How to Feel Thyself: Body Scan Guide

Meditation should start with the body. The simplest way is through a body scan: moving your attention slowly through each part of your body and noticing what you feel.

You don’t need to change anything right away. First, notice. Then, if a spot is tense — like your shoulders — relax it, take a breath, and see how that feels before moving on.

Why Start Here?

A body scan builds the basic skill of meditation: paying attention on purpose. You’re practicing awareness the same way you might practice lifting weights or running sprints — it strengthens you for when life feels heavier or faster later on.

Meditation isn’t usually something you pull out in a crisis. It’s training. The practice you do now helps you think and act with more calm when challenges show up.

How to Begin

Find a quiet spot. Take one deep breath in. As you exhale, let your body settle. Then bring your attention step by step through:

• Head

• Face

• Neck

• Shoulders

• Chest

• Arms

• Abdomen

• Back

• Hips and pelvis

• Thighs

• Legs

• Feet

At each step, notice what you feel. Is it tight, heavy, light, warm, restless? Relax where you can, breathe once, then move to the next part.

Quick Version (After Practice)

Once you’re familiar, you can group areas together for a faster scan you can do anywhere:

• Head, Face, Neck

• Shoulders, Chest, Arms

• Abdomen, Back, Hips, Pelvis

• Thighs, Legs, Feet

Like learning to drive, the individual steps feel slow at first, but with practice they become fluid and natural.

The Goal

The body scan is more than relaxation. It teaches you to lower resistance to physical sensations and emotions, instead of fighting them. You learn to notice without reacting.

From there, you can look at the emotion with a clearer head and eventually move to more advanced skills, like affirmations — choosing the thought you want to hold after you’ve cleared the tension.