Body scans are a form of relaxation and meditation. During this practice, you survey your body slowly, concentrating on each body part individually, breathing deeply, while remaining in a relaxed state. Without wanting to change anything, allow yourself to really experience how each part of the body feels. This allows you to become more in touch with your innate intuitive senses, generating a greater sense of gratitude, compassion, and self-kindness. Reciting a mantra like “I am perfect health”, to promote maintenance and healing of the physical body, can be done simultaneously.
Benefits:
- Strengthens your focus, concentration level, and attention span.
- Allows one to become more conscious and aware of thought patterns and identify with their “true self.”
- Decreases negative emotions, tension, and anxiety.
- Relaxes the physical body while calming the fickle mind.
- Can help to decrease symptoms associated with allergies, asthma, cancer, insomnia, certain psychiatric conditions, and boost immunity in general.
Body Scan Exercise
- Lie on your back, legs relaxed and arms at your sides.
- Take deep breaths through your nose from your diaphragm for a couple of minutes.
- When you start to feel relaxed, focus on the toes of your feet. Notice any sensations while you continue breathing deeply. Imagine the breath flowing to your toes. Concentrate in that area for about a minute, maybe longer in specific areas that need healing.
- Then concentrate on the soles of your feet, and again, experience the sensations as you breathe deeply, feeling your breath flowing through your soles. After a couple of minutes, move your focus to your ankles and repeat the process. Keep moving upwards to your calves, knees, thighs, and hips.
- From there, keep moving up the torso, through the lower back and abdomen, then the upper back, chest, and the shoulders. Keep moving up your fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, upper arms, and shoulders. Then move through the neck, throat, face, the back and top of the head.
Pay attention to any area with discomfort or pain! When you finish scanning your whole body, breath normally and imagine floating above yourself. Imagine yourself in a calm state, at peace, and in perfect health. Imagine any pains you may feel are vanishing and you are completely healed and whole again. Keep relaxing in silence, noticing any bodily sensations. Then slowly open your eyes.