Relaxing Body Scan And Breathwork

Thank you for joining me in this meditation.

A meditation that aims to relax and connect in with the body,

Easing any stress or tension,

Allowing any distractions to fall away so the body can have space to be seen,

To be relaxed and to soften into rest.

We'll begin with a body scan and then focusing on the breath.

So just finding your comfortable seated position,

Allowing yourself to arrive in this space,

Letting go of any outside distractions.

You can begin to close down the eyes and start to tune inward.

Begin by bringing your awareness to your feet,

Feeling the grounded connection with earth beneath your feet,

Knowing that you are held safely and securely by mother earth,

Releasing any thoughts of the external world and bringing your awareness to the contact points of the chair beneath you,

Noticing how your sit bones connect with the ground or chair beneath you,

Feeling the support of your spine holding your body,

Maybe using the back of a chair or a wall to help your body feel more supported in this meditation.

And as you feel into these supports of the ground,

The earth,

You can allow your body muscles to begin to relax,

Letting go of any tension that holds you in your seated position,

Feeling into the sense of being held,

Allowing yourself to relax and drop deeper to connect into your inner experience.

Beginning with a body scan,

We'll first bring your awareness to the top of your head,

Noticing the sensations at the top of your head.

We'll work our way down,

Scanning left to right,

Right to left,

Working down the body,

Allowing a moment of observing any sensations that come up in the body without judgment or the need to change or control your experience.

Just notice what comes up for you and then move your attention to the next part of your body.

So from the crown of your head,

Scanning left to right,

Right to left,

Begin to work your way down over the top of the head,

Scanning across the forehead,

Down over the eyebrows,

Over the tops of the ears,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning your way down your face,

Over your eyes,

The tops of your nose,

Down over the top of your cheekbones,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning down the face,

Over the tip of your nose,

Scanning over the top of your lip,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning down the face over your lips,

Over your jawbones,

Working your way down as you scan,

Down towards your chin,

Left to right,

Right to left,

And scanning down over your neck,

Working your way down your neck,

Scanning to right,

Right to left,

All the way down until you reach the bottom of your neck and the tops of your shoulders,

Scanning down over your shoulders across your chest bone,

Across the tops of the arms,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning down over your arms and your chest,

Working your way down the top of your body,

Scanning all the way down,

Down over the tops of your ribs,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Now scanning down your torso from the upper abdomen,

All the way from your elbows across your abdomen,

Working your way down the middle of your body,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning down over your belly button,

All the way to the edges of your arms,

Scanning down your body,

Over your lower abdomen,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Working your way down your belly,

Scanning all the way down to meet your hips,

Scanning left to right,

Right to left,

As you work your way down,

Scanning over your hips and your pelvis to meet the top of your legs,

Scanning down your legs,

Left to right,

Right to left,

To the outer edges of your legs,

All the way down,

Including the spaces between your legs,

Working your way down,

All the way down to your knees,

Scanning your attention over your knees to the tops of the lower legs,

Scanning left to right,

Right to left,

Working your way down your legs,

All the way down until you meet your ankles,

Scanning your awareness from left to right,

Right to left,

Scanning over the tops of your feet,

All the way down your feet until you meet your toes,

Scanning across all 10 toes,

Left to right,

Right to left,

Until you meet the tip of your toes,

Working your way to the bottom of your body,

Completing this body scan and then releasing any focused awareness,

Any motion of scanning,

Just allowing yourself to arrive in this space,

This state of being,

Of relaxation,

Bringing your awareness more deeply inward,

Having allowed the body to cultivate a sense of relaxation,

You can turn your awareness towards your breath,

Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose or mouth,

Whichever is comfortable for you right now,

Feeling into the sensation of breathing,

Observing your natural breath flow without any need to judge or control or change the natural breath cycle,

Just observing how the breath feels right now,

How does the air feel as you breathe in and out of your nostrils or mouth,

Breathing in cool air,

Breathing out warm air,

How does the breath feel on the throat as you inhale and exhale,

Where in your body are you breathing right now,

Breathing into the chest,

The ribs or deep into the belly,

Just observing where your breath lands right now as you inhale and exhale in your natural breath cycle,

We're just going to invite some relaxation into the belly,

Giving permission for the belly to soften,

Releasing any tension or tightness,

Allowing the breath to relax and be soft,

So the breath can move,

Can expand the belly outwards as you inhale and the exhale is guided by the softening of the belly,

Seeing if you can send your breath deep down into the belly,

Filling up the lungs from the bottom,

So the belly expands outwards and as you exhale,

Feeling the contraction of any muscles that move with the breath,

Feeling a sense of deeper relaxation with each exhale and as you breathe in this mindful way,

Sending the breath into the belly,

Can you notice on each exhale a deeper sense of relaxation,

Going to bring more focused awareness and movement to the breath and connection with the body,

Guided by the body to deepen the breath in a full body breath cycle,

So as you pay attention to breathing into the belly,

Expanding the belly outwards,

See if you can fill up the lungs from this starting point,

From this starting point,

Expanding the belly and filling up the ribs,

So the rib cages expand upwards and outwards and then filling up the chest,

All the way up to meet your throat and on the exhale,

Releasing any air,

Your breath from the chest,

From the ribs and from the belly,

To assist you in breathing in this deep full body breath cycle,

You might like to anchor into counting your breath on the inhale,

Exhale,

You can breathe in to the count of five and exhale to the count of seven,

Let's try this together,

So releasing any air in the lungs right now by breathing out all the air that you have,

We start at the bottom of the breath cycle and together we inhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Inhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Inhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Exhale two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Now you can try this on your own count,

Counting in your mind and after repeating this breath cycle,

You can release any control of breathing,

Letting go of any counting and just allowing your body to return to a natural breath flow,

Letting go of any awareness,

But being mindful of how the breath feels right now after breathing in this deep full body breath cycle,

Can you notice any changes to the breath,

Can you notice any difference in your body and can you notice any differences in the mind,

How do you feel right now having completed a deep relaxation of body scanning and deep full body breath cycles,

Now letting go of any awareness of the body,

Mind and breath,

Just coming into a place of non-attachment,

Non-awareness,

Feeling settled and just being in this present moment,

Allowing yourself to really feel and experience this cultivated sensation of deep relaxation and rest,

Experiencing with a felt awareness rather than experiencing from the mind,

Allowing this new sensation,

This new experience of yourself which you've cultivated throughout this meditation to take hold and land within your being,

Allowing your body,

Mind and breath to trust in this as the new truth of your being,

Of your energy,

Carrying forward with it throughout the rest of your day or evening,

Now we'll return back back into the external world slowly and mindfully so that we do not disturb this cultivated sense of relaxation and peace,

So taking a deep breath into the body,

Breathing in fresh air to begin to wake the body up once again,

Starting to bring in some small movements in the hands and the feet,

Maybe wiggling your toes or your fingers,

Coming back into your physical body and then taking some bigger movements,

You might like to stretch the arms,

Roll your neck,

Take a twist in the torso or move your legs,

Keeping your eyes closed down so that you're connected with your body and slowly waking up mindfully connected to your body experience and finding position of stillness again,

Can start tuning into the sounds around you,

Bringing your awareness back to the external environment,

Feeling into the points of contact of your sit bones and your feet beneath you,

Remembering the earth which has been holding you and then in your own time just slowly beginning to open the eyes,

Allowing the light to softly come to form as you look back into the world around you,

Thank you for joining me in this meditation practice,

I hope you enjoy this new sense of relaxation and peace.