Welcome to the body scan meditation.
I invite you to take a comfortable position either sitting in a chair,
Lying down on a firm surface,
Or standing upright.
Allow your body to come into stillness and bring your attention into the whole body,
Noticing all the sensations that are alive in this moment.
Notice where your body is making contact with the ground,
Noticing sensations of pressure,
And drawing attention up into the face,
Inviting all the muscles around the eyes to soften,
Relaxing the jaw,
Letting the tongue relax in the mouth,
Noticing any sensations in the shoulders,
With the presence of awareness allowing the muscles to relax,
Letting the arms take a rest,
Letting them hang by your sides,
Releasing any tension in the hands,
Drawing attention down into the torso,
From the shoulders all the way down to the hips,
Taking a slow deep breath,
Feeling the rise of the chest with the inhale and the soft exhale,
Pausing for a moment to notice the beat of the heart.
Perhaps those sensations are not present for you,
And that's perfectly okay.
Just simply noticing what is present,
Nowhere to go,
Nothing really to accomplish,
Inviting the muscles in the abdomen to soften,
Giving the lungs room to expand through the belly,
Inviting another slow soft inhale,
Feeling the expansion of the chest,
The expansion of the belly,
And watching with full attention the return to center as you exhale,
Drawing attention down into the legs,
Feeling the legs from the inside out,
All the way down to the feet,
And expanding the awareness to encompass the whole body,
Taking one more slow relaxed breath,
Releasing any tension through the body with the exhale,
And when you're ready you can slowly open the eyes and come back into the world around you.
