This will be a complete body scan meditation for stress relief.
For this meditation,
We are going to use Cosmic Mudra by simply placing one hand in the other,
And touching the thumbs together,
And placing that gently in the lap.
Now we should close our eyes,
And just begin to breathe mindfully.
And at first we are simply going to observe the breath as it moves through the space just beneath the middle of the nose.
And we are simply observing the breath,
Just sitting and watching.
Should thoughts come to mind,
We shall simply label them,
Saying,
This is just a thought,
And then we shall return our focus gently to the breath.
At other times the mind may wander,
This is completely natural and normal,
And we shall just gently return our focus to the breath.
Now,
Let us begin our body scan.
To start with,
Simply observe the sensations moving around the crown of your head.
We are simply observing the sensations in the crown of the head.
And you might find it helpful to describe the sensations that you feel there.
For instance,
Perhaps there is a warmth,
Or a coldness,
Perhaps there is a buzzing sensation.
Whatever you feel,
Just describe it to yourself.
And should you feel tension in the crown of your head,
Simply visualise inhaling fresh air into the crown of your head,
And having that space relax.
Now we shall move down to the forehead,
Simply observing the sensations there,
Labelling what we notice,
Perhaps a warmth or a coldness,
Or a tingling,
Simply describing the sensations to ourself.
Breathing air into that space in the forehead,
Allowing that space to let go,
To relax,
And to unwind.
Taking a moment to observe the movement of the breath through the body,
And just being calm and aware.
And now to the sinus areas,
To the nose,
And the eyes,
And the mouth,
Observing the sensations that we notice there,
Describing the sensations to ourselves.
And now breathing fresh air into the eyes,
The nose,
And the mouth,
Allowing that area to let go and to relax.
And now we shall move down to the neck,
Observing the sensations that we notice in the neck.
Oftentimes we carry a little bit of stress in the neck,
And if you notice tension,
You might like to just gently rotate your neck,
Visualise breathing fresh air into your neck and allowing that space to let go and to calm and unwind.
Now to the shoulders.
Again,
Oftentimes we carry tension in the shoulders,
And you might like to just gently rotate your shoulders as you breathe in fresh air and allow your shoulders to relax and to let go.
And now we move down to the upper part of the arms,
Observing the sensations that we notice there,
Describing any feelings to ourselves,
Breathing in fresh air,
Letting go and relaxing.
And down to the elbows,
Observing what we notice there,
Calmly letting go and relaxing.
Down to the lower arms,
Observing the sensations there,
Letting go and relaxing.
And now to the hands and the fingers.
You might notice that you have more sensitivity in your hands and your fingers,
And that is simply because there are more connections between the hands and the fingers and the brain than any other part of the body.
Again,
Observing the sensations in the hands and in the fingers,
Letting go and relaxing.
Just going to take a mindful breath here.
And now we shall continue journeying back up to the top of the back,
Observing the sensations that we experience there,
Letting go and relaxing.
To the middle of the back,
Observing the sensations there,
Allowing fresh,
Cool,
Relaxing air to enter the body,
Letting go of the back and relaxing.
And on down to the lower part of the back,
Observing the sensations there,
Describing to ourselves any sort of energy or sensation that we experience around the lower back.
Allowing air to enter the body and relax that space and just letting go.
And now we shall journey back up to the top of the chest,
Observing the sensations there,
Allowing ourselves to breathe into that space as we let go and relax.
And to the stomach and the abdomen,
Observing any energy there,
Observing whether there is a feeling of hunger or perhaps of fullness,
And just mindfully observing the sensations there.
Breathing in,
Letting go and relaxing.
Now to the pelvic region,
Observing any sensations around that area,
Describing what we notice to ourselves,
Allowing calming air to fill that area and just relaxing.
Now to the upper legs and the thighs,
Simply observing what we notice in that space,
Breathing in,
Letting go and relaxing.
Now to the knees,
Many people carry tension in the knees,
Simply observe what you feel in your knees,
And allow your knees to let go and to relax.
Now down to the lower legs and the ankles,
Observing the sensations there,
Letting go and relaxing.
And to the feet,
Observing,
Breathing into that space,
Letting go and relaxing.
Now for a few moments,
We shall zoom out and be mindfully aware of the entire body.
Be aware of the beauty and the complexity of your body.
Your body is a beautiful,
Amazing thing.
From now on,
We will be mindfully aware and grateful for the body.
Now slowly to a count of five,
We shall open our eyes.
As we open our eyes,
We shall carry with us mindful awareness of the body and the feeling of relaxation.
One,
Your eyes are opening just a little bit.
Two,
They open a little further,
But you are still calm and still relaxed.
Three,
Four,
Still calm,
Still relaxed.
And five.
And now take a moment just to observe how you are feeling in your mind and in your body.
