The Body Scan

Suitable for mindful awareness of the body and relaxation, this is helpful for letting go of tension and improved sleeping. Can be done sitting or lying down.

Transcript

The body scan.

This is a mindfulness practice but it can be very useful for relaxation or if you're having trouble sleeping.

It's important to try and embrace the qualities of curiosity,

Of a beginner's mind and of non-striving.

There's no need to hurry this.

We're turning down the volume of the thinking mind and turning up the volume of the sensing body and we are coming into this awareness with kindness and with patience.

You can do this meditation in a sitting or lying position.

So take a few moments to establish a position and get your body settled and when you're ready just let your eyes gently close.

Begin by bringing your awareness to your whole body.

Allow yourself to get a real sense of your whole body right here,

Right now.

Let's take a moment to really experience the weight of your body on the surface on which you lie or sit.

You may want to take a couple of deeper more conscious breaths in and out and use your out-breath to allow yourself to let go into the weight of your body and really arrive in the place where you are.

Continue to use your out-breath throughout the meditation to let go of any tension that you feel you're holding onto.

Anywhere that you feel yourself mobilizing the energy to move away from this present moment.

Use your breath to let go of this.

Just give yourself permission to be here now in stillness.

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to go.

Now bring your mindful attention down to your feet,

Really concentrating on your feet.

The sensation of them touching the mat or the floor.

Perhaps even wiggle or move your feet a little and really feel the sensations in your feet right now.

Notice this sensation of the air on your skin or of your socks or of a blanket on your feet.

The weight,

The warmth and the texture.

See if you can notice any difference between how each foot feels.

As you notice and feel your feet with your out-breath allow yourself to let go of your feet and feel the muscles softening and loosening and letting go.

If you feel your mind wander just bring it back to the sensations of your body.

Now continuing to soften your body move your attention up through your ankles and into your calves and just notice again the sensation of the weight of your clothing on your skin and then see if you can allow your awareness to move up through the calves.

Feel what sensations might be here in this moment.

Perhaps some parts feel different to others and again if some areas feel tight or tense or uncomfortable just be interested to notice how they feel at this particular time.

Not good or bad just here now.

Just noticing how you're really sensing this part of your body and then using your out-breath letting go.

Feel the muscles softening and loosening relaxing releasing and letting go.

Now bring your awareness up through your knees and to your thighs and again notice the weight of your thighs against the surface on which they rest the fabric of your clothing.

Notice how your thighs are feeling is one different from the other and then when you have a real sense of them using your out-breath really feel them relaxing and releasing as if from the inside to the outside just letting go.

All down through the thighs and the calves and into the feet allow the muscles to just melt down into the floor perhaps even feeling a little bit heavier.

And now bring your attention to the buttocks the hips and the pelvis area.

What sensations are present here?

Just notice the weight of this part of your body and now see if you can really allow yourself to let go and it might help to imagine there's a big belt holding all of this part of your body together and you're just loosening it and allowing your body to soften.

Bring your awareness now to your belly and perhaps you can notice your belly because you can feel a sensation of the waistband of your clothing against your skin.

Perhaps you will notice that your belly is rising and falling with the breath or you may even feel some emotional tension here and once you've noticed your belly just use your out-breath just allow your belly to soften and to let go.

And with your belly relaxed just see if you can sense now any feelings in your lower back and if there's any tension here and see if you can allow the sense of space and softness in your belly to move into your lower back and allow your breath to help you let go here.

Release and soften into your lower back.

Now move your attention up to your solar plexus.

This is the area at the top of the belly and between the ribcage and again sense your clothing against your skin and notice any physical or emotional tension here and then using your out-breath just let go here and soften.

Even if it takes a couple of deeper more conscious breaths just allow some space to come into this part of your body and then see if you can soften your ribcage as well so that your breath can be free and easy.

Now coming up to your chest area and to what feels like where your heart is.

Again just being aware of the chest rising and falling with a breath and feel the gentle rhythm of your body working with the breath effortlessly breathing.

How are you feeling in your chest?

Is there space here or do you feel tightness?

Just use your awareness to see how you're really feeling in this area and you can even roll your shoulders back to allow yourself to open up and release any tension here.

Use your out-breath again to just feel yourself letting go and softening.

Now feeling into your arms first the upper arms and then down through the elbows and into the forearms.

Just notice what's happening here and just soften and let go and down through the wrist and into the hands and the fingers and see if you can allow yourself to let go of any tension here from the inside out just softening and letting go and just allowing your hands and arms to be really at rest no more texting or typing driving or doing.

