Hey there everybody,
Thank you so much for being here with me.
My name is Lori James and I am an author of a memoir titled Sandwiched.
I'm a life coach and a longtime meditator and I'm here to walk you through a body scan meditation to just help you get a little bit more grounded and a little bit more relaxed.
So when you're ready,
Just go ahead and take a moment and move around.
Maybe you want to lie down,
Maybe you're more comfortable sitting up.
Wherever that is for you,
Just take a moment to settle in.
Maybe move the flesh from the bottom of your sit bones.
And join me by starting and taking just a couple of deep breaths in,
Rounds of deep breaths in and deep breaths out.
So here we go.
Begin by taking a deep breath in and then go ahead and let it out.
Another deep breath in.
And out.
One more time.
And out.
Just take a moment here and we're going to start at the top of our heads.
Starting at the top of our heads,
We're just going to notice the crown of our head.
And see if you feel anything at the crown of your head.
Maybe your hair is parting a certain way,
You can feel your hair resting on the top of your head.
Just notice anything,
Maybe nothing and that's okay.
Bring your attention down to your eye sockets.
Just notice how your eyes feel.
Maybe you feel a twitching in your eyes because you've had a stressful day.
Maybe it just feels good to close your eyes.
Just relaxing.
And let's bring your attention to your nose.
Notice how you breathe in and breathe out of your nose.
Notice the warmth of your breath as you breathe out and the coolness when you breathe in.
Just see if you can match your inhale to your exhale.
Just notice if there's a difference.
Notice if one is harder than the other.
No judgment,
Just notice what you notice.
Now bring your attention down to your mouth.
Notice if your jaw is tight.
I know I hold my attention in my jaw so I'm often looking for ways to relax my jaw.
See if you can let your mouth drop open a little bit.
Relax your mouth just a little more.
Now bring your attention to your shoulders.
Notice if you have any tension in your shoulders.
See if you can just relax them down your back.
Now bring attention to your heart.
Notice your heart beat.
Notice your heartbeat pumping blood through your veins to your vital organs.
Just take a moment and feel that in your body.
Give yourself a moment to just tap into that.
Maybe even feeling a little gratitude for your heart or how hard it works for you,
Even when we don't even pay attention to it.
Now move down to your lungs.
Notice your lungs,
The rising and the falling of your lungs bringing in vital oxygen to your body and the importance that your lungs do for us.
Bring your attention down to your stomach.
Notice it rising and falling with your breath.
Notice if there's any gurgling.
Maybe it's digesting your food.
Maybe you're a little hungry and it's growling,
Letting you know it's time to eat after this.
Now bring your attention to your sit bones.
Feeling your sit bones connecting with whatever it is you're sitting on,
Rounding into the floor,
Into the couch,
Chair that you're sitting on.
Maybe you're even lying down on the bed or on the floor.
Just notice that connection that you have with the earth,
With the floor.
Now let's bring our attention to our thighs.
Are they touching anything?
Are they touching the chair,
The back of the thighs?
Notice what you notice.
There's no right or wrong.
Notice the back of the knees.
Notice your calves.
Maybe you feel a little twitch in one of your muscles.
Bring your attention to your feet.
Maybe even wiggle your toes.
Notice if you have any sensations in your feet.
I know for me,
I have a lot of tingling in my extremities,
So I often feel tingling in my feet.
Sometimes a little itch or a twitch.
Now let's bring our attention back up through our body,
Down into our arms.
Notice your biceps and triceps.
Notice the bend in your elbows.
Notice your forearms.
And then notice your hands.
Did you notice anything?
Did you automatically want your hands turned up for receiving or down for grounding?
Or maybe they're sitting in your lap.
It's all okay.
There is no right or wrong in meditation.
It's what works for you.
Maybe your mind has wandered off at this point.
See if we can bring it back,
Get back to the body.
Anything that you might be experiencing.
See the noises from the outside,
Caught your attention.
Maybe your little kids or young kids are distracting you in the other room.
To see if you can stay here in this moment with yourself.
Just a little longer.
Just going to be silent for a moment and see if you can just stay with your breath.
As you inhale and out here,
Exhale.
And when you're ready in your own time,
Let's come back out of our meditation.
Maybe by wiggling the fingers,
Wiggling your toes,
Maybe even rolling your shoulders back and around.
Slowly blink your eyes open and just notice if you feel any different in your body.
See if maybe some of the tension in your shoulders were released.
In your back,
In your jaw.
I know I feel more relaxed and I hope you do too.
Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll see you next time.
