Bell sound This meditation is called the body scan and it's literally like scanning the body with your mind so that you're noticing the most subtle tensions in the body and releasing them.
Now at the beginning of every meditation we do the relaxation and once you've done the body scan you have a better understanding of how to fully relax.
So in order to do the body scan I usually recommend people to lie on the floor on their backs on a yoga mat or perhaps even on their beds but without a pillow so that they're straight the spine is straight and the neck relaxed.
So checking on our posture what one can do is place the hands at the bottom of the spine just above the buttocks and just shift the buttocks a little bit lower so that you get the full stretch of the back.
The head is central,
Our hands drop to the side of us our ankles uncrossed.
We then take three luxurious breaths letting everything go,
Letting all our tension and worries and concerns go on the out-breath.
So breathing in through the nostrils and out through the mouth in these first three deep breaths.
Breathe in and hold the breath.
Breathe out gently,
Slowly releasing the breath like a small breeze through the lips emptying the stomach.
Let the stomach go right to the backbone before you take another deep breath in and hold.
Filling the chest expand and release,
Releasing all the gross tension the obvious tension in the legs,
Shoulders let it go.
Completely empty one more deep breath in and hold.
Release and resume natural abdominal breathing in and out through the nostrils.
At this point we will have come into a very quiet still space and it's very useful when we start a meditation to begin with a motivation so we're really clear on what it is we're trying to achieve.
So many times in our lives we just do things from habit without thinking why we're doing it.
So at this point you can think something like I'm going to do this meditation in order to manage my stress or to calm my mind down.
And now we start with the deep relaxation so starting with the feet first of all notice the sensation of the air around the feet and take this attention through any shoes or socks to the skin of the feet themselves feeling the touch on your skin you can focus your attention on one area or the whole but allow your attention to remain on the feet.
Now move inward to the bone right into the toes feeling where the toes touch and where there's space be aware of the substance of your feet,
The flesh,
The blood,
The veins we can feel the pumping of the blood,
Our heartbeat in every part of our body wherever we turn our attention release any tension which is stress on the body.
Now pass your attention up through the ankles into the calves of the legs and we continue this process of starting externally and moving inward with every part of the body so notice the air circulating you may also start to notice that you're labeling things perhaps cool or warm or pleasant or itchy whatever the mind does let that go in fact if we notice an itch it's quite useful to observe the sensation very objectively and just watch it dissipate so all our experience becomes an object of meditation notice where the clothing touches your calves and where there's space and the skin itself go inward to bone and muscle releasing tension as you find it a nice method for releasing tension is to imagine that the tension is going downward out and the soles of your feet perhaps in the form of smoke leaving you and you are left with a lightness of being so then move to the knees,
Complex joints clothing,
Space,
Air the sensations of tautness as the knee bends if you're seated or stretch or crease at the back just notice,
Observe you become like a tiny scientist wandering around the body just observing very objectively without making any judgements at all and without labeling notice the sensations in the knee joint releasing tension and letting go down and out through the soles of the feet move into the thighs feel the mass of the body weight circulation of air touch of clothing pressure from the floor,
Bed,
Chair skin bone muscle and the blood beating releasing the most subtle tensions down and out then come to the buttocks the hips feel the pressure of bone as it touches where you're lying where there's air and where there is the surface beneath you pressing against you round to the front starting to feel the rise and fall of the abdomen releasing any tension in the muscles release down and out now we come up through the spine climbing each vertebrae with our mind scanning out across the back we hold tension in the back so any pain or tenseness that you feel just release it when you breathe in you can take the breath to that part of the body and when you breathe out just release it deep relaxation awareness of the ribcage climbing up and letting the tension go through the very breath itself as you focus your attention on the shoulders again a place where we hold a lot of tension soften them drop them adjust your posture you can imagine there's a piece of string coming out the top of your head the crown of your head and it's lifting you like a puppet your shoulders drop so there's no tension but you'll grow a little you'll feel a release of tension in the shoulders and that being released down through the arms loose at your side noticing the air the skin the flesh,
The muscles,
The blood the elbows,
The wrists and as you let go of all this tension you're becoming fully present and worries and concerns lose prominence and you are just breathing letting go you can release the tension from your arms out of your fingertips if you like and now we focus our attention on the hands noticing the sensations of the nerve endings in our fingers softening,
Same technique and then releasing the tension through the fingertips so we can release from the soles of our feet through the out breath and through our fingertips whichever feels comfortable we can visualise smoke or just experience the change of the body and now we come to the abdomen feeling the rise and the fall perhaps pressure from your waistband from where you're lying feeling your clothing going to the skin into the depths of your stomach and letting go letting it out through the breath and then up into the chest feeling the rise and fall in your diaphragm feeling your heart beat we call this the engine room of your body noticing the natural functioning of the liver,
The kidneys,
The lungs and the heart release the stress and arrive at the throat and the neck again soften the throat the neck is a place of great tension we will have released some of the tension when we focused on the shoulders now noticing in detail soften the neck allowing the stress to leave you like ice cream melting down your arms,
Out through the fingertips and finally to the face smooth brow,
Soft eyes in their sockets relaxed jaw,
Teeth unclenched the tip of your tongue behind your top teeth to check the flow of saliva and notice the sensations on your face the air the hair moisture dryness without labelling the hills and valleys of the contours of your face completely soft,
Completely relaxed and finally arrive at the sensation at the tip of your nostrils breathing in and breathing out,
The breath,
That tiny breeze on your upper lip and rest there for a few minutes before you end your meditation next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next next
