Guided Visualization For Relaxation

This is an updated version of the original guided meditation I posted here. Thanks to all the listeners who gave feedback, I cut out a lot of the instructions in the beginning and go straight to the practice. Wishing everyone a deep, love-filled, relaxing meditation.

Transcript

Hi there.

Welcome to this guided meditation.

The goals of this practice are to help relax the body,

Quiet the mind,

And to cultivate a loving inner attitude.

We will do this by doing a body scan and then after that a mindful breathing practice.

These meditative practices work because the simple act of giving attention to the body is healing.

If you can give attention to your body and if you can breathe then you can meditate.

Before we get started,

Create a safe space for yourself that will be free of unnecessary distractions.

Shut the door to the room,

Turn off the TV,

Silence your phone or your device.

Once you've done this,

Get yourself situated in a comfortable seat or lying position.

What's most important is that you can relax the body and stay awake.

If you're in a seated position you may find that it's helpful to keep the spine upright.

Now that we're situated and ready to begin the practice,

Let's start by closing our eyes and taking a few deep cleansing breaths.

Start by breathing in through the nostrils,

Deep into the abdomen,

Expanding the chest and filling the lungs completely.

Before then,

Relaxing and allowing an exhale,

Giving additional assist at the end of the breath to really empty the lungs completely as well.

Now while I'm talking I'd like you to continue this practice of a calm,

Slow,

Deep breath to help energize the body and to fully enjoy the benefits of breathing.

It can be helpful as you do this to breathe loud enough that you can hear the breath.

This creates a focal point for the mind and to help bring you deeper into the meditative practice.

As you continue these deep breaths,

It may be helpful to notice that our breathing is connected to our emotional state of being.

When we are relaxed our breathing is slow and deep,

And when we are stressed it is fast and shallow.

So the simple act of engaging with the breathing practice is an opportunity to calm our emotional state.

After your next exhale,

Allow the breathing to assume a natural pace.

Take a moment to check in with the body and notice the contact points where the body is touching the chair,

Or your feet are touching the floor,

Or where your body is contacting the bed.

Make a mental point to know that these are safety points.

We can relax into these contact points,

Surrender our body to the chair so that we can give our full attention inward to this meditative practice.

We'll do that now by moving to a body scan,

Which is simply checking in with our body starting at the feet and scanning up to the top of the body,

Simply noticing what we encounter through the practice.

If we have a part of the body that is damaged or not intact,

That's okay.

Just visualize that part of the body as if it was healthy and whole to the best of your ability.

Starting the body scan now,

Let's bring our awareness into our feet,

Our toes on the left and on the right foot.

Move slowly upward into the foot itself and into the soles of the feet.

How does this part of the body feel?

What do we encounter as we bring our awareness here?

Any answer is correct.

No answer is needed.

It's just important to ask the question to observe.

Let's continue into the ankles and up into the lower legs.

You might find it helpful to visualize walking fingers and mentally walk one small slow step at a time into the lower legs.

Each step is an opportunity for the body to relax in this area and for us to be aware of whatever might be needing our attention in this area.

Continue walking slowly and if you're doing that,

You might be soon encountering the knee area.

How do the kneecaps feel?

Bring your attention to the soft underside of the knees as well.

Now let's continue one slow step at a time walking into the upper legs.

Continuing up until we reach the area of where the groin and the hips and the buttocks are,

Making a firm but gentle command to allow this part of the body to relax.

Let's continue the body scan slowly coming up through the core of the body starting at the bottom at the tailbone,

Coming up into the pelvic area.

Can you move slowly upward into the low back,

Into the abdomen around the belly button,

Coming up slowly until we encounter the lowest ribs,

The mid back,

The chest area,

And the shoulder blades.

Continue coming all the way to the upper back into the collarbones at which point we can bring our awareness into the hands and the fingers on the left and on the right side.

If it's necessary now or helpful to readjust the arms so that they can hang heavy,

Go ahead and slowly do so as we continue scanning up into the wrists,

Taking one slow step at a time into the forearms.

