Welcome to today's meditation.
We are going to start today's practice in a seated position.
So find yourself in a chair or something comfortable you can sit in and allow your back to be really straight but not stiff and your feet planted firmly on the ground.
Your hands can be resting in your lap and you can have palms up or palms down and allow your eyes to close.
Today's meditation is a body scan.
So start by taking a chance to zoom into your breath and take a couple slow deep breaths.
Filling in fully and exhaling really slow.
Breathing in through the nose and you can exhale through your nose or your mouth and if it helps to have your hand on your stomach to help you remember to expand and contract as you inhale and exhale.
See if you can begin to let go of the distractions and noises around you and really try to shift your attention inwards and if you do get distracted just bring your focus back to your breath.
Okay let's begin the body scan.
Slowly bring your attention down to your feet.
Start to feel the sensations in your feet.
You might want to wheel your toes a little and just notice without judgment.
As I do say the body parts I want you to imagine sending your breath to those areas.
So right now you might imagine sending your breath down to your feet as if the breath is traveling in through the nose,
Through the lungs,
Through the belly and all the way down to your feet.
Maybe that's too hard to visualize and that's fine too.
Just allow yourself to feel that sensation.
When you're ready start to let your feet and that area dissolve in your mind and move your attention up to your ankles and then your calves,
Your knees and thighs.
Bringing all your sensation and attention to your legs.
Breathing in and out of the legs.
Notice if you feel any stiffness or discomfort and if you do just don't judge it.
Just notice it.
Breathe in and out from the legs.
Moving the awareness now up to your lower back and pelvis.
Try to soften and release this area as you gently breathe in and out.
Going up your mid-back,
Upper back and as you're inhaling you can feel your back and ribcage start to expand and get curious about any sensations you feel there.
Gently shift your focus to the front to your stomach and all the internal organs that are there.
Maybe you feel your clothes brushing against your your belly and your chest.
Just notice the sensation and breathe gently into that area.
Good job everybody.
Trying to be as still as possible and relaxed and as you continue to breathe bring your awareness to your chest and your heart and see if you can notice your heartbeat.
Observe how the chest rises during the inhale and how it falls during the exhale.
On your next out-breath shift your focus to your hands and fingertips.
Again see if you can channel your exhale right through down the lungs and out the arms into the fingers.
On your next out-breath bring your focus to your arms.
Soften and release any tension.
Continue to softly breathe and shift your focus to the neck,
Shoulders and your throat.
And this is an area where we often hold a lot of tension.
Embrace those sensations of any discomfort.
It could be tightness or holding.
You may feel the shoulders rising and falling with every breath.
Feel that tension just melt away as you exhale.
On your next out-breath shift your focus up further to your head and your scalp and your face.
Soften the muscles of the face.
Notice the sensations that are happening there and now let your attention expand out to include the entire body as a whole.
So CB can deepen your inhales and exhales for the last couple here and bring your awareness to the top of your head right down to the bottom of your toes.
Feel it as a gentle rhythm.
Beautiful.
As you come to the end of this practice today take a full deep breath taking in all the energy and exhale fully.
Big sigh to exhale and when you're ready open your eyes.
Bring your attention back to the present moment and thank you for building awareness with a body scan today with me.
Nice job.
