So welcome to this practice of body awareness.
It's a simple and profound way of returning to yourself.
At first it may seem just like a body scan or a way to relax and that is true.
But it's also so much more than that.
By bringing attention to your body like this you're developing the foundation of emotional intelligence and for moving through life with greater presence,
Clarity and ease.
So let's begin.
Finding your way into a comfortable position.
This practice is better done lying down but you can also do it sitting or standing or in any posture really.
But choosing what suits your needs right now.
If you're lying down,
Let your hands lay by your sides.
You might have a pillow beneath your head,
A blanket over your body.
Keep your feet nice and warm.
If you're sitting,
Just sit a little bit more upright,
Feet flat on the floor.
We want to be relaxed and stable but we don't want to be stiff and rigid either.
Finding that sweet spot and doing this at a time where you're not going to be disturbed.
All you need for this is your body and my guidance.
Take a couple of breaths.
Just connecting with your breath and your body.
Breathing in a little deeper and exhaling a little longer and becoming aware of the weight of the body.
Feeling and allowing the body to be heavy and connected to whatever it is you're lying on or sitting on.
And feel where the body makes contact with the floor or the bed or the chair or the rug.
Can you feel that?
Can you feel where the solidity of that which is beneath you is supporting the weight of the body?
And maybe have an awareness of the whole body,
The feet,
The head,
The hands,
The arms,
The legs,
The belly,
Torso.
And then we're going to narrow the focus and bring our awareness up to the top of the body and into the forehead and the area of the eyes.
Close the eyes and just feel into this part of the body.
And maybe if it's helpful you might soften as well.
So you feel and soften.
There can be a lot of tension in the forehead and the the eyes and the face,
The little muscles used for expression.
They're not needed right now.
Let them go.
So feeling into forehead,
Eyes,
Down to the nose,
Nostrils,
Getting a sense of the air coming in,
Cool,
Leaving the body warm.
Shifting to the mouth,
The lips,
The tongue,
Dryness,
Moisture.
Soften the jaw,
Down into the shoulders,
Allowing the shoulders to relax,
Collarbones.
And moving down through the arms,
Through the upper arms,
Down through the elbows,
The lower arms and wrists,
And into the hands.
Fingers,
Thumbs,
Palm,
Back of the hand.
Any sensations,
Any tingling.
Also inviting,
Softening,
Relaxing,
Releasing,
Opening.
Nothing for the hands to do right now,
Other than to be noticed,
To be felt from the inside.
Appreciate it.
Bringing the awareness up into the torso and the chest,
The ribs,
Maybe some movement as you breathe.
Moving down into the belly,
Round to the back,
Upper back,
Middle back and the lower back.
And getting a sense for the top half of the body,
The torso,
The arms,
The head.
This part of the body has been visited,
Surveyed.
You may be more aware of it.
As we now move down to the hips and the pelvis.
Maybe the faintest sensation of the breath felt really low down in the body and the lower abdomen.
And leaving this part of the body as we drop down into the legs.
Feeling both thighs,
Left and right.
Just noticing any sensation,
Any feeling or absence of sensation.
Just holding the thighs in awareness.
And moving down into the lower legs as well.
So both legs,
Upper and lower.
As we move down into the feet,
Feeling the feet,
Soles of the feet,
Toes,
Tops of the feet.
Maybe you are wearing socks or shoes or slippers or you have bare feet.
Just noticing what's here.
And so let's include the whole body again.
But we'll do this gradually.
We'll do this as we move up from the feet as if we were filling up a jug with warm sunshine.
So both feet now include the lower legs.
Visiting them with awareness,
Holding them fully in presence to include the pelvis.
Up into the belly and the lower back.
Into the chest,
Down through the arms,
Into the hands and fingers,
Left and right.
Into the shoulders,
The collar bones,
The neck and up into the face,
The mouth,
The eyes,
The nose,
The forehead,
The scalp,
The back of the head,
The ears.
And now aware of the whole body.
Alive,
Here,
Present,
Available.
The body contains so much information throughout the day.
It's always resonating with our thoughts,
What we're believing,
What's happening in the world around us.
It's a living,
Breathing,
Visceral landscape.
And there's so much useful information here when we notice it.
A lot of the time we are identified with our thinking,
Concerned about the future,
Ruminating in the past.
And we're not really aware of the body.
But if we train this awareness with visiting the body daily in this way,
Then the magic starts to happen.
Then we can really start to show up in our life,
To be present,
To be embodied.
We can start to notice tension and tightness,
Signaling the beginning of stress or a trigger.
We can take skillful action.
We can notice moments of stillness that we so easily overlook.
And it's always changing.
It's always fresh.
There's always something different happening.
And this is where your life is unfolding,
Here and now.
Shall we bring this practice to a close?
And you can carry on if you'd like to.
I'm bringing some movement to the fingers,
The toes,
Maybe having a stretch.
And you might carry some of the resonance of this practice into whatever it is you're going to be doing next.
But please come back and take part in this meditation again.
The benefits will be worth it in your life.
May you be safe,
May you be well,
And may you have ease of being.
