Relaxing Body Scan

This meditation takes you on a guided meditation through the body. I invite you to relax and release through all of the muscles and tissues to reduce stress and tension. Perfect for bedtime or anytime you need to relax.

Transcript

Please find yourself a comfortable place to be.

Body scans work really nicely if you're laying down on your back,

But you don't have to be.

You could also be seated,

Whether that's on a chair or on a block or on the earth.

Find a place where you can be comfortable and balanced.

And you can close your eyes here.

Take a moment to settle into your place of choice,

Again whether it's a seat or on the ground.

Let's start with a nice long inhale through the nose.

Take a full exhale through the mouth.

Inhale through nose.

Exhale through the mouth.

Inhale through nose.

Exhale through the mouth.

One last inhale through nose.

Exhale through the mouth.

And continue to breathe in and out through the nose,

No rush in the actual speed of the breath.

You feel this length across the body,

This length in the breath.

Let's start at the crown of the head.

So take your attention to the crown of the head and see if you can just start to relax all the muscles across the top of the head.

We often don't think about the skull as being a place that's very muscular but there are little muscles and nerves all running across the top of the scalp.

We can find some ease in them right here.

Imagine all the hair follicles just relaxing across the top of the head and even down the sides and back.

You feel this ease surrounding the brain,

Surrounding the skull.

Take that attention across the forehead,

Feeling all the little wrinkles smooth out,

The ease between the eyebrows and above the eyebrows.

Notice how even just that movement of smoothing the forehead can help reduce the sense of anxiety or activity.

Let that attention move from the forehead and the eyebrows down actually into the eyes.

Feeling the eyes just relax in the sockets,

Not having to work so hard,

Softening in.

Even the tops of the cheeks and around the temples,

There is ease.

Across the bridge of the nose,

You relax down through the sinuses,

No holding,

Just softening.

Take that attention towards the mouth,

Relaxing the lips,

The teeth,

They might separate an inch,

The tongue,

The soft palate,

All at ease here.

From that mouth,

Bring the attention to the jaw.

So maybe start at the center of the jawline,

Coming all the way up towards the ears,

You feel those sockets relax.

Especially if you are a grinder or a clincher,

Feel a release down,

A softening of any tension or inflammation.

Maybe that ease even makes the ears gently relax.

Who knew you could hold stress in your ears?

From the ease of the ears,

Travel the attention down the sides of the neck,

Relaxing those muscles at the side of the neck,

Across the back of the neck,

In the front of the neck,

In the throat.

Can you feel the throat soften,

The trachea relax,

Even the thyroid,

Not under stress.

Feel that ease across the back of the neck,

Down the spine here on the neck as well as into the tops of the shoulders.

And feel an ease across the tops of the shoulders and down the shoulder blades,

Across the shoulders to the arms as they soften,

The elbows as they relax,

The forearms,

The wrists,

You feel all those bones just relax down.

Even the hands and fingers,

Notice if there is clenching in the fingers,

Can you soften them here.

Take that softness,

Traveling all the way up through the arms once again to the shoulders,

Across the shoulders to the front of the rib cage,

Now the front of the chest,

You feel the clavicle,

The sternum at ease.

So if you imagine your rib cage,

There's all these bones but then there's all these muscles between the bones,

The intercostal muscles that are holding the ribs all together,

Can you relax those.

Feel the softness in the cage surrounding your heart.

And that softness start to travel in,

Across the heart and the lungs.

Notice what you feel here.

Is there room for softness?

Travel that softness down across the diaphragm,

Into the stomach and liver and belly,

All those internal organs.

They're all being held up by the fascia,

This connective tissue that relates to the muscles and is really working all through the center of the body to hold all the organs in place,

Can you find them at ease.

Still doing your job,

Still holding everything as it needs to be,

But relaxed,

Without stress.

As the body travels through the belly,

Across to the low back,

Especially if you get any tightness or discomfort in your low back,

Here's the opportunity to feel the spread across the low back,

The length,

The base of the spine,

Ease right here.

Taking your attention to the bowl of the pelvis,

This piece that holds the two hips together,

Major structural instability center of our body,

Can you find some release there.

Can you feel their firm strength,

But any stress is gone,

Unnecessary holding disappears.

You start to travel the attention down the hips to the thigh bones,

Feel all the muscles around the thighs softening the front and the back,

Across the knees and down the shins,

Softness in towards the ankles,

And then across the feet.

You might even feel the little toes wiggle to softness.

You take your attention to the body as a whole,

Maybe you even step back from the body to see what is in front of you,

To feel the body as a whole connected,

Relaxed at ease,

Filled with immense gratitude for this body of yours,

And it carries you day in and day out,

Whether you're aware of it or not.

Appreciation for this opportunity to see,

Notice,

Feel your body,

And especially the immense power you have to alter the energetic state of your body.

Notice that.

You might choose to stay here to relax in meditation to go to sleep.

And if so,

You stay here.

If it's your intention to get up to move through your day after this meditation,

Let's just start to wiggle the fingers and toes.

Maybe you take the knees little side to side or bend the knees,

Hucking them into your chest.

Feel the breath,

Full and strong.

Then come up to a seated position gently,

Slowly,

There's never a rush of all the time in the world.

Take a full breath in,

A full breath out.

You can press your hands together at your heart,

The light in me so very humbly bows to that same light in you.

Namaste.

Reviews

Unique and inventive body scan. Very effective!

Thank you so much. This is one of my favorite body scans. I loved the thoroughness of it but I didn’t feel rushed. The teacher has a soothing voice. Amazing. I am feeling calmer. Will bookmark and hopefully check out more meditations by this teacher. 💛

Even though she spoke a little fast, well placed pauses made for a nice body scan anyway. Thank you!