Breath & Body Scan To Release Stress & Tension

In this practice, Rachel takes you through a bodyscan as you keep your awareness on the breath. Observing how the different parts of your body feel and move as you breathe. By keeping your awareness gently rested on the breath and the body you maintain moment by moment presence.

If you want to learn more about your breath, please check out my 10 day breath course 'Heal Your Life from the Inside Out'.

Transcript

Sitting comfortably with the crown of your head rested directly above your tailbone just allow your body to relax and soften and begin to bring your awareness to the fact that you are breathing just observing your whole body gently expanding and opening on your inhale and feeling observing that softening and condensing back to center as you exhale if you're breathing through your nose just focus your attention on the feelings and sensations at the very tip of your nose as the air passes in and out if you're breathing through your mouth notice the feelings and sensations of the air as it passes over your lips and tongue cooling the roof of your mouth gently swirling through your throat just feeling that sensation of the air passing through either your nose or mouth as you gently breathe in and out no need to shift or change the breath in any way this is the art of just simple observation mindfulness attached to breathing now take your awareness to the space around your throat at the front of your neck and just notice what you can observe as you allow the breath to come and go perhaps you can observe feelings and sensations perhaps right now you can't observe anything at all and that's totally okay just keep your awareness rested in that space even if you don't feel that you can sense anything that's happening now moving your awareness to your shoulders both your left and right shoulder and as you allow the breath to come and go naturally just notice any feelings sensations any movements that you can sense around the space of your shoulders staying alert and aware to your breath anytime you get distracted just come back to the very next breath and just let go of your breath and just let go of your breath anytime you get distracted just come back to the very next breath take your awareness to your chest to your upper chest and just observe again any feelings any movements any sensations as the breath effortlessly comes and goes so there's no right or wrong in what we observe or what we sense there just simply is so just notice what is there so just notice what is there if you can't feel or sense anything just allow your awareness just to remain rested in the space around your chest now take your awareness down to your belly what you notice in your belly as you gently breathe what you can feel or sense around your body what you can feel or sense around your body no judgment no assessment just simply notice what is there moving on down to your pelvic region just rest your awareness on the whole region of your pelvis your very lower abdomen your genitals and just notice any sensations as the breath comes and goes once again it's totally okay if there's nothing present there for you at the moment but just keep your awareness rested there and allow the breath to remain easeful and natural taking your awareness now to the front of your thighs as you breathe in and out just notice feelings and sensations notice any movement just looking for details that you've perhaps never noticed before when you breathe take your awareness now to your knees what can you observe as you breathe in and out now moving your awareness down to the front of your lower legs to your shins and to your ankles as you rest your awareness there gently with the breath easefully and effortlessly coming in and out of your body what do you notice now noticing your feet the soles of your feet top of your feet your toes the very tips of your toes just observe what's there as you breathe allowing the breath to naturally come and go there's no right or wrong no judgement no resistance to the fact that you're breathing and naturally go there's no right or wrong no judgement no resisting then coming back up the legs from the back side so taking your awareness now to your calf muscles to the back of your lower legs what can you observe there as you gently breathe in and out as the breath breathes you what subtle movements sensations can you observe now moving on up to the back of your knees notice what's going on there as you breathe effortlessly and naturally resisting the temptation to control your breath in any way moving on up to the back of your legs to the back of your upper legs and just notice whatever's there as you breathe in and out taking into your awareness your buttocks the back side of your pelvis as the breath breathes you notice any feelings or sensations that arise as you rest your awareness gently on that space in your body coming up to your lower back just notice gentle sensations that come and go with your breath easefully naturally and fluidly resisting the temptation to create any story as you observe sensation just simply allowing it to be there becoming a witness and observer to your breath and to sensation taking your awareness a little higher up through your body to your mid back what you notice there as you gently and effortlessly breathe in and out coming up now to your upper back to your shoulder blades and the space between your shoulder blades as the breath comes and goes notice what's there how does the body respond to being breathed moving up to the neck the back of the neck can you observe what subtle movements pulsations can you notice as you gently breathe in and out resting your awareness on the back of your head and just simply observe what is there as the breath effortlessly comes and goes if you get distracted just making the decision to come back to sensation and to your breath your witness now to the side of your heads to your temples and to your ears notice what's there as you breathe now take your awareness to the very top of your head as you feel or sense any movement any sensations at the very top the very crown of your head as you breathe in and out and noticing your forehead notice sensations that are present in your forehead as you breathe now take your awareness to your eyes and also to the space between your eyes what can you observe there as the breath effortlessly comes and goes now take your awareness to your nose if you're breathing through your nose just observing how the breath moves and shifts through your nostrils feeling the sensation of the air passing over your top lip as you breathe in and you breathe out take your awareness now to your jaw to the hinges of your jaw what can you observe in that space now take your focus to your mouth to your lips to your tongue as you effortlessly and gently breathe in and out just notice any sensations any feelings now zooming back out again and taking your whole body into your awareness just observing for a few moments this whole body movement as you breathe just notice the subtle expansion and softening observing what happens to your whole body as you inhale and as you exhale allowing the breath to effortlessly and easily move into and out of your body now just taking both hands and placing them together and just begin to rub your hands together to create a little bit of heat between your hands when you've created a little bit of heat placing your hands over your eyes and just take a few nice full deep breaths in and out drawing that heat in from your hands to your eyes nourishing your body nourishing your mind and then leaving your hands placed over your eyes just start to softly blink open your eyes returning back to the day returning back to the space that you're in and then gently softly placing your hands down to rest on your thighs carrying with you this sense of calmness and groundedness as you continue on with the rest of your day

Reviews

Thank you for your meditation session I am well relaxed and happy 😊

Wonderful and gentle guidance! Thank you so much 🙏🏽🌹

It was very nicely guided, qnd with a beautiful relaxing voice.
Thank you

This is such an excellent way to reconnect with your breath, your body and the here and now. Usually I prefer no background music, but this slow piano music really helps with the settling!
I have been using this guidance rather regularly for a while now as a pause in the middle of the day - thank you Rachel for helping me restoring and reconnecting!

Brilliant!

Relaxing

Lovely

You have a beautiful approach and a very soothing voice. Feeling very relaxed and ready for a new day 😌 Thank you so much 🙏

Amazing. I did this lying down and it was deeply restorative. Loved the pace and focus on breath. You have a lovely presence!

So wonderful, thank you very much for this lovely body scan 🙏

Nice slow transit from head down front to feet and back up. Thank you!

Really lovely body scan - please promote breathing in only through the nose if at all possible! Thank you - will be doing this scan again!

Amazing practice 😍

So wonderful.

Beautiful 😍. Lovely, soothing voice

Very calming and centering. Thank you. 🙏❤️

I love love love this gracious guided breath and body scan. It’s so beautiful and relaxing 💖

Thank you Rachel for your gentle & peaceful guidance. 🙏 I feel truly re-vitalized!✨

One of my favorite body scans! I will use this frequently. Thank you