Body Scan & Awareness

Hello,

I hope you are doing well today.

Take a moment to thank yourself for being present with the body,

For making time to be present with yourself,

And focus on your own healing.

This guided exercise will focus on being present in the body while cultivating awareness.

As we breathe throughout this meditation,

We bring our awareness to each body part.

This is an opportunity to develop an intimate relationship with your body with the intention of strengthening the body's communication with you.

I invite you to get in a comfortable position.

You may lay down on your back,

On a mat,

On your bed,

Wherever you feel most comfortable.

After this meditation,

You may close your eyes,

Or you can keep them open.

It is up to you and your comfort level.

We'll begin with focusing on the breath,

And then we'll flow through the different body parts from head to toe.

I'll ring the bells at this time,

And after that we'll begin to focus on breathing.

This time I invite you to close your eyes if you feel comfortable.

Begin focusing on the breath.

Take a deep breath in,

And feel your lungs fill with air.

Let it sit for one moment.

Now gently release the breath,

Slowly and gently.

As you breathe in,

Feel your chest expanding,

And as you exhale,

Feel your stomach lower with ease.

Inhale for a full deep breath,

And exhale slowly and gently.

At your own pace,

I'd like to invite you to take three deep breaths in and out.

As you explore each body part,

You may have varying sensations.

Some may be well,

Others may bring discomfort,

Numbness,

Or nothing at all.

As we approach each area that you may have recently experienced pain,

Surgery,

Or trauma,

We'll breathe through each part together.

Let's begin with focusing on the crown of our head.

As we breathe in,

We bring awareness to the top of our head,

To our scalp,

And our hair follicles.

This time we'll bring our attention to the back of our head,

And it presses in to the mat or cushion.

As we breathe in,

You now bring our attention to our forehead,

Part of our body where there's tension,

The muscles often contract and release.

There is tension in this part of our forehead.

As we breathe into it,

We breathe out,

We release the tension.

As we move down into our eyebrows,

Become aware of the sensation that's at that part of our face.

We often raise them throughout the day automatically without intention.

At this time,

After we become aware of our eyebrows,

Our in-breath,

We fill our lungs with air,

And as we breathe in,

We allow our eyebrows to soften.

As we move down our face,

We reach our eyes.

We allow the eyes to find their own relaxed gaze.

They're open,

You may be staring at the ceiling,

And if they're closed,

You may be staring at the back of your eyelids.

Take a moment to be aware of your eyes.

Be present with their gaze.

Move down our face to our nose.

As we breathe in,

Feel the air flowing through our nostrils.

As we exhale,

We release the air slowly back through our nostrils.

Move down to our lips.

Your mouth may be slightly open,

Or your lips may be gently closed together.

You may feel the exhale of your breath rush against your lips.

As we move down our face into our jawline,

And swooping back up into our cheeks,

Our cheekbone,

We relax our cheeks.

And release our jaw,

So it finds a place of comfort.

Now we'll move into our neck.

We'll be present with the neck,

The muscles that surround our esophagus.

As we breathe in,

The air passes through our neck.

We exhale.

Use any discomfort or tension in the neck,

Just take a moment to breathe into it,

Into the space.

And with our inhale,

Fill the space in our neck,

With our exhale,

We slowly release the muscles.

As we move down our neck into our shoulders,

Feeling our shoulder blades press against the mat or the mattress.

As we breathe in to this part of our body,

We fill the shoulders with our breath,

As we release the air gently.

We allow the weight of our shoulders to fully press into the mat or the bed.

We'll breathe in to our shoulders,

Bringing awareness to the sensations that might be held in our shoulders.

There's any discomfort or tension in our shoulders.

Let's breathe into this space.

As we exhale,

We allow the air to flow through any places where there's tension or pain.

As we inhale,

We fill the space once more.

Now we release the air and the tension that is in the space in our shoulders.

As we move down our shoulders and reach our collarbone,

Let's breathe in to the space where our collarbone is,

Top of our chest,

And breathe out.

As we breathe in to the space and become aware of our collarbone,

Flow down our left arm,

Our biceps and triceps.

Be aware of the feeling and the sensation in the top of our arm.

As we breathe in to the space and feel the sensation,

Move through our elbow,

As we move through our elbow and to our forearm.

Bring our awareness to our forearm as we breathe in and we breathe out.

Allow the space and the muscles in our arms to soften.

As we move down our forearm,

We move into our wrist,

Bringing our awareness to the bones and the muscles that allows our hand to twist and move daily.

As we move through our wrist,

We move into our palm of our hand.

As we breathe in and we breathe out,

Feel the palm of our hand.

As we breathe in to our hand,

We allow that breath to spread across our fingers,

From our thumb right across to our smallest finger.

This time we bring awareness to the sensation in our hand.

It's okay if it's nothing at all.

As we breathe back in to our hand,

Up our left arm,

Across our collarbone,

We now begin to breathe in to our right arm,

Where our biceps and triceps are,

Allowing us to be present with those muscles right into the bone,

Beyond our flesh.

As we move down into our elbow,

We move into our forearm.

As we breathe in,

We become aware of the muscles in our forearm,

Allowing our right arm to relax and rest comfortably on the bed or the mattress or the mat.

Take a deep breath in.

We bring awareness to the wrist in our right hand.

The wrist allows our hand to twist and turn as we type every day.

As we breathe in,

As we breathe in,

We breathe into our right hand,

The palm.

As we breathe out,

We gently release the air.

Imagine it flowing into our hand.

As we breathe in,

We gently exhale.

We exhale the air and allow it to flow right through the palm of our hand to each finger,

Extending from our thumb right across to our smallest finger.

