Meditation: The Body Scan

I want to encourage you to reconnect with your body. I spend a lot of time with clients in their cognitions, the way they think, analyze, and emote. Most of the information we dissect in therapy comes from the mind. This is valuable and important in therapy. It is equally important to pay attention to the information coming from our body. Our body communicates with us all the time, we just need to listen.

Somatics is the field of study that teaches us to listen to our body and the body-mind connection in order to help us better understand ourselves and what we need. I’m going to teach you a somatic meditation exercise that reconnects you with your body. Before I do that though, I want to brag about the body a little bit. I want to grow your appreciation of this amazing vessel we walk around in daily.

Did you know that your body has the ability to regenerate? Meaning it repairs itself. How amazing is that? We see our toenails and fingernails grow as does our hair, but I’m talking regeneration of cells. Liver cells are replaced every 300 to 500 days, skin cells are replaced every 39 days, and the skeleton is replaced every 10 years! These are only a few examples. This means you truly can change your body at any given point. Obviously if you are eating well, exercising, staying hydrated, and improving your mental health, your cells will regenerate in a better state than otherwise, but the craziest part is your body keeps on trucking whether you are being kind to it or not.

So let’s reconnect with this amazing hub of information and production with kindness and witnessing. The exercise below is called the body scan. It is a progressive muscle tightening and releasing that allows you to be present in the moment and pay attention to your body sensations. The body scan is part of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program created by John Kabat-Zin back in the 1970’s. The program is an eight-week program that helps to teach mindfulness and the body scan is an important component.

The Body Scan

Sit in a comfortable position or perhaps even lie down. Take a few deep breaths and relax into your position. You can even close your eyes. Over the next several minutes, you will focus on the physical sensations throughout your body. These sensations might range from the feeling of clothes on your skin, tension within your muscles, the temperature of the air, or anything else you feel. Sometimes, you might not notice any sensation at all. Your job is to simply observe these sensations.

Starting at your feet, notice the feelings all throughout your feet, including your sole, heel, toes, and top of the foot. Notice the sensation of the ground, your shoes, and anything else you can detect. Wiggle or scrunch your toes and then release them.

Travel up your body, noticing the sensations in your ankles, shins, and calves. Notice sensations both deep in the muscles, and on the surface of your skin. As you move up the body tighten and release each muscle group, just noticing the sensations.

Continue noticing the feelings in your legs as you move up to your knees and thighs. Notice how your clothing feels against your skin. Tighten and release your hamstrings, hips, glutes, and your thighs, just noticing the sensations.

Pay attention to the feelings in your lower back and abdomen. Notice how your body feels against the surface on which you are sitting or lying down.

For a few moments, pay attention to your breathing. Notice how your abdomen rises when you breathe in deeply, and falls when you exhale.

Experience the sensations in your upper back and chest. Notice the feeling of clothing on your body.

Now, notice the feelings in your hands, fingers, and wrists. Tightening and releasing your hands making them a fist and then stretching them in the release.

Notice the sensations in your forearms, upper arms, and shoulders. Scrunch your shoulders to your ears and release.

Pay attention to the feelings in your neck and throat. Perhaps gently moving or stretching your neck.

Notice the feelings in your face and head. Attend to every feature in your face, one by one.

Finally, slowly scan your entire body, noticing all the sensations from your toes to the top of your head.

As the body scan exercise is coming to a close. Take a few more deep breaths and then at your own pace, allow your eyes to open.

Notice what your body is saying to you. You may even want to jot down some experiences or things you noticed while paying attention to your body. Were there any emotions that came up? Sometimes our body can be loud and sometimes subtle. This is a great practice to learn how to listen. The body holds great wisdom.