Everyday Mindfulness

A lot of people seem to dislike doing body scans. The complaints that I’ve heard the most are: ‘I cannot really feel anything’, ‘I have to concentrate too hard; it’s too much work’ and ‘It’s emotionally too difficult to be aware of certain body parts.’

I think the body scan is a very important part of Mindfulness, that shouldn’t be discarded too quickly, if at all. I hope to tell you something about it that can give you some insight, and maybe a trick that can make it easier.

Let me begin by telling you that I really love to do body scans. When it is easy for me to be aware, I experiment with this awareness, and explore all sorts of things and do all sorts of meditations, but when my mind is pulling me in strongly that doesn’t work. In such a case I need a lot of (prolonged) structure to get me grounded (and stay grounded) strongly. My go-to meditation then is the body scan.

I think the body scan is a very important exercise for three reasons:

* A very effective way to ground yourself. It gives you something to do, with progression, in a very structured manner. Much more so than following the breath for instance.

* A very good way to keep track of what's going on in your body (tensions, pains, etc.); If you check your body very often, it will be much easier to notice it when something is not normal.

* Most importantly, your body is a sort of 'mirror' of the mind, that is much easier to watch than the mind itself. All sorts of events in your mind will trigger physical responses that are very easy to pick up on. Just like you can stay with the difficulty in your mind to learn to accept things, it is often just as effective to stay with the physical response. For instance: If you zoom in on the adrenaline rush after stressful events and keep with it, you break the cycle; your mind learns that the adrenaline isn't caused by something that is actually dangerous, and in time your mind accepts this and it doesn't produce extra adrenaline, which would otherwise feed the feeling of danger, and would cause the anxiety to become ever bigger.

Now for the problems that people experience:

Problem: ‘I cannot really feel anything’
Problem: ‘I have to concentrate too hard; it’s too much work’

Answer: In the beginning it is hard for a lot of people to notice anything with a lot of body parts. Some body parts are easier to ‘feel’ because a human is more connected to them. There are literally bigger parts of the brain devoted to these parts. For instance the feet, hands, and mouth are much more ‘alive’ for almost everybody (this has been scientifically proven). I've noticed though (and this is confirmed by others) that if you keep doing body scans, over time your brain becomes wired to notice these bodily subtleties much more easily, much more vividly, and in much more detail. But if you feel nothing at all, that is fine too. That is not what it is about. It is about noticing what is there, and accepting it because it is already there. For a big part it is also about concentration, and getting yourself out of your head (i.e. grounding yourself).

This is how a human would look if the body parts were proportional to how much is devoted to them sensory-wise in the brain:


Problem: ‘It’s emotionally too difficult to be aware of certain body parts.’

Answer: If you have emotional problems with certain body parts, that is all the more reason not to avoid them. Mindfulness is about acceptance. If you skip them the problems remain, but if you choose to just be and stay with them, notice your emotional responses, the problem may resolve or at least soften.

Tips and tricks:
Do longer body scans if your mind is pulling you in strongly. I’ve noticed that it can take a long time to get (and stay) strongly grounded. At first your mind is pulling you in so strongly that it is hard to concentrate on what you’re feeling in certain body parts, but if you just continue it will get easier. So if you’re always doing rather short body scans, you may always experience that it is hard to concentrate, and you aren’t feeling a lot. Then you’re going to dislike doing body scans, while in reality you’re just quitting too early. When my mind is pulling me in hard, it takes me at least 15 minutes to get grounded strongly, sometimes even 30 minutes. I can really feel the turning point. I feel my best when I do it for 45 minutes. I may start out feeling totally stressed, and feeling totally relaxed, sharp and invincible when I finish. Of course this is not the same for everybody, but the point is: Just give it time.

[I've more tips, that I will add at a later point]

I hope this may help some people appreciate the body scan a little more so they are willing to give it another try.

Peter

Superb post, Peter, and much-needed as there seems to be a general confusion about the body scan and its place in mindfulness practice.
There's little I can add to what you've already said except that, for me, the crucial part of the body scan is being reminded that we are not trying to change anything that's already there. If that big toe is itchy, we notice that it's itchy without getting caught up in thoughts of wishing it wasn't itchy. And so we learn to be with our experience without being drawn into thoughts about how our present moment experience ought to be.
The longer the better in my opinion. 30-40 minutes sounds about right.
Cheers,
Jon

Thanks for you addition, Jon! Of course you are right! In writing this, I assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge about the body scan already. It might be a good idea if I added the basics of the body scan too. I will do so soon.

P.S. I've made this post a sticky, because it comes up a lot.

I love the body scan too and find it especially useful when I have problems sleeping. It usually ends with me relaxing enough to fall asleep again, or getting into a more attentive mode, where it is easier to get up and start a new day.

But I don't agree on the body scan being that effective "to keep track of what's going on in your body (tensions, pains, etc.)". At least for me, lying down very relaxed makes any tension or pain momentarily melt away and I very seldom feel any ailings during a bodyscan. Like this morning, I had a very nice and relaxed scan but when I got up and active I was hit with the full muscle pains of a rather nasty flu.

For keeping track of the body I much prefer mindful yoga. That will bring forth every tension in the smallest muscles.

Thanks MiM!

But, for a lot of people the pains and tensions don't go away quickly. And even if it did it is still useful to notice that it was there and it went away.

I've had pains that didn't go away at all and that I'd even psychological issues with when I was thinking about it. I felt that in the form of tightness in the chest and adrenaline sensations in my arms.

Peter

You make an excellent case for the body scan Peter.

Body awareness is something that I still struggle with, despite doing yoga often. MS complicates it further for me in the fact that many of my nerves are damaged, and I really can't feel anything from the body part.

I'll give this topic some links from Twitter. It really warrants some further discussion.

Thanks Gareth,

Your issues are very understandable! I can only imagine what that would be like! I hope you'll find peace in your relationship with your body!

Peter

Hi Peter,

I am new on the forum, so hi to all.

Great post and well timed. I have doing doing the body scan for 2.5 weeks now and thoroughly enjoy it, most times. I am following John Kabat-Zinn MBSR course as detailed in his Full Catastrophe Living.

One problem I experience is JKZ says to breathe into and out of the body part. I find this uses mental energy and in a way detracts from any sensations. Sensations are only there when my breath reaches that point and then the feeling is cool, like a breeze runs through it, hardly surprising! I guess my point is the "breathing into" sculpts the type of sensation I feel.

Do many people use the breathe into aspect and if so any tips on how to do it in conjunction with awareness of the body part. Any advice gratefully received.

Hi MyBubble,

Welcome to the site!

Good question! I understand what you're saying. And I agree; it can distract from actually feeling what is there.

I personally sometimes use breathing into body parts on purpose when my thoughts are pulling me in strongly, or when I tend to fall asleep. Mainly to also incorporate the breath continually into the practice, because I'm more actively involved, I get less easily distracted. So it is a sort of trick. But it can also be used to change perspective!

Good luck!

Peter

Thank you for your reply and welcome.

It is early days so I guess I will find a compromise between the book, CD and what works best for me.