Deep Relaxation Body Scan

This body scan invites deep relaxation as breath expands through parts of the body. While inhlaing, attention is drawn into the body, and while exhaling, tension is softened and released. The session concludes with a focus on the whole body, promoting relaxation and letting go.

Transcript

Okay. So you really want to get comfortable, Whatever posture you're in. So if you're lying down, Often the instruction is to have the knees up to your feet on the ground. And just letting yourself settle in. And so just right away, Feeling the contact with the ground underneath you. So if you're sitting, You can feel contact with the chair, The cushion. If you're lying down, Just feeling all the points of contact with the floor. And having a sense of the support of that. Like gravity is both holding you down like a hug, But also supporting you. You know, That sense that you could just totally let go and the earth is holding you up. And then we're going to bring our attention down to our big toes. And so the way that we'll do this body scan is we'll work with both toes at once. So bring your attention down to your big toes. And this is just imagining as if you could breathe in through the pores of your toes, The big toes. And as you do that, Feeling all parts of your toe, The sides of your toe, The nail, The bottom of your toe. And then imagining as you're inhaling, As if you're inhaling through your big toes. And as you do that, You're feeling more fully the toe, All the way into the muscles and the bones and the joints. And maybe feeling more than you even knew a toe could feel. It's as if your awareness is just sinking deeper in, More and more connected. And then as you're feeling more fully, More deeply, Just notice if there's any tightness in the big toes. Even just kind of a subtle tightness or tension. I invite you to inhale and really be drawn into the tension. Let yourself really feel the tension. Acknowledge it. And then on your exhale, Inviting it to just soften. And as if it could release down and flow into the ground underneath you. And taking some breaths like that. So you're inhaling and feeling any tension, Exhaling, Softening and releasing. All right. And then letting your attention expand. So continuing to feel the big toe and just letting your attention expand to the second toes. Feeling around through the sides, The bottom, The top. Where they connect to the foot, The third toe, Fourth toe. Using the breath, Imagining the breath, Like breathing in through the pores of the toes. And with that, Letting the awareness just be guided deeper, Deeper feeling and connection. Feeling the little toes. So feeling all the toes. Imagining that with the inhale, Your attention's just being drawn into the toes. And then with your exhale, Softening, Releasing. As if any tension was just like melting, Flowing down into the floor underneath you. Even very subtle. And then letting your attention, The awareness and the breath expand into the ball of the feet, Bottom and top where the toes connect. Feeling all the sensations here. With each inhale, Allowing your attention to be drawn in more deeply. This part of the foot. Letting yourself notice, Feel any tension or holding here. And then as you exhale, Softening, Imagining any tension releasing and flowing down into the floor. And then letting the attention move up into the arches of the feet, The center of the feet. Breathing in through the feet and just noticing. First, We just connect. Feel what's here, Especially any subtle tightness or sharp clinging. Exhaling, Inviting that to soften and just deeply let go. But we can't let go until we fully feel, We fully inhabit any tension that might be here. You have to be willing to fully feel and then invite it to soften. The whole foot, Outer edge of the foot, The heels, Starting to bring your attention into the ankles, Feeling, Connecting, And then inviting to soften. And as we soften, Other parts of the body might start to also let go and just allow that to happen. Enjoy if that happens. Sometimes releasing the ankles, The shoulders, Where the face starts to soften, And breathing your awareness up into the calves and the shins, Lower part of your legs, Into the knees. And on your inhales, You're breathing in and feeling all the different subtle sensations in the lower parts of your legs. Really connecting, Really willing to be drawn into all these sensations, Including any tension or tightness. And then on your exhales, You can just invite it to soften and flow down into the floor. And then feeling, Breathing out into the upper legs, Tops of the thighs, Bottoms, Inner, Outer. Just imagining, Fake it till you make it if you need to, The sense that you could breathe into the thighs, The muscles, And you could feel every part of the upper leg, Into the hips, And the pelvis. Breathe in, Deeply connect. You notice, Feel, Feel any tension or tightness. And inviting that to soften. And then breathing out through low belly, All the organs in the belly, The diaphragm, The ribs, All the muscles between the ribs. And we just, For a moment, Get a sense of like liver and kidneys, And stomach and digestive organs. And then the lungs and heart. And as if you could breathe in and connect to all these organs. Just connect with any even subtle tension or holding all the muscles in this part of the body, The whole core and trunk. And just inviting it all to soften and release. And letting your attention move down. Through your arms, Shoulders, All the way down, Upper arms, Elbows, Down to wrists and hands and fingers and palms. Filling up every part of the arm and hand with awareness, With connection. Every part worthy of being felt. As you inhale, Connecting, Noticing any even just subtle tightness. Inviting that to soften. Flow down into the earth underneath you. And then breathing up into the neck, The throat, Up into jaw, The head, All the muscles of the face, Mouth, Teeth, Tongue, Eyes, Forehead. And as you're breathing, Just connecting, Feeling all around all these muscles, The muscles of like the scalp, The skin, The ears, Back of the head. As if you could breathe into your brain. Imagine doing that, And if you feel any tension or tightness, Just inviting it to soften and release. So inhaling, Breathing in, Connecting. Exhale, Imagine it just melting and flowing down into the earth underneath us. And then breathing and just imagining the whole body, Breathing into every cell of your whole body, Feeling through the whole body sitting or lying here, Feeling the earth underneath us, Letting it all soften, Release down, Trusting the letting go, Trusting the letting go. Letting go of all effort, All doing.