Body Scanning: What It Is And How To Do It

He body scan or body scan is a meditation technique that allows you to recognize your body and connect with it. It is based on MBSR or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, an innovative proposal developed by molecular biologist Jon Kabat-Zinn, in collaboration with several Tibetan monks. In this article, we explain more about Mindfulness: what it is and how it is practiced.

The technique consists of mentally, consciously and deliberately walk through your entire body, as if it were a digital scanner. The idea is that you are aware of your body, generally from head to toe, noticing any pain, tension, discomfort, stress or tension that you feel, so that you can know your sensations and thus know how you should act to feel better.

During the body scan, people are encouraged to observe physical sensations, such as touch, temperature, pressure, as well as any pain or tension they may be experiencing in different parts of the body. He goal is to develop greater body awareness as well as promoting relaxation and reducing stress, identifying and releasing physical tension.

Where is body scan common?

He body scan is common in mindfulness meditation and is used in therapeutic contexts and wellness to promote relaxation, improve body awareness and reduce anxiety. Some variations of this practice may include incorporating conscious breathing to enhance relaxation and strengthen the mind-body connection.

If you get into the habit of doing your body scan daily, you will reap numerous benefits, not only physically, but also mentally and spiritually. The main effects and benefits of body scan are the following:

• Break the cycle of tension and stress: Through this practice, you can interrupt the cycle of tensions derived from your daily activities, thus facilitating falling asleep and improving your rest.
• Reduce stress: By directing attention to different parts of the body, body scanning helps identify and release physical tension, providing a greater feeling of relaxation and contributing to the reduction of accumulated stress.
• You acquire greater body awareness: one of the main advantages of body scan is that it encourages greater awareness of physical sensations in the body. By paying attention to these sensations, you can develop a deeper mind-body connection, beneficial for pain management, posture correction, and early detection of signs of physical stress.
• Improving Full Attention (Mindfulness): The practice of body scanning is a form of mindfulness meditation that can strengthen the ability to focus on the present moment without judgment. This is ideal for reducing mental rumination, promoting mental clarity, and improving decision making. You discover the benefits of meditation for the brain.
• Conscious pain management – Through awareness of physical sensations, body scanning can offer complementary therapy to relieve chronic or acute pain. By learning to observe and accept bodily sensations, you can develop a greater ability to deal with pain and reduce your perception of it.
• Sleep improvement: various investigations maintain that relaxation induced by body scan It contributes to improving the quality of sleep, since the technique reduces stress and muscle tension, thus making it easier to fall asleep and experience a more restful rest.
• Greater emotional well-being – The increased body awareness provided by body scanning supports overall emotional well-being. In fact, it is ideal for promoting calm, confidence and emotional stability.

It is important to carry out the process consciously, accepting your sensations without judging them, to fully obtain these benefits.

For the body scan to be truly effective, it is essential to follow the recommendations we give you below:

1. Find a quiet place: The first step is to choose a space where you can relax without interruptions. It can be lying down, sitting, or in the position that is most comfortable for you. The time of day does not matter, but it is preferable that you be free of activities and a little idle.
2. Control your breathing: Allow your breathing to slow down and begin to inhale from your abdomen instead of your upper chest. Let your abdomen gently expand as you inhale and contract as you exhale. If you notice that your shoulders rise and fall with each breath, focus on breathing from your abdomen, as if you were inflating and deflating a balloon in your abdomen with each breath. In this article, we provide you Relaxation exercise to facilitate body scanning.
3. It starts at the feet: direct your attention to your feet. Notice the sensations you experience there, so you may feel hot, cold, pressure, or maybe nothing at all. Don’t lose focus on your feet so you can fully appreciate their sensations.
4. Go up slowly: Gradually and very consciously, move your attention upward, passing through the legs, abdomen, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and finally the head. In each area, notice the sensations without judging them.
5. Maintain full attention: It is normal that, during the body scan, your mind wanders to other thoughts. If your mind wanders, acknowledge it and gently return your attention to the part of the body you are exploring.
6. Breathe the tensions: That is, if you notice that a specific part of your body bothers you, focus on it. Breathe deeply, visualize the part of the body you want to relax, evaporate the air and continue with other parts of the body only when you feel that you have released the tension you accumulated.
7. End with awareness: Once you have scanned your entire body, take a moment to feel your body as a whole, being grateful for the time spent in this practice.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Body scanning: what it is and how to do it we recommend that you enter our Personal Growth and Self-Help category.