Body Scan: When You're Anxious

Anxiety rarely stays in our heads. It tightens our shoulders, knots our stomach, clamps our jaw, and shrinks our breath until everything feels like bracing for the worst. 

Make room for rest, and welcome God’s healing touch with kindness, not force. Find a quiet place (reclined or seated) and practice building conscious awareness with this Body Scan for when you’re anxious. A guided body scan meditation can help you notice what’s happening inside, without trying to force the calm. 

Transcript

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Welcome And Get Comfortable

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi, I'm Whitney, and you're listening to Exploring Peace Meditations. I'm glad you're here today, and however you've found yourself here, I hope you'll begin to make yourself comfortable. You can practice today's body scan reclined in a comfortable resting posture or seated as long as you're in a safe place where you can be undisturbed for the next while. If you're new here, or if you've been around a while, I'd love to remind you that you can find more at exploringpeace.com slash community. And my books are found at whitney rsimpson.com.

Why Body Scans Help Anxiety

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Now, a body scan. Maybe this is something you've practiced before, maybe it's new, but I'll remind you that we practice body scan to build upon our conscious awareness, to slow down enough to actually notice what's happening within ourselves. Our anxiety often lives in our mind, but it also lives in our tight shoulders, a knotted stomach, a clenched jaw, a shallow breath. When we practice body scan, we slow down long enough to pay attention. This helps us interrupt that anxiety loop of those spiraling thoughts. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping us slow down, shifting us out of fight or flight mode, and turning us toward rest and digest. And it builds on our awareness within ourselves. It teaches us we don't have to keep bracing for the worst. This practice isn't about making anxiety go away. It's more about helping guide us through it.

Breath That Signals Safety

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So with that knowing, I'd invite you to take a nice, full, purposeful breath, inhaling deep into your diaphragm. And letting out an exhale that lasts a bit longer than that inhale. With your next breath, fill the body and then see if you can sigh out your breath, just letting go of anything you don't need today. Your body knows how to breathe. So let it happen in the background while we move our attention around on purpose.

Feet To Thighs Settling Down

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Bring your awareness to the bottom of your feet. Notice them without trying to change anything. Notice the weight, the temperature, the contact they make with the surface beneath them. If you find tightness, you don't have to force it. Just breathe toward the feet and let them soften in their own time. Move your attention up your ankles, calves, knees. See if you can let your legs rest. They don't have to hold on to anything or hold you up right now. They can just rest. Awareness travels to your thighs, heavy, supported, held. Allow them to sink and soften.

Soft Belly And Open Chest

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Bring your attention to your belly. With that awareness that emotions often settle in our belly. Recognize that you can soften and release the tightness in the belly. Allow your belly to relax, to move with your breath like a baby sleeping. Imagine your belly moving up and down just as softly as that belly on a baby, a newborn infant, soft and gentle, expanding and deflating. Allow your awareness to travel from your belly to your chest, your heart space. See if on your next inhale you can allow your chest to expand just as your belly expands with the fullness of the inhale. So your entire core opens up on the breath in. And your entire core sinks on the breath out. You're not doing it wrong. You're allowing space to move through your belly and your chest, giving yourself a little more room to breathe. If breathing feels hard or challenging, invite yourself to not force it or fight against it, but just simply be here. Expanding on the inhale, deflating on the exhale. Awareness

Shoulders Arms Hands Let Go

SPEAKER_00 7:06

travels to your shoulders. See if you can soften the shoulders away from the ears or down to the floor. Just letting them drop even slightly. And then with that release, notice your arms, your elbows, your wrists, and your hands. Allow your hands to be soft and open. Open like they're not holding on to anything. They're releasing and letting go. Allow your awareness to travel to each of your fingertips to your palms to the back of the hands.

Neck Jaw Face Unwind

SPEAKER_00 8:32

The awareness travels now to your neck and your throat. Whether you're lying down or seated, see if you can lengthen the neck and soften. Notice your jaw. Recognize if there's tension or tightness here. Allow your teeth to unclinch, your tongue to rest at the bottom of your mouth, and your jaw to hang loose. Soften the muscles around your eyes. Allow your forehead to smooth. Let your entire face relax. With your jaw loose and your face relaxed. Feel your entire head soften. Notice

Noticing Without Forcing Calm

SPEAKER_00 10:14

if your body feels different than it did just a few minutes ago. Maybe it feels heavier. Maybe it feels lighter. Maybe it feels more settled or grounded. Maybe it feels more spacious or soft. There's not a right or wrong way to notice your whole body. You may still be having thoughts, and that's all right. This body scan is not meant to force calm. It's an invitation for your body to remember right now, in this moment, you are safe enough to rest, to notice your whole being. Allow another full breath in, and a long sigh out.

Quiet Check In Where You Need It

SPEAKER_00 11:41

In the next few moments of quiet, notice what part of your body needs a little more attention, a little more time with purposeful breath, an invitation to soften or relax, and a chance to be still. There's no rush, and there's no expectation to feel a certain way at the end. This is simply an inquiry, curiosity, noticing. Allow yourself purposeful breaths in and long breaths out. And allow your awareness to travel to any part of your body that needs a little extra love and attention.

Welcoming God’s Healing Touch

SPEAKER_00 12:41

A place that still feels tight or heavy. And in the quiet, imagine you send purposeful breath to that part of your being. And maybe you imagine God's healing touch upon that part of you today. Whether it's a jaw, a heart, a hip, a knee, a head, a foot. Breathe. And welcome God's healing touch. Thank you for the gift of breath, for the gift to pause, and to simply notice, notice our whole selves. So God, we welcome your healing touch upon us this day. In the parts that feel heavy and hard. Help us feel more grounded, more present, more relaxed as we return to the present moment. Thank you, God, for your presence with us as we pause now and as we return to our days. In your name we pray. Amen. Whenever

Return To The Room And Blessing

SPEAKER_00 14:53

you're ready, you'll deepen your breath, wiggle your fingers and your toes to slowly bring movement back into your whole being. And open your eyes back into the space you're in. Noticing. Maybe you take a moment to thank God for your body, your whole body, body, mind, and spirit as you return to your day. Thank you for exploring the gift of God's peace with me. I'm Whitney, and until next time, may God's peace be with you.