Progressive Relaxation: Guided Body Scan

Take this time now to find a comfortable position lying on your back.

Ensure that you are comfortable and the floor or the props beneath your body are supporting your practice in the way that they are not taking your attention away from your physical body in the present moment.

This practice of guided attention and release,

Otherwise known as progressive relaxation,

Will help with both anxious and oppressive tendencies in creating a sense of resilience and then balance within the nervous system through the soft pendulation from engagement to passivity.

Once you become physically comfortable in this supine posture,

Bring your eyelids to close and then gently guide your attention all the way down to the foundation of your body at the backs of your heels and begin by sensing the pressure of these body parts,

Both left and right heel into the earth,

The prop,

The mat beneath your body.

Now guide your awareness up the soles of your feet,

Feeling the pads of both left and right foot,

All the toes along the upper edges of your foot from great toe to pinky toe.

And then sense the structure along the front line of your foot all the way to your ankle bone.

Good,

And now from this place,

Take a breath in,

A deep breath in and sense the expansiveness of the inhale.

You might sense this through the nose and the chest first,

But sense this deeper down to the soles of your feet as if you were breathing into a balloon.

And then follow through with your next exhale.

And then once again,

Taking a breath in,

Full breath in and full breath out.

Now during this practice,

As we inhale,

This is where we engage with tension.

We tighten the body and increase the tension within the musculature and the bony structure of our somatic shape,

Of our soma,

Our body.

So on your next inhale,

Breathe in consciously and begin to tense the feet both left and right,

Curling the toes into the pads of your feet and hold for three.

Hold for two and hold for one.

Good,

Now as you exhale,

Relax this activity and let your feet be soft.

Release any activation in the entire foot both left and right.

Good now move your attention all the way from the feet to your ankle bones.

Feel the lower leg,

Front,

Back,

Left and right side and feel both legs together,

Foot to ankle bone.

Now from this space,

Add on the upper legs from your knee to your groin.

You might do the right side first with your awareness.

Just massaging the leg bone with your attention,

Front,

Back,

Left and right side.

And then sense both legs together.

And then sense both feet and legs together,

Groin to sole of foot.

Now on your next inhale,

Create tension as you engage the musculature from your feet to your groin.

Squeeze.

You might lock out the knees.

You might flex the feet,

Curl the toes into the soles of your feet and hold.

Hold.

Tense,

A little more,

Groin to soles of feet,

Really squeeze.

And then exhale,

Release,

Sighing the breath out through the lips,

Allowing the tissue to melt across the bony structure of the legs.

Take a few extra natural breaths here before we add on.

Good.

And now let's add on the hands,

Just the hands,

Sensing both left and right hand,

Palm,

Back of hand,

All the fingers along the hand and the structure of the hand,

From the wrist to the tip of your fingers,

Both left and right side.

Good.

And once you have the structure in your attention and can sense the structure with your awareness,

The hands,

Add them in.

On your next inhale,

Tense,

Tense both legs,

Both feet,

Both hands,

Curling the fingers into the palms like a fist,

Holding here for just about three beats,

Sipping in a little more air,

Squeezing just a touch tighter.

Hold one more.

Good.

And release.

Feel the breath wash away,

Exhaling out through the mouth,

Feel the body parts relax,

And release.

Now let's add on the arms.

Both arms fingertip to shoulder,

Fingertip to shoulder,

Left and right side.

Take a moment to sense these structures as you become more embodied,

More attuned to these shapes.

Now take a moment,

Finish your last exhale,

And on the following inhale,

Tense,

Engage the muscles across the arms,

Shoulder to fingers,

Groin to soles of feet in the legs.

Hold tight two more beats.

Really squeeze like you could not effort any more.

Squeeze.

One more beat.

And then relax,

Ha through the mouth,

Relax your efforts.

Feel as though the skin is melting like candle wax across the bony structure.

Now from here,

Take a moment to sense the torso,

A large part of the body from the floor of your pelvis,

Holds the spine,

The vital organs.

Move your attention from the base of the pelvis across the waistline,

Up into the breastbone and around the back line of the body.

You can move your awareness to the shoulders,

Right to the base of your throat.

Feel this vessel pulsating every time you breathe.

Expands on the inhale,

Contracts on the exhale.

And now at the edge of your following exhale,

Let the breath out and intend on your next inhale to engage the torso.

Take the deepest breath in and hold.

Engage the arms,

The hands,

The legs,

The feet,

Tense.

Squeeze as tight as you can.

A little tighter,

Holding the breath as best you can.

Try for one more beat.

Good.

And then exhale it out.

Let the breath drop away.

Let the body relax and receive the moment again.

Now last part,

We'll add the head and the whole neck.

Once again,

Greet these body parts before we activate them.

The channel of the neck,

The front and the back and the right and left side.

The back of the head and the whole face,

Ears,

Base,

Chin.

Even sense the scalp and the hair on your head.

And now once again,

Follow through on your following exhale.

Now in this section,

We do the whole body,

The neck,

The head,

The torso,

Arms and legs,

Feet and hands.

On your next inhale,

Pull the breath in and hold.

Create ultimate tension from the crown of your head,

Face through arms,

Torso,

Legs and feet.

Hold for an extra beat if you can,

Sipping in more breath and holding a little tighter.

Knowing this is not forever,

It's impermanent.

We stay in the tension.

Good.

Last moment.

And then exhale it out.

Relax the whole body.

Hold the whole body into the surface of the floor beneath.

Now let us do this two more times,

Whole body together.

Take another exhale out and the following inhale,

Hold the breath,

Fill the whole body,

Squeeze the whole body tight.

Grip,

Curl the fingers in,

Curl the toes in,

Squeeze the facial structure and hold,

Hold,

Hold and exhale,

Relax and release.

Take two to three more easy breaths here and we'll do that one final time.

All right.

Exhale it out.

Final time together.

Take a full breath in.

Feel your body expand.

Feel your ability to hold.

Take in more breath if you can and hold,

Add on an extra beat,

An extra moment of gripping,

Holding,

Attaching.

Feel every part of your body come online.

Sip in a little more breath if you can and hold.

And then exhale out.

Deep sigh out.

Feel your body relax.

This extreme ventilation from tension to relaxation allows us to inhabit both easefully,

Peacefully without attaching to one or the other.

Use your ability to be in both states and yet still come back to center.

From this place remain lying on your back for the next few moments discerning the difference from now to the beginning of our practice together.

Thank you for joining me.

Your practice is now complete.