Body Scan Meditation
Reviewed by Dr. Nicholas Gehle, Psy.D., licensed clinical psychologist (FL PY8489) · Updated
Your body holds tension you may not notice: a clenched jaw, tight shoulders, a knot in your stomach. A body scan is a way of finding those places and meeting them with attention instead of judgment. Many people use it to wind down before sleep.
What is a body scan?
A body scan is a mindfulness practice in which you move your attention slowly through your body, usually from your toes to the top of your head. You aren't trying to relax or change anything. The aim is to notice what's there: warmth, tension, tingling, numbness, or nothing at all.
Jon Kabat-Zinn made it a core part of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a program he developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979, adapting meditation traditions for medical settings (Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Dreeben et al., 2013).
A body scan is not the same as progressive muscle relaxation, where you deliberately tense and then release each muscle group. In a body scan nothing is tensed; you only pay attention.
What you need: a place to lie down or sit where you won't be disturbed. A short scan takes 5 to 10 minutes; a full one runs 15 to 20. There is no wrong length.
How to do a body scan, step by step
Step 1: Lie down or sit comfortably
Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, or sit in a supportive chair with your feet flat on the floor. Close your eyes, or soften your gaze, and take three slow, natural breaths to settle in.
Step 2: Start at your feet
Bring your attention to your toes. Notice any sensations: warmth, coolness, tingling, the pressure of socks or blankets, or perhaps nothing at all. Move to the soles of your feet, then your ankles. Observe without trying to change anything.
Step 3: Move slowly upward
Shift your attention through your calves, the backs of your knees, and your thighs. Spend 30 to 60 seconds with each region. Notice the weight of your legs against the surface beneath you, any areas of tension or ease.
Step 4: Continue through the torso and arms
Move through your hips, belly, and lower back. Notice the rise and fall of your breath here. Continue to your chest, upper back, and shoulders, then scan through your hands, forearms, and upper arms.
Step 5: Finish with the neck and head
Bring attention to your neck and throat, then your jaw (often clenched without our realizing it), lips, cheeks, eyes, forehead, and scalp. To finish, take a moment to feel your whole body at once, resting.
Prefer to be guided?
Strua's Body Scan walks you through each region, at your own pace or moving on by itself, so you can follow it with your eyes closed. It's free with a Strua account. You can use a whole tool before you sign up for an account (four are open to try first). No chatbot and no AI-generated advice.
Start freeAdapting it, and when to choose something else
- Sitting instead of lying down: sit with your feet flat and your hands resting on your thighs. This also helps if you'd rather not fall asleep.
- Short on time: move through larger regions (legs, torso, arms, head) instead of each small part.
- Areas that feel blank: staying around 30 seconds, rather than rushing past, sometimes turns up subtle sensations.
- Trying to fix tension: when you notice tightness, the impulse is to force it away. Observe it instead. Tension sometimes eases on its own when it's met with attention rather than effort.
If you're in acute panic or feel overwhelmed, the slow pace of a body scan may feel frustrating. In those moments the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique can anchor you in your senses first; you can come back to the body scan once the intensity has eased. You can stop a body scan at any point and open your eyes.
Strong feelings sometimes surface as you pay attention to the body: sadness, frustration, or relief. That's a common experience. Acknowledge the feeling and continue, or stop if it's too much. If a body scan regularly stirs up more than you can manage, that's worth talking through with a clinician.
What the research says, and what it doesn't
The body scan comes from MBSR, which Kabat-Zinn first described with people attending a hospital stress-reduction clinic for chronic pain, stress, and illness (Kabat-Zinn, 1990). Dreeben and colleagues describe how the body scan is taught within MBSR and how clinicians use it (Dreeben et al., 2013).
Evidence for the body scan on its own is thinner than for MBSR as a whole. In one small study, a single body scan session was followed by short-term autonomic and cardiovascular changes (Ditto et al., 2006). That is a short-term effect in one lab, not proof that the practice changes sleep or anxiety over time. Treat the body scan as something that might help you wind down, not as a treatment.
Full References
- Dreeben, S. J., Mamberg, M. H., & Salmon, P. (2013). The MBSR body scan in clinical practice. Mindfulness, 4(4), 394-401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0212-z
- Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Delacorte Press.
- Ditto, B., Eclache, M., & Goldman, N. (2006). Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 32(3), 227-234. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324796abm3203_9
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I fall asleep during a body scan?
That's common and not a failure. If you're using the body scan to wind down for sleep, it's fine. If you want to stay awake for the whole practice, try sitting upright, keeping your eyes slightly open, or practicing earlier in the day.