Welcome to this body scan meditation.
This meditation can either be done lying down or in a comfortable seated position.
So locating yourself wherever you choose to be and then gently closing over the eyes.
And taking a deeper breath in and breath out.
Beginning by bringing your awareness to your feet.
Exploring sensations in each foot.
Sensations in the toes.
The soles of the feet.
The tops of the feet.
Opening to whatever is here in this moment.
Letting go of the feet and moving up into the ankles.
Into the shins and the calves.
Holding your lower legs in awareness.
Exploring sensations within the lower legs as well as on the surface.
Not feeling as if you need to go out and find these sensations.
Rather feeling as if you are shining the spotlight of your attention in their direction.
And then seeing whatever it is that emerges.
Letting go of the lower legs.
Coming up into the knees.
And then into the fronts of the thighs.
Backs of the thighs.
Holding the upper legs in awareness.
Next coming into the hips.
In the pelvis and the glutes.
It's often an area where we hold a great deal of tension.
Perhaps breathing into this part of the body.
And on the exhale,
Letting go of that tension ever so slightly.
Letting go of the lower body now and coming into the lower back.
And then the middle back.
And the upper back.
The shoulder blades.
Holding the entire back in awareness here.
Exploring the sensations that arise.
Greeting them with an attitude of openness and curiosity.
Letting go of the back.
Coming into the belly.
Perhaps sensing how the belly rises on the inhale.
And then falls on the exhale.
Moving in close to these sensations.
Standing up into the chest.
Witnessing the expansion and contraction of the lungs.
Perhaps getting a sense of the heartbeat.
Letting go of the chest and coming into the arms.
Starting in the shoulders.
The upper arms.
The elbows.
And then the lower arms.
Coming finally into the hands.
Taking some time here to move up close to the sensations in the hands.
You may gently want to rub the fingertips against one another.
Exploring those sensations in the hands.
And remembering that if at any point the mind starts to wonder,
That we notice where it's gone to and then gently escort it back.
Back to the hands.
Your next exhale letting go of the hands.
Coming up now into the neck.
The back of the head.
The sides of the head.
And gently coming round to the face.
Allowing the face to be relaxed.
Almost heavy.
Relaxing the forehead.
The eyebrows.
The eye sockets.
The cheekbones.
And then finally relaxing the mouth and the jaw.
Letting them be heavy.
Often hold a great deal of tension in the jaw.
Taking this opportunity to ease that tension ever so slightly.
Next feeling as if you could direct the breath into the head.
Breath cleansing and freeing the mind on the inhale.
And letting go,
Emptying out on the exhale.
Breathing in,
Refresh.
Breathing out,
Let go.
Expanding that sense of breathing to the entire body now.
Filling the entire body with the in-breath.
And emptying out on the out-breath.
Enjoying these sensations of body and breath for a few moments longer.
And then gently bringing your hands to your heart centre.
Giving thanks for this time of reconnecting with the body.
And then gently bowing the head.
Namaste.
