Body Scan

Audio File

Educator Wellness Roundtable · Body Scan

Instructions

Find a quiet and comfortable place where you can sit or lie down. (Note: If you choose to lay down, try to remain awake.)
If it feels okay for you to do so, close your eyes or have a gentle gaze.
Keep the spine straight while the rest of your body is relaxed.
Breathe in deeply, and as you exhale, relax the body.
Allow the shoulders to loosen.
Unclench the jaw.
Soften your abdomen.
Bring your awareness to the top of the head and notice anything that comes up for you.
Drop down to your forehead, scrunch up the face and then relax it. Notice anything that comes up for you.
Travel farther down to the eyes and cheekbones, to the nose and upper lip. Notice anything that comes up for you there. Perhaps you feel the air coming into and out of the nose as you breathe in and out.
Drop to the mouth, the jaw, lips, tongue. Notice what’s happening in the mouth. Is it dry or moist, is there tension? Noticing and acknowledging what is present.
From the mouth, traveling to the neck and throat. Noticing the movement of the air as it travels in this part of your body. Noticing any physical experience without judgment.
Moving to the shoulders and shoulder blades. Feeling the breath coming into that part of the body as you breathe in and out.
Dropping into the arms and elbows and forearms. Noticing any sensations.
Traveling down to your wrists and fingers. Perhaps noticing how they rest on your legs or in your lap.
From the fingers moving back up the arms into the chest and noticing the rise and fall of your abdomen and chest as your breath comes into and out of the body.
From the abdomen, moving down to the hips and the pelvis. Noticing any sensations without judgment as they arise.
Dropping into the legs, into the thighs and knees and calves and shins. Feeling your clothing as they rest on these areas of the body.
Traveling to the feet, starting at the ankle and moving from the heel to the arch of your foot and then to the ball of the foot and the toes. Perhaps you have tingling sensations in your toes. Just noticing without judgment whatever is coming up for you now.
Visualizing the whole body from the crown of your head to the bottom of your feet as you practice this scan of the body, noticing and sensing the body now.
As you are ready, gently open the eyes to reorient yourself in your space.