Hello and welcome.
Today I will be guiding you through a body scan for deep relaxation.
To begin,
Come to lay down on your back on your yoga mat,
Extending the arms away from your sides,
Feet hip distance apart,
Allowing the toes to relax away from the center line of the body.
If you like,
You may bring a pillow under the knees to support your low back.
Just taking a few moments here to get comfortable.
To begin,
We'll just notice the points of the body that come into contact with the ground,
With your mat.
Noticing the feeling of that surface beneath you supporting your body.
Allow the eyes to close.
Allow the breath to come into its natural rhythm.
In a few moments,
I'll ask you to direct your attention to a specific part of your body.
And this can mean different things for different people.
That may mean visualizing that body part in your mind.
It may mean noticing the sensations of that part of your body.
Or it could be picturing a bright white light surrounding that part of your body.
And as we direct the tension around the body throughout this scan,
Anytime that you come to a place where you notice tension or tightness,
Try in that spot to take a deep breath in.
And on the exhale,
Imagine that body part relaxing and softening.
To begin,
Bring your attention to the tips of your toes,
Allowing the attention to settle here.
And then allowing that awareness to spread to the soles of your feet.
Allowing the muscles here to relax and soften.
Allowing that awareness,
That attention to travel up to the ankles and then up to the calves.
Imagining the muscles here softening and relaxing.
Bringing your attention around the fronts of the shins and then up to the knees.
Bringing that awareness around to the backs of the knees and then up into the hamstrings.
Imagining each muscle,
Each fiber soften and relax.
Bringing your awareness around to the quads,
To the front of the thighs,
Relaxing and softening as you go.
Moving that awareness up to the fronts of your hip creases,
The sides of your hips,
Relaxing,
Softening,
Letting go.
Bringing attention to the muscles of your glutes and then up to your lower back.
Taking an extra moment here at the lower back to relax and soften those muscles.
And then bringing that awareness up along the spine,
Across your mid back,
Your upper back,
The space between your shoulder blades,
And then across the backs of the shoulders.
Bringing the awareness around to the front of your torso,
To your lower abs,
Relaxing,
Softening.
And then traveling up your torso,
Around your rib cage,
Across your chest,
Spreading that attention and awareness across your collarbones,
To the fronts of the shoulders,
Softening and relaxing.
Bringing attention now to the tips of your fingers and allowing that attention to spread down each finger into your palms.
Spreading that awareness up to your wrists and then along the muscles of the forearms,
Softening and relaxing as you go.
Bringing awareness to the elbows,
The inner creases of the elbows,
And then up across your biceps and around the back of your arms,
Across the triceps,
Softening and relaxing as you go.
Continuing to spread that awareness up and over your shoulders to the base of your neck.
Spreading awareness along the front of your neck,
The sides of your neck,
And the back of your neck,
Relaxing,
Softening,
And letting go.
Spreading that awareness,
That attention now up to your jaw,
Maybe taking a deep breath in here and on the exhale softening the muscles of the jaw.
Spreading awareness across your lips,
Over your cheekbones,
Bringing the awareness around the eyes,
Allowing the muscles around the eyes to soften and relax.
Bringing awareness to the center of your forehead,
Softening and relaxing here as you imagine all of the wrinkles along the forehead smoothing out.
Spreading awareness to the temples,
Releasing any tension here.
And then bringing awareness around to the back of your head and allowing that awareness to spread up and over the skull all the way to the top,
To the crown of your head.
Spending a few moments to breathe here,
Perhaps taking one last pass through your body,
Looking for any points that may still feel tense or tight,
Seeing if you can breathe deep and on your exhale relax and soften any lingering points of tension.
And now imagine that you are floating.
Maybe you are floating on the surface of a lake on a hot summer's day.
Maybe floating on the surface of the ocean at your favorite vacation spot.
Maybe floating up in the sky among the clouds or just floating here safely a few inches above your mat.
Imagining that sensation of weightlessness as your body relaxes and floats.
And now slowly returning back to the room you're in.
Once again,
Noticing the surface beneath you,
Noticing the points of your body that come into contact with the surface beneath you.
Feeling your body once again supported.
Taking a moment to notice any sounds outside your window or door.
Noticing any sounds in the building that you're in.
Any sounds here in the room with you.
Taking a couple of deep breaths in and out.
Slowly you can begin to bring a little movement back into the body.
Wiggling the fingers,
Wiggling the toes.
You might gently rock the head from side to side,
From ear to ear,
Massaging the back of the head.
You might windshield wiper the feet back and forth.
And then slowly,
As you're ready,
Open the eyes.
