I'm glad you're here today for this simple body scan meditation.
An opportunity to be still.
And to tune into the body.
In this meditation.
You're invited to scan your body using your awareness.
If you'd rather avoid any parts of the body.
You're welcome to skip those.
Simply take a moment to rest with your breath.
Before rejoining the meditation.
When you feel comfortable.
Let's take a moment to settle.
You may gently close your eyes or soften your gaze.
Allow your attention to move to the breath for a moment.
As we take three slow breaths together.
Reading in.
.
.
And breathing out.
No need to change anything.
Just settling into the body.
Breathing in.
.
.
And out.
One more time,
Breathing in.
.
.
And breathing air.
Allowing the breath to settle.
Back into its own rhythm.
I invite you to feel the sensation of your body supported by the surface beneath you.
If you'd like to adjust your posture.
Take a moment to do that now.
Shifting your position to a place that feels comfortable for the next few minutes.
And now simply arriving in the present moment.
Let's begin by bringing awareness to the body as a whole.
Or as much of the body as you can right now.
Noticing any sensations?
Coolness.
The sensation of clothes draped on the skin.
Or maybe you're not noticing many sensations at all.
And that's okay.
Now gently.
See if you can lift up your awareness to the top of your head.
Focusing our awareness can be like shining a torch on a specific part of the body.
Just saying what's there.
Let's take a moment to notice the top of the head.
Any sensations there?
You can simply hold them in awareness.
Without moving or adjusting.
There's no need to imagine or picture anything.
Simply sitting with the sensation.
That is already there.
Now slowly,
Let's see if you can move your awareness down from the top of the head.
And into the forehead.
Noticing the eyebrows.
Sensation of the skin Perhaps even moving a little deeper into the front of the skull.
Taking awareness down around the eyes.
Noticing the eye sockets.
Sensation of the eyeballs allowing awareness to move down.
From the eyes into the jaw.
Interesting how the jaw hinges.
Any tension there?
You may wish to.
.
.
Simply notice that.
And sweeping awareness down from the jaw into the neck.
Noticing the throat.
Perhaps you can feel the air moving through the throat.
Or perhaps there's a sensation of stiffness soul.
Relaxation in the neck today.
Just allowing the neck to be exactly as it is.
Moving awareness across and into the shoulders.
Noticing the shoulders.
Shoulder blades.
Right out to the edges of our shoulders.
Allowing attention to move down through the upper arms.
The biceps and triceps.
Just allowing them to be exactly as they are today.
Sweeping awareness through the elbows.
Down into the forearms.
Into the wrists.
And then resting on the palms of the hands for a moment.
If you'd like,
We can simply rest our awareness here on the hands.
Taking a breath in.
.
.
And out.
Our hands are connected to so much of what we do.
At work.
Our connection with others.
Just noticing how our hands feel today.
Is there any tingling or warmth?
Just acknowledging our hands.
Letting go of your hands now.
Bringing awareness back up through the arms.
Cross the shoulders and into the chest.
Noticing how the chest feels here today.
A gentle rise and fall as we breathe.
Again,
No need to change anything.
Simply in awareness of how the chest feels in the body today.
Now allowing awareness to drop down into the belly.
As if we're shining a light on the belly.
So many of our vital organs that sit here.
Protected by.
Skin and flesh.
Muscle.
And if it wants to,
Just letting the breath move naturally down into the belly.
Noticing the rise and fall of the belly button with each breath.
Continuing to allow awareness to slip down into the hips.
Big strong joints that carry so much of our weight throughout the day.
That allow us so much movement through the world.
Just acknowledging the hips.
Taking attention down.
Into the glutes.
.
.
Perhaps where you're in contact with the surface beneath you.
Moving down through the legs,
Hamstrings.
Quads,
Big strong muscles that.
.
.
Do so much work to keep us mobile.
Allowing awareness to move to the knees.
Acknowledging how the knees feel today.
Shifting awareness down through the shins and the calf muscles.
Areas of our lower legs.
Sweeping down all the way into the ankles.
Through the ankles and into our feet.
Noticing the tops of the feet.
I've seen the soles of the feet,
The heels,
The balls of the feet,
Where we contact the ground.
Part of our body that keeps us connected to the Earth so much of the day.
And if you can,
Moving down.
Into the toes.
.
.
Does it do so much to keep us balanced and stable?
Just allowing our awareness to rest down in the feet for a moment.
Now I'd like to invite you to.
.
.
Allow your awareness to expand from the feet.
Spanning up through the legs.
Through the hips.
Through the body.
Shoulders,
The neck,
The head.
Into the arms allowing our awareness to expand to include the whole body from head to toe.
Entire field of sensation.
Again with nothing to fix.
Nothing to improve.
Just this.
.
.
Body breathing.
All on its own.
Invite you to rest here.
If your mind wanders,
That's okay.
Bringing awareness back to the body.
I'll just take.
.
.
The next half a minute.
Just to sit with the body.
When you're ready.
I invite you to expand your awareness.
I'm holding the body.
And begin to notice the space around you.
Noticing any sounds?
Noticing the sensation of the room around you.
Expanding awareness out beyond the room.
To the place outside where you're sitting today.
Expanding right out to include your whole body.
Town Hall Place where you live.
Noticing your body within that space.
And as we zoom back into the room.
Gently bring some movement back into our body.
You may wish to wiggle your toes.
Or stretch your arms out in front of you.
Preparing to open your eyes.
And returning to your day.
With a sense of calm connected.
Presence.
