The Power of Body Scan Meditations

With mindfulness, we can create a foundation of freedom, peace, and love within ourselves.
- Thich Nhat Hanh

I started getting into meditation about two years ago now. I took at class that is offered through Olin Health Center at Michigan State University called Koru Mindfulness, which an evidence-based mindfulness and meditation program tailored to college students and 20-somethings. I’ve been meditating pretty consistently ever since then. Now, I'm at the University of Michigan for grad school, and I just finished a six-week mindfulness meditation leadership training course and am now "officially certified" to run drop-in meditation sessions on campus - or virtually - for U-M students.

One of my favorite mindfulness techniques is the body scan. There has been quite a bit of research on the benefits of mindful body scans, some of which I'll share below. The article I got this information from is cited at the bottom of the page. These benefits include:

• exploring how to work with physical pain
• finding links between emotions and physical sensations
• showing how you can use physical sensations as a key to your emotional state
• helping you open the door to greater mindfulness of the body using a time-honored practice

*By bringing awareness and acknowledgment to whatever you feel or sense in the body, the body scan can be very helpful in working with stress, anxiety, and physical pain

If you're interested in starting your mindfulness/meditation journey, please feel free to reach out to me! If you want to get started with something small, head to my YouTube page, where I'll be uploading new guided meditations monthly. Since this post focused on body scan meditations, the first video is a guided mindful body scan! Let me know what you think about it in the comments here or on the video itself. I hope you enjoy it. 

To end, I wanted to share a poem that has been speaking to me a lot lately. I think it relates spectacularly to body scan meditations because it invites us to sit with our bodies, with our emotions, and dwell in why those feelings or sensations are occurring. I also love to be reminded that our human experiences can be so much alike that a poet who lived during the 13th-century can write something that we still connect with today.

Until next time...

Stay Beautiful,
Sadie

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THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep you house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for
some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame,
the malice, meet them at the door
laughing, and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

-RUMI-

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Carmody, J. & Baer, R. A. (2008). Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms, and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 31(1), 23-33.