Take your time to find a comfortable place to sit or lie down for this brief body scan meditation.
Allowing for your whole system to begin to relax down on its own.
The breath becomes slower and deeper over time.
The shoulders begin to relax away from the ears.
The jaw and the skin on the face begin to soften.
Feel on its own in its own time the more that you allow for your attention to be focused on your breath.
In and out through the nose.
Noticing the chest lift and fall with every breath cycle.
And beginning to invite in the feeling tone of relief from tension and perhaps you may notice this relief occurring in the physical body or maybe even in the mind.
Relief from tension.
Every exhale noticing that density beginning to melt away.
Seeing the muscles of the arms begin to slowly relax away from their bones.
And bringing your attention now to your seat or your tailbone.
So if you're seated paying attention to the foundation,
The sturdiness in your legs and in your seat as you sit on the ground.
And noticing the weight of the ground beneath you.
And if it feels good to you,
Allowing yourself to trust in the security beneath you.
And so you don't have to press your body down.
You don't have to collapse the weight.
You are supported by the earth beneath you.
And from this place of stability in your foundation,
Can you begin to notice a little bit of lightness occurring in the upper torso?
A little bit of a lifting action from the middle of the spine.
Noticing in and perhaps noticing the chest begins to open,
Expand,
Shoulders begin to roll up and then down along the spine,
Finding more flexibility.
Perhaps noticing some length in your cervical spine.
Maybe you find that the chin begins to tuck ever so slightly as if you were holding a little egg there.
Opening up in the back of the neck and the cervical spine.
And feeling that breath flowing up and down along the spine beginning at the tailbone,
Beginning a long line from the tailbone all the way up to the crown of the head on the inhale.
And then as you exhale,
Imagining that breath to travel down through the crown of the head,
Down all the way into the tailbone and into the ground beneath you.
And then breathing in.
As you inhale,
Noticing the foundation beneath you,
The security in your feet and in your legs and your seat.
As you inhale,
Getting curious about your foundation.
And then as you exhale,
Noticing that lightness,
That lifting action from the heart through the crown of the head.
And anytime that the mind begins to wander,
Allow yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered and then gently with compassion,
Bring your focus back to your breathing in and out through the nose.
Up and down along the spine.
Deepening and lengthening the breath on its own with your own rhythm.
Relaxing in the jaw.
And continuing to breathe this way.
As you bring your focus to the toes of your left foot and the toes of your right foot.
And noticing if there's lack of sensation or if there's sensation to be found there in the toes,
Noticing is the air in the room touching the toes.
Is there space between each of the toes?
Seeing curious about what is here as you bring your focus solely to the toes of your feet and breathing in and out through the nose.
And breathing in and out from the toes.
Imagine that the mind begins to wander.
Gently allowing yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered.
And then slowly bringing your focus back to your breathing in and out.
And releasing the toes from the mind's eye.
Bring your focus and attention now to the lower portion of your left leg and your right leg.
So that portion from the knee all the way down to the toes,
Your shin,
Your calves,
The ankles,
The tops of the feet.
The bottoms of the feet,
The arch,
The heel.
Breathing in and out from this space in the body.
Staying curious that there's sensation or lack of sensation here between the toes and the feet and the ankles,
The shins,
The calves,
The knees.
Anytime that the mind begins to wander,
Gently allow yourself to acknowledge where the mind wanders to.
And then slowly bring your focus back to your breathing in and out through the nose.
Taking a deep inhale.
And then exhaling the air down through the entire body.
So releasing the image of the lower torso from the mind's eye and bringing the focus now to the hips and the upper torso.
So that's space from the low ribs to the hips,
The stomach,
The lumbar spine,
Your tailbone,
And the middle of your heart space,
Your thoracic spine.
Breathing in and out through the nose and breathing from this space in the body,
Sending all of your inhale,
Expanding the rib cage,
And all of your exhales to this portion of the body.
Anytime that the mind begins to wander,
Can you simply allow yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered and bring the focus back to the breathing in and out.
Gently in through the nose.
Breathing in the face and gently exhaling through the nose.
And then shifting your focus now up the body to the heart space,
The shoulder blades in the back of the body,
The collarbones and the shoulders,
Your entire shoulder girdle here,
Underneath the arms and the side body,
The side of your whole rib cage,
Bringing your focus and attention and your breath to this part of the body,
Breathing in and out through the nose,
And the expansion on the inhale,
And perhaps noticing contraction or even a relaxation on the exhale.
Beginning to now be curious about the arms,
The biceps and the triceps of the right and the left arm,
The elbow,
The forearms,
The wrists.
Breathing in and out from this space of the body.
Anytime that the mind begins to wander,
Simply allow yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered and bring your focus back to your breathing in and out through the nose.
And shifting your focus now to your cervical spine,
Your neck,
Your throat,
Your vocal cords,
The base of your skull,
Your brain stem.
Breathing in and out,
Noticing sensation or lack of sensation in this region of the body as you inhale gently through the nose.
As you exhale,
Contracting and relaxing.
And now beginning to include focus to the muscles of the face,
Or focus on the muscles of the face.
Noticing the cheekbones,
The jaw,
The teeth and the tongue,
The eyes and their sockets,
The brow bone,
The forehead.
Noticing sensation or lack of sensation here in the layer of the skin or the muscles or the fascia.
Breathing in and out from this region of the body.
And anytime the mind begins to wander,
Gently allow yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered and bring your focus back to your breathing in and out.
Including now the rest of your cranium,
The top of your skull,
Your hair and the halo above your head.
Inhaling and exhaling from this portion of the body.
Taking a deep inhale here and exhaling completely and fully.
Allowing your focus now to your whole body,
The crown of the head all the way down to the toes.
Breathing in and out as a whole body.
The whole skin layer,
The whole muscular system here.
Every muscle in the body,
Every bone,
All the way down into your cells are breathing in and out at the same time.
Breathing and lengthening the inhale.
Finding openness and expansion in the whole body as you breathe in.
And then as you exhale,
Noticing that contraction and relaxation occurring across the entire body.
Staying curious about what you find here and anytime that the mind begins to wander.
Allow yourself to acknowledge that the mind has wandered.
And then gently with compassion,
Bring your focus back to your breathing.
Imagining the breath traveling from the toes all the way up to the crown of the head.
And then back down from the crown of the head through the tailbone into the earth.
Lower out the bottoms of the feet if you're lying down.
And in your own time,
Beginning to notice the sounds that are occurring in the room.
And the sounds that are occurring outside of the room.
Maybe finding a deeper breath as you begin to gently flutter open the eyes and receive the light welcoming yourself back to this space.
Step tomorrow.
