Body Scan

A simple body scan meditation to help you feel grounded, present, and connected with your body. This simple practice can be your go-to meditation and you will find body scans used throughout many other meditations. Use this is if you're feeling disconnected and crave some connection with yourself.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome to Meditation Rocks,

I'm Lucy.

Now today's meditation is a body scan,

Which we normally do at bedtime,

But you can use a slightly different version of a body scan during the day.

It's really great if you're feeling a bit more like a human doing than a human being.

It really helps you to reconnect with your body,

And if you're feeling particularly anxious or nervous or even panicky,

It's a great one just to help everything calm down,

To put the brakes on that fight or flight mechanic within the body,

And just help you to feel a little bit more like yourself.

So go and find somewhere comfortable,

And let's get started.

Many people's first introduction to meditation is the body scan,

Maybe you've enjoyed one at the end of a yoga class,

Or access one via an app,

Or a YouTube video,

Or podcast.

And body scans are great,

But they can be used at any time of the day.

It's really about us feeling more in touch with our body,

And grounding us and being in the moment.

It can really,

Really help as well if we're feeling anxious or panicky,

Because the breath that we use during a body scan is actually helping us to put the brakes on fight or flight mechanics,

Which are often stimulated a day just by the simplest of stresses.

So you can choose to lie down for this meditation,

But if it's during the day and you want to be functional afterwards,

Then I would suggest staying seated.

So get yourself somewhere comfortable.

I'm in my trusty armchair with my legs crossed.

If you're in a chair though,

And your legs are down,

Then make sure they're uncrossed on the ground with your feet flat.

And as always,

We try and have an active posture in meditation so that we're alert,

But you can lean a little bit into the chair or against a wall for comfort.

Maybe just give the shoulders a bit of a roll,

And then draw them down away from the ears so we're not bunched up and uncomfortable.

And maybe you just want to take a little bit of a stretch into the neck,

Especially if you're feeling a bit stressed.

And you can go forwards with the chin and up towards the sky just to release the front of the throat,

Which often gets forgotten.

And really important to try and relax the jaw,

Leaving it feeling un-tense.

So you can close your eyes as always,

Or you can just soften your gaze on a nice view,

Or just pass the tip of the nose down towards the ground.

And with our hands,

We just simply place them down on the lap.

And if you are feeling particularly anxious,

You can almost grip your knees with your fingers.

You've got something to hold onto and to feel particularly grounded and supported.

So with the body scan,

We're gonna work from the toes and the feet all the way up to the crown of the head.

And with our breath,

Our Yusha-i breath,

Which is breathing in and out through the nose,

We're going to use a longer exhale than inhale.

Ideally,

You would do a double length of exhale to inhale.

But again,

If you're feeling anxious or panicky,

This might not be possible.

Just try and get one beat longer,

And maybe during the meditation,

You can extend this.

Just do what feels right.

Okay,

So we're comfortable when you're ready,

Closing your eyes if you haven't already done so.

And just parting the mouth slightly,

Just starting to be aware of the breath.

So you can breathe through the nose or the mouth.

Ah.

And if it feels good,

Just take some really big breaths and exhale through the mouth,

Beginning to release any tension you might be feeling.

Ah.

And as you exhale,

Just try and already begin to find some softness.

If you can feel that you're holding tension somewhere,

Imagine you can send the breath like a massage to that particular part,

And just try and loosen up,

Feel a little softer in the muscles.

Ah.

But when you're ready,

If you're ready,

Close your mouth and begin to breathe in and out through your nose.

This is the Yuzhai breath,

And it really helps to calm and balance the mind.

So just take a few moments now to find a rhythm that works for you right now,

Breathing in and out through the nose.

Remember,

Don't worry if you can't equalize or make the exhale longer.

Just do what feels right for you.

So with this meditation,

We're going to imagine we can send a wave of relaxation from the feet to the head,

And that wave travels on the exhale.

So when you breathe out,

We imagine we're relaxing the particular part of the body that we're focusing on.

So if it's comfortable now,

You can begin to have a longer exhale,

But only if it feels right.

Can you bring your attention to your feet and your toes?

Notice all of the details about the feet and toes,

The soles of the feet,

The arch,

The ankle,

The tops,

The toes.

