Basic Meditation: Posture, Balance, Relaxation, & Body Scan

Sit with spine straight, body equally balanced, head tilted slightly forward. Maintain attention on the feeling of breathing from your stomach. Allow the body to naturally breathe and relax into the sinking feeling of gravity, while maintaining a straight spine.

If attention wanders to thoughts,
gently return attention to the feeling of breathing from the stomach.

Bring awareness to the entire body and ‘scan’ for any tension, and allow the entire body to relax. If you notice any leaning forward, backward, left or right, readjust your seated position until the body is centered & balanced.

When you feel relaxed, begin to bring attention to the crown of your head, and with your inner voice, say ‘relax’, or ‘let go’, to the muscles of the crown of your head. When you feel the crown relax, then do the same for each muscle area from the crown through the entire body, ending with your toes.

Stay with each muscle until you feel it release: feel the crown of the head muscles release, feel the temples release, feel the eye sockets release, feel the cheek muscles release, feel the cheekbone area release, feel the nose & sinus area release, feel the mouth area release, feel the jaw relax & release, feel the neck muscles release, the shoulders, the upper back, the chest, the lower back, the arms, the hands, the fingers, the stomach, the hips, the thighs, the knees, the calves, the ankles, the feet, the toes.

The muscle areas of the body will respond by letting go,
and ‘sinking’ into gravity & relaxation.
Stay with each muscle until you feel it release, then move to the next.

Repeat from crown to toes, over and over, feeling each “pass” more deeply relaxing each targeted muscle than the pass before. Notice the entire body unifying in relaxation. Notice the ‘edges’ of the body, in terms of feeling, are ‘fuzzy’. That is, notice there are no distinct discernible ‘edges’ when feeling the body.