Guided Body Scan - Breathing Your Way Into Relaxation

Anxiety, fear, stress, and worry all create increasing tension in the body.

This guided body scan meditation is designed to relax the listener part by part until the whole system is fully relaxed and grounded. This may result in falling asleep. If so, simply allow yourself to fall asleep as it is most likely what your system needs.

Transcript

Close your eyes.

Breathe deeply in through your nose.

And exhale through your mouth.

Relax your face.

Relax your head.

Relax your shoulder.

Relax your chest.

And now take one brief moment to feel your breath.

How is your breath entering your body and leaving your body?

What frequency,

How fast is going in and going out naturally?

Observe,

Feel how your breath is going in and going out.

Don't manipulate it.

Don't try to change your breath.

Just observe it.

Be mindful of it.

Aware how air is entering your body and leaving it.

A natural occurrence.

It just happens without you doing anything.

And now feel into your feet.

Bring your awareness down into your feet.

Into your toes.

Wiggle your toes.

Move them a little bit.

And now feel your breath.

Try to make a fist with your toes as hard as you can.

Keep it tight for a breath or two and then release it.

Release and relax your toes.

And let them loose.

Relax them.

And now feel into them.

Feel that tingling sensation,

That active feeling,

That blood flow through every cell of your toes.

Feel into your feet now,

Into the sole of your feet.

And try to curve it,

To clamp as if you want to grab something with your entire foot on either side.

Use whatever muscle you have in your feet to clamp,

To contract your feet.

Bring all that tension into your feet.

Try to activate every single muscle into your feet.

One breath.

Maybe another.

And then release your feet.

Relax them completely.

Wiggle them a little bit and let them rest.

And feel now.

How does your foot feel like?

Try to locate every single muscle in your foot,

Either side.

Feel into them.

How blood is flowing now.

How your feet are active now.

Now let's bring our awareness into our calves,

The backside of our lower thighs,

The lower legs.

And try to tense up the backside of your lower thighs,

Your calves.

Try to tense them up as hard as you can.

Try to tense,

Try to activate every single muscle that you have down there.

In the lower part of your legs.

Activate them,

Tense them up.

Hold it there for a breath.

Or maybe two.

Or maybe two.

And release them.

Release your calves.

Release that lower part of your leg.

And feel into it.

What can you make out if you bring your awareness to as many details of this particular muscle?

Of these muscles,

Maybe even.

Relax and release them.

And now bring your awareness to the front part of your lower thigh.

There's yet another muscle that works together with your calves.

I'd like you to tense it up now.

The front part.

That means you would have to bring your toes to your knees.

And tense it up as hard as you can.

Tense it up,

Tense it up,

Tense it up.

Hold it.

Hold it for a breath.

With all the might that you have,

With all the power.

And release it.

Relax it.

Breathe into it.

Feel.

Feel how this part of your body is now very active.

How all the muscle fibers are very active now.

Now I'd like you to bring your awareness up and higher.

Passing the knee into your upper thigh,

Into the upper part.

Of your leg.

Feel into the backside of your upper part of the leg.

And try to press down your heels hard into the floor.

As if you want to press away the ground,

Away from you.

And try to tense up the backside of your thighs as hard as you can.

Yes,

That's it.

As if you want to bring your heels to your butt,

But you can't.

Because you're laying flat.

Try to tense it up.

Tense it up more.

More power into it.

Breathe.

And exhaling,

Relax more and more again.

And now feel into the backside of your upper thigh.

How does it feel?

Let's bring our awareness to the other part,

To the other side of your upper thighs.

I'd like you to activate one of the biggest muscles in your body,

The quadriceps.

A very strong muscle.

And I'd like you to feel it.

One of the biggest muscles in your body,

The quadriceps.

A very strong muscle.

Activate it by trying to straighten your leg as hard as you can.

Bring your knee,

The backside of your knee,

As flat down on the ground as you can.

And try to tense up your upper thigh as hard as you can.

Activating it with every single little cell that you have.

And hold it there.

Keep this activation.

Keep this tension.

Very good.

Straighten your legs.

Only your legs.