And as you're breathing out,

You're finding softness in the feet and toes and helping them to relax.

On your breath out,

Ease any tension that you're feeling here.

And on your next exhale,

Your feet and toes are relaxed.

Moving now above the ankles into the legs or the calves,

The thighs,

And the knees.

So bring your attention here and allow the breath to reach and soothe the legs.

Imagining with every exhale,

You're releasing any tension that you can feel.

Almost scanning the legs,

Feeling the weight on the chair or the ground.

On your exhale,

Allow your legs to be supported and relaxed.

Next we come to the trunk of the body,

The tummy,

The hips,

The sit bones,

The glutes.

And just bring your attention to this part.

Maybe unsqueezing the glutes,

Allowing the hips to open a little more.

And on your next exhale,

Allowing this part of the body to fully relax.

Now we'll travel to the chest and the heart space.

So as you're breathing,

You can feel your chest expand.

And as you exhale,

If you feel any tightness here,

Just try to relax and find softness within the chest and heart space.

Even imagine as you're breathing in,

You're sending love to yourself,

Helping yourself to relax.

On your next exhale,

Allow your chest to fully relax.

And next we're traveling from the base of the spine all the way to the top.

And as we travel,

We feel the presence of the breath in the back ribs and all of the muscles in the back.

So as you breathe in,

Bring the attention to your back.

And as you exhale,

Allow your back to fully relax.

Maybe being supported by the chair or the bed or the ground.

So now your back is relaxed.

Next we come to the shoulders.

So they hold a lot of tension.

Allow the shoulders to drop down away from your ears.

Inhale,

Feel the presence of the breath within the shoulders.

And as you exhale,

Allow your shoulders to relax.

And now moving down the arms,

So past the elbows and into the wrists,

The hands and the fingers.

So just scanning the arms and hands and fingers for any tension or tightness or resistance to your meditation.

Maybe uncurling fingers,

Finding a softer grip on the knees.

And on your next exhale,

Allowing the arms and hands and fingers to fully relax.

Next we come to the neck and we travel up the neck and over the crown of the head and into the face.

So allowing any tension that you feel in the forehead or the jaw or the mouth or the eyes.

As you breathe in,

Feel the presence of your breath.

And as you exhale,

Fully relax your neck,

Your head and face.

And now we've scanned the entire body,

Just having one minute where you can fully relax.

Just checking if there's any other areas of tension that you're feeling.

Breathe in,

Feel the presence of the breath.

Exhale,

Fully let go and relax.

And I'll talk to you again in just one minute's time.

So for your next few breaths as you exhale,

Fully letting go,

Feeling fully relaxed,

Totally unbending.

So for your next few breaths as you exhale,

Fully letting go,

Feeling fully relaxed.

Allowing your breath now just to return to a comfortable rhythm and flow for you.

Not finding any tiny movements,

Little stretches,

Little movements of the fingers and toes,

The wrists.

And you might want to bring your hands together and give them a little rub to get some heat.

And just taking the hands over the eyes and blinking the eyes open in your own time.

And I'm here when you remove your hands.

And I hope that was a nice relaxation for you.

Whatever time of day you're watching this,

It really can help you just to reset,

Just to get out of a stressful situation,

To help you to feel calmer,

Less anxious and more in touch with our bodies and being in the moment when maybe things begin to feel a little bit out of hand and control.

So I hope to see you again very soon.

Take care.

Reviews

You meditation is an other level up from other teachers, thanks a lot. I had the great opportunity to meditate with you at indaba

Loved this! Just what I needed

Very relaxing 😊 thankyou.

Thank you so mucho

Fantastic, loved that you took me from a “human-doing” to a “human-being”

So needed with all the back pain I've had the last 3 days. Needed to take the focus inwards. Thanks.

Great, relaxing but not making me sleepy. :) really enjoyed this meditation, thank you.

This guided body scan helped me feel super relaxed. My mind feels tranquil, this is a wonderful meditation!

Lovely and relaxing voice. A little different than typical body scan but you mention that in the beginning.

Definitely helped in calming the mind and body down. Will come back to this for sure. Thank you! Your voice is beautifully soothing <3

It was a very relaxing meditation and her voice is so soothing. I loved it 🥰✨

Awesome

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you