Body Scan To Promote Restful Sleep

Hello and welcome to this guided body scan meditation.

This body scan is designed to help you prepare for sleep.

And as we do the meditation you actually may find yourself drifting off to sleep.

That's perfectly fine.

You can just allow the meditation to end and turn off on its own.

If we do the meditation you'll undoubtedly notice thoughts,

Maybe worries or concerns arising that take your attention away.

That's no problem.

Perfectly normal and human.

Just notice when that happens without judging it and see if you can just gently redirect your attention back to the body scan.

Seeing if you can just let go of the thoughts.

So finding a position lying down on the bed and we'll begin to explore the sensations that are present in the body.

And if you notice yourself starting to think about the sensation or think about anything at all,

Again it's just seeing if you can note that.

Maybe just put a little sticky note.

Oh there's thinking.

And simply bringing your back your attention back to the feelings and the sensations that are in the body.

Let's begin by noticing the sensations at the top of the head.

Directing your attention almost like it's the beam of a flashlight to the very top of your head and noticing what you feel there.

You might notice vibration or pressure.

You might not notice anything at all.

So just notice that.

And then noticing the back of the head where it may make contact with the bed or pillow.

It might be a sense of pressure here,

Of weight.

Maybe some other sensations.

Just being curious about what you notice.

And sometimes as we explore sensations we may notice tension.

And if you notice that,

Seeing if you can just allow a gentle relaxing.

You may notice for instance the way that when we breathe in and we breathe out,

That with each out breath there's a soft invitation to release,

To drop down into gravity,

To the holding of the bed.

So just seeing if you can allow tension to release on each out breath.

And sometimes that's not possible.

Sometimes tension is here and it's not ready to let go.

And that's okay too.

Then we just notice there's tension and we move on.

So now let's move on to notice the face,

Starting with the forehead.

Noticing the eyes,

The nose,

The cheeks,

And the mouth.

There may be sensations of tingling,

Of temperature,

Heat or coolness,

Or warmth.

Might be tightness,

Relaxation,

Ease.

Just let it all be there.

You might even allow yourself to imagine that you can breathe into and out from this area.

It's like the breath can enter through the pores of the skin and sort of massage the head and the face.

Allowing the head to grow heavy with gravity and allow it to be held by the bed.

And then we might notice especially the sensations in the jaw joints,

The joint on the right and the joint on the left.

And inviting the jaw to let go on the out-breath.

Then begin noticing sensations in the throat and the neck.

Just aware of anything that's present for you,

Perhaps the movement of the breath through the throat.

Noticing too if thoughts have pulled you away and knowing again that this isn't a problem,

It's perfectly normal.

Our thinking minds have been busy all day long and it's going to take a little time for the thoughts to get a message that it's time to rest.

Let's see if you can be patient,

Non-judgmental,

But firm in your noticing thoughts and then returning without judging to the sensations.

Noticing the breath moving through the neck,

The throat,

And then allowing your attention to find the shoulders.

If at any point you notice tension,

Sometimes you may notice that just noticing it,

It begins to release and relax a little bit.

Knowing too you can always breathe gently into the area,

Directing the breathing into the shoulders.

Allowing the out-breath to invite that softening,

Letting go and releasing into the holding that's here for us.

The holding of gravity and the holding of the bed.

Bring your awareness to your left shoulder and allowing it to move down your arm.

Noticing any vibration or tingling,

Heat or coolness,

Pressure,

Movement as you reach your elbow down into your lower arm and then your hand.

Allowing the breath to move in and out of the left arm and hand.

Noticing the hand and the fingers.

Allowing the hand to soften and relax.

Allowing the left arm,

The left hand to grow heavy and to be held by gravity and by the bed.

Then bringing your attention up to your right shoulder and noticing any sensations here as you start down the right arm to the upper arm,

The forearm,

And then also the hand and fingers of the right arm.

Noticing too the thoughts that inevitably arise.

