Emotional Body Scan
Materials Needed
Feeling
Empty
How to Do It
Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Slowly scan your body from head to toe, paying attention to any areas that feel numb or disconnected. Gently place your hand on those areas and breathe into them, inviting sensation and warmth back into your awareness.
Why It Works
This exercise helps to reconnect you with your body and emotions, addressing the physical and emotional disconnection that often accompanies feelings of emptiness.
Guided Practice
Lie down comfortably on your back with your arms resting by your sides and your legs extended taking a few deep breaths, allowing your body to relax and your mind to quiet. Close your eyes if it feels right, and let your breath flow naturally. Feel the ground beneath you and imagine that with each breath, you are drawing strength and stability up from the earth.
Now bring your awareness to your feet, noticing any sensations — warmth, coolness, tingling, or tension. Slowly move your awareness up through your body, scanning for any areas of tension, discomfort, or emotional energy.
As you scan your body, notice where emotions seem to be held. Feel into each area, sensing the quality of the emotion — perhaps a heaviness in your chest, a tightness in your shoulders, or a fluttering in your stomach. Stay with these sensations, allowing yourself to explore the emotional landscape of your body. Notice any images, memories, or thoughts that arise as you move through each area, perhaps representing the emotions you are encountering.
Imagine each emotion as a color or a texture. Visualize these colors filling the space of your body, noticing how they move or change as you breathe into them. Allow yourself to be present with each emotion, not trying to change it, but simply observing it with curiosity and compassion. Notice how these emotions shift or evolve as you bring awareness to them — perhaps a color becomes lighter, a texture softens, or an emotion begins to dissipate.
When you have completed your scan, take a few deep breaths, allowing your body to fully relax. Notice how your body feels now — perhaps more aware, more at peace, or simply more connected to your emotional state. Gently open your eyes, carrying this sense of awareness and acceptance with you, ready to approach your day with a deeper understanding of your own emotions.