What are Body Scans?

If you remember in the first post, mindfulness includes observing our experiences without judgment. When we meditated, we focused on our breath. Body scans build on that practice by really feeling what is going on inside our bodies. For most of us, we don’t really listen to our bodies. For example, I tend to get really busy and forget to eat. So by the time I realize I’m hungry, my body is yelling at me, my blood sugar is crashing, and I feel terrible. Because I just noticed that I am really, really hungry, I find the nearest food and eat it as quickly as possible. Well, I eat faster than my stomach can tell my brain I’m full, so I shovel food into my mouth until I feel almost sick. So I just went from extremely hungry to overfull in just a few short minutes.

How can I prevent this cycle from continuing? By getting more in touch with my body’s signals. Your body is always trying to tell you things, whether it’s related to an impending injury, hunger, fullness, stress, or tiredness. Practicing regular body scans can finally give your body a listening ear and allow you to feel better, both mentally and physically.

How to do a Body Scan

UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) has a 3 minute body scan that you can stream or download. If you want more, they also have a 13-minute body scan for sleep and transcripts on their free resources page.

Here is an adapted transcript you can read through:
Body scans can be done any time and any place! I like to do them while sitting in traffic (Yay Atlanta!) or when I’m stressed at work. You can find a comfortable position seated, standing, or lying down. Your eyes can be open or closed.
From here, take a few deep breaths and just notice where you are in time and space. Feel whatever you are sitting, standing, or lying on support you.
Begin with your feet and notice the sensations they feel. Are they heavy? Light? Do the feel warm or cool? Just take a moment.
Bring your attention up your legs slowly. Can you feel any pressure? Heaviness?
Then let your thoughts travel to your hips and back. How do they feel? Let yourself be tall, but relaxed,
Then, bring your attention to your stomach? Are you holding tension? Let it soften and take a breath here.
Change your attention to your hands now. Are they tight, or in a fist? Or are they relaxed? Let them soften.
Next, listen to your arms. Feel sensation there and let your shoulders relax and soften.
Bring your attention up to your neck, chest, and throat. You might be holding tension there. Just let all those muscles relax with an exhale.
Next is your face and jaw. Imagine you are in a spa and imagine a warm steaming cloth placed over your face. Feel your face and jaw relax and allow your tongue to fall back in your mouth. Allow your eyes to settle into their sockets. Be totally relaxed.
Take a moment here to notice your entire body as one whole. If you have pain or discomfort, notice it and relax even more. Pain is not a failing of our bodies. It is simply an experience, a cry from our bodies begging us to listen. Take note of pain or discomfort, but do not allow yourself to get upset with it. Respect it and think of how you can better care for that part of your body.
Next time you are in a stressful situation, try to tap into this state and do a quick body scan.
When you are ready, you may open your eyes (if they were closed) and bring this feeling with you throughout the rest of the day.

A Special Note: Progressive Relaxation

Progressive relaxation is my favorite variation of body scans. With progressive relaxation, you do the same basic steps of bringing awareness into your body, but you also tense up the muscles and relax.

If you have a heart condition, please talk to your doctor before performing progressive relaxation.

To perform progressive relaxation, follow the same prompts as the body scan, but take a big inhale and squeeze the muscles of each body part as hard as you can. With an exhale relax the muscle group. So, you may squeeze your feet and toes, then your legs, then your hips and back, then your stomach, and so on.
And yes, you even scrunch up your face as hard as you can and then relax it!
I like to do this before I fall asleep some times. It helps me get a deeper state of muscle relaxation and makes sure I actually release all my tension.

Body Scans + Hooping

You knew this had to be coming, right? We all know hooping feels great, but how often do we really pay attention to how it really feels? I encourage you to add body scans before and after your hooping practice. See how you feel before you start hooping, and then after, find out what is different.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to mindfulness! I hope you learned a little and had fun applying these ideas to your hoop practice.

xx

Ellie