Body Scan Meditation For Releasing Stress From The Body

Hi,

You're listening to the body scan meditation.

I am Michelle.

Welcome to today's meditation.

Before we begin,

Ensure you're in a space where you won't be disturbed.

Switch off cell phones.

If you're lying down,

Make sure to place a pillow under your knees.

And if you're seated,

Ensure your legs aren't dangling and are grounded on the floor.

Have your palms facing up and your spine straight.

And when you're ready,

You may close your eyes.

Start by setting an intention for today's practice.

Is your intention to achieve a deep state of relaxation?

Is your intention to transform stress?

Is your intention to release worries and stress from your body?

Is your intention to bring about healing in your body?

Healing of the mind,

Healing of the soul,

Healing of the body?

When you're ready,

I want to invite you to start to focus on the thoughts in your mind.

You can imagine you're sitting under a beautiful shady tree and you're watching the traffic go by.

The traffic of your thoughts.

You get to observe your thoughts.

You get to notice the nature of these thoughts,

But remember,

Just as you wouldn't jump into the traffic,

Just cause this accident,

You don't want to jump into your thoughts.

You don't want to chase the thoughts.

You don't want to be attached to the thoughts.

You are allowing the thoughts to come and go and you're just observing.

So start to notice.

And maybe you can even label the thoughts in your mind.

Ah,

There's a thought of anxiety,

Thought of fear,

Thought of worry,

Thought of sadness,

Helplessness,

Guilt.

Continue to observe your thoughts without getting engaged in the thoughts,

Remembering that your thoughts aren't necessarily true.

The mind's role is to think and the intention of meditation is not to stop thinking,

But to become aware of the thinking,

Become aware of the thoughts.

Knowing you are not your thoughts.

You get to observe your thoughts with kindness,

With compassion,

Noticing,

Noticing the busy mind.

Acknowledge the presence of these thoughts and now bring your attention to your breath.

Notice the nature of your breath.

Notice if you're breathing shallow,

If you're breathing deep.

Remember to be kind to yourself.

No matter how you're breathing,

Accept it just the way it is.

Remember the journey is about accepting yourself just the way you are,

Allowing things to be as they are at this time.

So continue breathing,

Continue observing your breath,

Noticing where you feel the inhales,

Where you feel your exhales.

Notice if you feel it in your nose,

Your throat,

Your stomach,

Your chest or maybe even your entire body.

Where do you feel your exhales?

Notice the cold air entering your nose as you inhale and notice how warm the air feels as you exhale.

Now see if you can play with your breath a little,

Noticing if you were to hold your breath,

How difficult that is,

How uncomfortable that is and noticing how if you were to just breathe out without breathing in,

How uncomfortable that is as well.

Realizing that in life,

Just like your breath,

You get to give and you get to take,

You get to receive,

You get to give.

Continue playing with your breath.

Now I'm going to invite you to breathe a little deeper,

A little slower than you usually breathe,

Allowing your stomach to expand as you breathe in,

Imagining your stomach as a balloon and as you breathe out,

Allow your stomach to fall,

Deflating the balloon.

Continue breathing slow and deep into your stomach,

Allowing it to expand as you breathe in,

Allowing it to fall as you breathe out.

Now let's add a rhythm to this breathing,

We're going to breathe in for 5 and breathe out for 5.

Breathing in 2,

3,

4,

5,

Breathing out 2,

3,

4,

5.

Breathing in 2,

3,

4,

5,

Breathing out 2,

3,

4,

5.

With your next breath in,

Imagine your body to be hollow and allow the breath to go all the way into your toes.

Bring your mind to the area of your toes and start to notice,

Notice your toes,

Notice the space between your toes,

Notice your fingernails or your toenails,

Notice the skin over your feet,

The bottom of your feet.

Notice the blood flow into the area,

Notice the bones,

The muscles.

Notice if there's any sensations,

Any tingling,

Any pins and needles,

Any throbbing.

With the next breath in,

Allow this cleansing breath,

This breath full of new energy,

Fresh energy to fill the area of your feet,

Expanding with newness and freshness and as you breathe out,

Allow your feet to melt away in your mind's eye,

Let your feet melt away.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Now bring your attention to the area of your ankles.

Observe the joints,

The bones,

The tendons.

Notice if there's any pain,

Any aches,

Any relaxation,

Any pins and needles.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your ankles,

Expanding the area with newness,

With fresh energy,

With healing and as you breathe out,

Allow your ankles to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax your body further into the chair or into the bed.

Now bring your attention to your calves and your shins.

Just observe.

Notice the muscles,

Notice the bones,

The blood flow to the area.

Notice if the right feels tighter than the left.

Notice the sensations,

The temperature against the skin,

The clothing against the skin.

Just observe.

With your next breath in,

Allow this cleansing breath to fill the area of your calves and your shins,

Filling it with newness,

With cleansing,

With healing and as you breathe out,

Allow your calves,

Your shins to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Now bring your attention to the area of your knees.

Feeling the top of the knees,

The underside of the knees,

The knee joints,

The tendons,

The blood flow,

The skin,

The muscles.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your knees,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

With healing and as you breathe out,

Allow your knees to melt away in your mind's eye,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax further into the chair,

Into the bed.

Now bring your attention to your thighs.

Noticing the muscles of the thighs.

Noticing the bone.

Noticing the skin.

Noticing the blood flow.

Notice any sensations in the area of your thighs.

Any tingling,

Any throbbing.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your thighs,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

Expanding the area and as you breathe out,

Allow the thighs to melt away in your mind's eye,

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax further into the bed,

Into the chair.

