Body Scan Meditation Script

How to do a body scan meditation

Lie down or sit, close your eyes if you like, and move your attention from your feet to your head, about 15 to 75 seconds on each part, depending on the version.

1. Get comfortable. Lie on your back or sit with your feet flat. Loose clothes help.
2. Take 3 slow breaths. Let each out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath.
3. Go part by part. Take one area at a time.
4. Notice, do not fix. Warmth, weight, itch, tingling, or nothing are all fine. You are not trying to relax the area.
5. Come back when you drift. The mind wanders. When you catch it, return to the part you were on, without scolding yourself.
6. Finish slowly. Breathe, move your fingers and toes, and open your eyes.

The timer counts the seconds for you, so your eyes can stay closed. Press Start and it moves to the next part by itself.

Body scan meditation script: 14 body parts

The full script below takes 10 minutes: 60 seconds to settle, 35 seconds on each of 14 body parts, and 50 seconds to finish. The wording is ours. We go from feet to head, but the order is a choice, and you can start at the head if that suits you better.

1. Feet. Notice your toes, soles, heels, and the tops of your feet. Nothing at all is fine.
2. Lower legs. Move to your ankles, shins, and calves. Notice warmth, weight, or the touch of fabric.
3. Knees and thighs. Come to your knees, then your thighs. Feel where they meet the surface under you.
4. Hips and seat. Notice your hips and where your body rests. There is nothing to change.
5. Lower back. Turn to your lower back. If it is sore, skip it or glance briefly.
6. Belly. Rest your attention on your belly. Notice it rise and fall with each breath.
7. Chest and upper back. Feel your chest and upper back, the breath moving here, and any heartbeat.
8. Hands and fingers. Notice your fingers, palms, and the backs of your hands. Tingling, pulsing, coolness, or nothing.
9. Arms. Move up through your forearms and upper arms. Notice any difference between left and right.
10. Shoulders. Turn to your shoulders. Is there tightness or ease?
11. Neck and throat. Bring attention to your neck and throat, and the air passing through.
12. Jaw and face. Your jaw, cheeks, and mouth: let attention rest there.
13. Eyes, forehead, scalp. Finish with your eyes, forehead, and scalp, up to the top of your head.
14. Whole body. Let your attention widen to your whole body, feet to head, breathing as one.

Before the first part: "Get comfortable. Close your eyes or soften your gaze. Take three slow breaths." After the last: "Take a slow breath. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Open your eyes when you are ready." To read it to someone, or to record it for yourself, open "Read it aloud" under the timer: the same parts as one script, with the pauses marked. The same words are on the printable body scan script.

5-minute body scan script, and the 10- and 20-minute versions

The 5-minute version spends 15 seconds on each of the 14 parts where the 10-minute version spends 35, with 45 seconds to settle and 45 to finish. The lines are the same, so you hear less silence between them.

The formula is total = settle + 14 × seconds per part + finish. At 130 words a minute, a 15-word line takes about 7 seconds to say, which leaves about 8 seconds of quiet in the 5-minute version. No published protocol sets these seconds; they are our own timing. Change one number and the total moves by 14 times it: 5 more seconds per part adds 70 seconds.

Body scan meditation for sleep

If your mind is still running through the day at bedtime, some people use a body scan to wind down. Choose "For sleep" in the timer and lie on your back. It runs 8 minutes, with 30 seconds per part and no closing step, so you can stop when you are ready to sleep.

If your back aches when you lie flat, put a pillow under your knees. Skip any part that hurts and let the scan end wherever you fall asleep. We found no trial that tests a body scan on falling asleep, so we make no promise about it.

If your breath is what keeps you awake, 4-7-8 breathing is another option.

What to do if you feel nothing or your mind wanders

Feeling nothing is a result too. Say "nothing here" to yourself and move on to the next part.

• If you feel nothing in a part, note that and continue. Noticing numbness or no sensation is still noticing.
• If your mind leaves the body, name where it went ("planning") and return to the part you were on.
• If you fall behind the timer, use Next to skip ahead, or Back to repeat a part.
• If you keep judging the scan, repeat the line "notice, do not fix" and carry on.

If a full scan is too long when you feel anxious, mindfulness exercises for anxiety has practices of 1 to 5 minutes.

Body scan vs progressive muscle relaxation

A body scan only notices sensations; progressive muscle relaxation tenses each muscle group for about 5 seconds first, then releases it.

If you want the tense-and-release method, use our progressive muscle relaxation script.

Does a body scan meditation work? What the research says

A body scan helps some people feel more mindful and, in a clinic, less distressed by pain, but trials show small effects and a body scan alone did not improve health outcomes in a 2022 review.

That review pooled 14 randomized trials. A body scan had a small effect on mindfulness compared with doing nothing (Hedges g = 0.27, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.50). Study quality was low, results varied a lot, and the authors concluded that a sole body scan "is not effective enough to improve health-related outcomes" ^[1].

In 55 adults with chronic pain, a 10-minute recorded body scan lowered pain-related distress in the clinic more than a reading about natural history did (p = 0.005). At home, the groups did not differ ^[2]. In two trials with 175 students, a daily audio body scan for 2 weeks improved measures of heartbeat awareness and body signals, but guided imagery gave comparable results ^[3]. A 2026 trial of 54 students compared 4 weeks of body scan, 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week, with sitting meditation, and found no significant difference between them on working memory, mindfulness or stress ^[4].

A body scan is a reasonable way to practice noticing, with modest evidence behind it.

Who should be careful with a body scan

If paying attention to your body makes you anxious or brings up pain, panic, flashbacks, or a feeling of being cut off from yourself, open your eyes, look around the room, and stop if it does not ease.

• If a part of your body hurts, skip it or look at it for a moment only. The script allows this for the lower back.
• If you feel panicky or unreal, open your eyes, name 5 things you can see, and feel your feet on the floor. 5-4-3-2-1 grounding walks through it.
• If memories or flashbacks come up, stop. A body scan is not a trauma treatment.
• If you are driving, cooking, or otherwise need to stay alert, do not do it then.

Meditation can have unwanted effects. In an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program (96 people), 83% reported at least one side effect, 37% reported a negative effect on functioning, and lasting bad effects occurred in 6 to 14%, linked to signs of overarousal and dissociation ^[5]. A systematic review of 83 studies (6,703 people) found adverse events in 8.3% overall (95% CI 5% to 12%). Anxiety was the most common type, in 18 of the 55 studies that reported any adverse event. Adverse events can also happen to people with no earlier mental health problems ^[6]. Neither study looked at body scans alone, so the figures describe the risk of meditation in general.

Printable body scan script

The printable body scan script fits on one sheet: all 14 parts with the seconds for the 5- and 10-minute versions. It is free to print and share with clients or students. For silent minutes after the scan, use the meditation timer, or see all meditation practices. For a script that stays with the breath, see the mindfulness meditation script.

Frequently asked questions