Exploring the Benefits of Body Scan Meditation in Helping People

This essay presents a personal account of the author's journey with body scan meditation and its transformative effects. Initially skeptical, the author embraced the practice, overcoming challenges such as falling asleep and initial anxiety, to experience significant benefits including reduced stress, increased self-awareness, and enhanced ability to help others. The essay connects the practice to the theory of mindfulness, emphasizing its role in cultivating clear thoughts, sensitivity, and attentive awareness. The author details how body scan meditation improved their capacity for attention, sense of awareness, and emotional regulation, ultimately making them a more effective social worker and therapist. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of self-care, gratitude, and the ability to approach challenges with a gentle approach, underscoring the profound impact of body scan meditation on personal and professional growth.

Running head: HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
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.

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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.

3HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
Another obstacle that I had to face whilst learning this method is that instead of feeling
relaxed and stress-free, I felt more anxious and stressed once I started with the process.
Eventually, my trainer explained to me that body scan meditation may not feel relaxing at times
and if you find it so then it means that you are trying too hard in hope of having a relaxed mind. I
was advised to notice the place within my body from where the anxiety is emerging and then I
learned to feel the sensation and gently allow my attention to rest there (Brown, Creswell &
Ryan, 2015). There was also the obstacle of making time to practice the meditation regularly;
being in a job is hard enough and amidst the pressure of the work life, making out time for
meditation was hard (Ie, Ngnoumen & Langer, 2014). It was uneven in the starting days
however, gradually I decided to have a perfect timetable and follow it throughout the week. It
took time to overcome this obstacle, but I worked harder in order to have four days a week for
my mediation practice and apart from that, I start body scan meditation whenever I get one hour
of free time for myself; it is a regular practice for me now and I have been benefitting from this.
The theory of Mindfulness is something that addresses awareness of context in the
moment that is presently going on. It starts from comparison of experiences which stretch the
understanding of any situation by keeping oneself open to alternative categories and
perspectives. It is mindfulness that allows people to be sensitive and have clear thoughts and also
possess appropriate behaviours (Fischer, Messner & Pollatos, 2017). The act of body scan
medication is based on this theory of mindfulness and indeed when I started to practice this
meditation this is what I felt; I started having clear thoughts and be sensitive. Through my
experience I can tell that the body scan meditation lets the people practice certain aspects of
mindfulness.

4HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
Through the training of body scan meditation, I trained my capacity of attention too;
body scan allows people to think about one subject attentively and then think about the other
things only to come back to the first thought. This trained my mind to be more attentive; it took
some effort from my side but once I got the grasp of the concept, I was able to cultivate strength
and flexibility within me. Through this practice I was able to enhance my sense of awareness
too; as a matter of fact, it is a part of the body scan practice to bring awareness in people’s mind
through the act of training the mind for attention. The meditation has made me repeatedly think
about the discomfort in my body and by allowing it to feel the sensations, I have tuned into a
mode of perception that is more centred and grounded. What the training has made me realize is
that there is absolutely no need of trying insanely hard to force any kind of change; mindfulness
training gave me the experience of doing so with a gentle approach. It also taught me that instead
of rushing away from the unpleasant experience and finding peace of mind, it is sometimes better
to lean to those feelings in order to let go of the discomfort that it creates in the psyche of human
mind (Day et al., 2014). Most importantly, body scan meditation has given me the experience of
having mindfulness through appreciation; although it was easy to take things for granted in life
but once I started paying attention to the bodily sensations and started to feel more alive, it
changed my perspective of life and helped me to nurture a sense of gratitude.
It is evident that mindfulness enhances creativity and help people to think beyond fear
and judgement that usually stifle the imaginative power of the people. With this creativity, I have
been able to become a better social worker (Redstone, 2015). Mindfulness gives the opportunity
to become engaged and be creative through innovation. In relation to this, it can be said that
social workers have to be creative and innovative, since most of their work is about problem
solving (Dambrum, 2016). Through this act of body scan meditation, I have learned to enhance

5HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
and increase my engagement in my work and most importantly I have learned to be in the
moment with the clients and this has increased my ability to innovate. This meditation has made
some better therapists since it increases the qualities of a person; moreover, since we are now
more aware of the emotions and feelings around us, we get a stronger urge to work better for the
people who are in need of help. I have also recommended the people who we help through the
Social Services to try the body scan meditation and it has helped them to build their courage
once more in order to start their life once again. Since I can now be more attuned to the needy
people, I know better how to help them and manage their situations with respect and a behaviour
that is respectful for them. The people who are in need feel more comfortable to share their
struggle with us once they see the effective interaction that we establish for their profit.
This experience of mindfulness is something that I am very grateful of having in this
lifetime. I have now a greater understanding of my body and my mind and I do not fear to face
my discomfort, anxiety or stress. It has enhanced my sense of self-awareness through the training
of enhancing attention and living in the present moment. My self-awareness made me appreciate
more the things and people who are around me. Once I learned not to rush away from feelings of
discomfort and let the body feel all the unpleasant sensations, it created a sudden urge in me that
made me commit more to my self-care. Body scan meditation has helped me overcome my stress
and anxiety and has provided me with experiences that has made me a better person today; I am
creative, respectful and someone who has a sense of awe for everything that is given to me.

6HELPING PEOPLE AND HOW
References: APA 14
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