Sleep Meditation - Body Scan

So, welcome back to another guided sleep meditation.
As usual, finding a nice comfortable posture or position in your bed.
And for this one I’d recommend laying flat on your back.
And taking a few moments to settle in.

We can start with a few deep breaths.
So, breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly.
Let’s do that one more time.
Breathing in deeply and breathing out slowly.
And letting all the stress and tension wash away from your body.

And for this practice today we’ll be focused on doing something called a body scan meditation.
So, we’ll be scanning through the body with our awareness, with mindfulness.

And for this practice today we can also relax the body as we go through.
So, in each place where we bring our attention, seeing if you can also soften and relax the body.

So, we can start by bringing our awareness first to the full body.
Just getting a sense of the feeling of the entire body from head to toe.

Becoming aware of the general outline or shape of the body.
Noticing where the body touches the mattress or blanket beneath you.
And feeling the space or the air around the body.

Get curious about what it feels like to have a body.
What does it feel like to have arms and legs, and fingers and toes?

And now to do this body scan we can start by focusing our awareness at the area at the top of the head or the crown of the head.
First just notice if you are aware of any sensations there.
Can you feel the skin on the top of the scalp?

And if you feel nothing then that’s okay.
Just allow that to be your experience.
You might notice some tingling or vibration in the skin at the top of the head.
We can slowly move our awareness down the body.

So, moving down the forehead.
Feeling the front of the forehead.
Becoming aware of the feeling of the eyebrows.
Then feeling the muscles around the eyes and the eye sockets.

Seeing if it’s possible to soften and relax each area as you go through.
So, relaxing the muscles around the eyes.

Moving your awareness down into the cheeks and the jaw.
Relaxing these areas.
Letting the tongue relax.
As you slowly move your awareness down the neck into the shoulders.
Softening and releasing the shoulders.

And letting your awareness travel over to the right side and down into the right arm.
Feeling the right biceps and the right triceps.
Traveling through the right elbow into the right forearm.

Feeling the right wrists and the right palm.
And feeling all the fingers on your right hand.

And then taking a moment to just rest your awareness in the palm of the right hand.
And slowly moving your awareness back up the right arm through the right shoulder and over into the left shoulder.

Traveling down into the left arm, the left biceps and triceps.
Through the left elbow.
The left forearm.
The left wrists.
The palm of your left hand.
And feeling all the fingers on your left hand as you rest your awareness in the palm of your left hand.

Feeling whatever warmth or tingling or vibration is present.
And slowly moving that awareness back up the left arm, through the left shoulder and bringing your awareness into the center of your chest.
Maybe taking a slightly deeper inhale and a long slow exhale as you relax the chest.

Slowly moving your awareness down the body.
Relaxing and softening as you go.
Feeling into the abdomen and the belly.
Softening the belly and releasing any tension.

Allowing yourself to breath fully as you feel yourself sinking.
And moving your awareness down into the pelvis. Into the hips.

And feeling both of your thighs.
The right thigh and then the left thigh.
Just noticing the warmth as you let go of any tension.
And moving down through the knees, into the shins.

Through the ankles.
Keeping your awareness alive, so staying curious and mindful.
Moving down into the soles of the feet.
And letting your awareness stay there at the soles of the feet.

Noticing the vibration, the warmth.
And from there, expanding your awareness once again to the full body.
Feeling yourself, feeling the body being supported by your bed or the mattress.
And also pulled down by gravity.

Allowing your body to settle and find that place of stillness.
And allowing your mind to drift off into that state of sleep.