Hello,
Thank you for joining me today.
We're going to walk through a quick body scan to help us relax,
Come back to the present moment and most importantly learn how to listen to what our body is telling us.
So if you're ready,
Find yourself in a comfortable seat.
You can also be lying down.
If you are sitting,
Have your feet flat on the floor.
Your spine is upright and alert but not too rigid.
When it feels right for your practice today,
Please close your eyes,
Bringing your awareness to the inside of your body.
Exhaling all your breath out,
Inhaling deeply through the nose and exhaling completely through the nose or the mouth.
Feel free to make some noise,
Sigh it out,
Let it go.
We'll do a few more breaths together.
Exhaling deeply,
Allowing your chest to rise,
Your stomach to expand.
Taking a deep,
Long breath and as you exhale,
Allow the exhale to be slightly longer than the inhale,
Already feeling your muscles soften and relax.
One more time together,
Let's take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose or the mouth.
Standing at your feet,
Noticing any sensations in your right foot,
The big toe,
The toe next to the big toe,
The middle toe,
The next toe and the pinky.
Exhaling deeply,
Exhaling completely,
Noticing any vibration,
Tingling,
Warmth,
Coolness.
The sensations may not always be pleasant,
Maybe there's some aches,
Just notice it and breathe energetically,
Allow the muscles of your feet to expand and soften.
As you breathe,
Noticing any sensations in the heel of the right foot,
In the bottom of the foot,
Wrapping your awareness to the top of the foot.
There may be areas of the body where you don't feel anything at all and that's okay.
This exercise is here to help you gather awareness,
Notice new things and maybe after doing this a few times,
You'll feel sensations in areas that you didn't before.
As you breathe,
Allow a wave of relaxation to wash over your right foot and then notice anything in your right ankle,
Allowing the sensation to move from the top of the foot up the ankle to the shin and wrapping around to the calf.
If anything has tightened or tense,
Just breathe and soften.
Noticing any sensation in the right knee,
Behind the knee,
The hamstring,
Behind the leg and then wrapping around to the thigh,
Breathing,
Settling.
Remembering that if your mind wanders,
That's okay,
That's what our minds do.
Just allow yourself to use your breath to come back to this exercise,
Back to the present moment bringing your awareness down to your left foot,
The left big toe,
The toe next to the big toe,
The middle toe,
The next one and the pinky.
Noticing and noticing any vibration,
Warmth,
Tingling.
How about the ball of the foot,
The heel,
Wrapping around the left foot to the top,
Your next breath.
Notice any sensation in your ankle.
As you move up the leg,
Noticing your calf and your shin,
Noticing if you feel more sensation in the left lower leg or the right,
Breathing,
Relaxing.
Noticing any sensation in the knee,
Behind the knee,
The left hamstring,
The back of the leg and then the thigh on the left side.
Taking both legs at the same time and the feet.
Taking the deepest breath you've taken all day and allowing your legs to be like jello,
Gooey,
Heavy and just sink into the seat or the chair or the bed.
Bring your awareness to your hips,
Allowing all the muscles of the hips,
The thighs,
Your seat and your stomach to soften and relax.
Letting your belly hang,
Noticing any sensation in your stomach,
The lower back and spine.
Breathing deeply,
Feeling any vibration,
Tingling,
Heat.
Bringing your awareness up the torso,
Noticing what you feel in the heart area,
Breathing,
Staying present,
Being kind to yourself if your mind wanders.
That is the practice to over and over come back to the breath or the present moment without judgment,
Noticing any sensation in the mid-back and the upper back.
Even if there's tension here,
Let your next breath allow a wave of relaxation to roll up any tension or stress down the arms,
Down the spine and release it into your seat,
Out your body,
Noticing any sensation or tension in the shoulders,
Feeling your arms relax and soften as you notice any sensation in your right upper arm,
Lower arm and your right hand.
What do you feel in your thumb?
Pointer finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and pinky.
Breathing over to the left arm,
The upper arm,
Lower arm and then your left hand.
Bring your awareness to your left thumb as you breathe deeply,
Letting all the muscles in the hand soften and relax,
The pointer finger,
The middle finger,
The ring finger and the pinky.
Feel both hands and both arms at the same time.
Allow these areas to soften if anything is tense and let them be heavy and like jelly or loose noodles.
Take another deep breath,
Noticing the sensations in the throat and the neck,
Releasing any tension in the jaw.
Notice if you're grinding your teeth and if so,
Create some space.
Allow the muscles around the cheeks and the nose to be soft and supple.
Noticing any sensation around the eyes and feel your body relax,
All the muscles around the eyes releasing,
Sending a signal to the body that everything's okay.
Noticing the forehead,
The ears and then finally the crown of the head and your next inhale and exhale is devoted to the back of the head and the neck.
Allow a ripple of relaxation to start at the top of the head and go down the front body and the back body.
Feeling your body in its entirety,
Feeling yourself vibrate with life and vitality.
Let's take three deep breaths as we end our time together.
Inhaling all the breath out,
Inhaling deeply through the nose and exhaling through the nose or the mouth.
Two more times together.
Inhale and exhale.
One more time,
Inhale and exhale.
As you breathe naturally and normally,
Take a moment to notice how you feel now compared to when we started.
Noticing any shift in your energy or your emotions.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
Take a moment to look around,
Getting oriented in your time and space.
Think yourself for this little bit of self-care,
Time for yourself.
Thank you so much for allowing me the precious gift of your time.
Until next time.
