Body Scan Meditation: Benefits and How to Do It?

Running head: HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
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HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW1
At first, I had no faith on the power of body scan meditation and my first reaction when
my friend recommended it was not a nice one. Once I started to learn the practice, it was like
reconnecting with my own body and before attempting this practice, I was absolutely unaware of
the existence of such an experience and it became a habit once I got the hang of the method. The
calm and silence that fills the body is soothing whilst I meditate lying down. In the daily
humdrums of life this small piece of calm and silence is what I long for and although it was not
easy to make it a habit at the initial stage, I overcame the challenges and now have a healthy
habit that I follow at least 4 days a week. Now I try to utilize as much time as possible so that I
can free my schedule and have some moment for a 30 minute of body scan meditation. The
benefits of this meditation are worth the time I invest in it and now I recommend this method to
any person who is looking for calm and quiet within one’s body.
Being caught up in stress, it becomes negligible for people to realize the kind of physical
discomfort that one is facing (Mirams et al., 2013). There are headaches, shoulder and back pain,
the muscles tend to become tense and all of these physical attributes is connected with our
emotional state (Tang & Posner, 2013). Body scan is a type of meditation that is a very good way
to release the tension that one may not even sense that they are experiencing. This meditation
method involves act that helps one to pay attention to their body parts and all the sensations in
the body through a gradual sequence starting from feet to the head. It is a method of mentally
scanning oneself in order to bring awareness to each part of the body and notice any kind of
aches or pains or even the presence of a general discomfort. It is important to note that, body
scan meditation does not relieve the pain that exists in the body, but it helps in getting to know
your body in a better way and learn from it so that next time you can manage it in a better way.

HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW2
Regular practices of body scan meditation are beneficial in many ways; when it is
performed daily or even better if one can perform it several times a day, this habit gets associated
with the mental and physical health of the person (Sauer-Zavala et al., 2013). Primary research
has shown that this type of meditation is very useful in reducing the stress level in people and
once a person is able to reduce his/her stress level in the body, he/she can find visible benefits in
their physical health; this includes reduction in insomnia, reduced fatigue and also decreased
inflammation (Call, Miron & Orcutt, 2014). This meditation helps to enhance the ability of
bringing complete attention in the practitioner to the real –time experiences that are taking place
in the present (Irving et al., 2014). This is helpful when a person’s feelings or emotions are wild
and creating a discomfort. This meditation helps one to learn through the pleasant and unpleasant
sensations taking place in the body and helps us to notice what happens when we notice what is
happening after a certain sensation, without intervening to fix or change the sensation (Song &
Lindquist, 2015).
The practice of body scan meditation is not that easy as it might look like from the
outside. There are obstacles that I had to overcome in order to gain the benefits from the practice
(Colgan et al., 2016). Body scan meditation may look like something that requires falling asleep,
but it is exactly the opposite of doing so; the idea associated with the meditation is that one has
to fall awake and feel every part of his or her body in order to learn more about it and manage it
well (Perich et al., 2013). Initially when I started practicing this meditation, I used to fall asleep
as soon as I laid my back on the mat; and I was told that it is a very common challenge that
almost every person has to go through. It took me some time to learn about the method and my
stress and only then I was able to meditate without falling asleep.