This is a guided meditation called body scanning.
And we're just simply showering our body with our awareness.
And so let's go ahead and get started.
Please sit in a upright seated position.
Or you may stand or even lay on the floor if you prefer.
Just so you're able to remain calm and still,
Yet alert.
And go ahead and close your eyes if you like.
Or you may look down or close your eyes half way.
And bring your awareness to your posture.
See if you can straighten your back.
Your spine is nice and long.
Your head and shoulders are relaxed.
And just take a moment to invite calm and stillness to your entire body.
Straightening where you need to.
And now I invite you to bring your awareness up to the crown of your head.
And this is the tallest point of your body.
Now imagine if there was almost as if a string was tied to it.
You were able to gently pull on it,
Straightening through the neck up to the top of the head.
And now just take a moment to check in.
See if you can notice any tension or tightness.
Maybe soften where you need to.
And what we'll do is slowly begin showering the body.
Beginning at the crown of the head,
Slowly,
Methodically working our way down to our toes.
And just noticing and softening your forehead.
And then gently bringing your awareness down your head to the eyes.
Maybe softening under the eyes,
Relaxing the skin around the eyes.
Under the eyes,
Relaxing the skin around the eyes.
And your cheeks,
Relaxing your jaw.
Softening down through the neck and shoulders.
And then we'll begin slowly making our way down the arm,
Down the front of the shoulders,
Through the upper arm,
Down the bicep area,
To the elbow.
And then slowly making our way down to our fingertips.
Noticing if there's any tension or tightness in the hands.
And the fingers.
And just see if you can take a moment and just invite some softness into your hands.
And then we'll begin making our way back up through the forearm,
Up to the upper arm,
And then the shoulder.
Noticing the upper back.
Maybe the skin is making contact with our clothes.
See if you can soften.
And then noticing the middle back area.
Slowly showering the lower back region.
And then coming around to the sides and then working our way up the side body,
Slowly and methodically up the rib cage,
Up to the upper chest.
And then slowly down the chest.
Noticing the area of skin around the sternum.
And then noticing the upper abdominal region,
Slowly making our way down.
Seeing if you can invite some softness into the stomach area.
And this is an area where we tend to hold a lot of tension.
There may be tightness.
Making our way down to the hips.
You can just take a moment.
Notice your sit bones making contact with the floor or the chair.
Maintaining that connection.
And now as we slowly begin making our way down through the upper legs and the quads.
The hands down and to the knees.
Slowly and gently making our way down the shins.
Towards the heel of the foot.
While maintaining that alertness,
The stillness.
Awareness of the heel.
Now noticing the feet,
Both feet.
The perimeter of the feet.
And the toes.
Shifting our awareness to our toes.
And now just noticing not only the toes but the foot.
Noticing all the way up through the upper legs.
Noticing the entire lower body.
And see if you can shift your awareness to the entire body.
You may be noticing the body expanding and contracting with the natural flow of the breath.
Without analyzing the shape or getting lost in thought as you breathe in and as you breathe out.
And now as our practice comes to an end.
We'll take three deep breaths together and at the end of the third breath you'll hear a chime.
And when you can no longer hear that chime I invite you to open your eyes.
Breathing in,
Holding at the top of the breath.
And then allowing the breath to leave on its own.
Taking another in breath,
Holding at the top of the breath.
And then allowing the breath to leave.
Taking another last round of breath.
And when you can no longer hear the chime opening your eyes.