As we breathe in,

We bring and cultivate the air back up through our hand,

Through our forearm or bicep,

Across our collarbone.

As we exhale,

We allow the breath to exhale through that collarbone gently and slowly.

As we breathe in,

We're going to begin to bring awareness to our chest.

As we breathe in,

We feel our lungs fill with air and our chest expand rib by rib.

Our rib cage protects our heart and our lungs every day.

As we breathe in,

We become aware of each rib and allow it to fully expand as we breathe in and gently contract as we breathe out.

As we breathe in,

We bring awareness to our heart,

Our heart that has been breathing and beating from the moment we woke up today and in this present moment with us now.

Our heart has been beating from the time it was formed while we were in our mother's womb,

And it continues to beat and allow the blood to flow through our body.

As we breathe in,

We breathe in to the heart center.

As we exhale,

We breathe out slowly and gently.

As we bring awareness to our heart,

We continue to breathe softly,

Gently,

And be gentle with ourselves.

We thank the heart for beating in this moment with us now.

As we take a deep breath in,

We move down our torso to our navel,

And as we breathe in,

We become aware of our stomach,

And as we breathe out,

We feel it get soft.

Take a moment to be present with your stomach as you breathe in and out.

As we move through our stomach with our awareness at this time,

We move down into our pelvis and our hips.

As we breathe in,

We breathe in to our hips,

Feeling the muscles in our buttocks press into the mat or the mattress,

Allowing the weight of the bones and the muscles in our pelvis to fully be present as we become aware of its weight.

This time,

We become aware as we breathe in of our reproductive system and organs.

As we breathe out,

We release slowly and gently.

As we breathe in,

Let's focus on our left hip.

Bring our awareness to the muscles and the bone that allow us to bring flexibility to our daily life so that we can walk and move.

As we breathe in to our hip,

We exhale slowly,

We move down into our thigh.

Feel the weight of the muscle in our left thigh pressing to the mat or the mattress.

As we breathe in,

We become aware of our inner thigh.

As we exhale,

We become aware of our outer thigh.

Now this time,

We're now going to move with our breath and our awareness into our left knee.

If there's any discomfort,

Pain,

Numbness,

Or perhaps you feel nothing at all,

Take a moment to breathe in to your knee and breathe out right through it.

As we breathe in,

We breathe into the kneecap.

As we breathe out,

We release any pain,

Discomfort,

Or tension.

May still be present.

We've brought our awareness to it.

We continue to breathe in and out.

Move down through our calf.

We feel the contact between the muscle in our calf and the skin pressing against the mat or the mattress.

As we move down the top of our calf muscle and down to our ankle.

Breathe in to the heel,

Slowly releasing out through the heel.

Imagine our breath as we inhale,

Pulling our awareness into the heel.

And exhale,

Matching the air flowing through the bottom of our heel.

Move into the sole of the foot.

As we breathe in,

We breathe right across the sole of our foot into our big toe.

As we bring our awareness to our big toe.

We breathe in and out to each toe,

Right down to the last one,

Which is the smallest one.

With each in-breath,

We breathe into a toe.

And with each out-breath,

We exhale out of the toe.

As we breathe into that last toe.

Let's bring our awareness and our breath as we inhale right through our foot,

Up our leg,

Through our thigh and our hip.

Right across our pelvis and our reproductive organs,

Into our right hip.

As we bring awareness into our right hip,

Feel the weight of the muscles in the bone and its heaviness as it presses into the mat or the mattress.

Bring our attention to our inner thigh as we breathe in.

To our outer thigh.

As we breathe in,

We bring our awareness to the muscles and the heaviness of that muscle and the skin that has contact as it presses into the mat.

As we breathe in,

We breathe in through the thigh,

Right into our right knee.

As we breathe into our right knee,

Let's bring our awareness into our breath as we breathe right through it.

If there's any discomfort or memories that arise,

Acknowledge it as we breathe through it.

As we breathe in through our knee,

Let's exhale right through it,

Down our calf muscle.

If there's any tightness or discomfort,

Or maybe you feel nothing at all,

That's okay too,

Through our calf muscle.

Take a moment to bring yourself to that awareness.

As we flow through the calf,

Down into our ankle.

We breathe in to our ankle,

Breathe out into the sole of our foot.

As we breathe in and out at your own pace,

Bring our awareness into the heel of our foot.

As we breathe in,

Pull the air in through our heel.

As we breathe out,

We allow the air to flow through our heel.

You bring the awareness to our foot.

We breathe in right across the sole of our foot.

We exhale right through our big toe.

As we breathe in and out,

With the next five breaths,

Breathe in to each toe and exhale through each toe.

You may feel the muscles in your toes move,

Or a tingling sensation,

Or perhaps nothing at all.

Either way,

It's okay.

We're bringing awareness to our toes and our right foot.

Let's take a deep breath in.

Slowly release right through our body,

Moving from our toes,

Through our feet,

Up our legs,

Into our pelvis and our hips.

As we continue to breathe,

We breathe in through our stomach,

We exhale.

We breathe in through our chest cavity as our rib cage expands and it contracts.

Breathe through our collarbone,

Into our arms,

Right through our hands.

We breathe back up into our shoulders and into our neck and right up through our jawline as we get to the top of our head.

Take a moment to breathe as you bring awareness to your entire body.

We express gratitude for this moment in time as we are present with our body.

Express our gratitude for each part of our body that functions,

Allowing us to carry through our day.

We send our body love.

Express our appreciation for taking the time out of our busy day and schedule,

For being present and bringing awareness to our body and deepening our connection to our body in each part.

You may lay in your bed or on the mat.

Take two more breaths in and out at your own pace.

You may open your eyes when you are ready.

Thank you for being present.