Breathing And Relaxation Practice

This meditation will help you scan the body and breathe out any tension. If you have trouble sleeping or need to relax in the middle of a busy day, this is the meditation for you. It was recorded specifically for people trying to quiet their busy minds. Enjoy.

Transcript

So go ahead and settle back into your chair or on the floor or on your bed wherever you've chosen to spend this time with yourself.

And just get a sense of your body as a whole sitting or lying here,

Closing your eyes and just letting your awareness go to the physical sensations of the body.

Noticing where the body is being held by the chair or the floor.

And just take a nice deep breath in and let it go.

And maybe one more big deep breath in and letting it go.

And then allowing the breath to become natural and smooth.

Letting the breath find its own natural rhythm for the next few moments.

And noticing for yourself the rising and falling of your belly and the rising and falling of your chest as you breathe in and out.

And just begin to ride those waves of breath as a way of coming into the present with yourself and your body.

And letting everything else go for the next few minutes.

Not worrying about what you've done so far today or what you'll do after.

But really giving yourself over to this time of nourishing yourself.

Of increasing the body's capacity to heal and be well.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Feeling that belly and chest rise and fall.

And not creating any effort around the breath but think about deepening the breath just slightly over time so that you're getting longer inhales and exhales.

Increasing the amount of oxygen that you bring into the body and increasing the amount of exhale in order to release toxins from the body.

Remembering to exhale for as long as you inhale.

Maybe even longer.

Getting a nice big exhale leaves room in your body for the next inhale.

For the next breath of life that comes into the body.

And then let's scan the body for any tension that you may be holding on to.

Starting with the forehead.

Just bringing your awareness to the forehead.

Noticing if you're holding any tension in the forehead.

And consciously think about letting it go.

Letting it release.

Letting it become smooth.

And imagine breathing into the area of the forehead.

Relaxation and breathing out any tension.

And then moving your attention on down into the muscles around the eyes and the eyelids.

Letting this area of your face just relax and let go.

Noticing if there's tension here.

And consciously think about releasing it.

Beginning to notice how just bringing awareness to the body changes the body.

And using that intention to create relaxation and release in the muscles.

And then on the next out breath.

Moving on down to the muscles in your cheeks and your jaw.

Being aware of the lips being soft and gently parted.

And the tongue falling down into the mouth.

And breathing into the area of the face.

And breathing out.

The face is a place where we express ourselves and use a lot of muscles.

And so just being conscious of the idea that the face can hold tension.

And consciously think about letting it go.

The face relaxed and smooth.

And now moving your attention and awareness on down through the neck and the shoulders.

Also another place that can hold a lot of tension.

Just noting what you find in this area of your body.

Noticing if there is tension or pain here.

And not struggling with that but opening to whatever you find.

Relaxing around whatever tension may be there.

And using the breath as a tool to release and open and let go in this area of the body.

Breathing in to the neck and shoulders.

Feeling it open.

Breathing out.

Letting go and sinking deeper into relaxation.

And then moving your attention on down through the upper back,

The middle back and the lower back.

Noticing where the back makes contact with the chair or the floor.

And just letting the back melt into the surface that's holding it up.

Letting go completely.

Breathing in to the back and out from the back.

Feeling the rib cage expand in the back and deflate on the in breath and the out breath.

And then moving your attention to both arms.

Upper arms,

The lower arms,

The hands and the fingers.

In your mind's eye feeling this part of your body.

Taking your attention to the arms and what sensations are present here for you.

And imagine the arms becoming heavy and warm and relaxed.

Letting them be supported by the body or the chair or the bed.

Breathing into the arms and out.

And then moving your attention to the front of the body one more time.

To the chest and the abdomen.

Once again feeling the rising and falling.

The movement in and out of the breath.

And noticing whatever sensations are present.

Possibly the heart beating in the chest.

Maybe activity within the stomach.

And if you can just deepening the breath just slightly.

In order to deepen the state of relaxation.

Breathing out.

Tension,

Breathing out.

Any tightness and just letting the belly be soft and flexible.

And then moving your attention on down into the hips and the bottom and the pelvic area.

Noticing what the body feels like in this part of the body.

Something we don't often do is bring our attention to this body that we inhabit.

Imagine breathing all the way down into the hips and the bottom,

The pelvic area.

And breathing out.

And then moving your attention on down through the upper legs,

The knees and the lower legs.

All the way down through the ankles and the feet and the toes.

Holding the entirety of your legs and feet in your awareness.

Letting this part of your body become relaxed.

Let this part of your body be supported by the surface that's holding it up.

And imagine if you will breathing all the way down through the stomach,

Through the legs,

All the way down into the toes.

Sweeping the body with breath and then breathing out from the toes all the way up the legs,

Out the stomach and through the nose.

Releasing any bit of tension that may be held in the body.

And letting the legs and the feet become completely relaxed and heavy.

And then once again bringing your attention to the belly.

Bringing the attention to the belly rising and falling.

And if at any time the mind wanders to a thought,

Whether it's planning or remembering,

Just notice that the mind wandered to a thought.

And as soon as you notice,

Bringing your attention gently but firmly back to the breath at the belly.

And if the mind wanders to a sound or another bodily sensation,

Doing the same thing.

Just as soon as you notice that the mind has wandered,

Gently but firmly bringing it back to the breath.

To the gentle rhythm of the waves of breath.

Bringing you back to this place of stillness.

Bringing you back into now.

Into what's happening right now.

Nothing else but now.

The breath always brings you back into the present moment.

So using it as a tool to actually help the mind become more focused and attentive and aware while at the same time bringing relaxation and peace to the body.

Letting it know there's nothing else to do right now but to be here as a human being instead of a human doing for just a few minutes.

Sometimes people find it helpful to use the words in and out as the breath moves in and out in order to maintain the awareness on the breath.

And if you do that,

Just keeping the noting very light and in the background.

And letting the breath be center stage.

Just the gentle rising and falling.

Riding the waves of breath from moment to moment.

And knowing that you can use the breath throughout the day as a way of bringing you back into the present.

As a way of relaxing the body.

As a way of bringing you back to stillness.

Just one big inhale and exhale with full awareness brings you back into your life.

And staying with your breath for as long as you'd like.

Just being with the breath moves in and out.

Reviews

Hey Lynn! Keep ‘em coming.

I really enjoyed this the natural Direct presentation and tips and reasons why you're doing it as you go increasing oxygen enabling toxing dispersal is already good plus it is relaxing

Excellent, as usual.Thank you.

Very nice relaxation.

Perfect quick, calming body scan to refocus or center yourself. Bookmarked! Thank you.

Lovely and thoughtful guidance for breathing and scanning the body. Lynn's soothing voice and prompts are perfectly delivered and especially helpful for a beginner as well as a gentle reminder for a well-seasoned practitioner.

More of a brief body scan

A very good body scan and relaxation meditation.

Excellent and clear. Informative and helpful.

Very relaxing, thank you.

Very wonderfully done. Simple but profoundly effective. Well done.

very soothing with a calming message & lovely voice...

Great morning practice 💖🙏🏻

Loved everything about this meditation except the ending!

Great body scanning and centering meditation

Awesome thank you so much

Thank you! I love this!

Great body scan. Didn't like how it didn't really end. Would have liked a bell or something.

Nice, simple, relaxing, quick body scan and breathing !