Welcome to this mindfulness meditation.
I'm very happy that together we will perform a body scan.
If you're sitting down,
I invite you to take a comfortable position.
Try to sit with your back straight so that your breathing is not constrained and that you can fully breathe in and out.
Your hands are in front of you,
On your knees,
Resting on your lap.
Your feet are stable on the floor.
And if you're lying down,
Just find a comfortable position.
I invite you to either close your eyes or apply a soft gaze without focusing.
And now we are ready for our body scan.
The first thing we do is we breathe in and out a few times a bit deeper and slower than usual.
Now we return to our normal breathing pattern and we move our awareness from the outside to the inside of our body.
We bring our full awareness to our feet.
We are aware of our toes,
Of the sole of our feet,
Of the ankles.
We also are aware of the surface that is underneath our feet.
And if you feel tension in your feet,
With the next exhale just gently let the tension go.
And from the ankles we move our awareness to our calves,
To our knees,
To the upper legs.
We are also aware of the seat that we are sitting on or the surface we are lying on.
And if you feel tension in your legs,
With the next exhale just gently let the tension go.
From the legs we move our awareness to our stomach,
The tummy,
The movements inside of our tummy.
Perhaps we are aware of how the tummy is moving slightly with inhaling and exhaling.
And if we feel some tension in the tummy,
With the next exhale just let the tension go.
And from the tummy we move our awareness all the way to the chest.
Perhaps we are aware of how the chest is moving up and down with the inhale and exhale.
Perhaps we also feel how the air is flowing in the chest and back out.
And from the chest we bring our awareness to our back,
The lower back,
The mid back,
The upper back and the shoulders.
Perhaps we are aware of how the shoulders are moving up and down when we inhale and exhale.
And whenever we feel some tension in our back or shoulders,
With the next exhale we gently let the tension go.
And from the shoulders we bring our full awareness to the arms,
The upper arms,
The elbow,
The lower arm and the hands.
Perhaps we are aware of the air that is touching the skin of our hands.
Whatever is there we are just aware of it without any judgement.
And if we feel some tension in the arms or hands,
With the next exhale just gently let the tension go.
And from the hands over the arms and shoulders we bring our full awareness to our neck and to our face.
We have many muscles in our face but these muscles they are at this very moment just still.
You are just being aware of the face.
Perhaps we are aware of the air that is touching the skin of our face.
We are aware of our chin.
We are aware of the mouth,
The tongue,
The lips.
We also feel the nose.
Perhaps we feel how the air is flowing in the nose and back out.
Just whatever is there.
And from the nose we bring our full awareness to our eyes,
The forehead and if we feel some tension in our face,
With the next exhale just let the tension go.
And from the forehead we bring our full awareness to our ears and we become aware of all the sounds that are captured by our ears.
These could be sounds nearby.
These could be sounds further away.
Now we just very briefly scan one more time to our body and if there is one place where we feel tension,
Just with the next exhale very gently let the tension go.
Now we move our awareness back to what's happening right here and right now,
Your inhale and exhale.
You are here and now.
And you are present.
You are grounded.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
And may you be at peace.
And now you are ready.
You are ready for everything that the day will bring to you.
And with the next exhale in your own time I invite you to open your eyes.