With the sound of the first bell,
You can move your body into a comfortable position.
With the second bell,
You can close your eyes or gently look in front of you.
And with the third bell,
We'll take that opportunity to notice the sensation of your body breathing.
Not trying to control the breath,
Just noticing how the chest and stomach rises and falls with each breath.
Placing your hand on your chest or your stomach if that's helpful.
Using words like breathe in and breathe out.
Or imagining how the breath moves in through the nose down to the lungs and then back out again.
Let's try to follow the breath through the whole cycle.
As you're breathing in,
Notice the slight pause at the top of the breath.
Before you begin exhaling,
All the way down as you release your chest,
Stomach and diaphragm.
And we'll begin the body scan by putting our attention at the top of the head.
And noticing any sensations in our scalp.
And if it's tension we notice,
Perhaps we can let that ease a little.
Smoothing out our forehead.
Releasing the temples.
Letting our eyebrows and eyelids become heavier.
Checking in with your jaw to see if you're clenching.
And if you are,
Let that go.
And with it you will soften your cheeks and your lips and your tongue.
Letting your throat become open and relaxed.
Let your shoulders fall away from your ears if they're bunched up.
Lengthening the neck.
Releasing any tension there.
And now we'll put our attention to the top of our shoulders.
Moving slowly downwards towards our elbow,
Releasing the muscles of our biceps and our triceps.
Moving from our elbow to our wrist,
Releasing our forearms.
Circling our hands to release any tension that may exist in our wrists.
If you'd like,
You can clench each hand into a fist.
And then releasing the fist and moving your fingers and then letting your hands just drop gently on your lap or on the floor.
We'll move our attention back to our breath for a moment.
Feeling the rise and fall of our chest and stomach.
Breathing in,
Pause for a moment.
And breathing out,
And another slight pause before you breathe in again.
And we'll put a little more attention to the out-breath.
Letting that out-breath release any tension in our stomach.
Letting the next out-breath release any tension in our stomach.
Feeling the out-breath in our back against the chair or the floor.
And we'll continue on down,
Releasing our hips,
Letting them open and relax.
Down over our thighs,
Releasing those major muscles.
Noticing any tension in our calves that we can let go of.
Softening our shins.
And we can do some circles with our feet,
Letting those ankles relax.
And putting our attention to the top of our feet,
Imagining all the muscles,
Tendons,
That we can hopefully soften and release.
And moving to the underside of our feet.
First the part of our foot that touches the ground as we walk.
And then noticing each arch of each foot.
Usually where we will carry some tension,
So encourage that to let go.
Crunching up your toes and then wiggling them loose.
Letting your toes and feet become heavy and relaxed.
As relaxed as your fingers and hands.
And take a moment to just notice your body breathing again.
But this time imagining yourself as a balloon.
As you breathe in,
You're expanding every cell in your body.
And then as you breathe out,
You're deflating,
Relaxing and releasing the body into the ground or the chair.
Breathing in,
Expanding your body.
And breathing out,
Collapsing and releasing and relaxing.
Take a moment to notice whether your breath has become more relaxed since the beginning.
And maybe you don't remember,
You don't notice any difference,
And that's okay.
Just encourage the breath to be unhurried.
Ensuring to let go of the whole breath at the end.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Gently rocking your body like the waves of the sea.
You might like to do a scan of your body and see if there's any remaining tension.
Moving from the top of your head down to your shoulders,
Arms and hands.
Chest,
Stomach and back.
Hips,
Legs and feet.
And if there's any stubborn tension,
You can focus your breath at that spot and encourage the breath to move in and out of that spot.
Like a gentle massage.
And for the next few moments,
We'll practice putting our attention on the focus of our attention.
And that might be your feet and your hands.
Or maybe you prefer the breath.
Whatever is your preference.
But each time your mind becomes distracted with thoughts,
Put those aside for a moment.
And come back to the focus,
Your anchor.
Like your breath breathing in and breathing out.
Or noticing how your hands or feet are feeling.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Noticing the sensation in your hands.
And then how your feet are feeling.
And with the first bell,
Remind you to come back gently.
First moving your fingers and toes,
Hands and feet slightly.
And with the second bell,
You can maybe half open your eyes if they were closed and start to gaze.
Gaze about the room.
And with the third bell,
You can become more prepared to return to your day.
Acknowledging that you were able to take this time for your self-care.
And that the breath as a way to relax and release any tension is available to you at any time throughout the day.
With just remembering to breathe.
