor.
I'm gonna close my eyes at this point.
And so,
You can tilt your forehead slightly down,
Tucking your chin slightly in,
And placing your hands on your thighs right above the knees,
Or you're welcome to place them in your lap.
And at this point,
Opening up the chest slightly,
And allowing for the heart to be open,
Ready to receive this moment,
Feeling both feet on the ground,
Connected to the earth,
And we'll take three deep breaths to signify the beginning of our practice.
So,
Let's start by breathing in through the nose,
And slowly breathing out through the mouth.
And again,
Deep breath in,
Slowly breathing out.
And the biggest breath you've taken today,
Breathing into the belly,
The chest,
The lungs,
Holding at the top,
And slowly breathing out,
Letting go.
Now,
I invite you to return back to your normal rhythm of breathing,
Not manipulating or controlling the breath.
And we'll begin to transition as you continue to breathe into our body scan for the day.
And so,
I'll invite you to bring your attention and your awareness to your face.
And we'll start at the forehead.
And just seeing if you can allow and invite your forehead to be smooth and soft,
And then relaxing the eyes,
Maybe inviting all the little muscles around the corners of the eyes to release tension.
Relaxing the tongue,
Just allowing it to rest in the bottom part of the mouth.
And if you notice any unclenching in your jaw,
It's an opportunity to just soften the jaw,
Unclench it.
Moving down,
Softening the front part of your throat.
And your next in-breath,
Perhaps rising your shoulders up towards your head.
And the exhale,
Just letting them fall,
Becoming heavier,
Just letting them rest.
Tracing down the arms and arriving in the hands,
Feeling your left hand and your right hand,
Maybe wiggling the fingers,
Just feeling them supported by your legs or in your lap.
Moving back up to the chest.
And for a moment,
Just noticing how the chest rises and falls with each inhale and exhale,
Kind of like this really gentle wave motion.
An opportunity to also place your hand over your heart and just feeling into the heartbeat,
The physical sensations of your heart,
Feeling the aliveness and moving down to your belly.
This is a place where many of us tend to hold tension.
So breathing into the belly very softly as the belly expands outward with the inhale.
As you exhale,
Contracts back down,
Kind of like a balloon expanding and deflating.
Each breath expanding your ribs and the belly.
And each exhale settling deeper into this moment.
And a reminder that this practice isn't to get rid of anything.
It's really to just bring awareness to how you're feeling,
What's alive in this moment.
And if there is any tension or tightness,
We get to send the breath down to those parts.
And if we can create some more space.
And oftentimes that starts to move some of the stuck stagnant energy that we're holding in our body.
And with that,
Moving your awareness down to your seat,
Noticing where it makes contact,
Feeling the support,
Becoming aware of your hips and pelvic region and moving down the legs very gently from the thighs to the knees,
Chins and calves.
And just taking in all the different sensations that are present there.
Noticing if there's any tightness.
Also becoming curious about what it's like to just observe the legs.
And finally arriving in the feet,
Feeling your left foot and your right foot.
Perhaps noticing if one foot is a little warmer,
Cooler than the other.
Also tuning into the connection with the earth beneath you,
That sacred connection.
Maybe you wanna wiggle your toes grounded in this moment.
And so we'll take one more deep breath into the body,
Filling up and then releasing any tension that's ready to be released out of the body,
Imagining it releasing out into the earth,
Out through the feet.
And just beginning to notice sensations and any shifts that are present here from when you first sat down.
Also taking a moment to honor this body,
This intricate,
Complex system that is keeping you alive and healthy to the best that it can.
And with that,
We'll be getting to transition out of this practice by taking one more deep breath and breathing out.
And as you do so,
Getting to bring some movement into the body,
Maybe wiggling the fingers and the toes,
And maybe stretching the neck and the back.
And then very slowly,
Beginning to open your eyes,
Taking in the room,
All the details,
The colors,
And fully arriving back.
So thank you so much for practicing with me today and allowing me to share this practice with you.
Meditation is a practice for life.
So what we do here on the cushion is also applicable to how we show up in our day,
Right?
So if you're noticing any tension in your body throughout the day,
You can take moments of mindful pauses to relax your shoulders,
Your face,
Or your belly.
It really does start to allow that energy to move and to be a little bit more easeful as we move throughout our day.
So thank you,
And I look forward to seeing you in the next practice.
