Welcome to your body scan meditation.
Find yourself in a comfortable position and give yourself a few moments to settle in.
Let your body find the ground and let the ground rise to meet you.
You don't have to earn this moment or manage it.
You don't have to perform inside it.
You just get to arrive.
Take a slow breath in and a soft breath out.
Allow the exhale to be a release,
Even if it's subtle,
Even if it's barely there.
Trust that your nervous system knows how to soften and that you don't need to force anything.
Begin by feeling the weight of your body.
Where do you meet the floor,
The mat,
The cushion,
The seat beneath you?
Allow those points of contact to become anchors for you.
Bring your attention to your feet.
Notice temperature,
Texture,
Any sensations that are present for you.
You don't need to change anything,
Just noticing.
Allow this noticing to create a softness for you.
The softening,
Allowing your feet to grow heavy,
To become rooted,
To become rooted.
Move your awareness to your legs,
Ankles,
Shins,
Knees,
Thighs.
If there is tension,
See if you can breathe around it,
Not through it.
Offering space rather than demand on your body,
Allowing your noticing to create a softening through your legs,
For them to feel supported as they too grow heavy and become rooted into the earth.
Bring your awareness to your hips and pelvis.
This place holds so much movement,
Memory,
Emotion.
Invite ease.
Allow your breath to widen through your low belly into your hips.
Nothing to fix,
Only space to feel,
To soften.
And heaviness taking over here too,
So that your hips and your pelvis can feel rooted into the earth.
Move slowly up into your belly and your low ribs.
Feel the rise and fall of your breath.
Feel gravity holding you.
Allow your abdomen to loosen and for yourself to receive this breath just as you are.
Bring attention to your chest and heart space.
Notice what's here.
Warmth,
Tenderness,
Protection,
Openness.
Whatever it may be,
There is no wrong way to feel.
Invite a little room around your heart,
Like an opening,
A window that makes space just a crack,
So that you can feel softness through your whole chest and heart space.
And allow even this part of your body to feel rooted into the earth,
Like you are connected to all things,
Because you are connected to all things.
Move your awareness into your shoulders.
So often they do the work of holding the world,
Carrying all our burdens and tensing through our shoulders and our neck.
And so could you notice any tension gathered here and allow them to softly slip away.
Bring awareness down your arms and into your hands.
Notice any sensations you're feeling,
Maybe tingling or warmth or stillness.
Allow your hands to rest without expectation,
Nothing you need to reach for,
Nothing you don't have that already lives in you.
Allow trust to grow in the palms of your hands.
As you soften through your arms,
All the way back to your shoulder heads.
Once again,
Rooted into the earth.
Shift your attention to your neck and jaw.
Unclench your teeth.
Soften your tongue from the roof of your mouth.
And allow your throat to feel open and safe to breathe.
Allow a softening to take over your face and the space around your eyes and your ears.
Allow your expression to become loose and your forehead to become smooth.
Allow thoughts to dissipate.
Nothing to hold up,
Hold together.
No other moment to land in except for this moment right here,
This place.
Take a deep breath in and a slow breath out.
Feel your whole body as one piece,
One being held,
Supported,
Rooted here into the earth.
Allow the earth to hold you.
Allow yourself to rest.
Allow this rest to be an affirmation that you are doing enough.
You can take as much time as you need here.
As much rest as you need.
And whenever you find yourself ready,
Without any rush,
Allow the return to be gentle.
