Gentle Body Scan

Welcome! Do you have 10 minutes? Find a seated posture and take a gentle approach of scanning your body. This body scan starts at the feet and moves upward. If you have acute pain or experience chronic pain, you can learn to get to know it and learn from it with this practice. Change your stress response, shift your mental focus, and find your awareness. Practice this and overall your well-being will improve by relaxing the body and calming your mind.

Transcript

Welcome. For this gentle body scan, Allow for yourself to sit up nice and tall. Coming in and noticing your sit bones. And the length of your spine. Checking in with your breath. What does your breath sound like right now in your body? Gently begin to move the breath. Into different areas of awareness. And then coming all the way down and bringing your awareness to your right big toe. Coming across all the toes on the right foot. Noticing the top. And the bottom of the foot. Coming around the sides of your foot. And then begin to find your way up. The right foot. Finding perhaps a circle around the right ankle joint. And from here, Dropping your awareness into the left big toe. Moving across all the toes, Finding the left foot. Noticing it. Noticing the top, The bottom. Now all the way around this side. And up towards the ankle, Making your way around. The ankle. Feeling the space in between wherever you've placed both of your ankles. And then gently. Allowing for a beautiful scan up. Good night. Following both of the legs, Making a pause around the knees. Gently noticing. We make a circle, Perhaps. And then finding the tops of the thighs, The backs of the thighs, Coming up and around the legs. Making our way towards our waist. Coming in and around the waist. Gently observe the front. Bye-bye. The right. Allah You can't notice. The center of your body. Allowing yourself. Start to find the upper portion of your chest and your lungs. Gently taking perhaps a few breaths right here as you expand your diaphragm. Opening up some gentle breaths. And. . . Finding your awareness. Moving up towards the tops of the shoulders, The upper back body. That would help. Softening your shoulders down. Bye gently. Noticing the top of the right shoulder coming all the way down the length of the arm. The tips of the right fingers. And then gently finding a circle around the right wrist. Allow for this. Beautiful long line to trace up the right side body. Making your way back to the top of the shoulders. Coming over towards the left shoulder, Moving down. Over your left side, All the way down to the fingertips. And then spinning a circle gently in your mind's eye around the left wrist. And then coming back up to trace very gently the top, The left shoulder. We meet and we balance by finding the throat, The neck. Maybe moving a little circle around. Being sure to sit up nice and tall. Finding the back of your hairline, Coming up over the back of your head. All the way up to the crown. And then moving very gently over. The forehead. Around the eyes. All the way around the cheek. The ears. Down and around the jaw. And here, Binding. Perhaps little circles around the outer edges of the nose. Around the upper and the lower lip. Here. Possible, I invite you to start to find some bigger breaths through the nose. I invite you to notice how the body feels. And if there is anywhere in the body that you would like. To soften. Or wish that it would appear more gentle. Find this place and scan it once again. And now together, Wherever you're at, We will take three breaths. Lengthening up, Take an inhale in. And exhale out. Inhale in. And exhale out. Last time, Inhale in. And then slowly releasing and exhaling completely out, Finding your own natural breath. When you are ready, You may begin to add movement back into your body. And gently opening the eyes, Welcoming in any light. Taking as much time that you need here. And thank you. Enjoy the rest of your day or night.