19 tips

  1. it’s important to scan yourself both mentally for emotions and physically for sensations

  2. try individual mental or physical sessions or combine them in one session

  3. scan yourself at different times of the day to get to know your pattern

  4. the more you scan yourself the more in tune you will become with your mind and your body and the better placed you will be to help yourself

  5. be compassionate with yourself, don’t be judgemental

    just feel and acknowledge whatever sensations are present

  6. you can scan yourself lying down, sitting down or standing, the key thing is to be comfortable

  7. if you are short on time even a 1 minute scan will help you

  8. mix it up, try experimenting with ad hoc and regular scanning sessions of different lengths, find out what works for you

  9. scan your entire body starting at your feet and ending at your head

    or simply focus on one part of your body

  10. listen to what your body is telling you

  11. spend time on the parts of your body that you feel you need to

  12. enjoy being curious about what you discover

  13. do individual sessions on your physical sensations and your emotional sensations

  14. find the links between your emotions and your physical sensations

  15. closing your eyes will help you to visualise inside your body

  16. slow your breathing right down and perform diaphragmatic breathing

    visualise breathing out any negative sensations

  17. good posture starts with our feet

    don’t stand like a duck

    if your feet are out of line the rest of our body will be as well

    this will cause joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons to compensate, and eventually something will give

  18. look at yourself in a full length mirror / full length photo

    really look at yourself!

    how balanced are you?

    are your arms / hands the same distance from your body?

    are they the same height?

    are your shoulders in line with your hips, knees and ankles?

    is your weight centred side to side and forwards & backwards?

  19. correct your posture

    how do you feel?

    what feels different?

    remember the sensation

    keep correcting your stance throughout the day

    repeat, repeat, repeat