[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi.
My name is Claudia Zurlini, and I teach meditation at HSS.
Join me today for this brief restore and relax
mindfulness practice.
During this practice today, we'll
do a short body scan, which helps
to promote relaxation and create a foundation of attention
and awareness within.
So turn your notifications off, put your phone down,
and make the decision to not be distracted by anything else.
These next five minutes are for you.
Find yourself in a comfortable place, either seated upright
with your feet flat on the floor and your palms in your lap
wherever they land.
Perhaps you'd like to recline with your feet
up or lie down completely, whatever works best for you
today.
We'll begin to withdraw from the senses by closing our eyes
or softly gazing in front of us .
And to mark the start of our practice,
we'll take a deep inhale through our nose, holding at the top,
and exhaling fully and completely.
Again, we'll inhale deeply.
Hold at the top.
And this time as you exhale slowly,
imagine exhaling any expectations, judgment,
any thoughts that aren't serving you right now.
And we'll turn our attention to our feet.
Bringing your full attention to what your feet feel like.
Are they touching the ground?
Can you feel them in your socks or shoes?
Bringing a sense of curiosity here
to see if you can notice something you haven't before.
Moving up the feet and to the ankles and the shins
and calves, finding any tension or temperature difference,
a hot spot or cool spot.
If you catch any tension, bring your mind there
and imagine with the next exhale it can release.
Moving up into the knees, can you coax the muscles
around the knees to relax?
Thighs and the sit bones feeling connected
to wherever they land.
We'll scan the abdomen starting with the belly,
looking for any tension and inviting
it to join us in relaxation.
Moving up to the chest, paying close attention
to how your clothes feel on your body, deeper muscle layers,
or perhaps you can even feel your heartbeat.
We'll scan the arms, starting with the hands,
counting all 10 fingers, inviting the hands to join us
and relaxation.
There's nothing we need the hands for right now.
Moving up into the wrists, the forearms, the elbows,
upper arms, letting the arms hang heavy.
Can you let go just a little bit more?
And if you can't, that's OK.
Remember, we left our expectations
at the start of this meditation, so you can just notice,
wow, I still feel tense.
We'll scan the back, starting with the tailbone,
moving up into the low back, the mid back, the upper back.
With the next Exhale, imagine relaxation
washing over the back.
Relaxing the shoulders, the neck.
Moving up to the face, inviting the jaw to let go,
the tongue, the palate.
It's OK to bring a slight Mona Lisa smile here.
The cheeks, the corners of the eyes, the eyelids.
The brow is soft and expansive.
The crown of the head is open, inviting.
Feeling the body suspended here for a moment in relaxation.
What does it feel like when we don't
ask our body to do anything?
Begin to bring your attention back
into the room feeling the space that you occupy.
And we'll seal how this practice with another deep inhale
through the nose.
This time exhaling any goodness you
might have generated that you'd like to offer to the world.
When you're ready, you can flutter the eyes open,
taking a moment to feel some gratitude for taking the time
to care for the most important part of you, your mind.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
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