Body Scan Practice For Reconnecting Mind, Body & Spirit

This is a gentle body scan practice to help you relax and re-center yourself. Perfect for beginners or advanced mindfulness practitioners wanting a calming meditation session to reconnect mind, body & spirit.

Transcript

Okay,

So just allow yourself to settle into the space where you are here and now.

You're welcome to close your eyes or find a nice soft focus,

Whatever feels right for you today.

And then you're welcome either to keep your hands together,

Perhaps in your lap,

Or resting either palms up or palms down on your legs or on your knees.

Again,

Whatever feels right,

Whatever's calling you at this moment.

Let's just allow ourselves to come into the presence of this space where we are here and now at this moment.

Noticing our bodies,

Noticing the connection of our bodies with the floor or the chair,

Wherever we're seated.

And from here,

Let's start to connect with our breath.

So let's take a nice deep inhalation through the nose and then release it out through the mouth with a sigh.

Beautiful.

We'll do another one just like that.

In through the nose and release it out through the mouth.

One more just like that.

In through the nose and out through the mouth.

Beautiful.

From here,

We'll just start to really settle in and connect with our bodies.

So let's do a bit of a body scan.

So this time,

Bringing our focus internally with our mind's eye.

Let's start with the top of the crown of our head.

So just bring your attention there.

Just notice how you're feeling at this moment.

And then as we scan down through the body,

Just allow yourself to relax and let everything go.

So as you're scanning,

Perhaps imagine almost like thick warm honey sort of traveling down from the top of your head all the way down,

Just melting and releasing everything.

So scanning down through the forehead,

Through the cheeks,

And through the jaw,

Releasing any tension or bubbles of energy as you scan down through the back of the neck,

The front of the neck.

Continuing to scan down through the shoulders and the chest,

Down the arms,

Through the elbows,

The forearms,

The wrists and fingers,

Just melting everything away,

Any tension,

Any gripping,

Any tightening.

Continuing to scan down through the chest and through the torso,

Releasing the belly or any tension in the abdominal muscles and perhaps even the lower back.

Continuing to scan down through the hips,

Releasing any bubbles of energy there.

Continuing to scan through the quadriceps and the hamstrings,

The upper part of the legs,

Down through the knees,

The calves and the shins,

All the way down through the ankles,

The feet and the toes,

Just allowing everything to melt into the earth beneath you.

And then starting to connect with our breath,

Breathing in and out through the nose,

Breathing slowly and deeply,

Allowing yourself just to relax and let everything go.

Perhaps check in with yourself,

See if there's anything that's calling your attention or focus.

Allow yourself to go to that place and give yourself permission to let that go as well.

Any cause for tension or uneasiness,

Just let it go.

At this moment,

All you need to worry about is being present and aware of where you are at this moment.

And then we'll bring our mind's eye and our focus and attention on the breathing in and out of our breath.

So allowing your mind to rest on that breath experience,

Noticing the sensation of the breath as it moves in and out of the body,

Perhaps noticing the breath as it enters through the nose.

Is there a sensation or a temperature at the tip of the nose or the nostrils?

Perhaps noticing the feeling as the breath enters in through the nose and down through the throat and into the lungs.

What does that sensation feel like for you?

And then perhaps noticing the expansion and contraction of the lungs as the breath moves in and out.

Again,

Breathing really slowly and deeply.

Perhaps noticing the chest or the rib cage,

Gentle rise and fall.

You're also welcome to count the breaths.

So as you're breathing in,

You're welcome to count on a beat of one,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And then as you release the breath and exhale,

Perhaps increasing the length of your exhalations so they're a little longer than the inhalations.

So perhaps counting to yourself on a beat of one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

You're welcome to keep that attention and focus on the counting of your breath if that feels right.

Or you're also just welcome to rest your mind on the sensation of that breath,

Breathing in and out.

And I'll allow us to rest on that silence and that sensation for the next few moments.

