Guided Meditation Script for Body Tension and Other Mindful Exercises
This guided meditation script will help you prepare for sleep. Close your eyes. Notice how good it feels to close your heavy eyelids after a long day. When you are settled, start to take deep breaths in through your nose for a count of four, and out through your mouth for a count of four. With every inhale and exhale, you are getting closer and closer to sleep.
Who knew that you can use meditation to help ease out your body tension? Stress, fatigue, and tense situations can also make your muscles stiff and tight. On one of our sessions our meditation instructor led us through a guided meditation script that was specifically meant to help us relax our muscles.
But before we go to that specific meditation, here is a breathing meditation exercise to help us get in the mood:
Find a place and time where you can do the meditation. Find a sitting position that feels comfortable for you. When you’re ready, take a deep inhale and put your feet on the floor.If you are sitting on the floow, then just try feeling your feet in contact on floor or on the mat. .
Now put your hands on your front and take 2-3 deep breaths, noting how your stomach rises and falls with each inhale and exhale.
And when you feel a lot more comfortable, try closing your eyes.
Keep doing deep breaths into your stomach, Slowly breathe in for for a count of 5, try holding your breath for 5 seconds, slowly breathe out for a count of 5. And keep breathing, in for 5, hold for 5, out for 5.[Pause for about 1 minute]
[Softly] Great. I’d like you to now slowly bring your attention back to the room, noticing the sounds around you and begin to open your eyes [pause].
So, how are you feeling?
In this article:
Guided Meditation Script for Body Tension
Other Forms of Mindful Meditation Training
Mindful Listening
Mindful Walking
Mindful Seeing
Guided Meditation Script for Body Tension
This is the body scan meditation script that you can use for relaxing and easing your body tension. This 5-minute guided meditation script is a good meditation training for focusing on and purposefully relax your entire body – one area at a time. Take your time in each body area, allowing your client/s to relax and de-stress as much as possible.
I’d like you to be at ease in your chair or wherever you are sitting and relax. Take a deep inhale and place your feet on the floor. Try to feel the contact of your feet on the ground. Then take a few deep breaths for a moment. (pause)
Now try focusing on your toes, squeeze them up for a few seconds then release. (pause) Put your focus back on your toes and imagine an energy that goes up to your ankles (pause), calf muscles (pause), knees (pause), and thighs (pause). As you feel up this energy let any thoughts you may have float up and away from you in an air bubble. [pause].
Now feel up that energy and relax the muscles on your buttocks [pause], and as you go up your back [pause] and start to notice any stiffness in your back. Inhale slowly, and as you breathe out, gradually ease and release any tension you may have in your back area. (pause).
Now think of that energy going up on your shoulders. Try slowly lifting them to reach up, and then release and slowly put them down completely. Brilliant. (pause) Now it’s time to release tensions in your neck and jaw muscles. Slowly take a deep breath in, and as you exhale but let go of any tightness you’re holding in your neck and jaw (pause).
Finally, imagine that energy going up to your head [pause]. Try hunching your shoulders up one last time and then slowly release the muscles your shoulders, any residual tension (pause).
Wonderful. Take deep breaths and relish this feeling of relaxation and tranquil for a little while longer. [longer pause about 1 minute]
Now slowly bring your focus back to yourself on the room. Begin noticing the different feels and sounds around you and when you’re ready, open your eyes [pause].
Other Forms of Meditation Training
There are other types of mindfulness meditation training than the usual practice that involves closing the eyes.
Mindful Listening
You do know what it is like to be heard— as much as you know what it feels to like to be ignored and not really listened to. There is a feeling of sweet affirmation when people really lean in to ‘lend their ears’ and hear and understand what you have to say. But just like how my meditation instructor puts it, “we can’t force people to listen to us, but we can try to learn to improve our listening skills for others,” this keeps us hoping that others will also find the inclination to do it too. Having good listening skills can be associated to the mindful listening practice. Mindfulness is a combination willful listening and attention. The intention part is having a sincere attention in the other person—their experiences, outlooks, feelings, and necessities. The part where you bring your attention means being able to stay aware of the present, being open, and unbiased as we receive the other’s words—even when they don’t line up with our own ideas or desires. The foundation for a mindful listening practice is self-awareness. Truly listening and understanding others requires that you also listen to yourself. Why? Because if you can’t recognize your own principles and beliefs, needs and worries, you won’t have enough inclination to really hear anyone else. The following are some tips to be a good listener to yourself so you can be a good listener to others.
