Hey,
It's Hannah from Hannah Brown at Yoga and Bodywork.
We're going to be moving through a nice body scan tonight.
This one is a little bit different than our regular body scans.
This one is better for those days when you're feeling kind of restless and fidgety in bed,
When it's hard to get comfortable and let your body completely settle.
And as with most of my meditations,
There is a version with music and without,
So feel free to pick your favourite.
With all that being said,
Find a comfortable place and let yourself settle as best you can.
Once you find that place,
Let yourself get a little bit heavier.
Feel the weight of any blankets or sheets.
And then bring your awareness to your toes,
The soles of your feet,
Tops of your feet.
And then start to tense up all the muscles in your feet.
So really give them a squeeze,
Turn your feet into little foot fists.
Squeeze them really tight,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze like it's not going to stop.
And then let it all go.
Let your feet completely soften.
Feel as that relaxation spreads through your body.
And then we'll bring our awareness to the lower legs,
The calves and shins.
And then to the knees,
The thighs,
Your quads,
Your hamstrings.
See if you could start to really squeeze the calves,
All the muscles in your thighs.
Could you even try to flex the knees,
Whatever that means to you.
Find that tension,
That flex through both legs entirely.
Squeeze them so tight.
And then let it all go.
Soften,
Release,
Relaxation.
Bring your awareness to your glutes,
Your hips,
Your pelvis.
See if you could really squeeze the muscles of your bum.
You could imagine squeezing the pelvic floor,
Maybe even the lower abdomen just a little bit.
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Feel all that tension.
Squeeze just a little bit tighter.
And let it all go.
Softness.
And that softness continues to grow.
Bring your awareness now to the abdomen,
The back of the body,
Sides,
Really the whole belly here.
And then squeeze all the muscles in like you're getting that tight hug.
You could think of like a corset.
Tense all the muscles towards the center.
Squeeze,
Flex,
Build that tension.
And release.
Feel the freedom,
The softness,
The letting go.
Notice how different the lower body and the trunk feels compared to the arms,
The shoulders,
And the head.
Now think about your hands.
Feel your hands.
Palms.
Fingers.
Thumbs.
Backs of the hands.
Slowly curl your fingers into your palm.
Make fists.
And slowly start to build that tension.
Squeezing tighter and tighter like it's not going to stop.
And then let it go.
All softness.
All relaxation.
That heaviness.
Think about your forearms.
Your elbows.
Your upper arms.
Biceps,
Triceps.
Squeeze the muscles like you're really flexing here.
Squeeze them a little bit more.
A little bit more.
And let it all go.
Heaviness.
Feel your shoulders now.
Where neck and shoulders meet.
Feel the neck.
The throat.
Start to squeeze your shoulders up to your ears.
See if you could tense through the neck.
Squeeze just a little bit more.
All that awkward tension.
Let it go.
Release.
Soften.
And then slowly bring your awareness to your face.
Squeeze everything to the center like you ate something sour.
Squeeze all your facial features.
Squeeze,
Squeeze.
Let everything go.
Completely soften the face.
Feel the relaxation through your whole body.
Any place that you feel is still holding on to the day.
Any tension.
Give it that loving squeeze that we've been doing.
Release.
Notice how your body continues to just relax more and more.
The body can get tense from the day,
From stress,
Just all the demands of life.
Sometimes this tension just kind of builds.
Like we don't have a way to release it.
But when we give the body the opportunity to fully experience the tension,
Then we get to fully experience the relief.
The letting go of all that tension.
Rather than just mildly holding on to a little bit,
We experience the full experience of the sensation of tensing.
And then the body knows it's over,
It's done.
You can relax now.
You don't need to hold on any longer.
Whenever you need to release a bit of stress or tension,
This technique,
This progressive relaxation is there for you.
I hope you enjoyed this practice.
Thank you so much for practicing with me tonight.
I hope you have a really restful sleep.
Feel free to check out my page for more of these.
I'll leave an honest rating and review.
Have a good night.
Peace.
