If tensing any area is uncomfortable or painful, you can skip it or use a lighter touch. For ongoing stress, this practice can sit alongside care from a doctor or mental health professional rather than replace it.
Here’s a Sample of the “Mindfulness Body Scan for Stress Relief” Guided Meditation Script:
Lying down in a comfortable, quiet place where you can be free from distractions
If you’re supporting your head or chest, maintaining a neutral neck and spine
Letting your eyes close, to help turn your attention inward
Breathing gently and quietly in and out through your nose
Counting out 5 slow cycles of breath
Letting your whole body rest back
Dropping into the awareness that this is your time to be at ease, and to be still
Letting yourself be present here
There’s nowhere else you need to be,
And nothing else you need to do
That’s more important than resting, right here, and right now
We’ll begin with awareness of the head and face
Without moving too much,
If it’s comfortable, shutting your eyes tight, scrunching up your nose, and puckering your lips
Squeezing every muscle of your face, your brow, your entire head
Holding this tension, only as much as feels comfortable, for a long patient inhale breath
Then with exhale, letting go
Paying particular attention to the sensation of this release
Noticing sensation in the muscles of the face
Noticing the process of movement from tight, to soft
Noticing the feeling, of the face and head expanding into relaxation
Being present with this feeling of letting go for as long as you’d like to
As we move through this meditation,
You can pause at any time
When you’re ready, dropping your awareness to your shoulders
The sides of your rib cage
Your chest and your back
Your belly and low back
Aware of your entire torso
And then as you lie here,
With inhale breath, squeezing and flexing this torso, again only as much as feels comfortable
Squeezing the sides of your body,
Tightening your belly
Activating your back, your shoulders, your chest
Holding tight as you seek out activation in every last little corner of the torso
Holding tight as you take a long inhale
