Hi friend,
This meditation is a short body scan for you to unwind at the end of a long day.
To find a comfortable seat,
If you'd prefer to lay down for this,
You can do that as well.
And when you're ready,
Gently close your eyes.
We'll begin by taking a few breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
One more time,
In and out.
Take a few deeper breaths on your own,
At your own pace.
And when you're ready,
We'll begin by placing our attention at the top of our head.
See if there are any sensations.
Observe the area of your skull.
And move your attention down to your forehead.
See if there's any tension there.
And then your temples.
And around your eyes.
And if you're coming across any sort of tension or discomfort,
Remember that for this one,
We're not really looking to change anything.
We're simply observing,
Paying attention to what comes up for us.
If you notice an area in your body that's particularly stuck and requires more of your attention,
You can stay with it as we continue scanning all the way down.
Now pay attention to your jaw.
And the inside of your mouth.
The back of your head.
The back of your neck.
Your throat area.
As you're scanning your body,
See if there are any temperature changes.
And what sort of physical sensations come up for you.
We'll now shift our attention to our shoulders.
Then our biceps.
And elbows.
Notice what sensations come up for you in your forearms and your wrists.
And finally,
Your hands.
Notice the tops of your hands first.
And in the middle of your palms.
Allow your attention to travel all the way down to the tips of your fingers.
And just pause there for a second.
What does it feel like to have your attention concentrated on the tips of your fingers?
Do you feel pulsing?
Any sort of temperature change?
Or tingling?
When you're ready,
We'll move our attention back to our chest area.
And for the next minute,
We'll visualize inhaling right through the middle of our chest.
And then visualize exhaling through the middle of your chest.
Imagine that the air comes into your body through this area.
And exits your body through the chest area as well.
Notice if there is any physical sensations or feelings coming up.
Does your chest area feel restricted in general?
And anything that you notice at any point that's uncomfortable?
And if at any point you're noticing any discomfort or pain anywhere in your body,
Pay attention to the texture of those physical sensations.
If it's pain or tension,
What does it feel like?
Does it have a texture?
Does it have a temperature?
Is there pulsing or tingling?
Or a feeling of sharpness?
Whatever it is,
For these next few minutes,
All we're doing is observing whatever sensations we come across in our body.
When you're ready,
Move your attention to the area between your shoulder blades and then your lower back.
Spend a few moments here,
Seeing if you notice anything.
We tend to put a lot of pressure on this area of our body.
Now move your attention to your belly and then your hips.
Notice where your body comes in contact with the chair that you're sitting in or a bed that you're lying on.
Now move your attention to your thighs and then your knees.
Then all the way down to your ankles and finally your feet.
Observe the tops of your feet.
Then notice what it feels like in that space where your feet meet the ground or the floor underneath you.
You can see if the weight is distributed evenly between both feet,
If there's more of it in one foot than the other.
Again,
We're not looking to fix anything or to change anything.
We're just taking stock,
Observing what's present here.
Now for the next few moments,
Go ahead and imagine your body sitting here as a whole,
All together,
Nothing excluded,
And all of it belongs in this one place that you're in.
In this space,
Notice if there's a space in your body that feels particularly comfortable and at ease or if there's a space that has less tension or less pain than other places in your body.
Once you've found that place in your body,
We're going to linger here for a moment,
Taking this feeling of ease and safety.
If you feel like it's not possible today to find that place in your body that's comfortable and safe,
You can pay attention to your breathing for the next couple of minutes while we're here.
Otherwise,
Imagine this sense of comfort in your body beginning to spread over the areas next to it.
Imagine this warm feeling of comfort and safety spreading all over your body and filling it up until finally your whole body is taken by this feeling of warm comfort.
Stay with this feeling for a couple of moments.
Notice what it feels like in your body,
This warmth and safety,
Something that's available to you at any point of your day.
If you're paying attention to your breath at this point,
You can focus on the space between inhale and exhale and vice versa.
As we're inhaling,
There's a space between the inhale and the exhale where nothing particularly happens.
Notice that space in time.
And on an exhale,
Notice a moment right before the next inhale.
In this moment where we're not inhaling or exhaling,
What is present here?
What does it feel like to be in this between state?
Notice the sensations of momentary calm and ease that are available to you.
Notice how your breath doesn't require you to do anything.
Naturally,
The next inhale occurs,
Followed by an exhale,
Nothing you need to do.
Your body is just breathing on its own without you trying to do anything.
Whenever you're ready,
Come back to sensing your body as a whole,
Sitting in this room,
In the chair or laying down.
Begin to notice the sounds around you,
The temperature in the room.
When you're ready,
You can wiggle your fingers or your toes,
Roll your neck if it makes it feel comfortable.
And when it's time,
Gently open your eyes.
Remember that these feelings of safety and comfort,
If you have been able to approach any of them throughout your meditation,
This is easily available to you throughout the day.
You know how to get there.
You know what it feels like.
Your body is capable of tapping into it at your own will at any point of the day.
If in this practice you are still looking for that feeling of comfort and ease,
Don't be discouraged.
It takes time for us to connect to our bodies on that level.
And all of it comes in its own time.
I hope that you can take this into the rest of your day and have a good night's sleep and do it all again tomorrow.
I hope you find the time to take care of yourself and have the good rest of your day.
