Relaxing Seated Body Scan - Moving Inward

So,

Find your seat and adjust as needed and take a full breath in,

Long breath out.

At the very end of the exhale,

Invitation to close your eyes if you haven't already.

And take your hands on your thighs with your thumb and index finger together.

If you're sleepy,

Flip your palms up like that,

Otherwise palms down.

And right away,

Come right into the breath.

Breath is front and center and feel your breath flow in and feel your breath flow out.

You're right there with the breath.

We're going to start to move into mindful deep breathing.

And so that is ujjayi breath,

That ocean breath,

Breathing deep down to the belly through the nose and exhaling out through the nose.

We're going to do that with a one to two ratio in breath to out breath and we are going to count the in breath and count the out breath.

Right away,

100% of your attention on breathing in and feeling the breath and counting and then exhaling going towards doubling that.

Be as precise as you can at this point in the practice.

Breathing in,

Counting.

Breathing out,

Going towards doubling.

Three more times,

Stay right with it,

100% of your attention on the breathing,

The counting and the feeling of the breath in the body.

Now,

Like you're dropping a feather,

Just drop the counting.

Let go of the ujjayi ocean breath and relax your hands if you'd like.

And simply rest in your natural breath as it's happening.

Note the effects of the mindful deep breathing practice.

Calm,

Alert,

Aware.

And your breath right here,

Always happening,

Ever present,

Always available,

Letting it rest in the background and I want you to bring to the foreground of your attention the soles of your feet.

Sometimes it's hard to make contact with any particular part of our body so if you need to wiggle your toes or even touch your feet to bring your attention there,

You could do that.

And notice the soles of your feet,

The entire surface of the soles.

Notice that under part of your toes,

That space between your toes.

Notice the tops of your feet,

Your ankles,

The circumference of your ankles,

Down to your heels and the entirety of your feet.

All those little bones,

Not just on the skin but down in.

Notice your feet from the inside out,

Your feet that carry you all over the place,

Taking a moment to really find some gratitude for your feet.

And just notice if there's any tension present in your feet and you could invite it to relax to the extent that it can in this moment.

And draw your attention to the lower parts of your legs,

From the base of your knees down to your ankles,

Your calves,

Your shins.

Noticing from the inside out and then from the outside in.

You could even contract your calf muscle for a moment and then let it release.

Drawing your attention to your knees,

Your amazing knees,

Your precious knees,

All of these joints and ligaments,

The front of your knees,

Your kneecap,

That tender space behind your knees,

Moving and bending and just lingering at your knees for a moment with a sense of appreciation and an invitation for them to just take a break for a moment.

Draw your attention to this upper part of your legs,

This longest bone in your body,

Your femur bone from your hip joint all the way down,

Your quads,

Your hamstrings.

If it's helpful to contract the muscle and release it,

You can do that.

And then invite this part of your legs to relax like even a little bit more.

Maybe they're relaxed but could they let go even a hair's breadth more.

Draw your attention to your pelvis,

To the base of your pelvis,

To that space between your hip bones,

Lower than your belly button,

That place that can hold so much without us even being aware.

Draw your attention right there and then like an inch back,

Not all the way to your spine but just in between.

See if you could sustain your attention in that space for a moment,

Shift your attention to your belly,

To your gut,

All of these neurons present in our gut so like only the brain would think the brain is in charge but our gut,

So much intelligence there we instinctually know.

And tuning your ears,

Your attention towards your gut for a moment and listening.

And all of these organs here and feeling this rise and fall of your diaphragm,

Of your ribcage,

The expansion of your lungs.

See if you could breathe deep and wide in a way that it was expansive in all directions,

North,

South,

East,

West,

All of it.

So not just in front,

Wrap your attention around your lower back,

Your mid-back.

As you do that,

Feel that expansion of the breath in the ribcage expands in the back and then draws in.

Draw your attention to your chest,

To your heart in particular,

All of these neurons around our heart.

This whole aspect of our brilliance and intelligence in a way that is qualitatively different than our mind.

Tune your attention in there,

Noticing the front of your heart,

The back part of your heart and then the space around your heart both within you and then that space that is felt in the heart field.

Draw your attention to your shoulders.

From shoulder to shoulder noticing your clavicle,

Wrapping your attention around to your scapula and just feeling those wings on your back.

Shifting your attention down your arms all the way to your hands and your fingers.

We have something like four million little hairs on our body.

Could you tune into a hundred?

Like that kind of attention.

Noticing if there's any area on your arms,

Your hands,

Your torso that is holding in a way that is not necessary in this moment and invite it to relax.

Draw your attention to your palms in particular.

Our attention is like a light and we can direct it and in directing it,

It changes what we are noticing.

The light of your attention at your palms and just noticing.

Are they tingly?

Are they dry?

Are they moist?

Drawing your attention all the way back up to your neck,

To your throat.

Next time you exhale,

Feel that.

Exhale like you're blowing out a candle but with your mouth open like you're fogging a mirror and feel that contraction through your throat and feel that innate built in letting go and just let go.

Just like that,

Let go and stay right here.

Right here present in your body regardless of what's going on in your mind or outside of your mind and bring your attention to your jaw,

To your lips.

You could part your lips a little.

You could relax your tongue and invite it to relax.

Your attention to your ears,

All those little nooks and crannies and bones in your ears.

Some of us hold tension in our ears and that space right behind our ears and you could invite that to really be released to the extent that it can in this moment.

Draw your attention to your cheeks,

To your nose,

To your eyes and especially I want you to draw attention to the space behind your eyes.

Are eyes always looking and seeing and analyzing and calculating and could you just allow and invite your eyes to relax in a way that isn't sleep but isn't focused engagement.

Notice that space between your eyebrows and then your forehead.

Could you soften your forehead just a teeny bit more and now notice the entirety of your face and not just your beautiful face structures and your beautiful skin but like below that,

Below the surface.

Draw your attention up to the crown of your head and just notice what you feel there,

Nothing tingling,

Dullness.

Note what you're feeling and now draw your attention from the crown of your head.

You're traveling inside your body all the way down,

Your face,

Your throat,

Your torso,

Your pelvis,

Your legs,

All the way out through the soles of your feet.

Notice the edges of your body and now come back to the refuge of your breath and notice how your body is being breathed.

You don't have to do anything.

You're not even allowed near that part in your brain that's in charge of breath and so just delight in how it just happens.

It just automatically you breathe in and you can find that little space before it becomes an exhale and feel that letting go.

Then another space before it just starts all over again and starting to blink your eyes open.

We're still in the meditation.

You can just notice the shapes and the colors and the feeling of the eyes being open and without moving your eyes at all,

See how far you could see to the left and to the right.

Without moving your eyes at all,

See how far you could see above you and below you and without moving your eyes at all,

See how far you could see behind you.

I'm just kidding.

That's an advanced pose and then releasing out of this form of letting go of normal meditation and bringing all of this into the very next moment.