Body scan meditation for stress (10 min), as sleep prep

About this practice

For the times as sleep prep when stress takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, body scan. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: stress

Stress is a load that does not come off. Muscle tension accumulates in the shoulders, jaw and gut, and the body stops returning to baseline between demands.

It tends to show up as:

• Shoulders sitting up near the ears
• Short temper over small things
• Waking already tired

Short practices work on the physical part of the load. They do not remove the demands, but they stop the body storing all of them.

Doing this before sleep

• Dim the lights and put the phone out of reach
• Do it in bed if that helps you stay there
• Let yourself fall asleep rather than finishing it

Checking anything afterwards undoes most of it. Let this be the last thing.

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. 0:00Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point.
2. 0:15If a region feels numb, that is a finding too. Note it and move on.
3. 0:29We're going to move through the body in order, roughly from top to bottom.
4. 0:43We'll work through this slowly. If you lose the thread, the thread will wait.
5. 0:57Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
6. 1:13Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
7. 1:27Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
8. 1:41Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
9. 1:54Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
10. 2:05Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
11. 2:17If the tension of too much on the plate starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
12. 2:35Notice the space around the low-grade alarm of being stretched thin. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
13. 2:54If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
14. 3:07Your only job is to notice what is there, region by region, without fixing anything.
15. 3:21I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
16. 3:34Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
17. 3:46Visit each area with plain curiosity, not with a verdict. Sensation is information, not a problem.
18. 4:01I'll step back. You stay here.
19. 4:11Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
20. 4:23Move at the speed of your attention, not the speed of a checklist. There is no schedule to keep.
21. 4:39A short silence. Let it be empty.
22. 4:49Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
23. 5:03Keep following the air.
24. 5:12Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
25. 5:24Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
26. 5:37Remain here for a few more breaths.
27. 5:47Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
28. 5:59Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
29. 6:12No need to open your eyes yet.
30. 6:22Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
31. 6:32Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
32. 6:43Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
33. 6:54Feel the weight of the load you are carrying somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
34. 7:11Notice where the tension of too much on the plate lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
35. 7:30Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
36. 7:44Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the low-grade alarm of being stretched thin is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
37. 8:04If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
38. 8:18Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
39. 8:30Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
40. 8:41We will travel down through the body, one region at a time, and leave each one softer than we found it.
41. 8:58Just the breath, still.
42. 9:07Let your breathing be completely ordinary again.
43. 9:17Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
44. 9:30Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

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