Restorative Body Scan With Crickets

Welcome to this body scan meditation.

Find a comfortable spot,

Seated,

Lying down or against a wall.

Somewhere where you feel supported and comfortable but can stay somewhat alert.

Begin to settle in,

Taking a moment to unlock your jaw,

Soften your eyes,

Soften your shoulders.

Begin to notice your body's breathing.

Without trying to control or manipulate your breath,

Just observe and notice the gentle breath moving in and out of your body.

If it feels safe and comfortable today,

We're going to take a little bit of time to explore the sensations,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

And emotions that arise within our bodies as we start to bring our attention to these areas.

If at any point you want to hang out in a particular area in the body longer than what I've given you as your guide before you transition,

Then please feel free to do that.

This is your practice always,

Forever.

You always have permission to do what feels most comfortable and what you need today.

Start to bring your awareness down to your left foot,

The sole of your left foot.

Just noticing any thoughts,

Feelings,

Sensations,

Anything that might arise when you bring your awareness to the sole of your left foot.

You might feel sensation,

Hot or cold,

Tingling or dullness.

Just noticing what arises with your attention here,

No judgment.

And then begin to shift your awareness to the right sole of your foot,

Sensing and feeling.

Feeling aware of what's present as you bring your attention here,

Allowing your awareness to shift to your left lower leg,

Left ankle,

All the way up to your knee,

Noticing how it feels.

And then awareness on your right lower leg,

Ankle,

All the way up to your knee.

Noticing that unfolds within your awareness,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Feelings.

Bringing your attention to your left upper leg,

All the way up into your left hip.

Just noticing what you feel,

Thoughts or emotions that may arise or not.

Just noticing without judgment.

And shifting your attention to your right thigh,

All the way up into your right upper hip.

Invite you to bring your attention now to your pelvic floor,

Your lower abdominal area and all the organs that are contained here,

Sensing and feeling your way.

Begin to work your awareness up to your higher abdominal area,

Maybe up to your scolar plexus.

Notice what's present here.

Attention wrapping around to your low back,

Sensing and feeling your way to your lumbar spine.

Climbing your attention to your mid-back,

The space between your shoulder blades,

The backside of your heart and lungs,

All the way up to your shoulders.

And then attention wrapping around to the chest,

The area all the way up to your throat and underneath your collarbones.

Sensing into your left hand,

Left palm and all of your left fingers.

Awareness at your right hand,

Right palm and all of your right fingers.

Sensing thoughts,

Feelings or any types of awarenesses that arise.

Shifting your attention back to your left lower arm,

Left elbow and left upper arm.

Now your right lower arm,

Right elbow and right upper arm.

Begin to walk your attention into your neck and even into your throat,

Sensing into the throat,

The back of the neck,

The front of the neck,

Noticing how it feels today.

Drawing your awareness upwards into your mouth,

Back of the throat,

Insides of the mouth,

Left and right.

Sensing the left inner side of your mouth.

Begin to sense your way into your left inner ear,

Outer ear.

Sensing from the right inner side of your mouth into your inner ear and outer ear.

Beginning to feel the sensation in the muscles of your face.

You may notice there's a sensation almost like a face beneath the outer layer of your face.

Sensing into your left eye,

Noticing how it feels with your awareness deep within your left eye,

Your right eye.

Beginning to sense the space between your eyebrows.

Climbing your awareness upwards,

Feeling up into your skin and your scalp,

Walking that awareness to the scalp at the nape of your neck.

Feeling your way and just observing.

Begin feeling your way into your upper body all the way from your navel up to the crown of your head,

And then from your navel all the way down to the soles of your feet.

And if you like,

I invite you to maybe just move back and forth from the space from your navel to your feet,

And then from your navel to the crown of your head.

Just very gently noticing how you feel.

And then I invite you to become aware of the whole front of your body from your hairline to the tips of your toes,

Noticing how it feels.

And then the back of your body,

The back of your head and your shoulders all the way down to the heels of your feet.

Then take a moment and shift your attention from the whole front side of your body to the whole back side of your body.

And begin to feel into the whole left side of your body from the crown of your body to the soles of your feet,

The whole left side.

To whole right side as if your body was in halves from left to right,

Sensing and feeling the right side of your body.

Maybe going back and forth a few times between the right and left sides of your body.

And then begin to find as if you could sense into your body as one global sensation.

Begin to reflect back to the experience of just witnessing,

Sensing,

Feeling your body from the soles of the feet all the way up to the crown of the head internally and externally.

Maybe taking a minute to notice what one,

Two or three things stood out for you.

Once you can hold those one,

Two or three things,

Sensations,

Emotions,

Awarenesses,

Invite you to gently open your eyes and maybe write down a few things that came up for you during this body scan.

Taking the next couple of minutes just to jot down anything that you felt,

Noticed,

Any emotions,

Any of those things that are applicable when we drop in and go inwards to experience our bodies.

Looking at your list,

Is there one thing that stood out the most?

If you're open to it,

With curiosity,

I invite you to take another moment and just to go back inwards for the next minute or two,

Softening your gaze or closing your eyes if that feels okay for you today.

Bringing your awareness back to that which you felt stood out or seemed to leave an impression on you or seemed more significant than others.

Once you have that,

Just gently close your eyes and revisit that space.

As you revisit that space,

Start to notice more unique qualities about it.

Maybe does it feel sharper or smoother?

Does it have a temperature to it or a color?

It may have a sense of being male or female,

Both or neither.

It may feel dull,

Unenlivened.

Just notice when you start to explore or walk into it,

What you feel or observe,

Just noticing,

No judgment.

Taking another moment or two just to explore into the sensations,

Thoughts,

Images,

Or emotions here.

When that feels complete,

I invite you to gently come back into the space that you're occupying in the here and now,

Reorienting to the external world,

To the room around you,

Taking a moment to notice where the wall meets the ceiling or where the floor meets the floorboards.

Maybe gently,

Like a piece of seaweed buoyant in an ocean,

Gently moving your head from side to side and scanning the horizon with your eyes.

Coming back to your piece of paper or your notepad on your phone and just writing down any additional comments or awarenesses that you may have and want to remember.

Maybe even just taking a moment to notice if you feel a difference in your body,

Mind,

Energy flow,

Spirit,

From the beginning of this practice until the end.

I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day,

These past 15 minutes,

To drop in and reconnect body,

Mind,

And spirit.