Body Scan For Relieving Anxiety And Tension

So whether you're sitting up in a chair or lying down just coming to a comfortable position with your spine straight somewhere where you can be relaxed and alert and if you're comfortable to please close your eyes if you'd rather not you can leave your eyes open and just relax your gaze and just feeling your body noticing the points of contact between your body and the chair or the ground feeling the weight of your hips and your feet and feeling yourself being supported notice your breath coming in and leaving your body just notice where you can feel the breath most for some of us this might be the tip of our nose it could be the back of your throat maybe in your chest or your tummy as it rises and falls with the breath and we're going to take control of our breath now to take a few deep inhales and long slow exhales so as you're ready breathing in extending your in breath filling your lungs and your belly with breath and as you breathe out breathing out slowly a long slow exhale releasing all your air letting go and we can take a couple more breaths like this breathing in deep and full filling your lungs and your belly with breath and when you're full feeling the sensations of fullness and then as you're ready breathing out slowly releasing all your air letting go letting go and we'll take one more breath like this breathing in deeply filling the lungs and the belly with breath feeling the sensations of fullness and when you're ready releasing your air exhaling slowly letting go and you can allow your breath now to return to its natural rhythm no need to control it in any way once again just bringing your awareness to your body sitting or lying down we'll begin by bringing our attention to the top of our head we'll begin by bringing our attention to the top of our head feeling our scalp the life inside underneath the skin feeling the area around your eyes and your forehead your cheeks when you breathe in breathing into this part of your face and as you breathe out releasing any tension or holding that's there we'll let our awareness now come down to our jaw feeling our jaw bone our chin just noticing what this area of the face is like is there any tension or tightness feeling the teeth the mouth the whole jaw when you breathe in breathing into this area of your face and as you breathe out releasing and letting go any tension any holding that's there any holding that's there and we'll bring our awareness now down to fill our neck filling the whole neck with your awareness the inside the front the back feeling the whole volume of your neck just noticing what the life is like inside this part of your body as you breathe in filling your throat and your neck with breath and as you breathe out releasing letting go seeing can you relax this part of your body even a little bit more we'll bring our awareness then down into our shoulders feeling the life inside your shoulders filling the shoulders with your awareness from the collarbones at the front to the shoulder blades at the back from inside to outside your whole shoulders full of awareness and once again when we breathe in filling your shoulders with breath and as you breathe out relax your shoulders down let go of any tension or anything that you're holding here letting our awareness then travel down into our arms filling the tops of our neck and arms filling the tops of our arms the elbows our lower arms our wrists and our hands feeling the volume and the weight of our arms as they hang from our shoulders and feeling the life inside the hands notice what the physical sensations are like is there any coolness warmth any moving feeling light or heavy and as you breathe in filling your arms and your hands with breath and as you breathe out seeing can you relax this part of your body even a little bit more bringing our attention then into our chest feel the space in your chest feel the space around the heart just notice what this area of your body is like is it light or heavy soft or hard do you notice any emotional life in this part of your body feel the breath come in and leave the chest just noticing how this area feels so now as we breathe in filling the whole chest with your breath from front to back the heart and the lungs and as you breathe out releasing any tension or anything that's difficult anything you're holding here you might want to do this a couple of times breathing in filling the chest with air and breathing out releasing anything you're holding anything that's there and letting your awareness then come down to fill your belly your middle belly and your lower belly and just noticing how is this part of your body today in this moment noticing if there are any areas of your body that are difficult to feel into and just being with that not trying to push or to change just being with whatever is there filling our belly with awareness breathing down into our belly and as we breathe in we can see can we soften the belly and the inbreath and as we breathe out releasing any tension any feeling that's difficult to hold there and again as you breathe in seeing can you soften your belly on your inbreath and breathing out releasing any tension relaxing your belly even a little bit more bringing our awareness then down to fill our pelvis feeling the weight of your pelvis feeling the back of your pelvis the kidneys the front of your pelvis filling your whole pelvis and hip area with your awareness as you breathe in filling your whole pelvis with breath and as you breathe out see can you relax and release any tension you may be holding in this part of your body feeling now where your legs meet your hips and letting your awareness travel down into your legs feeling your legs hanging heavy from your hips feeling the top of your leg your knee your calf your shin filling the whole volume of your legs with your awareness and as you breathe in directing your breath into your legs and as you breathe out seeing can you relax your legs even a little bit more allowing your awareness then to move into your ankles and into your feet feeling your heel the bottom of your foot the ball of your foot the top of your foot your 10 toes imagining all the little bones inside your feet breathing in filling your feet with breath and as you breathe out seeing can you relax your feet and allow the support of the ground beneath you we can open our awareness now to include our whole body feeling your whole body as it rests in this moment noticing once again if there are any areas of tightness tension or anywhere that might relax a little bit more and as you breathe in breathing into these places and as you breathe out relaxing your whole body letting go just resting your awareness then with your breath just notice the breath as it comes in and as it leaves your body no need to control it or change it in any way no need to control it or change it in any way see can you rest your attention with your body and the breath feeling the field of awareness that is the space inside and just around your body and the feeling of the breath moving in this space and slowly now bringing your attention back into your the room that you're in noticing the sounds inside the room feeling yourself as you rest sitting or lying down and we can slowly begin to deepen our breath now bringing the breath down into the lower belly and exhaling a long deep exhale bringing your awareness to yourself resting in the room that you're in fill your hands and your feet with your awareness and as you're ready you can begin to bring some movement wiggling your fingers your toes slowly and gently bring your attention back into the room and when you're ready you can open your eyes