Coming into this somatic body scan meditation,
Take your time getting comfortable on either the floor or perhaps your bed,
First sensing the weight of your body into the ground.
And take this opportunity to let go,
Let go of your day,
Let go of worries,
Let any thoughts just pass on by like clouds or perhaps fade to the background.
Tune into the sensations in your body,
What does it feel like to be lying here on this surface?
Without looking,
How is it that you know you're lying down right now and the position that your body is in?
Sense every point of contact of the body with the ground.
Coming down into your feet and your heels,
Feel the weight and contact of the heels with the ground.
Do they feel the same way right to left?
Do they feel different?
Maybe the point where each heel is touching the ground feels different.
Simply take in the felt sense differences.
For our prefrontal cortex to do this job of differentiation,
The rest of our brain must quiet.
So this is helpful for rest and sleep.
We're not looking for symmetry,
Just taking things in as is.
We are asymmetrical spiraling beings and we move efficiently in spirals.
So coming up from those heels and the feet into the calves,
Sense the spread of the calves into the ground,
Every little point of contact.
Take in felt sense differences right to left just as is.
Sometimes these felt sense differences change while you're attending.
Sometimes not.
The weight of the two calves,
Do they feel the same or different?
You might sense one leg releasing from the hip more easily than the other so that calf might feel heavier or they might feel the same weight.
Sometimes it's hard to tell.
Coming up now into the upper legs,
Sense the points of contact between the floor or the bed and your hamstrings.
Sensing differences here right to left.
Feel the spread of the buttocks into the ground.
Deep inside,
Does one buttock remain a little more contracted than the other?
Or are they releasing equally?
Next,
Feel the weight of the pelvic bones and the contact of the whole pelvis with the ground.
Do the two sides of your pelvis feel the same way or different from each other?
Just taking it in as is.
Feel the weight of the pelvic bones and the contact of the pelvis.
Coming up now into the back,
Feel the spilling of all the back ribs down to the floor.
Just practice letting go of every rib.
You may even be sensing the weight of the front ribs letting go toward the floor.
Soft sternum,
Collarbones,
The image of the spilling of the spine toward the ground or the bed.
Now,
I invite you to sense the weight of the whole shoulder girdle into the ground.
Do both sides of the shoulder girdle feel the same weight or different?
Now,
Feel the weight of the shoulder blades falling into the ground beneath them.
Do the shoulder blades feel the same weight or different?
Points of contact of the shoulder blades with the ground or the mat may feel different from side to side.
One might feel bonier.
Just take it in as it is.
Sensing differences or sameness.
Sense the width of the spaces between the inner edges of the shoulder blades and the spine.
How wide or narrow do these spaces feel on either side of the spine?
Do they feel the same width or different?
A trailing of the weight of the shoulders,
The arms,
And the hands to the ground.
Taking in all the contact points and weight.
The felt sense differences right to left just as they are.
I invite you to notice now the weight of the skull.
Allow the ground to receive all of the weight of the skull.
Letting go.
Now,
Feel the weight of the body as a whole.
On the face,
See the image of the mask melting.
The tissues of the face,
All the micromuscles are softening to lengthen along all the bones of the face.
Along the forehead,
Along the brow bone,
Along the cheekbones,
And along the jaw bones.
See the image of the tissues of the throat softening to lengthen towards the feet.
Just being with however the body lives that image and awareness.
Perhaps all the tissues of the scalp can soften.
I invite you to see this image of all the tissues of the body softening to lengthen along all the bones of the body.
Along all of the long bones,
The shorter bones,
The teeny tiny bones.
All tissues softening to lengthen along all the bones of the body.
Perhaps even the skin may soften.
Every part of the surface of the skin inside and out.
Softening.
Now,
See the image of a deep vast space falling open within the pelvic bowl.
However the body is living that image and awareness.
Nothing to do.
A deep vast space falling open within the pelvic bowl.
The image of a vast space falling open at the solar plexus,
The navel center,
In all directions.
Falling open deeply toward the back,
Toward the ceiling,
Right,
Left.
Down toward the pelvis,
Up toward the skull.
Vast space falling open at the solar plexus in all directions like the sun.
Holding on to nothing.
Now the image of a cavernous space softening and opening deep in the base of the skull.
A cavernous space going from ear to ear.
Cavernous space falling open at the base of the skull.
I invite you to sense these three spaces.
The pelvic bowl,
The solar plexus or navel center,
And the base of the skull.
Do these three spaces feel a part of each other today?
Do they feel connected?
Now the image of the cavernous space deep in the base of the skull is falling open to a shaft of space all the way from the base of the skull down to the heels.
Cavernous space at the base of the skull falling open to a shaft of space from the base of the skull to the heels.
Now the image of the jaw spaces softening open at the hinges of the jaw.
Deeply inward and outward at the same time.
Jaw spaces falling open.
The image of window-like spaces falling open in between each vertebra.
From the tip of your tail to the top of your spine,
In between your ears.
Window-like spaces falling open in between every vertebra.
And the image of the vertebrae themselves floating in those window-like spaces.
Each vertebra is floating in this mostly fluid body.
And many of these floating vertebrae are connected to your ribs,
Which themselves are floating in this fluid body.
Every rib floating.
Long curved spaces fall open between each rib.
And the image of all the bones of the body floating in this fluid body,
Perhaps released from any tension around them.
Let go of the breath.
That often softens it toward the back of the lungs.
I invite you to incline a very loving attention to the gentle rhythm of the involuntary breath.
Allowing this gentle rhythm of the breathing to softly rock and caress you from the inside.
As you sense your whole body,
You may be feeling subtle,
Subtle,
Subtle movement throughout your body,
Like the movement of the sea.
And as you feel that movement,
You may be feeling the movement of the ocean.
Just stay with that.
As if this water is gently rocking you along with a gentle rhythm of your breathing.
Perhaps giving yourself over to the rocking,
The breathing.
Becoming breathing,
Just breathing.
Allow the image of the whole self to soften into the breath.
The image of the whole self disappearing into breath.
Until all that remains is awareness.
Your true nature.
Home.
This ground of being.
As you rest deeply.
