Body Connection Meditation

This is a brief meditation and body scan to support a deeper connection to your body. This body scan was designed for athletes to do before starting a training session. Studies have shown that greater interoceptive ability helps us perform better physically and cognitively under stress. Interoception is our inner awareness of our bodies. This ability can be cultivated and strengthened with practice.

Transcript

Welcome to this Body Connection meditation and visualization. Take a moment and settle into a comfortable position, Either seated or lying down. If your legs are feeling tired, You can put them up against the wall. Make sure you're feeling warm and comfortable before you begin. This allows your whole body to fully relax during this experience. Close your eyes or drop your gaze. Turn your focus inward. I invite you to imagine that your focus is like a flashlight and you can direct it as you need. Your thoughts will continue to pop in and out of that flashlight beam and your only focus is to continue to pay attention to your body and its sensations. We're not aiming for some zen-like, Perfectly blank mind. Your mind will stay busy and you can't do this exercise wrong. Your only job is to notice that busyness and to come back to your body. What do you notice as you drop into the physical sensations that are here in your being in this moment in space and time? Maybe you notice whether there's a feeling of heat or coolness, Tension or relaxation, A sense of ease or dis-ease, Or maybe there's even just a sense of neutral nothingness. Because your only focus is to be present, I invite you to notice when you've followed your thoughts and have started thinking about something else. When you do, Direct your attention back to your body with kindness and reconnect with what you can sense and feel. When you hear my voice inviting you to connect with a particular part of your body, You can even imagine that part in your mind's eye lighting up. You can imagine your awareness moving down your body like molasses or something equally slow and smooth. And while you're doing this, I invite you to breathe deeply in a way that feels good for you. So let's start by bringing your awareness to the top of your head. What is present in this part of your body? As you notice the muscles around your forehead and your eyes, Maybe in between your eyebrows, Notice if you can relax them. Maybe you draw your awareness down around your jaw and your ears. Maybe you're holding tension in your face or in your neck. What is present in this part of your body? As you come down into your neck and shoulders more fully, Notice what is here. Take a deep breath and imagine your breath expanding and relaxing this part of your body. Let your awareness drift down through your arms, Around the corners of your elbows, Through your wrists, And out your fingertips. You can imagine air coming in through your fingers and out through your fingers as you breathe. Notice what that feels like. Continue to let your awareness drift down your body into your torso and sense what is present here. Take a few deep breaths and stretch your ribs in all three dimensions as you do. As you let your diaphragm expand and your belly puff out, What sensations do you notice in this part of your body? Keep your awareness moving down. Connect to your hips and sense what's present there. Take a breath or two here to imagine oxygen swirling around your hip joints and loosening and releasing any tension. Let your awareness continue down your upper thighs, Flowing through your knees and into your shins, And around the curve of your heels and out through your toes. I invite you to take a few more breaths, Imagining you are breathing in through your toes and drawing air all the way up from the root of your body all the way up to the tip top of your head. And then as you breathe out, Sending any stale air all the way back down. So it might feel like big waves going up and down through your body as you breathe. As we finish, Put one hand on your heart and one on your belly. Take a moment to thank your body for all it is doing to keep you alive and doing what you love. If your eyes were closed, Let them open back up. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.