So whatever position you're in,
Just start by making sure that you're comfortable and feel free to grab anything extra that's going to help you to be even more comfortable.
I just noticed I'm a bit cold,
So I'm going to put a shawl over my legs and then feel free to go ahead and take three really long,
Deep breaths here,
If it's okay to do so.
Meaning if you're not going to alarm any family,
Friends,
Or pets,
Feel free to make any sounds that feel good to you on the exhale.
So that could be like an ahhh.
And with these longer,
Deeper breaths,
We can just appreciate how the body naturally wants to drop down even further into the floor,
Surrendering to the ground,
To gravity.
So we're going to go through this body scan kind of quickly.
This is a Yoga Nidra inspired body scan.
And the reason why we move through quickly is because we don't want to give the thinking mind too much space to take over.
So we just keep reminding ourselves to come back to the body,
To what can be felt just now.
So we'll start with the very top of the head,
Sensations here.
Feeling sensations at the sides and back of the head.
If you're laying down,
The pressure of the head against what it's resting on.
Noticing sensations in the forehead,
The eyebrows,
Eyelids,
And eyelashes.
Feeling sensations in the cheeks.
And now I invite you to become aware of the lips,
Top and bottom lip.
Sensations here.
And the whole internal cavity of the mouth,
Inner cheeks,
Top and bottom row of teeth,
And the tongue.
Sensations here.
Becoming aware of the jaw and chin.
Noticing sensations in the neck and throat.
Becoming aware of the left shoulder sensations.
The left upper arm,
The left elbow,
And the left lower arm.
Becoming aware of the left wrist and hand.
And noticing sensations in the left thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky finger.
Becoming aware now of the whole of the left hand and its fingers,
And the whole of the left arm,
Its wrist,
Hand,
And fingers.
Sensations here.
Becoming aware now of the right shoulder,
The right upper arm,
The right elbow,
And the right lower arm.
Feeling sensations in the right wrist and hand,
And noticing the right thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger,
And pinky finger.
Noticing sensations in the whole of the right hand and its fingers,
And including the whole of the right arm,
Its wrist,
Hand,
And fingers,
The whole of the right arm,
Sensations.
Inviting you now to become aware of both the whole of the left arm and the whole of the right arm together as sensations.
And then becoming aware of the upper back,
The middle back,
And sensations in the lower back,
Noticing the upper chest,
The middle of the torso,
And the lower belly,
The abdomen.
Sensations here.
Aware of movement as the breath comes and goes.
Aware of the whole of the back and the whole of the front of the torso,
Sensations.
Becoming aware of the whole of the upper body,
Torso,
Arms,
Neck,
And head,
The whole of the upper body,
Feeling.
Now I invite you to drop down into the hips,
The pelvic area,
And the genitals,
Sensations here.
Aware of the left upper leg,
The left knee,
And the left lower leg,
Noticing sensations in the left ankle and the left foot and its toes,
Sensations here in the left foot and toes.
And then becoming aware of the whole of the left leg,
Its ankle,
Foot,
And toe,
Feeling sensation.
And then becoming aware of the right upper leg,
The right knee,
And the right lower leg,
Sensations here.
Noticing sensations that can be felt in the right ankle and the right foot and its toes.
Becoming aware now of the whole of the right leg,
Its ankle,
Foot,
And toes,
The whole of the right leg.
Broadening now to include the whole of the lower body,
The whole of the lower body as sensation.
Becoming aware now of the whole of the left side of the body from head to toe,
Sensations across the whole of the left side of the body.
Noticing now what can be felt in the whole of the right side of the body from toe to head,
The right side.
And now becoming aware of the whole of the left and the whole of the right side of the body together,
The sensations,
The left and the right side together.
Inviting you now to just notice somewhere in the body that feels cold or cool,
Somewhere where the temperature is a bit cool or cold.
Noticing sensations of temperature here.
And then becoming aware of somewhere in the body that's warm or hot,
Somewhere where there's heat in the body.
Feeling that sense of temperature.
Noticing now both the cold and the hot together as sensations,
Aware of coolness and warmth together.
Becoming aware now of the whole of the back plane of the body.
If you're laying down,
Noticing the contact with the ground across the whole of the back plane of the body,
Sensations here.
And then feeling sensations across the whole of the front of the body,
From head to toe,
The whole of the front of the body.
Becoming sensitive now to the whole of the back and the whole of the front of the body together as sensation.
Sensitive to the whole body,
Breathing in,
Sensitive to the whole body,
Breathing out.
Sensations coming and going in the whole of the body.
Inviting you now to just notice where in your body that feels pleasant,
Where there's sensations that are pleasant to you,
Comfortable,
Enjoyable,
Even softness,
Warmth,
Tingling,
Energy.
Resting somewhere that's pleasant.
Could even be the absence of pain,
Somewhere where you sometimes feel pain.
Opening to pleasant sensations in the body.
Inviting now awareness of sensations in the body that are unpleasant,
Maybe even painful,
Aching,
Unpleasant sensations,
Tension,
Stabbing,
Heat.
Gently exploring unpleasant sensations.
And now I invite you to hold both the pleasant and the unpleasant together as sensation,
The pleasant and the unpleasant.
And finally,
We can also explore places of neutrality,
Somewhere where there's an absence of sensation,
Or there are sensations,
But they're neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
Finding somewhere where there's neutral sensation and just resting there for a few breaths.
Resting in neutrality,
Neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
And beginning to connect with the breath.
Breathing into all the sensations,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
And neutral.
A whole rich tapestry of sensations changing all the time across the whole of the body.
We'll just have a couple of minutes of quiet time to stay with the body as it is just now.
This dynamic,
Diaphanous cloud of sensations ever changing.
Sensitive to the whole body.
Sensitive to the whole body.
It's an invitation to very gently begin to deepen the breath.
Taking a few nice,
Slow,
Deep breaths if that's comfortable.
And as you feel ready,
Beginning to very gently,
Slowly wiggle fingers and toes.
Feeling sensations here as we bring some movement into the fingers and toes.
And then letting that spread into the ankles and wrists,
Maybe doing some rotations here of wrists and ankles,
Both directions.
Seeing how that feels,
Bringing some energy in.
And then in your own time,
Stretching arms and legs.
Making any sounds that feel good to you.
Maybe a yawn or a sigh.
And if you're laying down,
Pulling the knees into the chest.
You could do a few rocking motions here,
Bringing some gentle massage to the back.
Feeling that pressure with the ground.
And then just gently rolling over onto your side for a moment.
Taking a few breaths here.
And then slowly starting to lift yourself up to seated.
Thank you.