Maybe now arriving at the elbows,

What do we notice in this part of the body?

We don't notice anything?

That's okay.

Continue walking now into the upper arms taking the slow,

Gentle,

Small mental rest.

Once you arrive to the shoulder areas continue over the tops of the arms.

Notice the armpit on the left and on the right side.

And then continue walking one step at a time over the tops of the shoulders to the neck area.

When you arrive at the neck,

How does the throat feel?

What do you notice in the soft side of the neck?

And how does the back of the neck feel?

Notice as we take one small step at a time upward through the neck,

The different levels we encounter.

And once we reach the top of the neck,

Take our mental rest fingers and walk them up the back of the head,

Allowing each step to create a wave of relaxation in the scalp to the best of our ability.

Continue up past the ears up to the top of the head.

And continue slowly forward,

One step at a time to the forehead.

Allow the area by the eyebrows and the forehead to relax to the best of their ability.

And if there's still some residual tension there,

That's okay.

Continue into the eyes,

Allowing the eyelids to soften to the cheeks.

How about the upper lip and the lower lip?

Allow the jaw to open just slightly.

Allow the face and all of its muscles to relax and hang.

It has no duty for these few minutes.

Now let's take a moment to just check into the body as a whole.

Where do you feel most comfortable in your body?

Where does the body feel the warmest,

The coziest,

Or the most relaxed?

But also notice where there's discomfort or contraction or tension.

Let's now bring our awareness back to the breathing and let's spend the next few minutes of this practice silently breathing just as we started it.

If it helps,

You can imagine the lungs are like a balloon.

With every inhale,

You're adding some effort to fully fill the balloon.

And then you allow the balloon to deflate with just a little additional effort at the very end to make sure that it's fully empty.

Once it is,

Connect directly back to the next in-breath,

Going from out-breath to in-breath without a pause.

Focusing all of your attention on the breathing activity,

Noticing the feeling of the rise and the fall of the breath in the chest and the abdomen,

And the feeling of the air passing through the nostril and the throat.

At times,

We can encounter distractions while we're doing our breathing session.

There might be physical symptoms such as tightness or discomfort.

There may be emotions that come up which have been trapped in the body.

And there may be excessive mental activity.

If you notice you've been distracted by any of these things,

That's okay.

It's a gift to be aware that this has happened and it's an opportunity to return to the breathing practice,

Let go of the distraction,

And return to the breath.

Return to the breath.

Return to the breath.

Return to the breath.

The quality of the breathing practice can be improved by bringing a playful and kind intention to it.

You might find it helpful to focus on forgiveness with any and all,

To focus on kindness and love,

And bring a smiling inner attitude to each in-breath and to each out-breath to the best of your ability.

Happiness and health go hand in hand.

Sometimes during a meditative practice there will be an urge coming up from inside,

An urge to move or clear the throat.

If you have that experience,

First pause before moving and notice the feeling.

Where in the body is it located?

Try to feel the feeling and gently but firmly issue a command to your body to relax.

There is a power in being still and silent,

And sometimes urges like this will melt away in the meditation.

If not,

That's okay.

Just go ahead and move slowly and intentionally until you get into a position that is most comfortable,

And then let go and return to the breathing practice.

Allow yourself to be calm and happy.

Allow yourself to be calm and happy and return to the breathing practice.

Allow yourself to be calm and happy and return to the breathing practice.

Now let's bring an end to this practice by first slowly moving the hands and the feet to bring our awareness back to the body.

When we feel the time is right,

Just slowly open the eyes while doing our best to keep our attention focused inward.

If any relaxation or calmness has come about of this practice,

Just stay connected with that sense,

Just stay connected with that feeling even when our eyes are open.

Thank you for joining me for this guided meditation.

I hope you enjoyed some relaxation now and for the rest of your day.

Reviews

Very soothing voice, relaxing after a stressful afternoon.

Great body scan, thank you!

Very nice thank you