Body Scan Meditation
Sometimes physical pain and tension is linked to our emotional state. When we are stressed, anxious or angry we can ‘hold’ these feelings in the body by clenching or tightening the muscles and joints or by altering our breathing patterns. This can form part of a chronic pain presentation (that is pain you have experienced for a period longer than several months).
Research has shown that by using mindfulness meditation practices regularly, you can help to release these patterns of tension in your body. It has also been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety levels as well as improving sleep. As body and mind are inter connected, working on one will help the other.
The ‘body scan’ meditation helps you to reconnect to your body by using the focus of your mind to become more consciously aware of where you are holding tension. It involves using your mind to scan through the different parts of body, using breathing to ease blocked or stuck feeling areas before moving on to the next place. Sometimes thoughts or emotions may come up, this is ok, just observe without trying to make judgments. The desired effect is to let go of the tension and to feel more relaxed which should have a positive effect on your pain levels. Many people report that the relaxed state achieved feels like their physical body drops away or that their breath can move freely around their body. This is very similar to how it feels after a good cranial osteopathy treatment. In fact the way that I work with cranial osteopathy to help realise areas of tension has many similarities except with the body scan meditation YOU as a patient can do it for yourself!
We can hold tension anywhere in our body subconsciously.
How To Scan
You can do this sitting or laying down but I would recommend laying down as it provides a greater sense of relaxation. If you try this in bed at night it may well help you to fall asleep! Lay on a comfortable surface and a pillow under your head and knees to support your lower back. Make sure you are warm or have a blanket to cover you, body temperature drops as you get more relaxed. Falling as sleep during meditation is common at first and if you are not wanting to go to sleep, then sitting up in a chair might be more helpful.
Start by taking a few deep breaths in and out. When breathing in - imagine that you are breathing in vitality and energy and when you are breathing out, you are letting go of stress and tension.
When you are ready you can start to scan. For patients who feel ungrounded I recommend starting from the top (crown of the head) - down to the feet (it allows you to sink into yourself) but you could easily start from the feet upwards - Use your intuition as to what feels right for you. Start by focusing your intention at say - the crown of your head, breathing in vitality through the top and breathing out any tension. Slowly and gradually allow your awareness to shift downwards to your eyes, then your nose, jaw ,throat, chest etc continuing downwards. At each place breath into the area. You will find some places are easy to focus on whilst others may feel stuck. Just use your breath calmly to help shift or melt away the stuck places. If there is pain in a particular area do the same thing. Thoughts, memories or feelings may come up for you, just note what there are, this can be insightful. Regardless of your experience keep breathing, releasing and move on to the next place.
Some parts of your body may feel numb and ‘not present’ whilst others may be painful and drag your attention to them. These are common experiences. Just note them and you might find that your body feels different the next time you try to scan. With pain in particular just note that you are being drawn to the area, use your breath work to work into the centre of the pain - what does it feel like? do you get any images? then after you have given it some attention try to move your focus on to anther body part.
You could take 30mins doing this or 5mins once you have become more proficient in it. The key with any kind of mediation is to try and practise (key word being practice!) doing it regularly.