12-Minute Guided Meditation with a Mental Health Expert for Body Awareness

Hello everyone. Today we'll be doing a body awareness meditation. Bringing our attention and our focus to our body can be an excellent way to help quiet the mind and bring a sense of calmness within us. So we'll start off by sitting in a comfortable but erect position. Comfortable but alert. We'll close our eyes and start off with a few deep breaths. Inhale deeply and exhale long and gently. Remember to gently push your out on the inhalation and letting it contract gently on the exhalation. Nice couple deep breaths. And now we'll bring our attention to our lower legs. From our knees to the tip of our toes. Let's really feel our lower legs with as much attention as possible. Sometimes when we pay close attention to our body it gives a bit of a tingling sensation. Now I would ask that you bring all your attention to the left lower leg from knee to the tip of your toes. Notice how the sensation slightly changes as you bring more attention to just one side. And now switch to the right side. The right lower leg from your knee to the tip of your toes. Again notice the subtle difference as you shift your focus and awareness to the right side. And remember as we go through this your mind may wander off to the grocery list or the many other tasks that are awaiting you. And when you notice this just gently and kindly bring yourself back to this body awareness exercise. It's quite likely that your mind will wander off many times and that's okay too. Gently and kindly keep returning to this body awareness exercise. Now let's bring your attention again to both lower legs at the same time. From the knees to the tip of the toes. We'll now bring our attention to our upper legs. From the hips to the knees. Really feel your upper legs. Now bring your focus to just the right upper leg. From the hip to the knee. And notice the subtle difference as you focus on just one side. Now bring attention to the left side. And back to both upper legs again. Keep breathing deep gentle breaths. And now we'll bring our attention to our trunk of our body. Chest, stomach and back. Try to feel your entire trunk. It's often in this area that will carry tension or stress. Sometimes feeling it in our chest. Sometimes feeling it in our stomach. If you notice tensions while being aware of this part of your body just allow them to be. Don't wish them away but rather offer them a space of compassionate acceptance. Now bring your attention to just the front of your trunk. Your chest and stomach. Really feel just your chest and stomach. And now we'll bring our attention to our back. Just the back area. Upper and lower back. Really feel this area. Sometimes here too we can carry aches and pains or tensions. Just allow those to be. Refrain from wishing anything away. And now we bring our attention once again to our entire trunk. We'll now go to our arms. From shoulders to tip of the fingers. Really feel your arms as much as you can. And now just the left arm from shoulder to tip of the fingers. And then the right arm. Just the right arm from shoulder to tip of the fingers. And back to both arms. Really feel your arms. Go to our neck and head now. Really feel the entirety of your neck and head. And for a few moments just feel the neck only. And now just the face. Your eyes, nose, lips. Really focus in on the sensation of your face. And now the back of the head. Notice the subtle shift in perception as you redirect your focus to different areas. And now back to the whole head, face and neck. And now we're going to try to feel the entire body at once. Really try your best to feel your entire body at once. Sometimes it can sort of feel almost like an energy field. Again whatever little tensions or discomforts that might arise that you notice. Let's not wish anything away but rather accept whatever is in this moment. Feel your entire body. Remember that tuning into your body to really paying close attention to your body as we just have can be done pretty much anywhere. And as a great way to help quiet the mind and support a sense of well-being. So we can take a few deep breaths here. Breathing in deeply. Exhale long and gently. Push the belly out on the inhalation. Let it contract gently on the exhalation. I wish you a good day.