Simple Guided Meditation: Body Scan, Breath And Awareness

Hello,

Thank you for joining us today.

I invite you to make yourself comfortable wherever you are.

Just settling in,

Allowing everything that you've been carrying with you for the day just to be set aside.

If it intrudes in your mind or your head,

Just with an awareness,

Give it a figurative nod and then just let it float on by or set it to the side and you can retrieve it at the end of this time.

And right now as you settle in,

I invite you to become aware of your breath,

Both the inhalation as well as the exhalation.

And if it's comfortable,

I invite you to be breathing through your nostrils,

Both the inhalation and the exhalation.

And as you track your breath,

Just take notice,

Don't try to change it.

Almost as if you're actively tracking it all the way in where it dissipates within your system and also all the way out.

Just take notice if there's a cadence,

A rhythm.

Do you find your breath is getting deeper or it's shallow?

Again,

Just take notice.

And go ahead and follow two more cycles of your breath.

And as you continue with your breathing,

Going to bring your awareness into your whole body.

And if at any point you feel a distraction,

Please feel free to just always go back and track the breath in through the nose and out through the nose.

Kind of using it as a tether point or an anchor or a tool to just really become back to yourself and to present.

So I invite you now to bring your awareness to the top of your head and to your whole head,

Your face,

Your scalp.

Just become aware of how it feels.

Do you notice any tenseness?

Bring your awareness to your jaw.

How's your jaw feeling?

Do you have any sensation up in to the ear canals?

Bring it back to the jaw.

Bring your awareness,

Please,

To your neck.

Around the front,

Around the sides.

Back to the cervical spinal column.

Just be aware.

What do you feel?

Invite yourself to relax all of the muscles.

Your neck supports your head.

Such an integral part of your structure.

Just give yourself permission.

Almost like that exhale,

Just to release.

Go ahead and bring your awareness to your shoulders.

Perhaps from the neck outward all the way to the edge of the shoulders and even partially down the upper arms.

And allow the awareness around the front,

To the clavicles and around the back,

Even down toward the shoulder blades.

Allow your shoulders to relax.

If you'd like,

Go ahead and roll them back and then allow them to relax again.

Opening up that chest plate.

Allowing your shoulder blades to be a little bit closer to each other.

Bringing the awareness to that spinal column.

Now I invite you to bring the awareness a little bit lower.

Down to the rib cage.

Wherever you're drawn.

The front,

The sides,

The back.

And to that rib cage.

That skeletal structure supporting your body.

And I invite you to bring in the awareness again of that inhalation and exhalation.

Even give a larger inhalation.

And see what happens to your rib cage and to the area below your rib cage.

After that exhale,

As you inhale,

Do you feel your sides expanding a bit?

When you exhale,

Can you give a little bit more on that exhale?

As if you're releasing additional stagnant energy.

I invite you to bring in a fuller breath.

Perhaps feeling the expansion around the sides and maybe even the upper gut area.

And again on that exhalation,

Really bring it out of your body.

Exhale.

Expire.

Get it out.

Just like a cleansing.

Go ahead back to the regular breath that you've taken.

I invite you to bring your awareness down around your waist.

The belly button area.

Around the sides.

And even to the back.

That middle back.

Sometimes you feel that arch there.

Go ahead and just straighten it out a bit as if you're going to be tucking the pelvis or the hips.

Just so that's fine.

It's a little bit straighter.

So that you're really feeling grounded and rooted and supported with where you are seated at this moment.

Become aware of the relaxing of your body.

Your structure is still holding in place and supporting everything.

But give permission to yourself to allow the relaxing.

And take the next few seconds to just follow your breath in and out.

And again,

I invite your awareness to come back to your hips,

The sits bones.

And notice.

Do you feel anything on your legs?

Perhaps what's supporting you?

Perhaps the cloth or fabric on your skin?

Allow your awareness down towards your knees.

Around those joints.

Allow your awareness to continue down the front and the back of your legs.

To your ankles.

To your feet.

And notice the bottom of your feet.

Are they being supported?

What do you feel?

I invite you to bring your awareness to your whole body.

Just as if you are taking an outward observation,

Almost like your body is in a whole bubble.

So bring your awareness to your whole body,

Your whole being.

And just become aware.

If you feel the air on any part of you,

Perhaps skin,

Do you notice the temperature difference?

Let's bring in other senses.

For your olfactory,

Do you smell anything?

Become aware if there's any fragrance or scent that you might pick up.

If there's not,

It's fine.

And if there is,

The awareness is good.

Now I invite you to bring your awareness to your sense of hearing.

The auditory.

Do you hear anything?

Are there any sounds that seem close?

Are there any sounds that are further away?

Okay,

So I invite you to come back.

When I say that,

Bring your awareness right into your body.

And for the final few moments,

Few minutes,

Invite you to ask yourself,

Is there anything that you would like to share with me today?

So you're asking that to yourself.

Sometimes checking in with ourselves after we've taken time to come to a bit of a stillness.

And we've taken time to bring our awareness right into ourselves.

It's a beautiful time to ask,

Is there anything that we should know or that I should know?

Because we hold so much within ourselves.

It's the best time to be able to listen and hear if something else needs to come forward.

And if something's come forward for you,

I invite you to sit down with it.

Don't judge.

Just be aware.

And see if there's another question you'd like to ask.

Give yourself permission just to feel and hear and sense.

And if you didn't hear anything,

That's okay too.

Take this time and gratitude to be at home with yourself.

And we'll take one more minute before we bring this to close.

If you have anything else to ask yourself,

Go right ahead.

And at this time,

I invite you to go ahead and give your body a little bit of movement.

It might be with your head or your shoulders or the arms.

Go ahead and straighten out and bend and flex.

And just bring in a little bit of movement to your body.

Just allow.

Allow for mobility,

For releasing,

For awareness,

For relaxing.

Just a gentle awakening.

And I invite you now to bring your awareness back to the breath with a nice inhale and a beautiful exhale.

Go ahead and follow that for two more cycles.

And when you're ready,

Go ahead and open your eyes.

Allow a smile on your face.

Gift yourself a little gratitude for being here.

Have a beautiful day.