Lie down on your back,
On the floor or a bed,
With your legs outstretched and a little open.
Allow the arms to rest by your sides,
A little away from the body,
Palms facing upwards towards the sky,
And scan through your body releasing any tension.
Feel your toes and relax them,
Relax the feet.
Feel the heels pressed into the surface you are resting on,
Allowing gravity to take any unnecessary tension.
Allow the ankles to relax,
Scanning up your lower legs,
Calves and shins,
Slowly up,
Feeling whatever's present.
Not making too much effort to relax,
Allowing it to happen all by itself.
And then coming to the knees,
Feel deeply inside the knees.
And then up the hamstring and the front of the thigh,
Allowing a letting go for anything that's ready.
And then into your buttocks,
Feeling them pressed into the surface you are resting on.
Letting go of any holding.
And now into the pelvis,
Feeling what you can feel and releasing.
Into the lower back,
Letting go and scanning slowly up the spine,
Releasing any muscles,
Any tension.
All the way up until you get to your shoulders.
And then take your attention back down into the abdomen.
Can you notice a gentle rise and fall of the breath?
Not pushing or helping the breath in any way,
Just noticing it.
And feeling deeply into the abdomen,
Letting any knots unwind if they're ready.
And up into the solar plexus,
The chest,
Feeling the rib cage ever so gently expand and contract.
And then your shoulders,
Allowing the shoulders to drop back if they can.
Dropping back towards the earth.
Then scan down your upper arms,
Feeling the elbows pressed into the surface you're resting on.
And into the forearms,
The forearms do so much work,
Gripping,
Twisting,
Turning.
Holding.
So see this as an opportunity to let go.
And into your hands,
The back of your hands first.
Feeling the back of the hands resting against the floor or bed.
And then into the palms of your hands,
Feeling the life in the palm.
The palms are full of life.
You might notice tingling.
You might even notice a difference in temperature happening all over the palm.
Whatever you feel is valid.
And then as if the fingers are falling out of the sockets,
Just let go.
Allowing the fingers to uncurl.
And then up to the back of your neck.
Feeling whatever you can feel in the back of the neck.
And then into the throat.
Releasing in the throat.
And then feel the back of your head resting on the surface that you are lying on right now.
Feel any pressure there as your head becomes a little heavier as you let go.
And then up onto the top of your head.
You might notice tingling.
You might notice a tightness around the scalp.
Maybe you can let a little of that go.
And then into your forehead.
Letting that go.
Feeling what you can feel.
Noticing change occurring in the forehead.
Nothing staying the same.
And then down into your eyes.
Feeling the back of your head resting on the surface of your neck.
Feeling the back of the eyeballs.
And releasing any holding onto the eyes.
Allowing the eyeballs to just drop into the back of your head.
And then coming down to the nose.
And seeing if you can feel a sensation of air coming in and out of the nostrils.
A gentle,
Subtle vibration.
And then into the cheeks and the jaw.
Allowing any tension to dissolve.
And then the lips.
Maybe the lips are pressed together or maybe they're apart.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the air coming in and out of the mouth.
Feeling the water gushing in from the toes.
The inner cheeks.
Now feel the whole body,
The whole body as one.
Feeling whatever arises in the body.
Tingling,
Itching,
Heaviness,
Lightness,
Even pain.
Whatever you feel,
Just watch it,
Feel it.
Be with it for the duration of its existence.
As it comes into being and passes away.
And then something else in the body will grab your attention.
And when it does,
Just feel it.
Be with the changing,
The changing sensations.
And a thought will carry you away from time to time.
But that's fine.
Look at the thought.
Notice what kind of thought it is.
You can even label it worry,
Worry.
Or planning,
Planning.
Or simply just thinking,
Thinking.
And then maybe something else happens in the body and your attention goes to that.
Watch that arise and pass away.
And we're now going to bring the meditation to a close.
So just when you feel ready with your eyes still closed,
Roll over onto your side into a fetal position.
Roll over onto your side into a fetal position,
Hugging yourself and thanking yourself for taking this time out for self-care.
And just resting there for a moment.
Remaining mindful as the body breathes,
As the mind thinks,
As the mood shifts and changes.
Being with whatever is here.
And then when you're ready,
Coming up into a seated posture and thanking yourself again for taking this time out.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and engage the rest of your day.
