Body scan for tension headaches: 15 minutes, before a presentation

About this practice

For the times before a presentation when tension headaches takes up more room than you would like — 15 minutes, body scan. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this before public speaking

• Do it somewhere private, or in the washroom if needed
• Slow the exhale deliberately and check your speaking pace after
• Warm the voice by reading a line aloud, not by staying silent

Rushing is the tell of nerves. A slower breath now is what sets a slower pace in the room.

How body scan works

A body scan moves attention systematically through the body, region by region. It does not try to change what it finds — it builds a map of what is actually there, which is often different from what you assumed.

• Move slowly, head to feet or feet to head, and do not skip the uncomfortable areas
• Meet each region with plain curiosity rather than a verdict
• Numbness and absence of sensation are findings too

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00If your legs are crossed, uncross them. Small changes count.
2. 0:12There's no need to try harder than this.
3. 0:23There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
4. 0:36Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
5. 0:50Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
6. 1:01Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
7. 1:16Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
8. 1:28Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
9. 1:39Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
10. 1:51Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
11. 2:03Notice your breathing, without changing it.
12. 2:13When the band around the forehead arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
13. 2:32Whatever the pressure building behind the eyes is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
14. 2:48Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
15. 3:00Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
16. 3:17There is no correct amount of the band around the forehead to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
17. 3:35Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
18. 3:47Keep following the air.
19. 3:56Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
20. 4:09Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
21. 4:22Let the quiet do its work.
22. 4:32Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
23. 4:46Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
24. 4:58Just the breath, still.
25. 5:07If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
26. 5:21Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
27. 5:32A few seconds more.
28. 5:41Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
29. 5:54Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
30. 6:07Nothing changes for a moment.
31. 6:16Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
32. 6:30Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
33. 6:40No rush to move on.
34. 6:49Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
35. 7:02Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
36. 7:14We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
37. 7:24If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
38. 7:37I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
39. 7:49You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
40. 8:02If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
41. 8:16I'll step back. You stay here.
42. 8:26If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
43. 8:39Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
44. 8:53A short silence. Let it be empty.
45. 9:03We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
46. 9:17If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
47. 9:29Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
48. 9:40Nothing here needs to be efficient.
49. 9:50You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
50. 10:02A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
51. 10:13Small efforts are the whole method.
52. 10:23Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
53. 10:35Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
54. 10:49A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
55. 11:00Notice the space around the pressure building behind the eyes. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
56. 11:19Think of the ache from a long staring day as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
57. 11:38Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
58. 11:52If the band around the forehead has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
59. 12:10Imagine the pressure building behind the eyes as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
60. 12:29Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
61. 12:42If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
62. 12:55If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
63. 13:08Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
64. 13:21Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
65. 13:33Let this be easy, if easy is available.
66. 13:44Let it be this simple.
67. 13:53Take one last look at whatever your attention settled on.
68. 14:05Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
69. 14:18Stay with it.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.