Sometimes we can find ourselves more thinking about the sensations than really experiencing them.

When we notice that,

It's just an opportunity to shift into the direct experience.

The direct experience may be of points of contact,

Pressure,

Warmth or coolness,

Tingling,

Pulsing,

Whatever's here,

Being aware of it.

And allowing the right arm and hand to grow heavy and relax into gravity and into the holding of the bed.

And now bringing your attention back to the top of your shoulders and finding your back.

Noticing the shoulder area.

Allowing it to soften on the out breath as you allow the attention to move down the back.

You might move down the spine and allow the attention to sort of radiate outward to the left and right from the spine of the upper back.

Noticing the breath here and the mid back.

Noticing the points of pressure,

Contact,

Movement of the breath.

Any sensations in the low back.

Noticing where there might be any tension or holding.

Begin by just being aware of that.

Ah,

That's what's here.

Breathing into and out from the hold of the back.

Noticing how that out breath might just invite a little bit of softening and letting go into the holding of the bed,

The holding gravity.

Noticing thoughts as they arise,

Noting them.

You may notice how when we remove our attention they just drift away,

Dissolve.

As we come back to the sensations of the back and contact with the bed.

Just allowing the breath to move through the back like a massage for the back.

Noticing the rising and falling away of thoughts.

Just allowing thoughts to pass like they're clouds and coming back.

Now with our attention to the top of the chest.

Gently scanning the chest down the upper rib cage.

Noticing the breath,

The rising and the falling,

The sensations here.

And allowing the breath to just be natural.

The body knows how to breathe itself.

Just letting it do what it knows to do.

Noticing the stomach area.

Let's see if it's possible to soften the muscles of the stomach.

Allowing the breath to resonate more deeply.

Allowing the chest and the belly grow heavy and relaxed into the holding that's here,

Gravity in the bed.

Noticing the pelvic area.

The places where the body connects with the bed.

Seeing whatever sensations are present here.

Breathing into and out from the pelvis,

The buttocks.

Inviting that letting go and growing heavy on each out breath.

Held by the bed,

Held by gravity.

And then bring the attention to the left hip.

And we'll start to bring our awareness down the left leg.

Noticing first the sensations in the thigh.

Noticing the top and the sides.

The back of the thigh,

Where it may be in contact with the bed.

Noticing deep inside the thigh.

Breathing in and out of the thigh.

Allowing it to grow heavy.

Allowing it to be held.

And noticing the knee and the left calf.

Seeing whatever sensations are present.

Vibration,

Tingling,

Warmth or coolness.

Itching or heaviness.

Whatever it is,

Just let it be.

And then noticing the ankle,

The foot and the toes.

Breathing into and out from the whole of the leg,

The feet and the toes of the left side.

And allowing the left leg and foot to just relax into gravity if that's possible.

And then bringing your awareness gently up to find your right hip.

Notice the sensations here.

And again bringing the attention down into the right thigh.

The top,

The sides,

The back,

Deep inside the thigh.

Maybe breathing into and out from the thigh.

Noticing whatever sensations are here.

Vibration,

Tingling,

A sense of energy moving through.

Tightness,

Ease.

It's all okay.

Just noticing it.

And noticing the knee and down through the calf and the shin.

Noticing perhaps points of contact with the leg that rests on the bed.

Noticing any temperature sense.

Anything at all.

And then down through the right ankle into the foot and the toes.

And just allowing the breath to play through this right leg and foot.

Allowing the breath to sort of massage the right leg.

Noticing that invitation on each out breath.

How you could possibly just allow that right leg to grow heavy,

To release,

To relax into gravity,

Into the holding of the bed.

And now just seeing if it's possible to expand your awareness.

To notice to the best of your ability the whole of the body with a kind and gentle attention.

Allowing the breath to just play through.

Massage the whole of the body.

Allowing the whole of the body to grow heavy,

Relaxed,

And soft.

And just naturally allowing this body scan meditation to come to an end.

Sweet dreams and namaste.