- Check yourself: “What am I feeling at the moment? Is there anything that will and is distracting me to fully pay attention to the other person?” If there is an interference choose between addressing it or if you’ll deal with it later.
- When you decide to be fully there for the present moment, you have to extend that sense of presence to the other person. How? By listening fully and openly, with interest and empathy. Remember that you are there to listen to them, no judge them.
- Internally note your reactions as they arise— Recognize and be aware of your thoughts, feelings, judgments, and memories. When you realize that you are thinking more about yourself, put your attention back on the speaker.
- Return the conversation to them, using the speaker’s words, try paraphrasing or summarize the main point. It is one way of making the person feel that they are heard. It is an act that shows that you really are listening to them.
- Use friendly, open-ended questions to make clear your understanding and review for more of what they are telling you. Support them before you differ. Recognize the other person’s point of view—remember that acknowledging is not agreeing!—before introducing your ideas, feelings, or requests.
For Groups
The following is an adaptation of the mindful listening exercise from positivepsychology.com, which can be done as a group:
Step 1: Let the participants think of something that they are stressing and worrying about. Then let them ponder another thing that they are looking forward to;
Step 2: Once everyone is done thinking about these two things ley every participant take their turn in sharing their situations and stories with the group;
Step 3: Encourage each participant to also pay attention to how telling their stories to make them feel, what emotions they feel when they share something stressful as well as how it feels to share something optimistic;
Step 4: Participants will be instructed to see and be aware of their own thoughts, feelings, and body sensations both when talking and when listening;
Step 5: After each participant has shared, the participants can be divided into small groups and try answering the questions below.
A. How did you feel as you were speaking?
How did you feel as a listener?
Did you notice when your mind wandered?
If yes, what was the thought that distracted you?
What did you do to help you to bring your focus back to the present moment?
Did you have judging thoughts while listening to the stories of others? If yes, how did “that act of judging” feel?
Did you at any point feel empathy?
If yes how does your body feel when you felt empathy?
How did you feel right before you spoke?
How do you feel at this moment?
If you practiced mindful
listening for anyone you meet, how do you think that would feel?
Do you think mindful listening would transform the way you relate with others?
How do you think it would feel if you set the intent to focus attention with curiosity, kindness, and acceptance to everything you said and everything you listened to?
Mindful Walking
Walking is one of our ultimate gifts. Parents are delighted to witness the first time you did it. As walking is central to our lives, it makes it a good activity to exercise a our mindful attention to it. The following is a guide to help you try this type of walking meditation.
Stand up straight, but not stiff. Try to feel your feet as it touches the ground and let your weight distribute evenly.
Fold thumb of your left hand in and wrap your fingers around it. Place it just on top of your belly button. Wrap your right hand your left fist, resting your right thumb in the gap between your left thumb and index finger. (This creates a balance for you and keeps your swinging arms from being a distraction.)
Drop your gaze slightly. This helps you maintain focus.
Step out starting with your left foot. Feel it swinging, feel the heel hit the ground, now the ball, now the toes.
Do the same as the right foot comes forward.
Walk at a steady pace, slightly slower than in daily life but not funereal. When your attention wanders, please bring it back to the sensations of your feet touching the ground.
Mindful Seeing
For some, the lack of visual stimuli can feel uncomfotable. Sometimes it is even the reason why some people don’t want to try meditation.
Mindful seeing is a simple meditation training exercise requiring only a window with bit of a view. The meditation instructor guides the meditators with the following meditation script:
Find a space or a window where there are a lot to see outside. When you have decided a window or a place to gaze upon, look at everything there is to see. Try not to label and categorize the things you see outside the window. Instead of thinking “bird” or “tree” or “grass,” try to notice the colors on the scenery, the patterns, or the depth of textures of what you see.
Pay attention to the how the grass or leaves move with the breeze. Notice the many different shapes present in this small part of the world that you see. You can try to see the world outside the window from the standpoint of someone unaccustomed with these sights;
Maintain being observant but not critical. Continue being aware, but not fixated. In case you get distracted, gently pull your thoughts away from those ideas and notice a color or shape again to put you back in the right frame of mind.
There are other guided meditation script exercises that can be done other than these three some of them are mindful eating, mindful photography, mindful hearing etc., You can ask your meditation instructor for the guidance if you wan to try the mention mindful activities.
