Body Scan Review
Why Do We Start with the Body Scan?
There are a number of reasons why the body scan is a good meditation to introduce at this point:
- Doing a meditation lying down can be a more manageable and comfortable way to start meditating than trying to sit for a long period of time
- Our minds are more active during the body scan than they are in a meditation in which we’re focused on a single object like the breath, as the focus of our awareness is continually shifting through different regions of our bodies, and this can help make it easier to maintain our concentration over a longer period.
- Learning to notice physical sensations helps us recognize our moods and emotions, which is an important aspect of being mindful we'll explore in later lessons.
- Focusing on body sensations allows us to step back from our thoughts and pulls us out of heads, which is where we typically spend most of our time, and connect directly to our experiences unmitigated by thought.
- Observing our experiences from this different perspective helps us see things in new ways
Mind Wandering During Body Scan
Repeatedly becoming distracted and allowing our minds to wander is something that everyone experiences, regardless of how long we've been meditating. So if you found your mind was wandering a lot, that's perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about. Mindfulness isn't about preventing your mind from wandering, but about noticing, as best you can, whenever your mind does wander, and then gently redirecting your attention back to where you want it.
When we're being mindful, we're:
- Paying attention to our experiences in the present moment
- Sometimes we're focusing on a specific aspect of our experiences, like our breath, or the sensations in our bodies
- Sooner or later (usually sooner) our minds begin to wander
- At some point (sometimes after a long time has passed) we notice that our minds have wandered
- We acknowledge where our minds have been
- And then we gently usher our minds back to where we want them to be
And as long as you're doing this, you're being mindful, no matter how distracted you are, and how often and for how long your mind wanders.