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Have you ever done a body scan meditation? If not, you have to try it. Well known as an effective way to relax, body scan meditation has other benefits, too.
Body scan meditation is also known as deep relaxation. The practice involves lying or reclining in a comfortable position and putting your attention on one body part at a time. Typically, you work methodically from head to toe or toe to head, pausing at each body part to become aware of sensations there, then letting tension in that body part dissolve. It has a wide range of benefits.
Body scans are popular, because they can be profoundly relaxing, especially if you do them slowly (taking perhaps 30 to 60 minutes). While shorter scans may not relax you as deeply, they can still be effective in easing body tension and calming the mind. By the way, there are a number of guided body scans and other relaxations, both long and short, at mindful15.com/free. I invite you to try them all.
Deep relaxation is an effective way to reduce stress. You can use a body scan anytime you’re feeling particularly tense. Better yet, if you do body scans regularly, even when not stressed, you may reduce tension levels long term. I like to do a deep relaxation right after work every Friday afternoon. It’s my way of letting go of the work week and taking relaxation into my weekend.
And, did you know that your body position affects your mood? There’s a full body of research on this topic, but here’s just one example: Researchers in Wales discovered that people whose ability to frown was hampered by botox injections tended to report being happier and less anxious than people who hadn’t had those injections. This implies that frowning makes you less happy, and even if frowning is artificially inhibited, you’ll be happier. This might mean that deep relaxation helps reduce stress in part because it reduces the physical tension that typically accompanies stress.

Peaceful Moment of the Week: Devonian Botanic Gardens, Parkland County, Alberta
 

Body scans can also improve sleep quality. In general, if you’re more relaxed, sleep is better, but deep relaxations can also be used to help you fall asleep when you first go to bed, or when you wake up in the night.
Every once in awhile, I suffer from insomnia. I fall asleep alright, but wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am. When that happens, I go right into a body scan. Sometimes, it lulls me to sleep quickly and sometimes it doesn’t get me back to sleep at all, but lying in bed in a relaxed state is far more pleasant and restful than tossing, turning and getting frustrated at not being able to sleep.
But there’s more to body scans than relaxation. A mini-body scan, for example, can help you settle in at the beginning of a longer sitting meditation. It can help you get comfortable in your sitting posture and calm the mind a little so that it’s easier to focus on the breath.
In fact, body scan is a form of mindfulness meditation, one where the object of meditation is body sensations instead of the breath. You practice non-judgemental awareness by fully noticing bodily sensations and allowing them to be present without judging them. Proceed to the relaxation phase after you’ve allowed the sensations to reside in your awareness for a little while.
The practice can even help you manage pain and discomfort i...