Mindfulness exercise: Body scan
This week you can choose between a short or a long body scan. You can start the exercises by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.
Before you get started, we would like to refresh you on what a body scan is all about:
In a body scan, you are invited to lie on your back with your arms at your sides or to sit as comfortably as possible in a chair. Both preferably with your eyes closed. Many people may find that the exercise makes them very relaxed with a risk of falling asleep. Therefore, it is important that you decide not to fall asleep before you start.
You will be guided to focus your attention on different parts of the body in varying degrees of detail. Often the exercise starts at the toes of one foot and slowly moves up the leg, then the other leg, abdomen, torso, arms, and up to the head.
For each body part, you will be instructed to neutrally observe the bodily sensations that are present without evaluating or judging and with openness and curiosity and not trying to change them. If you cannot feel any sensations, you are simply observing the absence of sensations.
The exercise differs from traditional relaxation exercises in that you as a participant are not instructed to try to relax your muscles. If a part of the body is tense, you observe as non-judgmentally as possible that the body is tense, and if you feel pain, the task is to investigate the pain.
When your mind wanders, register it, then gently direct your attention back to the body scan without self-criticism or guilt. The exercise has no goal, in the sense that it's not about becoming more relaxed or feeling better emotionally.
But that may well be what happens. You will most likely encounter feelings of both irritation and impatience, and the task here is to observe what is, without judgment, no matter how pleasant or unpleasant it feels.
After the exercise, we will ask you to continue filling out the worksheet "What do you notice?" about your experience. The worksheet can be found below the guided audio files.
1) What did you experience in your body?
2) What specific thoughts went through your head?
3) What emotions did you feel?
4) How did you react to it?
Were you able to observe what was without judgment and without trying to change it?