The rest of your body can relax.

But keep that part of your body now located and tense.

And relax,

Let loose,

Breathe,

And practice deliberate relaxation here.

Maybe even shake your upper thighs a tiny bit to relax it further.

Very good.

And now feel into every single cell that you can locate when you bring your mind's eye into your upper thighs.

Every strand of muscle fiber.

Where do they begin?

Where do they end?

How many?

How big is this muscle really?

Try to feel into every single piece and bit of this muscle,

This part of your body.

And now let's wander higher with our awareness.

Let's go into our glutes.

Again,

One of the bigger muscles in our body.

And I'd like you to really tighten up your butt now,

As if you have to crack a nut.

Tighten it up.

Activate your glutes.

All the way,

Every single piece of it.

Bring all the might together in your glutes and tense them up.

All the way,

All the way.

Only your glutes.

As hard as you can.

Breathe in.

And exhaling.

Relax your glutes.

Relax them again.

Maybe wiggle your butt a little bit now.

Very good.

And now,

Now I'd like you to feel where does this very big muscle of yours begin?

What is the highest point that you can locate now of this muscle of the back side of your body?

Where is it attached?

Of the back side of your body,

Where is it attached?

And then wander all the way down.

Follow its direction until you feel where it ends.

Where does this muscle of yours end?

Feel it.

Go from side to side also.

And understand the size of a very vital part of your body.

Now let's bring our awareness yet again to the opposite side of our body,

To the lowest part of your abdominal muscles.

I'd like you to bring your awareness to the connective tissue that brings and leads your hips on the front parts of your body.

Imagine you want to lift off your hips up to the ceiling without using your legs,

Just using your abs and your hip flexors now.

Can you do that?

You want to rotate your hips as if you want to look into your belly button to bring your hips farther,

Farther and farther to the front,

Trying to tense up that very particular not too big of a muscle.

Tense it up.

Bring your belly button to your nose.

Roll your hip to the front even more,

Even more.

Breathe into your hip flexors.

Breathe into the lowest part of your abdominal muscles and relax.

Feel now in this particular area of your body and try to locate the blood flow and how it is moving through the blood vessels,

Through the muscle fibers,

Through the tendons,

The ligaments,

The muscles.

And everything that is so beautifully put together as a system to help you move through your life.

How does this area feel?

Bring your awareness now to your abdominal muscles.

All the way up to the ribcage.

And now let's try and locate the whole piece of it.

That's meaning we're trying to bring our ribcage together with our hips now.

As to tense up all the way,

Every single piece,

Every single strand of your abdominal muscles.

Try to make the hardest six-pack that you can muster.

Tensing it up,

Tensing it up.

Don't stop to breathe.

Just tense up all the way.

Make your belly very hard,

Very,

Very hard.

And release it.

And breathe in.

Make your belly big and round.

Exhaling.

Feel now.

Where do your abdominal muscles start exactly?

From top to bottom.

Where is the lowest point where you can feel your abdominal muscles?

And where is the highest part?

And now let's go to the backside of our body yet again.

And I'd like you to try and locate your spinal column.

And all the muscles that are around it.

I'd like you to arch your back.

To feel as if you're arching your back as hard as you can.

Try to press away the floor with your hips and your shoulders.

And tense up the backside of your back,

Of your upper body now.

Try to activate every single muscle in your back now.

With as much force as you can muster.

Activate more.

Find again one more muscle that you can activate.

Activate.

Tense it up.

Breathe into it.

And exhaling.

Relax your shoulders.

Relax your back.

Flatten it out again.

Very good.

And now,

Like before,

Let's try and go through your back.

Starting with the lowest part.

Slowly.

Like an explorer.

Work your way through your back muscles.

Where is which one?

What do they do?

How did they just help you to manage this amazing task of arching your back that much?

To keep you upright when you're walking.

Very good.

Now,

Let's undertake a little experiment and try to locate the side of your upper body.

Imagine you want to bring your hand to your knee on one side.

Let's pick the left side.

You want to bring your left hand to your left knee.

You don't actually do the movement,

But before your inner eye,

You imagine yourself grabbing all the way down.

