Body Scan
MBSR
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn (Bantam Books, revised 2013)
Developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, the body scan is the foundational practice of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the most rigorously studied secular mindfulness program in the world. It is used clinically for chronic pain, stress, and anxiety.
Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass Medical School in 1979. MBSR has been studied in over 1,000 peer-reviewed publications. Palouse Mindfulness offers a free 8-week MBSR program online based on his curriculum.
Tips
- Falling asleep is common. Kabat-Zinn teaches the body scan as a practice of wakeful, non-judgmental attention to sensation -- not relaxation, though relaxation often follows. - A shortened version (10 to 15 minutes) is widely practiced by moving more quickly through each region. - The goal is bare attention to whatever is present, not elimination of discomfort.