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Hello, My name is Salina Renninger. I’m a senior psychologist at University Counseling and Consulting Services.
Today I’m going to briefly talk to you about the benefits of mental and physical relaxation and walk you through a brief relaxation activity aimed at promoting physical relaxation.
In today’s world of distraction, demand, and busy schedules, it can be hard to find time to slow down and allow one’s mind and body to be calm and still. However, there is much research to support the benefits of doing just that. In fact, those who take brief amounts of time to focus on mindful awareness of their thoughts and on their state of physical relaxation, tend to find greater productivity and relief from emotional and physical pain. There are many ways to approach mindful awareness and relaxation. Some strategies include various forms of meditation, guided visualization activities, focused breathing techniques, yoga, and tai chi.
Today I will focus on one strategy for attending to body awareness and for deepening relaxation in the body. Keep in mind that thoughts and body reactions are intricately connected. Therefore, if your mind is racing and your body becomes tense, you can address this either by working with the thoughts or by relaxing the body. Pay attention to what works for you as there are other podcasts offering alternate strategies to the body scan activity we will do today.
If, after you do the activity today, you find you want more information or experiences like this, contact UCCS at 612-624-3323 or come to 109 Eddy Hall to schedule time with a counselor.
The body scan meditation comes from “Calming your anxious mind” by Jeffrey Brantley.
Consider Dr. Brantley’s writings about the body scan: “In the body scan, you focus kind and allowing, nonjudging and nonstriving attention on the body itself. Attention is concentrated on each part of the body as closely and in as much detail as possible. You move your attention systematically throughout the body, excluding no part or region. Your focus is supported by linking breath awareness to the sensations in each region of the body. You practice allowing yourself to feel your body deeply, from the inside, as you breathe in and out of each region. Paying mindful attention to the body leads to a deeper sense of connection with and awareness of the body. You have the experience of inhabiting your own body with a deeper and steadier sense of calm and relaxed attention. Your ability to focus on any part and remain present there becomes much greater. And your body itself can relax deeply.
Okay, let’s begin. You’ll want to find a place where you can feel safe and comfortable with minimal distractions.
- Take a position seated comfortably or lying down with pillows supporting your head and knees. Many people prefer to do the body scan lying down, and it works well as long as you remember that this is an exercise in waking up, not falling asleep! Make sure you are warm enough. Allow enough time to do the practice slowly. Today, I will give instructions that focus on your toes. However, when you have time, you should practice this activity scanning your whole body. I will provide instruction on this today, but will not take the time to slowly work through each aspect of the body.
- Once settled in, with your eyes closed, spend a few moments focusing on the attitudes that form the foundation of mindful practice. Especially focus on nonstriving, nonjudging, and acceptance. This means you accept your body as it feels and is, you do not judge your self for the state of your body, and you are not striving toward any particular outcome. Your focus is to be mindfully present with the current status of your body.
- Let yourself feel the breath moving in and out of the body. Allow yourself to relax and feel the whole body. Feel the mass of it. Feel the points of contact and support with the chair or floor. Don’t’ try to change anything you feel, just let it be. You are here for the felt experience the body, just as it is. The practice is to experience the body, not to think about the body.
- Bring attention to the toes on your left foot. Feel what you can. After a bit, try to direct your breathing in and out of the toes. Let this be a sensation you feel of the breath extending through the body to and from the toes. Don’t make a picture in your mind. Simply relax and see how much of the unfolding sensations of the breath and toes you can connect with. Try to allow the breath sensation flowing in and out of the toes to sharpen your focus on what you are feeling in your toes. It is as if you become more present and more sharply focused on the toe sensations by holding them in the cradle of the breath.
- If you don’t feel any sensations, just notice that. Allow yourself to feel “no feeling”. Notice if your mind makes up a story about this, and let the story go. Come back to the region of the toes.
- Allow yourself to feel changes in sensation in the region of the toes. Feel the temperature, the contact with socks or shoes or air. Sharpen your attention as much as you can. Feel sensation in as much detail as you can, toe by toe. Stay with direct experience and with the breath sensations, in and out. Allow the sensations to come and go. Allow them to release naturally.
- When you are ready to move on, take a deeper breath and release the focus on the toes. Keep attention on the breath sensations for a few breaths, and repeat the level of attention you gave your toes, to the bottom of the foot. Then move to the heel, the top of the foot, and the ankle. Keep working with the breath and the body sensations this way. Continue to extend the breath awareness into and out of each region as you breath in an out with the body sensations you discover there. Hold the sensations of each region in the cradle of the breath. The body sensations are the primary object of attention, while breathing in and out with them helps you stay connected and present.
- Move through the regions of the left leg to the hip joint in the same way. Continue holding the sensations in each region—lower leg, knee, upper leg—in focus as you breath in and out. Then release the sensations in each region, staying present with the breath and moving on to the next region. Whenever your attention wanders, be patient with yourself and gently return awareness to the region you are focusing on and to the breath sensations.
- In this way, continue to move slowly through the rest of your body. Scan the right foot and leg, the pelvis, the abdomen and lower back. Scan the chest and upper back. Go on to the shoulders. Scan the fingers, hands and arms—first one side, then the other—and return to the shoulders. Maintain the focus on sensations and the breath as you move attention from region to region. Continue on through the neck, the head, and all the regions of the face, including the inside of the mouth and throat.
- When you have scanned all the regions of your body, allow yourself to rest with the breath and the body as they are. Let the breath sensations come in through the top of the head, as if you had a large opening there, and then wash through the entire body and exit through the toes of both feet simultaneously. Stay with this direction as long as you like. Then try reversing the direction. Breathe in through the toes, move breath through the body, and exit through the top of the head. Do this as long as you like.
- By the time you have done all this, you may not even be able to feel your body. Don’t worry about that. Simply allow yourself to rest in the silence and stillness that are present. Recognize the deep peace and ease that is possible in the body experience.
- When you are ready to stop your practice, simply acknowledge that, take a few deeper breaths, open the eyes, and begin to move the body slowly.
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