Meditation and breath
How to Do a Body Scan
Lie down or sit comfortably, close your eyes if you like, and move your attention slowly through your body, in the MBSR version from the toes to the top of the head, noticing whatever sensations are there without trying to change them. A short scan can take ten minutes. It is one of the core practices of mindfulness-based stress reduction, where it is taught in the first weeks of the course.
Where does the body scan come from?
From a structured program. According to the Wikipedia article on mindfulness-based stress reduction, Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the eight-week MBSR course at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and founded its Stress Reduction Clinic in 1979. Body scanning is one of the program’s three primary techniques, alongside mindfulness meditation and simple yoga postures, and is introduced during the first four weeks.
How do you get set up?
- Position: lying on your back or sitting in a supportive chair. The MBSR description allows either.
- Time: ten minutes to start. Longer guided recordings exist, but a short scan you finish gives you something to build on.
- Place: somewhere warm and quiet, since you will be still.
How do you move through the body?
- Start with the breath for a few cycles, just noticing it.
- Bring attention to your toes. Notice temperature, pressure, tingling, or nothing at all. “Nothing” counts as noticing.
- Move slowly upward: soles, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, lower back, belly, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, face and the top of the head.
- Spend a few breaths in each area before moving on.
- Finish by sensing the body as a whole, then open your eyes.
What if you find tension or discomfort?
Notice it first. You can let the breath rest on that area for a moment and see whether it softens, but the aim is awareness, not fixing. If an area is painful or brings up distress, you can move your attention past it or open your eyes and stop. If a sensation worries you, mention it to a doctor rather than trying to scan it away.
What if your mind wanders or you fall asleep?
Both happen. When you notice you have drifted, return to the last body part you remember and carry on. If you fall asleep, the scan has not failed, but if you want to stay awake, try it sitting up or earlier in the day.
Does the body scan work on its own?
Research on MBSR studies the whole eight-week program, which combines the body scan with meditation, yoga, group discussion and daily home practice. Results for the program cannot be credited to the body scan alone. Treat it as a skill for noticing your body, and judge it by what you notice.
Keep a body-scan log
After each scan, write one line: the area where you noticed something new, and what it was. Over a few weeks, patterns may show up on paper, such as a jaw that is always tight in the evening or shoulders that loosen after a walk, and they give you something concrete to bring to the next scan.
This article is general information, not medical or psychological advice; talk with a licensed clinician about your own situation.