We're kept in this rabid state,

And now we can see how so things even have matured.

You understand?

If the mind begins to wander or something tries to grab your attention,

Just gently bring it back to the focus and attention on the breath.

Breathing in and out.

Breathing in and out.

If there's anything that's causing any tension or anxiety or distraction or uneasiness,

Just see if perhaps you can breathe in a little deeper into that space.

Being very kind and compassionate to yourself,

Just coming back to the focus and attention on the breath.

Breathing in and out.

Breathing in and out.

And on your next inhale,

Allowing yourself to breathe in a little bit deeper,

Lengthening the inhalation and exhalation.

Starting to breathe into the space that you've created for yourself,

Allowing that oxygen to revitalize and re-energize your body.

Imagining the air,

Coming in and entering the body and going out to each and every one of your cells,

Reawakening and revitalizing every part of your being.

And then ever so gently and mindfully,

We'll start to come back into the space where we are here and now,

Connecting our minds,

Our bodies,

And our spirits to this place.

Bringing our present awareness into the connection of our body,

Noticing how it feels at this moment compared to perhaps how it felt when we first began our practice.

Once again,

Just taking a quick inventory and a scan,

So starting at the top of the head,

Scanning down through the body,

Noticing how everything feels.

And from here,

We'll just start to very gently wiggle the fingers,

Wiggle the toes,

Starting to awaken and come back to this place where we are.

And gradually starting to make that movement a little bit larger,

So perhaps flexing the fingers,

Flexing the toes,

Maybe moving the wrists,

Flexing the feet,

Maybe rotating the wrists or the ankles.

And again,

Just ever so gently increasing that movement,

Listening to your own bodies,

Allowing it to tell you exactly what it needs,

Perhaps stretching the back of the spine and rounding into a beautiful cat stretch position,

Or perhaps lifting and looking up and rounding the back,

Lifting up and looking towards the ceiling,

Doing a few more at your own pace,

Whatever feels right for you.

And then coming back to a nice neutral position.

From here,

We'll bring our hands to our heart center in a prayer position,

And let's start to awaken,

Re-energize by rubbing the hands together,

Creating some energy,

Waking everything up.

Once you feel that warmth and the sensation that you're creating,

Let's bring the hands,

Cupping them over the eyes,

Just allowing yourself while your eyes are still closed to breathe into that space you've created.

And then from here,

We'll just gently flutter the eyes open,

Taking an inventory of where you are.

Once you feel ready,

You're welcome to bring the hands back down,

Just coming back into the room,

Noticing what you notice,

Perhaps rolling the shoulders back and down,

And then rolling the shoulders forward,

Perhaps moving the head,

So let's look up towards the ceiling and bring the head back down,

Chin towards the chest,

And again,

Looking back up,

And back down,

Chin towards the chest.

One more just like that,

Looking up,

And then looking down,

And from here,

Let's do a few half circles,

So bring one ear over one shoulder,

And then gently rotating forward to the other shoulder.

Do a few more like that at your own pace,

Very gentle and easy.

And then when that feels complete,

You're welcome to come back into a nice neutral position.

Let's lengthen our spines,

So starting with the top of the crown of the head,

Lifting up towards the ceiling,

Rolling the shoulders back and down,

Noticing your alignment,

So head,

Neck,

And shoulders directly over the hips,

Feeling the rooted connected energy with the earth beneath you through the sit bones.

Taking a few more deep breaths here,

So breathing in through the nose,

Releasing out through the mouth with a sigh.

One more just like that,

In through the nose,

Releasing out through the mouth,

And just to close our practice,

We'll bring our hands together once again in prayer right in front of our heart center,

In gratitude and appreciation for taking the time for ourselves to care and nurture for what we need.

Thank you all for joining me today.

I hope you have a beautiful rest of the afternoon.

Bowing forward with love and light.

Namaste.

Reviews

Totally and completely relaxing!!🙌🏼

Would advise this as a morning mediation. Loved it! Thank you