Now move your awareness to your shoulders and notice if you're holding any tension here you might like to roll your shoulders gently and just get a sense of how your shoulders are feeling and then gently allow your shoulders to soften and loosen and fall back into their sockets.

And now bringing your awareness up to your neck and just get a sense of how you're holding your neck and if you feel any tension or tightness here and notice how you're feeling at the attachment of your neck just at the base of your skull and then down to your shoulders.

And just noticing how you're holding yourself here allow yourself with an out-breath just to let it go.

Let any tension in your neck just roll down and wash away off your back.

And now extend that softness into the front of your neck and your throat.

And notice also how you're holding your jaw and if your jaw feels tense or tight and if you just want to rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathing with your mouth closed through your nose see if you can let go of any tension in your jaw and then soften your tongue and this might also release more tension in your neck and your throat.

And now softening into your chin and your cheeks into your lips and just putting a gentle smile on your lips to soften your face even further.

Letting go of your nose and softening your closed eyes.

Letting go of your ears,

The outside of your ears and the inside of your ears.

And softening your eyebrows and all across your forehead just allowing your whole face to soften and to let go.

And now bring your awareness up to your scalp and just notice if you're holding any tension here.

Sometimes it can feel as if your scalp is tight or tired and it can feel like it's being pulled into your skull.

Just notice how you're holding your scalp and then on an out-breath just let go,

Let go of your scalp.

Let it completely soften and allow your hair to grow a little bit longer.

And now bring your awareness to your brain or to what feels like where your brain is and notice if your brain feels tense or tired or like it's pushing against the inside of your skull.

And just see if on an out-breath you can just release and relax your brain and allow it to just float inside your skull.

Allow it to just rest.

Just get a sense of your body as it is and if you need to just continue to use your out-breath to allow yourself to let go anywhere that you might feel you're holding on.

And once you feel that your body is more relaxed and present,

Begin to allow your awareness to rest on the sensation of your whole body gently moving with your breathing.

See if you can begin to become more and more intimate with this awareness and then allow yourself to follow your breath as it moves all the way into your body and all the way out.

Follow it with a kind and gentle curiosity as you make every new breath for the first time.

From the tip of your nose all the way to the bottom of your lungs,

Allowing your belly to expand in a soft and relaxed movement and then all the way out of your body.

Continuing to let go of any physical or emotional stress with every breath.

If your mind begins to wander,

Just notice where your mind is gone and unhook yourself from the thought or the story and just kindly bring your awareness back to your body,

The weight of your body and to the movement of your breath.

Over and over as your mind wanders bring it back to the sensing of your body and your breathing.

If your mind wanders away a thousand times to noises or thoughts with no judgment it's not good or bad just kindly bring it back.

See if you can allow your awareness to become more and more intimate with your breath.

One more minute.

See if you can allow yourself to be with your body and with every breath for one more minute.

And before you open your eyes you might just like to place your hands where you feel like your heart is either in prayer position or just gently rest your hands there and just notice the weight of your hands in that place and if you feel like there's any tightness or tension here just with an out-breath just allow yourself to let go.

Even if you feel like you're breathing in and out of this place just let go and acknowledge that you've been in meditation and that you've been in stillness and when you're ready just gently open your eyes.

Reviews

Excellent script. I use this often and find it helpful as a mindfulness practice

Love the body scan weather as relaxation or an aid to sleep

I love this body scan. Penny has a relaxing tone to her voice. I always feel relaxed after this meditation.

Penny, Thank you so very very for your beautiful body scan meditation. It helped so much to get me asleep after a long sleepless night.

Wonderful! Simple and very relaxing, thank you!
🙏🏻🪷👌🏻

Beautiful, calming and centering practice, thank you 😊

The very best, measured and clear instructions for relaxing I have found.

Masterfully lead scan! Putting this one in my pocket.

Delightful to hear the sound of your voice and follow my breath around my entire body.

This is an excellent body scan meditation. It is sharply focused to this practice and well worth a try. We’ll done.

One of the best body scans I’ve done on this app. Thank you!

Good instructions that allow me to calm down. Good sound quality without distortions and very clear.

best one i found so far. thanks!

This is my new fav body scan. Love your soothing voice & the perfect pace of the practice 👍💕💕💕🙏

What a beautiful body scan, I loved it! Thank you for your kind offering!

Fell asleep about 10 minutes in, unintentionally!! Utter perfection. I thank from the bottom of my heart.

Perhaps the best body scan meditation I have found. Perfect amount of time spent within each body part, good progression, very soothing voice and overall pace! Thank you!

I love this body scan. Lovely pace, beautifully expressed and a calming voice. Thank you.

Superb body scan, gentle but focused and calm