Welcome to this meditation on a body scan with Peter Radcliffe.
This meditation on bringing mindfulness to the body in a body scan is a very relaxing meditation and is one of the best meditations that you can use if you have trouble sleeping.
But you can use it at any time when you want to bring relaxation to the body.
You can use it sitting up or lying down or you can use it in bed when you're trying to sleep.
So wherever you are bring yourself into a nice comfortable posture and we can begin the meditation.
We start by bringing the focus of our mind to the tops of our head,
The crown of our head,
And begin to relax each and every muscle.
So do that now visualizing all the muscles right across your scalp just relaxing and being energized by the attention of the mind.
Relax those muscles more and more and bring your attention slowly downwards from the crown of your head to around your eyes relaxing all those many muscles around your eyes.
You can have your eyes lightly closed particularly if you're planning to go to sleep after the meditation and relax all those muscles allowing yourself to feel more and more tranquil,
Relaxed,
Healed and at the same time energized in the sense that healing can begin when our body is at peace.
Move your mind downwards so your attention now focuses on the level of your nose and around your ears and the back of your head relaxing all the muscles at this level of your face.
Moving downwards still to around your mouth and your jaw relaxing all of those muscles.
Your face has so many muscles in it and now in this time you can allow all of those muscles to just be at peace,
Be at rest so that they can re-energize and heal themselves.
You may even want to visualize as your attention goes to the various places in your body that light flows into those areas in the form of attention,
Healing and pacifying them.
Move your attention down to the lower jaw and the chin and down into the neck again releasing any tension in the neck allowing all those muscles to feel at one.
Move your attention now to your shoulders relaxing those feeling the weight of them fall down pressing against the floor if you're lying down for this meditation.
Just letting go and feeling all the tension drain out of your shoulders.
Now we're going to move our attention now down one arm at a time beginning with the left arm then move your attention down to the left upper arm the bicep and tricep allowing the attention to move here the light to impregnate all the cells and healing and repair work to begin allowing those muscles to totally relax now and then moving downwards again to your elbow and your lower arm allowing all those muscles to relax and then into your hand wrist down into your thumb and relaxing all the muscles in your hand and then one digit at a time starting with your thumb and then relaxing your forefinger and your middle finger your ring finger and your little finger trying to spend as long as possible on each and every muscle that you can be aware of even the individual ones in your fingers and then once you've finished the left arm bring your mind back up the left arm relaxing each muscle as it goes and across your shoulders and into your right arm the right upper arm feeling more relaxed feeling surrounded and comforted by the attention of the mind and moving downwards to your elbow and lower arm relaxing all those muscles and finally to your wrist and hand relaxing those and into each digit starting with the right thumb the forefinger the middle finger the ring finger and the little finger relaxing the whole of your right hand and arm and then bringing the mind all the way back again relaxing as it goes to your shoulders and we begin again to descend relaxing all the muscles on the front of your shoulders and the back and down the shoulder blades relaxing the chest muscles all the muscles around the ribs and even visualizing that you're beginning to relax all the muscles around your heart and lungs so that they can function properly become healed allow them to relax to the point where they can still operate properly but in a very calm and peaceful way and then continue moving downwards relaxing your stomach muscles and all the muscles around your mid back and lower back feeling them sink and press into the floor as your whole body begins to totally relax and you may notice the feelings of pleasure in your muscles because your body loves the attention of your mind and we must be thankful for this human body that keeps us moving keeps us in health repairing itself that we can do everything that we want to do with this thankful attitude keep moving your mind further down your body bringing your attention now to your hips and your buttocks pressing against the floor and all of your groin area relaxing those muscles letting them sink and repair themselves and then again moving the mind to one leg at a time starting with the left leg move your attention to the left thigh the largest muscles in the body and allow them to relax and sink against the floor you'll that muscle healing and energizing itself in the presence of your attention moving down to the knee and moving down to the lower leg and the calf muscles relaxing the whole of your right leg all the way down to your ankle and then your foot from your heel to the instep to the ball of your foot and then relaxing each and every toe starting with the big toe the second toe the third toe the fourth toe and the little toe being thankful once again for these feet that have taken you so many miles in your life allowing them to feel the gratitude of your mind and healing themselves moving your attention back up the left leg all the way in the knee to the thigh and up to the groin again relaxing your muscles all the way and then moving down the right leg to the thigh muscles on this side and relaxing those light pouring in in the form of our attention into the right leg down to the knee and down all the way to the lower leg and the right ankle and then relaxing the right heel the right instep and the ball of the foot of the right foot and moving to each and every toe starting with the right big toe second toe third toe fourth toe and little toe of the right foot and now moving your attention back up the body and expanding your attention out to the whole of the body so that you become aware of the whole of the body as one living organism and relaxing every muscle in the body all at one time and you can either repeat this process again or you can relax in this way until you're ready to finish the meditation and either rise or allow yourself to go into a peaceful sleep
