Soothing Progressive Total Body Relaxation. 40 min Wind-Down for Stress or Sleep.

Hello,

My name is Beth Burgess and welcome to this soothing mindfulness body scan.

You can use this to relax before bed or whenever you need to completely de-stress.

Let's begin.

So just start by getting yourself really comfortable now.

And you can allow your eyes to gently close.

As you become aware of your breathing and the rising and falling of your abdomen.

As you breathe gently and naturally.

And as you notice the rising and falling.

Become aware of your whole body.

You may become aware of the gentle heaviness of your body as it rests in the place you are right now.

Notice the meeting points between the body and the surface that you are on.

And notice how gravity is supporting you completely and fully.

And I don't know if you already noticed that by becoming aware of your body and being mindful can actually help you to relax deeply.

As you are drawn into yourself and away from the cares of the outside world.

Taking some time to get to know your body and how it feels is a kindness that you are giving to yourself.

So just mentally validate yourself for doing a kind thing.

And for allowing yourself to build resilience over time.

So start by gently bringing your awareness to the very top of your head and notice any feelings that you hold there.

Maybe you notice there is a certain tightness in your scalp.

And if there is any tightness or pain,

Allow yourself to breathe into that part of the body.

Allow it to relax.

And now on your next in breath,

Bring all that oxygen into the top of your head.

Feel it streaming gently through the nostrils and flowing into the top of your scalp.

And allow your body the nourishment it needs.

As you breathe out,

Allow all the stress to be released from that part of your body.

And as you do that,

Feel the scalp gently soften.

And the muscles relaxing.

And as you feel the waves of tension in your scalp disappear.

Allow that relaxing feeling to slowly flow down over your brows.

Down the sides of your face.

And just gently soften your eyes.

And the tension you feel in your eyes just gently melted away.

Now bring your awareness to your cheekbones.

Many of us hold a lot of tension and stress.

And notice the feeling there.

Maybe you feel that the muscles are tight.

On the side of your jaw,

Your cheekbones.

Just see what happens when you gently breathe in.

And bring healing breaths to that area.

As you breathe out,

Notice the muscles around your cheekbones and jaw relax.

Feel the face softening as you relax.

And if your jaw is still a little tight,

Just continue breathing.

Sending the healing oxygen to the muscles to melt away the tension.

As you breathe in and out,

Feeling your body relaxing more and more.

That tension will just disappear and melt away.

As we go further down the body,

Bring some mindful attention to your neck and your throat.

Maybe the back of your neck feels slightly more tense than the front.

And bring another healing in-breath.

Bring all that nourishment that the body needs,

The healing oxygen,

Into the muscles of the neck.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your neck to soften.

Let the muscles become loose.

Breathe out the stress.

As you breathe the tension away,

You may feel that the muscles in your neck feel lighter.

Looser.

Just notice what it feels like to relax that stress away.

All by yourself.

Notice that you have the power to do this just by using your own breath anytime you want.

All we're doing is being mindful of the feelings we already hold in our body and allowing those feelings to soften.

So now allow your awareness to gently drift down to your shoulders.

And notice how you're holding your shoulders.

Are they tight?

Could you loosen them a little more?

Just notice.

Maybe one shoulder is slightly more relaxed than the other.

So notice whichever shoulder is holding the most tension.

And bring a deep healing in-breath into the shoulder,

Transporting the oxygen there.

And let the muscles relax.

You may want to give your shoulders a little wiggle.

To let the muscles just drop down into a naturally relaxed position.

And feel the muscles smoothing out.

And do the same with the other shoulder.

Breathing deeply.

Healing in-breath.

Directing all the nourishment,

That oxygen,

To the other shoulder.

And as you breathe out,

Exhale all the stress and tension.

Let it go.

And allow that shoulder to become comfortable.

Now let your awareness flow down into the top of your back and your chest.

Notice that as your awareness moves,

You can spread the relaxation.

It can move all by itself,

Just flowing through.

Like a massaging hand.

And you can do this just by focusing on your body.

Spending it time and attention.

You're already treating it with kindness and allowing it to relax.

Become aware of how as you breathe and as you spread your awareness down over the shoulder blades.

Down the spine.

And down the chest.

Right through the middle of your body.

Through your core.

You can actually feel the heart soften.

Notice it doing its job.

Keeping you alive.

And breathing.

And as you become aware of that heart space that's all yours.

Take a moment to feel the compassion and mercy.

And the care that your heart holds.

Enjoy those lovely feelings deep in your heart.

And take a moment to feel grateful towards your heart.

For keeping you alive.

And never tiring in its work.

For being persistent.

Allowing you to experience life.

So thank your heart.

As it beats deep in your chest.

Spreading all feelings of relaxation.

With its comforting thump,

Thump,

Thump.

Spreading compassion.

Mercy.

And kindness.

Your entire body.

And as you feel that warm feeling held by your heart.

