This month, we’ll be focusing on another mindfulness practice: Body scan meditation. For a review of what mindfulness is, please feel free to check out the Wellbeing Tip of the Month for March 2024. As we learned during last month’s Online Mindful Moment Skills Lab, “there are zillions of ways of developing mindfulness skills, and meditation practices are just a tiny subset of the vast number of ways we can learn to be more mindful” (Russ Harris, 2020). To learn more about five myths about mindfulness, check out this short video.
BODY SCAN MEDITATION
The body scan meditation involves tuning inwards and paying attention to your body and bodily sensations in a gradual sequence from your feet to head. Some find it helpful to imagine a laser copier or x-ray machine scanning the length of their body while engaging in this practice. The goal of this practice is to become more aware of and learn about the physical sensations and feelings in your body.
Sometimes we can get so caught up in feeling stressed that we don’t realize that physical sensations – including discomfort, pain, aches, tension – can be connected to our emotional and mental states. The body scan meditation encourages us to check in with ourselves and become more mindful of our bodily sensations. The benefits of practicing a mindfulness meditation like the body scan include:
- Reduced feelings of stress and anxiety
- Improved sleep
- Increased self-awareness
- Reduced pain
- Decreased muscle tension
- Increased emotional regulation.
For support with practicing the body scan meditation, consider being guided through this practice by watching and/or listening to this short video. Please note this video was developed by @TheMindfulnessTeacher for children. It is specifically being shared with you as a potential behaviour management resource to use in the classroom as an educator, as well as for your own personal wellbeing toolkit.
Take good care of you,
Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing