Body Scan For Slowing Down & Connecting To Your Body

This body scan practice will give you an opportunity to slow down and to gently connect with your body in a deeper way.

This meditation may relieve stress, anxiety, and pain, as you intentionally focus your awareness on different body parts.

I invite you to hold a non-judgmental attitude, remembering to let go of the attachment to the outcome and simply allowing yourself to explore what shows up in this practice.

Transcript

Welcome.

This is a longer version of a body scan that I already have available.

So we'll just go into more detail with each body part and you'll have an opportunity to just connect with your body in a deeper way,

Noticing what sensations are present,

Maybe their pain or aches that you are experiencing,

Which is going to be part of the meditation experience.

So to begin with,

I invite you to find a comfortable position.

A body scan practice is usually done by laying down either on the floor,

A yoga mat,

A bed.

Just making sure that you are relaxed and alert.

So I'm going to be guiding you through this practice starting with your head and then you're gonna finish off with your feet.

So to start with,

I invite you to just take a couple of gentle breaths into your body.

If there's any tension present,

Then feel free to exhale it out.

Sometimes it helps to breathe out through the mouth and imagining that you're breathing out through a thin straw.

So you're just inhaling through the nose and then exhaling through the mouth.

Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.

And just continue that for a few rounds at your own pace.

And now I invite you to feel the contact that your body is making with the floor or the bed.

And just allow yourself to surrender to the pull of gravity.

Just letting go into the support right underneath your back.

Feel the weight of your body.

And I now invite you to bring your attention to the top of your head.

Just resting your awareness on that part of your body.

Remembering that you're not trying to fix or change anything but simply becoming aware of what sensations are present at this moment in your practice.

And then from the top of the head I invite you to move your awareness to your forehead.

Notice are you frowning right now or is your forehead soft,

Relaxed?

Some tension might just naturally release as you are focusing your attention on a particular body part.

And then from the forehead I invite you to gradually move your attention to your jaw.

So often we tense our jaw without even realizing it.

So just notice if that's the case for you.

Are you clenching your teeth or is your jaw open,

Relaxed?

Maybe there is a natural softening of the tension that occurs.

Once again remember not to judge your experience.

There's no need for you to force for a relaxation to happen or for force for a particular outcome.

If staying with a particular body part brings up a lot of discomfort which feels intolerable to you,

Feel free to move your attention to another body part that is neutral,

That doesn't have any unpleasant sensations.

So it could be the feet,

It could be the top of the head,

It could be the hands.

And then from the jaw I invite you to move your attention to your neck and your shoulders,

Just including the neck and the shoulders in your awareness.

And whenever your mind starts to drift or wander off just gently bring your attention back to your neck and your shoulders.

Once again noticing if your shoulders are up,

If they're lifted up to your ears,

Are they tense?

Do you have pain in the neck and shoulders?

Is there a sense of coldness around the neck?

Or this part of the body might feel open,

Relaxed,

Free of tension.

And now I invite you to continue moving your awareness down your spine into your upper back and then moving down to your mid-back becoming aware of your shoulder blades the back of your heart.

And then moving down to your lower back noticing if you're tensing the muscles in the lower back,

Noticing if there's any pain there,

Maybe numbness.

Just allowing yourself to feel your lower back if that's at all possible and if not just becoming aware of that without any judgment.

And then from the lower back I invite you to move your attention to your right arm,

Just the upper portion of your right arm noticing how is it doing right now?

What is going on with the upper portion of your right arm?

And then moving down to your right elbow,

The outside of the elbow and the inside of the elbow.

If you need to move a particular body part to feel a little bit better feel free to do that,

That's also an option.

And then down to the lower portion of your right arm and then down to your wrist and then down to the fingers of your right arm including the thumb,

The pinky just including all the fingers in your awareness.

From here I invite you to switch your attention from your right arm to the left arm starting with the upper portion of your right left arm.

And then continuing to move your attention down to your left elbow including the inside of the elbow and outside of the elbow and then moving down your attention to the lower portion of your left arm down to your left wrist down to your fingertips on the left arm and from here I invite you to gradually move your attention to your throat just noticing does your throat feel open or closed can you feel the inside of your throat and then from the throat down to your chest noticing if there is a sense of tightness in the chest does your chest feel open or closed is there some resistance present in the chest remembering that the location of the chest is also connected to the heart space and then from here moving your attention down to your gut and your stomach area noticing if there are pleasant or unpleasant sensations present there this might be a neutral place for you there might be sense of absence as you tune into your abdomen and then continuing to move your awareness down to your belly if it helps you can even place one of your hands on the belly just becoming aware if there's tension present in the belly contraction no feeling whatsoever or maybe there's a sense of warmth expansion openness softness that is present in the belly once again remembering to bring kind and non-judgmental attention to yourself just accepting if there any thoughts arising as you connect with your belly do you have thoughts that your belly should be smaller flatter maybe feelings arise as you connect to your belly and that is totally normal and then moving your attention down to your pelvic floor to your buttocks area and once again if something feels very uncomfortable feel free to move your attention to another body part remembering that you always have a choice so and from here i invite you to gently move your awareness to your left leg so starting with the left hip just focusing your attention on the left hip and then moving your attention to the left thigh muscle and then the left hamstring so and just the upper portion of your left leg once again noting what is present what are you becoming aware of as you're tuning into the left leg so and then from the left upper portion of the leg moving your attention down to your left knee including the cap of the left knee and the inside of the left knee so and then moving your attention down to your left calf and just the lower portion of your left leg including the shin and then down to the left ankle noticing what sensations are present in the left ankle so and continuing to move your attention down to your left foot including the heel of the left foot the sole of your left foot and all the toes in your left foot so so and from here i invite you to gradually bring your attention to your right leg starting with a right hip so just resting your attention on the right hip so and then from the right hip moving your attention to the right thigh so so and then the right hamstring and just the upper portion of your right leg and then continuing to move your attention down to your right knee just noticing what sensations are present including the outside of the right knee and the inside of the right knee so and moving your attention down to your right calf and right shin so just including the lower portion of your right leg in your awareness so and then moving your attention down to your right ankle if you need to move the right ankle to feel it you can do that so and moving your attention down to your right heel just including the right heel in your awareness and on the sole of the right foot and then including all the toes on your right foot so and as a way of bringing this practice to completion i invite you to just take a couple of gentle breaths into your body so if you need to stretch your arms out or maybe move your head from side to side or bend your knees feel free to do that just noticing what organically your body wants to do in this moment if you want to just remain laying down that is also an option so so and this completes the body scan practice take care of yourself until next time bye

Reviews

A relaxing practice. Thoughtfully and carefully guided. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Beautiful calming body scan 🙏💚