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Mental
Body Scan Meditation
Body scan meditation is a mindfulness practice of moving your attention slowly through the body and noticing each sensation without judging it.
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The idea
Body scan meditation is a mindfulness practice in which you move your attention slowly through your body, one part at a time. You might start at the toes and work up to the top of the head, or go the other way. At each spot, you simply notice what is there, such as warmth, coolness, tingling, pressure, tightness or nothing at all. The goal is not to change these sensations but to observe them with curiosity and without judging them.
The practice builds on mindfulness, which means keeping moment-by-moment awareness of bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts and surroundings with a calm, non-judging attitude. When the mind wanders, as it often does, you gently bring your attention back to the part of the body you were focusing on. A body scan is usually done lying down or sitting, often with slow, steady breathing, and it can last from a few minutes to much longer.
Mindfulness-based stress reduction, or MBSR, is an eight-week course developed in the late 1970s by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It combines mindfulness meditation, body awareness and yoga to help people manage stress, pain and illness. The body scan is one of the main body awareness practices taught in that kind of course. Mindfulness meditation is linked to sharper attention, better control of emotions and less worry.
Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
How long is the MBSR course?
Composition
what it's made of
- Focused attention — Attention placed on one area of the body at a time, then moved on.
- Body sensations — Feelings such as warmth, tingling, pressure or tension that you notice in each area.
- Non-judging attitude — Accepting whatever you notice, without labeling it good or bad.
- Returning attention — Gently bringing the mind back whenever it wanders off.
- Breathing — Slow, steady breaths that often accompany the scan and help keep it calm.
Connection
how it relates
Under Mindfulness
Change
how and why it evolves
- Past
- Mindfulness comes from the idea of sati in Buddhist traditions. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed MBSR in the late 1970s, and he later described the program in his 1990 book Full Catastrophe Living.
- Now
- Since the 1990s, secular mindfulness meditation has gained broad popular acceptance in the West. Clinical studies have documented mental health benefits of mindfulness, as well as some physical health benefits.
- Next
- Mindfulness research has become more rigorous, using randomized controlled trials. Future studies may show more clearly when body scans help and for whom.