Revisit the top of your head.

Your jaws.

Your cheekbones.

And your eyes.

Making sure that they're still comfortable and relaxed.

And pay another visit to your neck.

Your throat.

And your shoulders.

Relaxing those muscles even more.

So you're doubling the relaxation.

Breathe deeply into any areas where you still feel tension.

And relax them even further.

Now as you move your attention further down your body.

Trace that feeling of relaxation.

As it moves down your spine.

Vertebrae by vertebrae.

A trickle of relaxation.

Smoothing away any tension.

Bringing further relaxation as you breathe in and out.

Now gently bring your awareness down to your belly.

Feel the rise and fall of the abdomen.

Rising and falling.

And you can just notice.

If you're feeling any stress or tension in your belly.

Does it feel tight or taut or a little knotted?

Just feel any sensations that you notice.

In the abdomen and the stomach.

And take a deep breath in.

And as you breathe in.

Breathe down into your belly.

Deeply into your belly.

Sending the healing breath into the muscles of the belly.

Allowing them to relax.

And notice any tension you're feeling there melting away.

And as you breathe out again.

Feel the stress leave in your body.

And maybe you can just notice now.

Your stomach has a feeling of stillness.

Deep inside.

A calmness below the rising and falling.

And notice how still it is underneath.

Inside of you as you let go of all the stress.

As you let go of all you've been carrying around throughout the day.

And breathe in calm and relaxation into your belly.

And releasing all your cares,

All your worries and relaxing the muscles down.

And just be mindful of how it feels to have a calm and relaxed stomach.

How it feels when you consciously let go and fill your body with relaxation.

And if at any time your stomach tenses again just breathe again gently deeply into the stomach.

Making it soft and loose and relaxed.

As with all mindfulness practice is the important thing.

And if you aren't able to completely let go just be mindful of the feelings and sensations you have.

Let go and the ones you still retain.

Because maybe you can learn to relax even more next time.

And just continue to bring your awareness to mindfully concentrate again and again on relaxing those muscles.

Breathing into the stomach.

Filling yourself with calmness and peace.

And now bring your awareness to your arms.

Mindfully scanning the arms.

Right from the upper arms down through the elbows into the lower arms.

Noticing any sensations of tightness.

And letting them loosen.

Bring your awareness down through the wrists and into your hands.

And one hand maybe slightly warmer than the other.

Notice the feelings in your fingertips.

Any gentle tingling.

Maybe you can feel the softness of the air in the spaces between your fingers.

And take a deep breath in.

And as you breathe in feel that breath flowing through your arms.

All the way down into your fingertips.

Bringing relaxation.

Feeling your hands loosen and flop.

Just a little bit more.

As the muscles relax.

And as you breathe out feel all the tension gently melting away.

Breathing in.

Calmness and relaxation.

Breathing out all tension.

As you soften,

Loosen and relax.

And now bring that awareness into the pelvic region and the behind.

Feel your sitting bones gently resting on the chair or bed or floor.

Bringing your awareness down through the thighs.

And down through the knees.

Slowly feeling the tension melting away with each breath.

Notice the muscles in your calves.

Notice the ankles.

Breathing in calm.

Into the muscles.

Into the bones.

And breathing out all stress and tension.

And bring your awareness into your feet.

Noticing your toes.

Perhaps feeling a subtle tingling of energy in your toes.

And just breathe.

Breathing into your legs,

Your ankles,

Your feet and your toes.

Breathing breaths.

With each breath bringing more calm,

More peace and more relaxation.

Letting the relaxation all through the lower half of your body.

Not neglecting one single toe.

Letting the relaxation to flow from toe to toe to toe to toe.

And as you breathe out,

Let all the tension in the lower half of your body just go.

As you relax each muscle all the way down.

Relaxing the thighs.

Loosening the joints of the knees.

Letting the calves become heavy and loose with relaxation.

Bringing the breath all the way down to the ankles.

Into the feet.

And the toes.

Feeling every part of the leg with a wonderful relaxation.

And finally,

Just become aware of your whole body.

Unmindful of how you have changed.

How you have calmed.

How you have relaxed yourself and healed yourself.

How you have changed feelings of tension into relaxation.

Feeling your whole body.

As a whole,

Living,

Breathing entity.

With the heart at the core.

And thank your heart on final time for all it does for you.

For keeping this body going.

For holding loving feelings.

And for letting the body relax.

And finally,

Focusing on the breath and feeling mindfully grateful for your breath.

The power of its healing.

The power it has to soothe.

To heal.

And to relax your body.

Notice the rise and fall of your breath.

Consistent,

Persistent,

Life-giving.

Healing each and every cell.

Nourishing every part of you.

Notice its calming nature.

And know that any time you wish to let go,

You can just return to the breath.

And finally,

Thanking yourself for taking this time to relax.

Namaste.

End of meditation.