Deep Release Body Scan Meditation

Hello dear friend and thank you for joining me for today's body scan meditation.

Before we begin,

Please find your way into a comfortable position,

Either seated with your back straight or laying flat.

Have any additional cushions or blankets you may need throughout your practice and most importantly get comfortable.

Together let's begin by meeting on an inhale and taking a deep breath in through the nose and out the mouth.

Using the breath as a guide in transition from our day to day routine into the sacred space of our practice.

Once more,

Inhaling in through the nose and exhaling out the mouth.

Really allowing us and our bodies to ground into this moment.

Please the breath as the guiding force to bring us there.

Continue like this on your own,

Drawing the attention inward by placing your focus on the breath.

Feel free to start exhaling out of your nose to transition into a smoother rhythmic breathing.

Inhaling in,

Inhaling through the nose.

At this moment,

I'd like for you to begin to draw your attention to the breath.

Drawing your attention into your body and start gently guiding the awareness from the tip of your head down through your neck to your chest,

Belly or back,

Pelvic bone,

Thighs,

Knees,

Calves,

Ankles and feet.

Then reversing and beginning to bring the awareness back up through each part of the body.

Noticing where you may have any lingering pain,

Tension,

Any stiffness.

Paying attention as you go up through the fingertips,

Hands,

Forearms,

Shoulders,

Neck,

And then bringing down the attention to the tip of the nose and just allowing the breath to merge into the background.

Allowing a force greater than yourself to take care of the breath.

Noticing how it goes on its own,

Cycling through,

That you're having to think about it.

It's just automatic like that.

Then as you bring your attention to your nose,

Just begin to notice the space around your nose and the space that it takes up.

Breathe into any discomfort,

Acknowledging it,

Accepting it.

Moving our attention now to our eyes,

Our eyelids,

And our eyeballs.

With every breath in,

We just feel space expanding around our eyes,

Noticing the space that our eyeballs and our eyes take up.

And the exhale allowing them to fall deeper into our sockets,

Deeper into that space.

Noticing any tension we may be holding in our eyes,

Any strain in the day.

Oftentimes in this modern,

Fast-paced world,

We go about staring days on end at screens,

Not even noticing the impact it can have on the gentle eyes that allow us to see and mirror the divine into the world.

Now gently taking that attention and focus and moving it down from the eyes to the ears,

Gently moving back and noticing the space around our ears and our earlobes.

Noticing attention to any sounds and how they're making us feel.

Moving into that space around our ears,

The space that they take up.

Gently guide that focus now to your forehead,

The top of your head,

And your skull.

Notice if you have any tension there,

Acknowledge that tension,

Allow the breath to create space for that tension,

Accepting it and releasing it with exhales.

Gently moving into the space around our skull,

Releasing any tension.

Any tension that we have carrying through the day,

Any strain of any to-do lists,

Any things or shoulds that we carry with us,

Just letting that go on the exhale.

Now gently begin to move the focus down to your jaw and feel into the space of your jaw.

Notice how it feels and continue through the steps of acknowledging,

Accepting and releasing.

Accepting and accepting any tension or inner resistance you may be feeling on an inhale.

And releasing any of that tension through the nose on the exhale.

Moving down and bringing that attention to the neck now,

Into the back of the neck,

The collar bones,

The tops of the shoulders,

A place where many of us hold tension.

And just breathing in and feeling it,

Approaching it with compassion and acceptance.

We often hold emotional traumas or triggers of the past within our body in knots and stress points.

And when we begin to acknowledge this pain and tension with practices such as meditation,

We can begin to notice just how much release we can get through the mere acknowledgement of our soul's communication,

Our body's way of telling us we need to pay attention to ourselves.

Something is out of work.

And gently continuing to guide the attention past the neck and shoulders,

Through the shoulder blades,

Down the arms,

To the elbows,

To the chest,

Into the lungs and the heart space.

And this is a tender point for many of us.

Our hearts go through so much in this world and they're so tender.

The truth is,

Hearts are also so beautifully and divinely strong and resilient.

Allowing ourselves to breathe into our hearts space and acknowledging any of that tension or pain we hold inside.

Accepting it for at one point it did serve us.

For at one point it had a place in our lives,

But right now we can release it.

And just continuing to breathe throughout the process,

If you notice yourself getting caught up in thoughts along the way,

Grasping onto them like the strings of balloons,

It's okay.

Just gently direct your attention back to your body and yourself in this present moment.

Continue to draw your attention down your forearms and into your hands and knuckles and fingertips.

Breathe into those areas and notice the space around them.

Create the space and allow yourself to feel it.

Expanding and blurring the lines between the outside and the inside.

Draw that focus further down now and bring it down through the middle back and the belly and into the lower back and lower belly.

All the way down to your pelvis noticing any tension you have throughout that space,

Throughout those organs that hold you through your core.

Allow yourself to fully expand into your belly with every inhale,

Giving yourself permission to truly fill in through that space,

Allowing your body to expand and take up oxygen,

Take up space.

You are worthy of it.

You are worthy of that space.

You can acknowledge,

Accept,

And release any tension from your belly,

From your back,

From your shoulders.

Continue to draw your attention down past your pelvis through your buttocks and down both your thighs and hamstrings,

Filling into the muscles of your legs and allowing your body to relax and release any tension held in those muscles.

Exhaling and releasing our attention on the space created with the inhale,

The space where the tension is held,

The space around the thigh and the hamstring,

The space they take up.

And exhaling and releasing into that space that you've created by releasing the tension.

Continue to draw that attention down through the knees and the shins and the calves,

Breathing in to any pain in the knees,

The back of the knees,

The joints,

The shins,

The shin bones,

The calf muscles.

Acknowledging,

Accepting,

And releasing any tension we feel.

Continuing down into our ankles,

Tops of our feet,

Our heels,

And our toes,

We complete our body scan by focusing on that part of us that helps us get through the world the most.

And that part of us that is easily overlooked and doesn't get much acknowledgement.

Our feet,

Be truly curious through this journey of life.

And if you feel any tension or emotions coming from your feet,

Just a loud breath to guide you through acknowledging it,

Accepting and releasing into the space.

The space of your feet.

Now gently begin to expand your focus out to your entire being as a whole and just noticing yourself and the entirety of the space around you and within you.

Noticing how your body feels now compared to once you started.

Just noticing at this point,

Our bodies feel lighter.

There's a bit more peace in us than when we started.

Begin to draw the focus back into the breath by drawing in deeper inhales in through the nose and out through the mouth or through the nose.

The bigger the livery,

The deeper the space you choose.

Bringing your attention back to your body and keeping it very free.

Pay your attention back to your body,

On your mat,

Or on your seat,

Wherever you may be.

Take a moment before stepping back out into the world to appreciate and send gratitude out to yourself.

For taking this time today for self love,

Self acknowledgement,

And self healing.

Feel free to come back to this practice as many times as you like and whenever you want to release tension you hold inside your being.

I hope you have an absolutely wonderful day or night wherever you may be.

And remember,

No matter who you are and where you are,

You always have the choice to breathe and ground.