Bobby thinks about body scanning
When I was asked to write the self-care tip for this month it got me thinking about the things I actually do for my own self-care – and quite often the things I WANT to do and the things I ACTUALLY do are quite different! ….I would love to spend a whole weekend in a yurt in a forest with no phone, just connecting with nature! Or booking a spa day or a massage or reflexology treatment ( 😉 ) but the truth is I either don’t have the time or the money – sometimes both! to do these things and then I spend time and energy beating myself up over it which then makes me feel more overwhelmed and in need of self-care than I did before I started thinking about it! ….If this resonates with you in any way then you are not alone!
I have come to realise that whilst yes it is important to make the bigger self-care gestures when time and money allow, but that there are small things we can all do for ourselves on a daily, basis which takes very little time and doesn’t cost anything. ….so the tip I would like to share with you is to take just 5 or 10 minutes to ‘tune-in’ to yourself and your body and notice where you are at – do a body scan.
It really is that simple.
When we are busy or working or occupied in some way with things external to ourselves we are not fully in tune with ourselves and our bodies and therefore we don’t notice things we need such as if we need to stretch, relax our shoulders down or give our eyes a screen-break, have some food, have some water or even go to the toilet!
So the way we can ‘tune in’ is by sitting, standing, or lying down – preferably with your eyes closed, and taking 2 or 3 deep, slow breaths, then allowing your breathing to return to its normal rhythm and do a body scan.
A body scan begins with bringing your awareness to your feet – how do they feel? Are they relaxed? Is there any tension there? Do you notice any sensations in your feet? Is there any pain or discomfort there? – just spend a short while really noticing what is going on with them and if there is tension there, just let go of it and allow the muscles to relax.
Then begin to bring your awareness up to your ankles and begin the same observations with those, relaxing any tension you find there – and then up to your calf muscles and shins and continue this ‘scanning’ all the way up your body until you reach your head.
During the body scanning process, you may notice things like your toes are clenched or your jaw is clenched, your shoulders may be hunched up or you may be frowning – when you notice these things just allow the muscles to relax – drop your shoulders down, unclench your jaw and just be present with yourself.
The body scan can take as little or as long a time as you want it to but once you have finished and you have brought your awareness back into the room you will feel different from how you did when you started, and this is an act of self-awareness and self-care, it takes a small amount of time and costs nothing and we can all find the time to fit this into our day somewhere – something to keep us going between those grand gestures of self-care like the yurt in the forest!
