Hello my name is Matt Albury and I'm now going to lead you through a five-minute body scan.
The aim of this short body scan is to ground us into the here and now to help us feel centered and safe.
So before we start our practice bring your awareness to your feet on the floor and allow yourself to get comfortable in the chair or the cushion that you are sitting on.
Notice the contact with your thighs your backside and your lower back if you're in a chair.
If you're sitting on a cushion bring your awareness to the contact with the thighs and the backside and then take your awareness to the sounds you can hear around you where you are.
What sounds can you hear outside of the room where you are?
What sounds can you hear inside of the room?
And then take a lovely deep breath in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.
And we do that again take a lovely breath in through the nose and sighing out through the mouth to help bring our parasympathetic system into play.
To help bring our body's relaxed response into motion.
And then when you hear the bell I'll start our body scan.
So take your awareness first to the feet on the floor and then allow your awareness to flow from the bottom of the feet to your toes.
Allowing your awareness to flow through the top of the feet and the ankles.
Then your shins and your calf muscles your knees your thighs your hips and your backside.
And just bring awareness to all the sensations in your legs from the tips of your toes all the way up to your hip joint.
And then flow your awareness across from the hips up through the pelvic area up onto the lower belly the lower back.
And allow your awareness then to come up onto the upper back and the chest.
And just notice the physical sensations there.
Then taking the awareness up onto the shoulders the shoulder joints.
Flowing down through the upper arms the elbows the forearms.
Down through your wrists the backs of the hands and the palms of the hands.
Noticing the little hollow that forms in the palm the little dish.
And then take your awareness out onto your thumbs first fingers second fingers third fingers and fourth.
And then allow your awareness to flow all the way from the tips of the fingers all the way back up to the shoulder joints.
Noticing the physical sensations present.
Then take your awareness to your throat and the back of the neck.
Take an awareness up onto the jaw.
Just allow your jaw to soften if you notice your teeth are clenched or your jaw is tight.
Just allow it to soften as you breathe out.
Take your awareness to your lips your teeth the gums the insides of your cheeks.
The roof of the mouth the tongue and the space underneath your tongue.
And then take your awareness then from the mouth up to the nose and the nostrils.
Noticing the breath at the nostrils briefly.
And then take your awareness then up onto your ears.
Noticing the shape of your ears.
Allow your awareness then to go out onto the eyelids the eyelashes the eyeballs themselves.
Just notice the sensations there.
And then take your awareness to your forehead the back of the head and then the crown.
And then just for a moment bring awareness to the whole of your body from the tips of your toes tips your fingers to the crown of the head.
Just notice what it feels like to be in your body in the space that you're in.
Noticing the breath moving your body and the firmness of that floor supporting.
It's taking a moment just to be just to be present in our physical body.
And then when you hear the bell I will guide you out of our practice.
So allow your awareness to go back out to all the sounds around you.
And bring your awareness back to the chair or the cushion that's supporting your body.
Noticing the physical contact with it.
And then take your awareness to your feet on the floor.
If you like push the floor away from you with your feet.
And then take two breaths in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.
And when you've done that gently open your eyes.
And begin to gently and slowly move again.
