Body Scan And Breathing For Pain

Remember, you are not your pain.
Utilize your breathing to help alleviate pain as you relax your body with this guided body scan.
Release tension as you soften your body and become aware of the body's sensations.

Transcript

Hello,

I'm Jan Haldane.

Breathing is the most natural thing in the world,

Yet we tend to forget about it throughout our days.

Let's honour our breath now and how it brings us in the present moment so that we can relax.

Take five significant and purposeful breaths.

Number one,

Fully inhale.

Expanding your belly and chest as much as you can and holding it for a moment and exhale.

Feeling a wave of relaxation sweep over you.

And number two,

Inhale.

Filling your entire breathing system with fresh oxygen and hold it and exhale.

The wave of relaxation gently sweeping over you.

And number three,

Inhale so that you are brimming with air,

Holding it,

Soaking in oxygen and exhale.

Your body relaxes in different areas without any effort.

And four,

Fully inhale.

Feeling these breaths purifying your entire body and exhaling and just notice how you are feeling.

And five,

A beautiful breath coming in.

Now hold it,

Feeling invigorated from oxygen and exhale,

Allowing relaxation to sweep over you.

And take a note of how you feel at this very moment.

You now have an abundance of oxygen.

This is how we are created to feel.

Breathing deeply and fully is an expression of self-compassion.

Let your breath become natural and just notice how abundance feels.

And that's good.

Now let your eyes wander around,

Looking at all the things around you without looking too long at anything in particular.

And now without any effort,

Allow your mind to choose in front of you something to focus on and do not look away.

Begin to slowly blink your eyes and with each number I say,

Blink once,

Continuing to stare at the spot in between the numbers.

10,

9,

8,

7,

6,

5,

4,

3,

2,

1 and 0.

Allow your eyes to gently close and when you do this,

You feel a wave of relaxation sweeping all over you.

And now I'd like for you to focus on the sensations at the top of your head.

Just notice how the very top of your head feels.

Let your focus move down to your eyes and just notice how your eyes feel and ask them to relax.

Any small eye movements you notice allow for you to feel calm.

Notice how the back of your head feels against the surface that it is touching.

How heavy does your head feel right now?

Let your focus move to your nose,

Feeling the slight sensations of the air moving in and out with your breath.

When you breathe in,

Imagine that you are being filled with a natural medicinal phenomenon.

And when you breathe out,

Imagine your body feels light and deeply relaxed.

And that's good.

Now focus on your ears.

Notice how they feel and what they hear around you.

Try to hear every single noise.

When sounds come into your ears,

They act as little waves of relaxation,

Taking you even deeper.

And notice the sound of my voice and how soothing it is.

From here forward,

You can only hear my voice guiding you.

All other sounds passing through only take you deeper into a state of healing.

Now focus on your mouth.

How does it feel?

And what do you notice?

Perhaps you can imagine biting into a fresh piece of your favorite fruit and you notice how your mouth waters.

And that feels good.

And move your focus down now to your neck and shoulders.

And if there is any tension along the way,

Just ask it to release.

Move your attention slowly going down each arm,

Down all the way to the fingertip.

What are your fingertips touching right now?

Feel the sensations of your fingertips.

Wonderful.

Allow your focus to go to your chest.

Relaxing this area as well as your upper back.

And notice if you have any tension.

And if you do,

Just ask it nicely to release.

Now imagine you are focusing on your heart and can feel it beating strongly,

Supporting you.

Relax your heart and notice how good it feels to do so.

And now focus on your lungs.

Feel them gently expanding and contracting with your breath,

Delivering oxygen to your body.

Allow your focus to move through your vital organs and digestive system.

And just notice your belly and observe it digesting effortlessly for you.

Now noticing your lower back and how it presses against the surface you are on.

And if you feel any tension,

Just say,

Please relax.

Focus now on your pelvis and hips and notice any sensations you are having there.

This takes you deeper into a state of relaxation which heals you.

Allowing your focus to move down each leg now,

Slowly relaxing those as well.

Your legs have been taking you so many places over the years and they deserve to fully relax.

This wonderful wave of relaxation moves over your knees and down your lower legs,

All the way to your feet and to the very tip of each toe.

Good,

You are doing so well.

Great.

Now we are going to take our focus going back up the same way we came.

But this time,

Imagine you are slowly pulling in your favourite colour.

This colour is a deeply healing substance.

Ok now,

Imagining your favourite colour is coming in through your toes and into your feet.

It goes up your legs,

Passing over your knees and up into your pelvis and hips.

This beautiful colour is filling up your digestive system and your belly.

It fills your vital organs and continues into your lungs.

This beneficial colour is profoundly healing you.

It glows as it fills your whole heart and you notice how happy you become while doing this.

The hue travels across your shoulders and down each arm,

All the way to your fingertips.

This invigorating colour is moving up to your neck now,

Mending you as it goes.

It blankets your mouth,

Ears,

Your nose and your eyes.

It instantly fills every tiny space in your brain,

Encompassing your mind,

Healing it as well.

It moves all the way to the very top of your head where we began,

Enveloping you in a healing experience.

Perfect.

Notice how completely relaxed your entire body feels right now.

That's good,

You became aware of every part of your body,

Putting you completely in the present moment.

Being present with yourself allows for you to be present in your life.

Dwelling on your pain is essentially practicing being in pain and identifying ourselves with it.

Pain is just an experience we are aware of.

Can you send this experience compassion?

Send it love?

Can you be okay with this pain?

Understand that you are not your pain.

It is only an experience in mortal form.

And you've done great work today.

Now allow yourself to slowly come back to the present moment in your own time.

Breathing in fresh air and bringing back all with you that you learned today for the betterment of your relationship.

Whenever you are ready,

Open your eyes,

Full of new knowledge.

Reviews

Thank you for offering this calming body scan. I appreciated sending healing light into my body as well. I found the teacher’s voice and background music pleasant.