Welcome,
This is the 10 minute body scan exercise.
Take a moment to get your body into a comfortable position,
Closing your eyes or gazing downward.
Now take a moment to notice that your body is breathing.
There's no need to control it,
Just notice that physical sensation of your body breathing.
You might place your hand on your stomach or on your ribcage,
Feeling the movement as your breath moves in and out of your body.
You might like to visualize the breath as it moves in through your nose and down to your lungs and then back out again,
Moving through your nose and mouth.
And if your mind is very active,
You might like to use words saying to yourself,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And let's bring our attention to the top of our head,
Noticing any tension that might be in your scalp or your temples or forehead,
Seeing if you could create some intention to let that tension go.
Letting your eyebrows and eyelids become heavier.
Letting your cheeks soften as you unclench your jaw.
Letting your lips and tongue become relaxed.
And opening your throat.
Moving your shoulders away from your ears if they're all bunched up.
Letting your chest open and your shoulders just dropping down towards the ground.
Now put your attention to the top of your shoulders,
We're going to move down our arms.
Starting at the top,
Moving down and relaxing the biceps and the triceps.
Over the elbow and toward the wrist,
Relaxing your forearms.
You might like to do a couple of circles with your hands to release the wrists.
And then noticing where your hands are touching right now.
Is there a sensation of warmth or coolness?
Are the surfaces smooth or rough or textured?
Go ahead and do a couple of clenching fists and then open them up,
Wiggling your fingers and then just letting them lie softly in your lap or on the floor or the arm of your chair.
Returning to your breath for a moment,
Just checking in and noticing that your body is still breathing.
Feeling that natural rhythm as the breath moves in and moves out.
Put your attention to the out breath for a moment.
Just ensure that you're giving a full exhale.
Releasing that breath,
Releasing your diaphragm and your stomach.
Softening the belly as you breathe out.
And with your next breath out,
Release any tension that might be in your chest.
Breathing out any tension in your back.
And then continuing to move on down over your hips,
Opening the hips.
Clenching and releasing your glutes.
Moving down over your legs and relaxing those major muscles,
Your hamstrings,
Your quadriceps.
Moving past your knees and feeling your shins and relaxing your calf muscles.
You might like to do a couple of foot circles just to release those ankles.
And then take a moment to notice where your feet are connecting.
Are they flat on the floor and you're feeling the whole bottom of your foot against the floor?
Maybe your socks or shoes.
Or if you're lying down,
Maybe it's just the heels of your feet that are touching the ground.
Just connect in with the surface.
And then you might like to flip to the top of your foot and encourage any tension to let go.
You can scrunch up your toes and your feet and then just let them relax,
Wiggling out those toes.
And then letting your toes and your feet become heavy.
Relaxed.
Go ahead and check in with the rest of your body and see if there's any areas of tension that you can offer some kindness and comfort to.
The tension or pain might not go away.
Perhaps breathing into that spot.
And you can feel your whole body breathing now.
Every breath in,
You feel it in every pore,
Every cell of your body.
As you breathe out,
There's that letting go.
Relaxing.
Calming.
And yet rejuvenating.
Feeling the natural rhythm of your breath as it moves in and out of your body.
And now allow for a gentle transition with the first bell.
You might just start to notice your body in the room.
Slowly moving your fingers and toes,
Hands and feet.
Gently opening your eyes and beginning to gaze about you.
And with that last bell,
You can begin to return to your day.
Namaste.