Now bring your attention to the area of your hips and your glutes and just observe.

Observe the weight of your body against the hips.

Observe the muscles,

Muscles of your glutes,

Muscles around the hips.

Notice the blood flow into the area.

Notice if you're holding on to any stress,

Any emotions that's not serving you in the area.

Notice if the right side feels tighter than the left or is it the other way around.

Just observe.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to expand the area of your hips and your glutes,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

With healing and as you breathe out,

Allow your glutes,

Allow your hips to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Now bring your attention to your lower back,

Observing the area of your lower back.

Notice if you're holding on to any stress in your lower back,

Any tightness or does it feel relaxed?

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your lower back,

Filling it with newness,

With healing,

With fresh energy and as you breathe out,

Allow the lower back to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Relax further into the bed,

Into the chair.

Now bring your attention to the mid-back and just observe.

Observe the spine in the area,

Observe the nerves leaving the spine,

Observe if you're holding on to any tightness,

Any emotions that are not serving you.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your mid-back,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

Expanding the area and as you breathe out,

Allow your mid-back to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Now bring your attention to your upper back,

Noticing your upper back,

Noticing the top of the shoulders,

Noticing if you feel any heaviness in your shoulders,

In your upper back.

Maybe you can even imagine you're carrying a backpack and notice are you carrying any stressors in that backpack,

How heavy does that backpack feel?

Are you carrying any baggage from your past?

Any resentments,

Unforgiveness?

Any worry,

Stress?

Just observe,

Notice how heavy that backpack is and how long you've been carrying this heaviness.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your upper back,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

With healing and as you breathe out,

Allow the upper back to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

You can even imagine taking out that backpack you've been carrying and throwing it from top of a cliff and allowing the backpack to just melt away.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Now bring your attention to your arms,

Noticing your upper arms,

Your elbows,

Your lower arms,

Your wrists,

Your fingers,

Your thumb.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your upper arms,

Your elbow,

Your lower arms,

Your palms,

Your thumb,

Your fingers,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

With healing.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your arms to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Now bring your attention to the area of your stomach.

Notice the stomach rise with inhale.

Notice the stomach fall with the exhale.

Observe the area of your stomach.

Notice your abdomen.

Notice the organs within the pancreas,

The liver,

The intestine,

The reproductive organs.

Just observe.

Notice if you're carrying any stress,

Any anxiety in the area.

Observe.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your stomach,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your stomach to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Relax further into the chair,

Into the bed.

Now bring your attention to the area of your throat.

Observing the area of your throat.

Does your throat feel dry?

Does it feel constricted?

Do you feel you're holding back on your voice?

Or are you freely speaking your truth?

Just observe.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your throat,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy,

Expanding the area.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your throat to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release,

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax further and further.

Now bring your attention to the area of your neck.

Observe.

Are you holding on to any emotions in the area of your neck,

Any stress?

Any fears,

Any guilt,

Any shame,

Any anger,

Any stress?

Just notice.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to expand the area of your neck,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your neck to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax further into the chair,

Into the bed.

Now bring your attention to the muscles on your face.

Noticing your jaws,

Noticing your lips,

The tongue,

The muscles around the eyes,

The eyelids,

The eyeballs,

Eyelashes,

Eyebrows,

Noticing the forehead,

The temples,

Noticing the ears,

The inner ear.

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your face,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your face to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Now bring your attention to the top of the head,

The back of the head,

Your scalp.

Notice the hair follicles.

Notice if you're carrying any stress,

Any tension on top of your head or the back of your head.

With your next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill the area of your head,

Filling it with newness,

With fresh energy.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your head to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

Let it go.

Relax further into the chair,

Into the bed.

Now bring your attention to the area of your heart and start to notice,

Notice the beating of your heart.

Notice if the area of your heart feels constricted,

Closed off,

Or does it feel open?

With the next breath in,

Allow the breath to expand the area of your heart,

Filling it with newness,

Filling it with healing.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your heart to melt away in your mind's eye.

Release.

Release all that that is no longer serving you.

With your next breath in,

Allow the breath to fill your entire body,

Filling it with newness,

Filling it with healing,

Freshness,

With light.

And as you breathe out,

Allow your entire body to relax further into your bed,

Into your chair,

Releasing all that that is no longer serving you.

Letting it all go.

Now bring to mind a memory you hold dearly,

A memory of a place or a loved one,

A memory that fills your heart with gratitude.

Bring that memory to mind and fill your heart with the feelings of gratitude,

Feelings of appreciation,

Compassion,

Care,

Love.

And take a moment to radiate all these feelings towards yourself.

Take a moment to bless yourself.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I abide in peace.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I abide in peace.

Now imagine radiating all these wonderful feelings towards others around you,

Out into this world.

And as you're radiating,

You can imagine light radiating out of your heart 360 degree.

Imagine your energy growing with every breath,

Your light growing with every breath,

Blessing everyone on planet earth.

May you all be happy.

May you all be healthy.

May you all abide in peace.

May you all be happy.

May you all be healthy.

May you all abide in peace.

Now take a moment to notice how your body feels.

How does your mind feel?

Notice the relaxation,

Notice the feelings of gratitude,

Of calmness,

Of inner peace.

You may carry these feelings with you for the rest of the day.

When you're ready,

You may slowly wiggle your fingers,

Wiggle your toes,

Start to come back to your breath,

Deepening your breaths.

And when you're ready,

You may open your eyes.

See your breath at night,

It looks beautiful to you.

You you