Scanning the Body and Calming the Mind.
This exercise also includes a modified body scan.
It was designed to give you guidance for improving your ability to use this mode of breathing as one possibility for creating greater awareness of your body.
Guiding the abdominal muscles toward a more relaxed mode of breathing.
So,
First,
To help you locate the focus of abdominal breathing,
We're going to do the following.
Getting into a comfortable sitting or lying down position and making sure that your spine is straight but not stiff.
First,
We're going to take a big deep breath.
Breathe in with me.
And breathe out.
And breathe in with me.
And breathe out.
And now,
We're going to find our gentle place,
Our mode of breathing that's going to be helpful for us.
So,
Trying this.
Breathing in through the nose and while doing this,
Pushing the muscles of your abdomen lightly outwards.
And when you blow the air out through the mouth,
Pulling your abdomen gently in so that it comes to its original position.
Breathe in through the nose.
And breathe out slowly through the mouth.
And breathing in through the nose.
And while releasing the breath,
Pulling your abdomen lightly in.
Now,
While breathing in slowly,
Imagine for a moment that you are blowing the breath out into the upper right part of your body.
Imagine that the air is flowing into the right side of your torso,
Into your right shoulder,
Into your right upper arm,
Into your right lower arm,
Into your right hand,
Into all of the fingers on your right hand.
Now breathing in.
And breathing out while letting the breath flow into the right part of your upper torso.
The entire right side of your upper body is becoming more and more relaxed.
And now breathing your thoughts,
Bringing your thoughts back to your abdomen and breathing in and out a couple times.
With me.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Noticing how with every inhalation your abdomen is becoming more and more relaxed.
And now breathe in slowly and while breathing out slowly,
Imagine for a moment that you are blowing the breath out into the upper left part of your body.
Imagine that the air is flowing into the left side of your torso,
Into your left shoulder,
Into your left upper arm,
Into your left lower arm,
Into your left hand,
And into all of the fingers on your left hand.
The entire left side of your body will be becoming warmer and more relaxed with every breath.
So breathe in with me.
And release the breath out.
And breathing in with me.
And releasing the breath into the upper left part of your body.
Now bringing your thoughts back to your abdomen,
Breathing in and out a couple times with me.
Noticing how with every inhalation your abdomen is becoming warmer and with every exhalation more and more relaxed.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And breathe in and release the breath.
Now,
Breathe in slowly and while breathing out slowly,
Imagine for a moment that you are blowing the breath out into the lower right part of your body.
Imagine that the air is flowing into the right side of your lower body,
Into your right hip and pelvis,
Into your right thigh,
Into your right calf,
Into your right foot,
And into all of the toes on your right foot.
The entire right side of your lower body is becoming warmer with every inhalation and more and more relaxed with every exhalation.
Now with me.
Breathe in.
And release the breath into the lower right side of your body.
Breathe in with me.
And release the breath into the lower right part of your body.
And now,
Bring your thoughts back to your abdomen and breathe in and out a couple of times,
Noticing with every inhalation how your abdomen is getting warmer and with every out-breath more and more relaxed.
Breathe in and let the breath go.
And breathing in and releasing the breath.
Now breathing in slowly and while breathing out slowly,
Imagine for a moment that you are blowing the breath out into the lower left part of your body.
Imagine that the air is flowing into the left side of your lower body,
Into your left hip,
Your left pelvis,
Thigh,
Into your left calf,
Into your left foot,
And into all of the toes on your left foot.
The entire left side of your lower body is becoming warmer with every in-breath and more and more relaxed with every out-breath.
Breathe in with me.
And let the breath go.
And breathing in with me.
And letting the breath flow out into the left side of your lower body.
And now,
Bringing your thoughts back to your abdomen and breathing in and out a couple of times,
Noticing how with every inhalation your abdomen is getting warmer and with every out-breath more and more relaxed.
Breathe in with me.
And breathing out.
And breathing in with me.
And letting the breath go.
Now,
We're going to hear some calming music once again.
Feel free to adjust the volume to fit your own needs.
For example,
Benefiting most from soft background music or maybe fuller volume that helps you feel like your body is being filled with the musical sound or maybe some other musical need that you're experiencing right now.
Just continue to breathe.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
And let the music flow while your breath is flowing.
