Today, we're gonna try a practice called "The Body Scan".
This practice is an opportunity to check in with our body
and to invite it to release any tension that it can.
We can do this practice sitting up, standing up or lying down.
My favourite is to do it lying down so that I can really take some time
to check in with my body and have some relaxation in my otherwise busy day.
You might want to take a moment to really notice what feels right for you.
If you're lying down, you might like to put some cushions under your knees,
check that your head is comfortable. If you're sitting in a chair, wiggle around a little bit.
Make sure that everything feels as comfortable as it can.
And if you're standing, just check that you feel good about your position,
if there's anywhere you want to lean nearby.
The most important thing when we do a body scan
is to know that we don't have to do it perfectly.
Sometimes when we check in with our bodies,
it turns out that things don't really feel very great.
So before we begin, I really want us to set an intention to be kind
and accepting to whatever it is that's going on in our bodies.
We know that some areas may not be feeling so good,
and when we check in with these areas, let's see if we can just be nice to them.
And maybe when we check in with other areas, they'll be feeling really good,
and if that happens, we can take some joy in noticing a part of our bodies that is feeling OK.
So whatever goes on during this body scan, know that we are checking in with our bodies together
and that this practice is really just all about acceptance and kindness
towards ourselves and towards whatever we find in our bodies.
When you're ready and settled, you can close your eyes, or if you feel more
comfortable, you can keep them open and just pick one point to focus on.
We're going to begin the body scan by sending all of our attention to our bellies.
Take a moment to notice that when you breathe in, your belly fills with air,
and when you breathe out, your belly falls.
Any time during the body scan, if you notice your mind get very busy
or you feel a little distracted or anxious, you can always send your attention back
to noticing your belly rising as you breathe in and falling as you breathe out.
Your belly breathing is always there for you at any time you need.
Now, I want to invite you to send all of your attention up to the very top of your head.
Take a moment to really notice — how does the very tippy top of your head feel right now?
And now we're gonna gently send all of our attention
down from the top of our head to our forehead.
Notice your forehead. Notice any tension you might be holding there.
Sometimes, if we're worried, we can scrunch up our foreheads really tightly.
See if you can take a moment to invite any tension that can to release from your forehead.
Sending kind attention to your forehead, noticing your eyebrows,
and now scanning down to your eyes.
There are so many tiny muscles all around your eyes.
Take a moment to see if they're tight or at ease.
Just send all of your kindness and care to your eyes.
And now we'll continue to scan down our face,
and each part of our face that we notice, we can check in with it.
Maybe invite it to relax, noticing our cheeks, our lips, our tongue, our jaw.
And now continuing down our neck,
noticing our shoulders.
We can pause for a moment at our shoulders,
noticing today — how do they feel?
If there is some discomfort there, we can just accept it
and offer it kindness. We don't have to change it.
And if our shoulders feel good today, we can take a moment
to feel some happiness in our shoulders.
Now, we can continue down to our chest,
becoming aware of our chest rising with our in-breath
and falling with our out-breath.
Noticing if there's any tightness here.
We don't have to change it. We offer it acceptance and kindness.
And now we can notice both our arms, starting at our shoulders.
Let's gently move our attention down both our arms,
offering kindness and acceptance to anything we notice in our arms.
Noticing our elbows, our forearms,
scanning all the way down to our hands and the very tips of our fingers.
And now, let's move all of our attention back to our belly.
Once again, noticing how it feels when we breathe in and our belly fills with air
and when we breathe out and our belly falls.
Rising and falling.
And now, we can continue to scan down, noticing our hips,
moving down our thighs,
coming to rest for a moment on our knees,
noticing how our knees feel today.
If there is discomfort in our knees, we can offer it acceptance and kindness.
Perhaps sometimes we offer our knees frustration.
So take a moment to notice how they feel,
and just accept whatever is there.
And then we can continue to scan down our shins, all the way down to our feet,
to the tips of our toes.
If we can, we might like to gently wiggle our toes,
just to notice — how do our feet feel today?
Sometimes when we are very busy, we may rush around and forget about our feet.
So take a moment now to really check in with your feet.
If there is any discomfort there, offer it acceptance and kindness.
We don't have to fix or change it,
and if our feet feel great today, or maybe just our left pinky toe feels good,
we can take some happiness, some joy in this little part of our body.
And now, let's move our attention once again to our belly,
taking a moment to really focus our attention
on our belly filling with air as we breathe in
and falling as we breathe out.
Allowing our mind and body to release and relax in whatever ways they can right now.
It's okay if our mind is busy, but really take a moment to invite it to rest,
to focus in that sensation of your belly rising and falling.
In a few moments, we'll finish our body scan.
Before we do, take a moment to observe.
What went on in your mind during this practice?
Perhaps it was very calming and relaxing, or maybe you felt really uneasy.
As always, mindfulness practice is about noticing your mind,
so anything that you have just noticed is a total moment of success.
When you're ready, you can gently open your eyes,
and in whatever way is comfortable for you, try doing a little bit of stretching
just to wake your body up and get ready to continue on with your day.
Thanks for joining me today.