Body Scan Benefits & Advantages
BODY SCAN BENEFITS
Introduction, To Body Scan Benefits
Body scan benefits are many. Body scanning can reveal a great deal about your world and your life.
You also receive an understanding of how to live better even with physical pain and illness.
Through practicing the body scan, you can begin to understand how stress and anxiety affect you.
Bringing mindfulness to the body can help you learn what your body does and doesn’t need in order to thrive.
Body Scan Benefits Include:
Exploring how to work with physical pain.
Finding links between emotions and physical sensations.
Showing how you can use physical sensations as a key to your emotional state.
Helping you open the door to greater mindfulness of the body using a time-honored practice: the body scan
The Advantages Of The Body Scan
The body scan meditation is a deep investigation into the moment-to-moment experiences of the body. By bringing awareness and acknowledgment to whatever you feel or sense in the body, the body scan can be very helpful in working with stress, anxiety, and physical pain.
While you may have heard about meditations that create out-of-body experiences, the object of the body scan is to have an “in-the-body” experience.
In the body scan, you methodically bring attention to the body, beginning with the left foot and ending at the top of the head.
You may notice a wide range of physical feelings:
- pain
- aches
- itches
- tingles
- firmness
- lightness
- heaviness
- warmth & cold
- as well as neutrality
Some of these sensations may be accompanied by thoughts or emotions. As you practice the body scan, this multitude of sensations and internal experiences can be boiled down to three basic feelings:
- Neutral
- Pleasant
- Unpleasant
Since the body is a dynamic organism that’s always changing, no two body scans will ever be completely alike.
Summary
As you continue to practice, you’ll discover what Martha Graham sagely noted: “The body says what words cannot” (Hanna 2006, 33).
The body has its own wisdom, and if you listen, it can communicate where physical tension, thoughts, and emotions lie within your body. This investigation into physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions is sometimes called the triangle of awareness since it’s a journey into the totality of our human experience.
When you practice the body scan, first simply become aware of physical sensations by exploring their felt sense. This is distinct from thinking about your body. There’s no need to analyze or manipulate your body in any way; just feel and acknowledge whatever sensations are present.
Through this deep investigation, the body may begin to reveal a whole range of feelings. In this way, the body scan can bring you in touch with many aspects of your life.
Short Guided Body Scan Meditation (5-min)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is body scan meditation?
Body scan meditation is one of the most effective ways to start a meditation practice focused on mindfulness and centering the mind. It helps you reconnect with your physical and mental self to help you stay grounded and become more attuned to your thoughts. Body scan meditation helps you realize your thoughts and feelings without becoming overwhelmed.
You can feel more relaxed with body scan meditation practices and become more aware of your sensory experiences. This can help you be more present in your life and learn to appreciate the emotions and activities currently in your life. Some sensations you might notice during a body scan meditation session include tingling feelings, heat, coolness, pain, or numbness.
During a body scan meditation session, you literally scan through every part of your body, such as your head, neck, chest, arms, stomach, fingers, legs, and toes. You think about the sensations you feel in each part of the body, as well as how those sensations make you feel emotionally.
Why do people do body scan meditation?
Body scan meditation is a great way for individuals to practice staying present in the moment and with your body. With how busy life can get and the surrounding distractions, it’s easy to lose track of what your mind and body needs to feel at peace. The emotions you feel, such as stress or anxiety, can lead to tension and pain in certain areas of the body.
With the help of body scan meditation, you can better pinpoint the different physical sensations you feel in your body and identify why you have those sensations. Once you have those physical and emotional sensations identified, it can help you increase your self-awareness and might make you feel better from the negative thoughts and feelings you have.
Individuals that practice body scan meditation also report relaxing effects, especially individuals dealing with chronic stress or anxiety. Muscular tensions and tightness in the body often prevents you from feeling relaxed or calm in your surroundings. When you purposefully and mindfully relax the body, you feel a lot more at peace and relaxed.
In addition, body scan meditation has great benefits for your sleep. Stress, anxiety, and tension in your body can make it uncomfortable for you to fall asleep. Since this practice helps relax your mind and body, practicing body scan meditation before bedtime might help you sleep better. Your mind might feel more at ease, which also might help you stay asleep for longer during the night.
How to practice with this recording?
This recording guides you through a body scan meditation session by telling you what to do and what you should focus on. Before you start the recording, ensure you’re somewhere with no distractions. Get comfortable and ensure you have enough space to get comfortable so you can focus on your body and its sensations.
Listen to the recording on your phone or computer. Set it aside so you don’t get distracted by notifications or the screen. The recording will guide you through mindful body scan meditation techniques. Your job is simply to listen to the recording and follow the instructor’s voice for the duration of the meditation session.
What is a body scan in therapy?
In therapy, your counselor might ask you to practice body scan meditation to focus your mind and body on the present. It can help with many symptoms, such as anxiety, stress, and poor sleep. The therapist will guide you through the sensations of each part of your body so you can become more aware of how you feel physically and mentally.
Is Yoga Nidra a body scan meditation?
Yoga Nidra is a body scan meditation that achieves deeper and mindful states of relaxation by becoming more aware of sensations throughout your body. One component of this meditation is a body scan, which helps you create more peace and balance in your physical being and mental state.
Respectfully,
Heidi & Ross
Please, BookMark. 
G Ross Clark C.C.P.,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
Email- TheMindfulCoach@gmail.com,
Training- MBSRtraining.com