Body Awareness Meditation – Take a Break and Relax

Give your attention to each part of your body. Feel each part deeply. Are they relaxed or tight, hot or cold, painful or comfortable? Start with your head. Focus on and feel the top of your head. When you are ready, move your focus to your forehead, then to your eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, ears, sides of the head, and back of the head. Continue working your way down to your toes. You could also start with your toes and move up to your head.

If thoughts, emotions, or sensations take you away from your awareness, this is normal. Our minds are extremely busy and move back and forth between thoughts frequently. As soon as you realize your focus has wandered, just let go and move your concentration back to where you were on your body. If whatever pulled you away is strong, let your attention stay on it until it lessens and then return your attention back to your body.

The reason for doing this is to bring attention to your body. If you can feel or not feel the different parts of your body, you are doing it right. If you can develop body awareness, the mind can be in the present moment. This allows you to relax and let your stress and the difficulties of the day go. This is a great practice to do if you are having trouble falling asleep.