Melty Body Scan - A Simple But Effective Practice

Just listen and melt into a state of comfort and calmness. Your body is most likely crying out for some space to chill but you won't know till you try it! Take a short break and give it the gift it deserves right now.

Transcript

One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is to pause, Relax and take our focus inwards. So much of our attention is focused outwards, Away from ourselves as we get hijacked by the busyness of life. Simply by focusing inwards we can give the attention our body needs and create a space within ourselves for peace and calm. I hope you enjoy this simple but effective practice, A body scan, Which will replenish and refresh you. Very soon we are going to mindfully move through the muscles of the body and as your focus is drawn to each area of the body you may find curiously that the area softens and relaxes. Here goes. Take a moment to get nice and comfortable, Either lying down with your arms at your side or perhaps sitting upright with a straight posture, Hands to the side or folded in your lap. When you're ready close your eyes. Take a moment to check in with yourself by becoming aware of how your body feels right now in this moment. Notice the contact of your body with the chair or the ground beneath you. Notice any tension or stress you may be holding. Now just bring your awareness to the very top of your head. Just be aware of the feeling right at the top of your head. That's right, Just bring your attention there. And then shift your awareness down to your forehead, The feelings in your forehead. Now bring your attention to your eyelids, Your right eyelid, Your left eyelid. Notice the muscles at the side of the eyes, The temples. And then bring your attention to your right ear and your left ear. Shifting your awareness now to your jaw and your mouth. The tongue sits behind the bottom row of teeth. Just becoming aware of that. Then moving your attention down to your throat and now to your shoulders. Perhaps a heaviness or a lightness exists there, But just noticing the feelings in your shoulders. And then moving your attention now to the top of your right arm. Down to the elbow and the right forearm. Bring your awareness to your right wrist and your palm. Perhaps a warmth or a coolness there, I don't know, Just being aware. And then noticing your fingers and your thumb. And then just moving your awareness now back to the top of the shoulders and going down the left hand side. Beginning now with the top of the left arm. Moving down with your mind to your left elbow. Left forearm. Left wrist. The palm noticing a warmth or coolness. And then the fingertips and the thumb, Being aware of the feelings there. And then moving back up to the top of the shoulders as you scan down the body. Beginning at the top of the neck, The top of the spine, Just moving down. It's as if your eyes are watching the back of your spine and you're scanning down, Just scanning down each vertebrae. Moving down, Being aware of the feelings in the back, Between the shoulder blades. Down into the middle back and down into the lower back. And also moving into the front of the body, Being aware of the chest, The feelings in the chest and the waist and abdomen. As your thoughts spread down, Your awareness spreads down into the pelvis, Noticing how you feel right now. Scaling down, Down through the pelvis and into the top of the right leg, The thigh. Noticing the contact of your body with the chair and following it with your mind down into your knee, Into your calf, Down into your ankle and your foot, The sole of your foot on the floor, Just noticing the contact and then becoming aware of the feelings in your toes and your big toe of your right foot. No need to force it, Just being aware right now of how that feels as you bring your attention right there. And then moving up again to the pelvis, Going into the left leg now, Just becoming aware of the thigh, The large muscles of the thigh connecting with the chair or the floor beneath you. Down into the left knee, The left calf, Down into the ankle and the foot, Just being aware of the sole of the left foot in contact with the ground perhaps and the toes of the left foot and the large toe, The big toe, Noticing the feelings there, Warmth or coolness. Perhaps it feels the same as the right foot or maybe different. And so just allowing this time just to be aware of how the body feels as you work upwards again, Just scanning from the lower feet, Down up through into the calf muscles, The knees, The thighs, The pelvis, The lower back, The abdomen, The upper back, The chest, The shoulders, The neck, The face and up. So moving your thoughts up into the top of the head, Being aware of the feelings up there at the top. Imagine a hole in the top of your head, Any tension that you felt, Just breathing it out, Each breath as you breathe out, All the tension just escaping out through the top of the head. Just experiencing that pleasant relief, Perhaps a lightness that didn't exist before. As you relax there, Just being aware of the feelings of now. Nobody wanting anything, No one demanding anything and no one expecting anything. And in a few moments when you are ready you can just bring yourself back to full awareness of everything that's going on around you. Open your eyes, And just take a nice slow deep breath, Releasing any remaining tension that may exist and then just move on with your day, Feeling refreshed, Feeling relaxed and taking these good feelings with you. Namaste.