A Body Scan You Can Do in Bed

You are lying down, tired, and your mind is still going. Telling yourself to relax is not working, and neither is telling yourself to stop thinking.

A body scan is a different move. Instead of managing your thoughts, you give your attention a slow, undemanding job somewhere else: the body, one part at a time, from the feet up.

It is the most forgiving practice in this whole area, because it has almost no way to go wrong and it works even when you are doing it badly.

What it actually is

You lie on your back, or on your side if that is more comfortable, and move your attention through your body in order: feet, lower legs, knees, thighs, hips, belly, back, chest, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, jaw, face, head.

At each place you spend a few breaths noticing what is there. Not changing it, not fixing it. Warmth, coolness, weight, tingling, tightness, nothing at all. Nothing at all is a completely acceptable answer, and beginners get it constantly.

That is the whole practice. Fifteen minutes if you have them, five if you do not.

Why noticing rather than relaxing

Most people arrive expecting to relax on command, and instructing yourself to relax usually adds pressure rather than removing it.

Noticing works better for two reasons. It is something you can actually do, whereas relaxing is a result you cannot force. And attention has a way of loosening whatever it settles on, without being asked to.

So the instruction is: go there, notice, move on. If the shoulder softens, good. If it does not, you still did the practice correctly.

How to run one

Lie down somewhere you are warm enough. Let your arms rest at your sides, palms wherever they fall.

Take three slower breaths, with the out-breath longer than the in-breath, just to arrive.

Put your attention on your left foot. Notice the sole, the toes, the top of the foot, whatever is there for two or three breaths. Then move to the lower leg, the knee, the thigh. Do the right leg the same way.

Move up through the hips and the belly, and notice the belly rising as you breathe. Then the lower back and the upper back against the mattress. Then the chest.

Do the hands, one at a time, then the arms and shoulders. Shoulders often hold a lot; give them a few extra breaths but do not go to work on them.

Then the neck, the jaw, the space around the eyes, the forehead, the scalp. Jaws are often clenched without their owner knowing.

At the end, hold the whole body at once for a few breaths: one thing, lying down, breathing.

When your mind wanders, which it will

It will wander constantly. That is not a failure, it is the practice; the whole exercise is noticing you have gone and coming back.

So when you find yourself planning tomorrow, note where you had got to, and return to that part of the body. If you cannot remember, start again from the feet. Nobody is counting.

You may need to come back thirty times in ten minutes. That is thirty repetitions of the skill, which is more than the person who drifted off for the whole ten got.

Falling asleep is allowed

Many people use this at bedtime and never finish it. That is a fine outcome, not a wasted attempt.

If sleep is what you are after, do it lying in bed, in the dark, and let the practice be the last thing you do rather than something you complete. If you want to be awake for it, do it earlier in the evening, or lie on the floor, which is markedly harder to fall asleep on.

And if you wake at three in the morning, a body scan is a reasonable thing to do rather than lying there arguing with your thoughts. Start at the feet. You may or may not reach your head.

When it does not feel good

Turning attention to the body is not neutral for everyone.

If you live with chronic pain, going to a painful area can amplify it. It is fine to go around it: notice the parts that are quiet and touch the painful part briefly or not at all.

If attention to your body brings anxiety, panicky feelings, or a sense of being unsafe, that is worth respecting rather than pushing through. Try keeping your eyes open, sitting up instead of lying down, doing only the hands and feet, or doing it with a light on. Shorter is better than braver.

For some people, especially after trauma, this kind of inward attention can open more than they expected. If that happens, stop, get up, do something ordinary with your hands, and take it up with a therapist who works with trauma before trying again on your own.

When to bring in help

If you cannot sleep most nights, if a painful part of your body is getting worse, or if attention inward reliably brings distress, a body scan is not the tool for that on its own. A doctor can look at sleep and pain properly, and a therapist can help with the rest. This practice sits alongside that kind of help rather than replacing it.