Body Scan Meditation from New Yoga Now

This Body Scan Meditation technique is both simple and profound! With practice, a traditional body scan meditation can help increase awareness of sensations within the body and build a stronger connection with your physical form. This practice can also help to better manage pain, notice emotions held within the body, release trapped energy and tension, and ultimately deepen your experience of ease and relaxation.

Let’s get started…

Gather What You will Need:

• Choose a soft, quiet place to sit or lie down. 
• You may choose to use a timer or not. This meditation can be completed in as little as 10 minutes or can extend as long as you would like.
• Have a journal or notebook and pen nearby. 



Practice Steps & Sequence:

• This practice can be done either seated or lying down, however you feel most comfortable.
• Once you are in a comfortable, resting position, soften or close your eyes. 
• Begin to witness the breath. 
• As you inhale, feel the body expand. As you exhale, allow the body to soften.
• Continue for 5-10 mindful breaths. 
• Now begin to draw your awareness to specific points in the body, starting with the Left Foot. Hold your awareness there. 
• Explore sensations found there. Sensations you might notice:

tingling, contraction, swirling, heat, cold, and even absence of sensation or numbness. 

• Continue this witnessing as you draw your awareness to your left ankle, the length of the left leg, and on to the left hip, exploring the sensations found at each point along the way. 
• Repeat this witnessing starting with the right foot, through the right leg and to the right hip. 
• Draw this witnessing to the left hand, arm and shoulder, followed by the right hand, arm and shoulder. 
• Draw this witnessing to the base of the spine, through the length of the torso and neck and throughout the landmarks of the face and head. 

As you move through the body, be mindful of what arises in the mind. Compassionately note thoughts or emotions that pull your attention away from the body. Without judgement or critique, simply come back to your most recent point of focus and begin again.

• Once you have completed your full body scan, hold your entire body in your awareness. Note whatever sensations still call out to you.

Offer compassion to places in the body that are nagging, have pain or unbalanced energy. Conversely, honor places in the body that feel open, ready and strong. 

Offer gratitude for the totality of the body and perhaps for the separation of the physical body from the subtle body, that essence of you, that witness within.

• After holding the entire body in your awareness for a few moments, slowly relax your attention and come back to the rhythm of your breath. 
• When you are ready, open your eyes and return to the world around you.
• Take a few moments to journal upon completing this meditation. Note things that stuck out to you. Including but not limited to thoughts or emotions that may have arisen or sensations in the body that may have been interesting or novel.
• Make a plan to practice this body scan meditation technique again. Write in your journal the date, time and place for your next practice. 

Remember there is no right or wrong way to meditate. But with consistent practice the benefits can and will accumulate and reverberate throughout your life. 

Namaste