Let It Go

You can use this gentle body scan meditation regularly. It is perfect to check in with your body, and your emotions, bringing awareness, and letting go.

This is a perfect introduction for beginners and suitable for regular use.

Transcript

Welcome,

Whatever time it is,

Wherever you are.

And in this week's meditation,

I'm going to be sharing with you a practice you can use when you're dealing with strong emotions.

Now,

Notice I say the word strong,

Not difficult,

Because they're only difficult if we label them that way.

Everything starts out as a visceral sensation in the body,

And it's afterwards,

When we add our stories based on our past history,

That it becomes difficult.

Now,

Don't sort of put a lot of pressure on yourself to get this right,

Because it takes practice.

We are creatures of habit,

And habits are deeply ingrained.

It's been proven by science now that a traumatic event can change our neural pathway,

And then that sort of response to when something similar happens when we get triggered,

It activates that pathway,

And we go into the same response.

But science has proved now that we can change our neural pathways,

And one of the best ways to do that is through meditation.

And I was listening to a talk at the weekend and with an amazing guy,

Dr.

Dawson Church,

I recommend you check him out,

And he's done brain scans on people,

And he's shown that you can rewire your brain in four weeks.

So if you come and listen to these every week and then do the practices every day,

Just think by Christmas,

You will have rewired your brain.

You can be happier.

And so,

Going back to what I was saying about emotions,

When they start in our body as physical sensation,

But because our habits are so deeply ingrained,

It can be so quick before we start adding on the stories.

And this was a practice I learned from a British practitioner called the Santra a few years,

Well,

Quite a few years ago now.

He called it unhooking,

Where you notice what you're feeling in your body,

And then you practice just letting go of the stories.

And it's really interesting when you do that because you start to notice that,

Say,

For example,

It might be that when you feel anxious or when you feel excited,

So you might consider anxious being a negative emotion,

Being excited a positive emotion,

That the feeling in your body is exactly the same.

So that is proof,

Isn't it,

That we are just making up stories about this sensation.

In our body.

And,

Right,

So we're going to get ready today.

We're going to,

We're just going to anchor into our bodies today,

And we're going to do a body scan.

So this is a really good opportunity to notice,

Whatever you're feeling right now emotionally,

What's,

However,

What's in your emotional weather,

Because we have different energy bodies,

Because everything's energy anyway.

Obviously we have the physical body that we can see,

That we can touch,

We can feel.

We also have our mental body,

Which is our thoughts going on.

And we also have our emotional body,

Which is our feelings.

So,

And then the spiritual body,

Which is where we're connected to something greater than ourselves,

Source,

God,

Whatever you like to call it.

So we're getting into our posture for meditation,

Because this kind of sets ourselves up for success.

If,

Because if you're,

You're sort of too relaxed,

Or you're sort of being hypervigilant,

Then you're going to find it really difficult to concentrate.

So we're sitting upright,

Legs uncrossed,

And feet both sort of placed firmly on the ground.

You might want to sort of jiggle your legs a bit,

Get the energy flowing around your body.

And if you need to put a cushion or something under your feet,

If you need to raise your knees up to make sure your thighs are parallel to the floor and just rest your hands in your lap and make sure that your spine is straight,

But not too stiff.

And so that you're not slumped in the chair.

Right,

Fine.

Are you ready to begin?

Just take a deep breath,

That's what I'm doing.

To just ground ourselves,

Be in the present moment.

Letting go of any worries,

Any concerns,

What you've got to do later today,

Or if it's the evening for you,

What's happened today.

Just let all that go now,

The next 20 minutes or so.

There's nowhere else to go,

Nowhere else to be.

Right here,

Right now.

Okay,

And as the sound of the bell dies away,

Just connect to your breath,

Your life force.

And just have a sense of how you're feeling right now,

Without judgment.

We always start by acknowledging how we're feeling.

There's no right or wrong.

And it's also important to mention here that we're not trying to suppress them either.

Just feeling whatever's going on for us right now.

And just get a sense of your body and the space that it takes up in the room where you're in.

Perhaps you can also feel the space around your body as well.

And just now bring your awareness to the top of your head.

And if at any point during this meditation,

You find that your mind wanders off,

Just bring it back to wherever in the body we are,

Focusing our attention on.

Don't worry,

Doesn't matter.

Just congratulate yourself for noticing them.

And as we go through each area of the body,

Notice whatever is going on for you in that section.

And you don't need to try and change it.

You're just really bringing awareness.

So top of the head now,

The scalp,

Just being aware of the scalp,

Hair.

See if you've got any,

Of course.

Coming around to the forehead.

May be an area where we hold on to tension.

Perhaps if you are,

You might just want to try and relax it a bit.

As much as feels right for you.

Eyebrows,

Your eyes.

Just making sure that your eyes are relaxed as well.

Cheekbones,

Nose.

Being aware of the sensation of your breath as it enters and leaves your body.

Tongue,

Jaw.

Again,

That's another area where we can hold on to tension.

So just relax your jaw.

Keep your mouth closed with the teeth slightly apart.

And chin.

Now just being aware of the whole of your face.

Any sensations.

Temperature of the air against your skin.

Coming around to your ears.

Around to the back of the head.

Coming down into the neck and the throat.

What's going on there?

Are you holding on to tension?

Are you afraid to speak your truth?

Just notice.

Coming down the neck into the shoulders.

Another area where we can hold on to emotions and tension.

Just if you're noticing that,

Just breathe into it.

Coming down into the arms,

The upper arms.

Elbows.

Lower arms.

Wrists.

Your hands.

The backs of the hands.

Palms of the hands.

Fingers.

Fingernails.

Just having a sense of appreciation for your hands and everything that they do for you.

Just aware of the sensations of where they're resting in your lap.

Now coming back up to the chest area,

To the upper chest.

And the upper torso.

The heart area.

How's your heart today?

Feeling tightness around the area?

Or is your heart open?

When you do this,

Breathe into the heart.

Just let your heart gradually open.

Just to allow in and to receive and to send out love in your lungs.

Feeling them moving in and out with the breath.

Coming down just below the ribs into the solar plexus area,

Into the belly.

Breathing correctly down into the belly,

You should be able to feel it rising and falling with each breath.

Perhaps you might want to try that now.

Try and deepen your breathing,

Especially if you're feeling anxious.

Now coming down to the pelvic area,

The base of the spine.

Sitting bones.

Feeling your weight going down through.

Sitting bones down through the chair,

Right down into the earth.

Feeling that connection.

Now bring your awareness to your legs,

Your thighs.

Down through the thighs into your knees,

Through the calves and the shins,

Ankles,

Feet,

Toes,

Soles of the feet.

Feeling that connection with the ground,

The floor,

The earth.

You might want to imagine that you've got roots coming out of the bottom of your feet,

But keeping you grounded,

Keeping you anchored to the earth.

You can get so caught up in our heads.

And now just be aware again,

The whole of your body.

Just notice if anything's different now,

If anything's changed.

If it hasn't,

That doesn't matter either.

Just staying with the breath for a few minutes,

Just to anchor and ground the practice.

And again,

If your mind wanders off,

You find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts,

Just bring your attention back to the breath.

And now in a while,

I'm going to bring the practice to the end.

Of course,

You're welcome to sit on for as long as you'd like.

So just expanding your awareness out.

Be aware of the space around your body,

The room that you're in,

Building,

Street outside.

It's coming back into the world and ready to go about your day.

I hope you're feeling better now.

I know I am.

And if you've got any comments,

Put them in the comment box below.

Have a good day.

Sending you lots of love.