Hello and welcome to Wise Puppy Meditations.
Today we are going to be working with a bedtime body scan meditation,
Preparing our bodies to experience restfulness and sleepiness.
I'll invite you to lay down,
Finding a sense of relaxation in the body,
Experiencing a mirrored effect of the left and right sides of the body so that we can find some balance,
If that's comfortable for you.
And we can start by bringing our attention to the mind,
Just noticing some of the thoughts that dance in there.
Maybe they're presented as words and language or visions,
Images.
Taking a moment to appreciate our ability to observe the mind and therefore separate ourselves in some way from it,
De-identify from the mind.
We can take a moment to consider how much the mind has done for us today.
All of the thinking and planning,
Analyzing and problem-solving,
Our capacity for memory.
And then we can consider how after all of this work the mind must be quite sleepy.
So often it is the mind that can keep us awake,
Trying to be helpful in one way or another.
And at this time we can say thank you.
Thank you for all that you do.
Thank you for helping.
But right now it is your time to rest as it is mine.
And just like all the other parts of the body that we'll go over today,
The mind needs rest in order to function properly.
So we'll let the mind go.
We'll let the mind relax a little bit and use our body or maybe the breath or maybe just my words as an anchor for the present moment.
So that as we go through this meditation,
If the mind starts to take control,
Starts to judge or critique the present moment,
We can bring it back.
Reel it in a bit.
And then we can bring our attention to the parts of ourselves that hold the mind,
That hold the brain.
Experiencing for a moment our head,
Feeling its heaviness on the pillow or the bed or the floor beneath us.
Experiencing the pressure,
The weight of it as we scan through the head and the face and the entirety of the body.
My invitation to you is to consider all of the activities that each part of the body supported you in doing today.
We can bring our attention to the face.
Experiencing our eyes and our eyebrows.
Allowing them to relax if there's any tension there.
Letting our eyelids fall heavy.
Bringing our attention to the nose.
Maybe experiencing ourselves breathe in and out through the nose.
The cheeks.
Maybe thinking for a moment about something that made us smile today and how beautiful it is that we have the opportunity to share joy through expression.
The mouth.
Again,
Considering all of the things our mouth does for us in a day.
Talking and eating.
Expressing.
Letting the mouth fall heavy.
We can move down to the jaw and the neck.
Who does such a wonderful job supporting our head all day.
The shoulders.
We can move down the arms.
Choosing one arm.
Feeling it press against the floor beneath you.
The shoulder.
The bicep and the tricep.
The elbow and the forearm.
Feeling our hands.
The miracle that is our hands.
Another place many of us hold tension.
Just letting them fall open or lay as they are,
Comfortable.
We can snake back up the arm that you chose and move on to the other arm.
Starting up at the shoulder.
Moving down the bicep and the tricep.
The elbow and the other hand.
Maybe as we go through these body parts it's easy for you to feel sensation.
Or maybe it's challenging.
All is okay.
All is normal and beautiful and exactly okay.
Our motivation is behind intention.
Just directing intention and attention to the body.
Bringing it back up the arm to the chest.
Maybe experiencing the rise and fall of breath here.
Allowing it to relax more deeply with exhale.
Wrapping around to the upper back.
Another place many of us hold tension.
Just allowing it to relax.
The mid back and the low back.
Feeling the entirety of the back press against the space beneath you.
Curling around the ribcage to the abdomen.
Feeling as we breathe into the abdomen space.
Deep belly breathing that's preparing us for sleep and restfulness.
Surrendering to the body so that our tummies can take care of digestion while we sleep.
Moving down the pelvis.
Feeling the buttocks.
Wrapping around to the upper thighs.
The back of the legs.
The kneecap.
So much strength in this part of our body that we can just let be.
Let relax.
Feeling the calves.
The shins.
Can bring our attention to our feet.
Considering for a moment all of the places they've taken us today.
This week.
This month.
All of the work they do for us every day.
From the ankle to the heel.
The arch of the foot.
Noticing our toes.
Maybe starting on one toe on one foot.
And moving across each of the others.
Gently and slowly.
Thinking each one of them.
Letting them rest.
Can then bring our attention to the entirety of the body.
Widening our aperture of awareness.
Experiencing the full weight of the body.
Letting it be heavy.
Letting it succumb to sleepiness.
Saying thank you.
Saying rest now.
I will see you in the morning.