Can you feel the muscle that is responsible for doing this movement?

Tense it up.

Activate it deliberately,

Because you choose to do so.

Activate it more.

Activate it more.

And release it.

Breathe.

Calmly.

Very good.

Feel into the side of your upper body.

Where do these muscles start?

Where do they end?

Where do they end?

What else are they responsible for?

What do you think?

Now,

Let's get the other side also activated.

Imagine that you are grabbing your right knee with your right hand.

You don't actually do the movement.

You just imagine it,

And you will be able to feel immediately what muscles want to tense in order to make this movement happen.

These muscles,

This is what we want to tense up,

What we want to activate.

Bring all the power together that you have,

And activate the right side of your upper body,

Of your rump.

Tense it up more.

Breathing in and out.

Tense it up more.

Breathing in and exhaling,

Relax that part of your body.

Very good.

Very good.

Very good.

Now,

Let's bring our awareness to our hands.

I would like you to activate every single muscle that you can muster in your hands,

Both at the same time.

Make a fist.

Clamp it down.

Imagine you want to really,

Really tighten up your hands around something that you're holding,

And activate every single muscle that you can muster in your hands.

That's it.

And now a little more.

Hold it.

Breathe into it.

And exhaling,

Relax your hands,

Let it go.

Very good.

And now I want you to go through all your five fingers.

Let's go with the pinky,

The little one.

Feel it.

Feel it.

And then with the second,

With the following the third.

Feel it entirely.

The fourth.

Pointy one.

And then your thumb.

Feel into it.

Feel into your thumb.

And now all around your hand.

Your palm.

Maybe even your wrist.

The backside of your hand.

Always with an exploring mind.

And try to relax it deliberately a little more.

With every breath that leaves your body.

Let's wander up and higher into our lower arm.

Let's try and tense up our lower arm as much as we can.

Can you do that?

You might want to use your hands for that.

Try to tense up the lower part of your arm as hard as you can.

You don't have to actually make a fist for that.

It is enough if you bring your fingers up to your elbow.

Very good.

And try to tense it up there as if you are holding your hand.

Sit up there as if you are holding something and you have to carry it.

One breath.

Two.

Breathe in.

And exhaling.

Relax it.

Good.

Let's do the same game now with your upper arm.

I'd like you to focus on your biceps as if you want to bring your hand as close to your shoulder as you can.

Try to tense up your biceps as much as you can.

Can you locate it?

Can you tense it up?

With as much might as you can.

With as much power as you can.

Tense it up.

Maybe even bring your hands to your shoulder,

Literally.

Tense up your biceps.

Breathe into your biceps.

And exhale.

Relax it.

Feel where it is attached.

And where it ends.

Very good.

And now,

Trying to press away the floor with your hands.

I'd like you to activate your triceps.

That big double-headed muscle on the backside of your upper arm.

Pressing away the floor now.

Trying to activate your triceps as much as you can.

More.

Very good.

Breathe into it.

One breath.

Hold it.

And release.

All the tension out of this particular muscle of your body as well.

Very good.

And now,

Bring your awareness to your chest muscle.

Again,

One of the big muscles of your body.

Try to tense up.

Your chest muscle.

All parts without actually moving anything.

Just try to locate it and tense it up.

Yes,

That's it.

More.

All the power that you have.

Tensing up your chest muscle as much as you can.

Very good.

Keep it there.

Hold it there.

Breathe naturally.

Hold that tension.

And relax.

Very good.

Nice.

Feel into your chest muscle.

Where does it begin?

Where does it connect to?

What do you usually use it for?

Let's go to the backside again.

Let's switch.

And bring our awareness to our shoulder blades for a second.

And imagine now that you have a little pencil in between your shoulder blades.

And you want to pinch that pencil as much as you can.

Bringing all your awareness,

All your power into this movement.

Activate.

These muscles that are responsible for this movement.

With as much force as you can muster now.

More.

Little more.

Breathe deeply in.

And exhaling.

And exhaling.

And exhaling.

Relax your shoulder blades.

And now I invite you to go through these muscles that have been responsible for this movement.

