Evening Body Scan
A systematic attention practice that moves from feet to face, noticing sensation without trying to change it. Use this before bed to release held tension and prepare your body for rest. Based on the MBSR body scan protocol developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Settle in
Lie down or sit with your spine fully supported. Allow your arms to rest at your sides, palms facing up. Close your eyes gently. There is nothing to do except be here.
Practice complete
You moved through your entire body with attention. That is the practice. Rest well.
About the body scan
The body scan is one of the core practices in MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. It involves bringing deliberate, non-judgmental attention to different parts of the body in sequence.
Unlike progressive muscle relaxation, the body scan does not ask you to tense or force anything. You are practicing the skill of noticing. Over time this builds interoceptive awareness, which is your ability to sense your own body accurately, and this skill is associated with better emotional regulation and reduced anxiety.
You are not trying to feel calm. You are practicing the act of paying attention. Calm often follows, but it is not the goal.
What the research says
- MBSR body scan practice shows significant reductions in sleep disturbance, cortisol levels, and self-reported stress (Carlson and Garland, 2005).
- Regular body scan practice improves interoceptive accuracy, a key component of emotional regulation (Farb et al., 2013).
- A meta-analysis of mindfulness for sleep found that mindfulness-based interventions outperform passive controls for insomnia-related outcomes (Garland et al., 2019).