Thirty-minute full body scan
The long form: thirty minutes, feet to head, one continuous sweep with no part skipped. It is the practice people find hardest to start and most useful once they have finished it.
- Length
- 30 minutes
- Suited to
- Some practice behind you
- Published
- 7 Sep 2026
The script
Pauses are marked inline. Read at the pace that suits you; the timer below can keep time for you.
Lie down on your back, arms slightly away from the body, palms up or down as they fall. Let the legs be a little apart. 30 s
Spend the first minute feeling the contact points: heels, calves, buttocks, shoulder blades, the back of the head. 60 s
Begin at the toes of the left foot. Feel each toe, then the sole, then the top of the foot. 90 s
The ankle, then up the lower leg: calf, shin, the back of the knee. 120 s
The knee joint, the thigh — front, back, inner, outer. Take your time; the thigh can hold a lot of unexpressed tension. 120 s
Hip and pelvis: the sitting bone, the hip joint, the whole basin. 90 s
Now the same route on the right leg, from the toes. 240 s
Both legs together, as two whole limbs. 60 s
The lower back, the mid back, the upper back — including anything that touches the floor. 150 s
The belly, the chest, the ribs on both sides. Notice the breath moving the belly without any instruction from you. 120 s
The left hand, up the arm to the shoulder. Then the right hand, up to the shoulder. 240 s
The neck, the jaw, the face — eyes, cheeks, mouth, tongue. Then the scalp and the ears. 150 s
Finally the whole body at once, skin to bone, head to feet, for a minute of undivided attention. 60 s
Then let attention settle on the breath at the belly and stay there until the bell.
Anchor
the changing texture of sensation as attention moves
If attention goes
Three things to do when the mind leaves — because it will.
- If you fall asleep, that is information about your sleep, not a moral failure. Sit up for the remainder if it keeps happening.
- If you lose your place in the route, go back to the last part you clearly remember and continue from there rather than guessing forward.
- If a part of the body pulls attention and will not let go, give it two minutes. Fighting it costs more time than visiting it does.
01Pace: thirty minutes over roughly forty regions
The full route has about forty named regions. Thirty minutes gives an average of forty-five seconds each, which is why the script above spends longer on the legs and the back and less on the face.
If you speed up, the last third of the body typically gets two seconds a piece, and the scan becomes a recital of body parts. If you notice you are naming rather than feeling, halve the remaining route and spend the time on half of it.
02Sensation, then reaction
At some point you will meet something unpleasant: an ache, a numbness, a restlessness in the legs. The instruction is to notice the raw sensation first, then notice the reaction — the pull to move, the wish for it to stop.
Separating the two is the whole skill. The sensation is often small; the reaction is what is large. When the reaction is seen as a reaction, it usually loses about half its force.
03When to use the long form
Thirty minutes is a poor daily habit for most people and an excellent weekly one. It is also the right practice for a day when something is bothering you and you cannot name it — the scan tends to find where it is being held.
A caution worth stating plainly: people with a history of trauma sometimes find a full swept scan destabilising. If attention moving through the body brings distress rather than information, stop, open your eyes, feel your feet on the floor, and consider working with a teacher or clinician rather than alone.
Timer
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Questions that come up
Must I do the whole thirty minutes?
No. Twenty minutes covering the legs and trunk is a complete practice. What matters is that you finish somewhere deliberate rather than trailing off.
Eyes open or closed?
Closed for the first attempts. If you are prone to dullness, half-open with a soft gaze at the floor works better.
Can I use a guided audio instead?
A recording is fine for learning the route. Once you know it, your own pace is more accurate than someone else's, because only you can feel where attention is actually landing.
Terms used here
- Body scan — Moving attention systematically through the body, region by region, at a steady pace.
- Noting — Giving what has distracted you a one-word label, then returning.
- Dullness — The foggy, sinking state that is not sleep but is not attention either.
- Restlessness — The agitated quality that makes sitting still feel unacceptable.
- Equanimity — Steadiness that does not depend on things going well.
Before you begin — Everything here is general information about attention and breathing, offered for educational use only. It is not medical or psychological treatment, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. If you have a heart or lung condition, a history of panic attacks or trauma, are pregnant, or are being treated for a mental health condition, talk to your clinician before starting breath-holding or long body-scan practice. Stop if a practice makes you dizzy, breathless or distressed.