Exploring with a curious mind.

Very good.

Try to intentionally relax this part of your body.

Relax it more.

And relax it more.

Let's bring our awareness to our shoulders now,

Shall we?

And imagining that we are wanting to bring our shoulders to our ears.

Try to activate all the muscles necessary for this movement.

Bring your shoulders up to your ears.

Tensioning up these muscles more and more.

And exhaling,

Relax them.

Breathe calmly,

Relaxedly,

And practice to relax your shoulders more and more.

Breathe calmly,

Relaxedly,

And practice to relax any muscle that you like.

In this kind of case,

It would be the muscles surrounding your shoulders,

Maybe your neck.

Now let's go into our face.

And I'd like you to make the most ugliest face that you can do.

Tensioning up all the muscles in your face that you can find,

Every single one of them.

Beautiful.

More.

Very good.

Breathing in through your nose.

Very good.

Breathing in through your nose.

And exhaling,

Relax your face.

Relax it.

Let it loose.

Very good.

What can you feel in your face?

Which muscles can you make out?

Very good.

You're getting better at locating the muscles in your body.

Now try to relax your face even a little more.

Deliberately relaxing.

Next,

We want to bring our awareness to the backside of our head.

I'd like you to press your head into the ground as hard as you can.

More.

As if you want to lift off your entire body by pressing your head into the ground.

And feel how your neck is tensing up more and more.

Breathe deeply into your neck now.

And exhaling.

Again,

We practice to relax.

Relax your neck.

Breathe.

Deeply,

Steadily.

Make your neck very long now.

Lay it flat.

And gentle onto the ground.

Very good.

Feel where is this muscle connected?

How does it co-work with the other muscles around it?

There's so many muscles in your body.

So many ligaments,

So many bones,

Tendons.

They all work together in harmony.

Most of the time,

Anyway.

Now,

Let's go with our awareness down into our upper thighs again.

And I'd like you to pinch your legs together now as if you're trying to lift off your head.

Very strongly,

Hold that ball with all the might that you have.

Bring your legs together.

And I'd like you to deliberately activate the muscles inside of your thighs.

Not your quadriceps,

But inside.

And now,

Let's go with our awareness down into our inner thighs again.

Not your quadriceps,

But inside.

Pressing them together.

Squeeze that ball.

Breathe into that particular muscle.

Actually,

A conjunction of different muscles.

And breathing out,

Relax them.

And try to feel what did happen down there in order to make this movement happen.

In order to make it possible.

There's a whole lot of different little muscles,

Strands,

That have to work together in order to make this possible.

Very good.

And now,

In order to open,

Maybe press away,

There is yet another conjunction of different muscle strands on the outside of your upper thighs.

I'd like you to imagine that you want to pull your legs together.

And I'd like you to imagine that you want to pull your legs together.

And I'd like you to imagine that you want to pull your legs together.

Push something away with your legs.

Out of the way.

Press hard against it.

Push it away hard with your thighs.

Locate this part of your leg that is responsible for pushing things away.

As before,

You have been squeezing together.

Now you want to push away,

Open your legs as hard as you can.

Try to be very particular in which muscles that you're activating as to understand which muscles are responsible.

And relax.

Very good.

Breathe deeply into that part of your body.

Very good.

And now I'd like you to go through your body,

Jumping with your awareness,

Like the ball of a flashlight,

From place to place,

All the bits and parts that you have been activating so far.

There are even more than these.

But for now,

This should be enough.

Flow through your body.

Explore every muscle that you have been activating now in this session.

And each muscle that you encounter,

Try to relax it more.

Make it a little game to find tension that is left in your body and to relax it.

Breathing into tension and exhaling helps a lot.

Exhaling helps a lot.

And so finding these knots,

These accumulations of tension,

And relaxing them deliberately as you can tense up your body.

You can,

In fact,

Relax it as well.

It is just not practiced too often.

Breathe.

Find tension.

Breathe into it.

And exhaling,

Relax it more.

More.

Feel how a deep sense of calm is growing in you.

You relax with every breath.

You relax more.

You get heavier and heavier.

Deep and natural.