The body scan and grounding

In this lesson: how to do a ten-minute body scan, where the practice comes from and how it connects to grounding in witchcraft.

Many of us live from the neck up, thinking and planning all day. The body scan brings your attention back down into your body, part by part, and grounding settles you there. In witchcraft, grounding comes before and after almost every working, so this is a practice you will use for the rest of your life.

The body scan

In 1979 Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the body scan became one of its central practices. You move your attention slowly through the body, usually from the toes to the crown of the head, noticing whatever is there: warmth, pressure, tingling, tension or nothing at all. You do not have to relax each part. You only have to notice it.

Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living describes the practice in detail. It is simple enough for a beginner and deep enough for a lifetime.

Where the body scan comes from

Historical The body scan as taught today comes mainly from the Burmese Buddhist teacher U Ba Khin (1899 to 1971), who developed a method of “sweeping” attention through the body, and from his student S. N. Goenka (1924 to 2013), who taught it in ten-day vipassana courses around the world from 1969 onward. Vipassana means “insight”. Jon Kabat-Zinn adapted a gentler, secular body scan for his MBSR program in 1979, usually done lying down for 30 to 45 minutes. Earlier roots include the Buddhist practice of mindfulness of the body described in the Satipatthana Sutta.

Modern In the West, a related technique, progressive muscle relaxation, was developed by the American physician Edmund Jacobson in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead of only noticing each body part, you tense it for a few seconds and then release it. Some beginners find this easier than a pure scan because it gives them something to do.

A body scan, part by part

Here is a ten-minute scan you can follow. Lie or sit comfortably. Begin at the toes of your left foot: notice warmth, coolness, tingling or nothing at all. Move to the sole, the heel, the ankle. Travel slowly up the left leg to the hip. Then the right foot and leg.

Next the pelvis and lower back, then the belly rising and falling with breath, then the chest and upper back. Move down each arm to the fingertips. Then the neck, the jaw (which is often tight), the cheeks, the eyes and the forehead. End with a sense of the whole body breathing. Spend about thirty seconds on each area. If you notice pain, acknowledge it kindly and move on.

Grounding for strong emotions

Modern Grounding in therapy means techniques that bring attention to the present moment when emotions or memories feel overwhelming. The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is widely taught: name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch, two you can smell and one you can taste.

Other quick methods include holding something cold, describing your surroundings aloud and pressing your feet firmly into the floor. The psychotherapist David Treleaven, in Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (2018), recommends that people with trauma keep their eyes open, choose an external focus and feel free to stop at any time. Grounding in witchcraft, imagining roots into the earth, overlaps with this, but the therapeutic version needs no imagery at all.

Grounding

Grounding in witchcraft means coming back to your body and the earth, especially after energy work, a reading or a strong emotion. A common visualization is to imagine roots growing from the soles of your feet into the ground. A more down-to-earth version, used by many therapists for anxiety, is the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise: name five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste. Both bring you back to the present moment.

A short body scan script

Here is a five-minute version you can read slowly into your phone and play back, or simply remember.

Lie down or sit comfortably. Let your eyes close or rest on the floor. Take three slow breaths. Bring your attention to your feet. Notice what is there: warmth, coolness, the touch of socks or the floor. If you feel nothing, notice that. Now move up to your lower legs and knees. Notice without changing anything.

Move on to your thighs and hips, the weight of your body on the chair or the bed. Then your belly, rising and falling with the breath. Your chest. Your back, where it touches the support behind you. Now your hands, your arms and your shoulders. Many people hold tension here; notice it, and let it be.

Finally, your neck, your jaw, your face and the top of your head. Then widen your attention to the whole body at once, breathing. Take one more slow breath, wiggle your fingers and toes, and open your eyes.

Variations

The three-minute scan. Feet, belly, shoulders, face: four stops, a few breaths at each. It fits into a lunch break.

The bedtime scan. Do the full scan lying down in bed. If you fall asleep before the end, that is a perfectly good result at bedtime.

The scan with a word. Silently say “softening” as you rest attention in each area. It is not a command; it is an invitation.

When to choose something else

For some people, especially those with a history of trauma, chronic pain or strong anxiety, attending closely to the body can feel overwhelming. If a body scan brings up distress, open your eyes, look around the room, name a few objects you can see and feel your feet on the floor. You can return to the scan another day, keep it very short, or choose a different practice such as walking or listening to sounds. A trauma-informed teacher or therapist can help you find a pace that feels safe.

Questions beginners ask

I fall asleep during the body scan. Is that bad? Not at all, especially at bedtime. If you want to stay awake, sit up or do it earlier in the day.

What if I cannot feel anything in some parts? That is common. Notice “no sensation” and move on. Over time many people feel more.

Can the body scan bring up difficult feelings? Sometimes, especially for people with trauma or chronic pain. Shorten it, open your eyes, or switch to grounding.

How is witchcraft grounding different from therapeutic grounding? Witchcraft grounding often uses imagery of roots and earth energy. Therapeutic grounding focuses on the senses. Both aim to make you feel present and steady.

Myths to drop: The body scan is not about relaxing perfectly; it is about noticing. Grounding is not only for witches. And you do not need to “release negative energy” for it to work.

A worked example

Imagine you lie on your bed after a long day. You start at the toes of your left foot and notice they feel cold. You move to the sole, the heel, the ankle. Around your knees you realise you have been planning dinner, and you return to the knee. By the time you reach your shoulders you notice they are up near your ears and you let them drop a little. You end with the roots visualization, feeling your weight sink into the mattress. Ten minutes, and your whole evening feels different.

Try this

Do a ten-minute body scan, sitting or lying down. Then finish with a minute of roots grounding or the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise. Afterwards, write down which part of your body was hardest to feel, and which grounding method you preferred.

Journal prompts: Which part of my body holds the most tension? What did I notice that I usually ignore? Which grounding method works best for me when I am upset?

A beginner’s worry, answered. “I keep falling asleep.” Many people do at first, especially if they are short of sleep. Try sitting up, opening your eyes slightly or scanning earlier in the day. If you still fall asleep, your body may simply need more rest.

A worked example of a scan journal. After each scan, write three short lines: where you noticed tension, where you noticed ease, and how you felt afterwards. One learner’s first week looked like this. Monday: “Tight jaw. Warm hands. Calmer.” Wednesday: “Shoulders up by my ears. Could not feel my feet at all. A bit restless.” Saturday: “Jaw again. Belly soft. Sleepy in a good way.” By the end of the week she noticed that her jaw was the place she held stress, and she began to relax it during the day whenever she remembered.

A grounding variation for strong emotions. Press your feet firmly into the floor, hold something cool such as a glass of water, and slowly describe the room to yourself in plain words: “a blue chair, a window, a lamp”. Plain description gives an upset mind something steady to hold.

A variation for children. Children often enjoy a “spaghetti scan”: they imagine each part of the body going from a stiff, uncooked noodle to a soft, cooked one, starting with the toes. It turns the practice into a game and is a lovely way to settle before sleep. Keep it short, around two or three minutes, and let them giggle.

How often to scan. Once a day is plenty for a beginner, and three times a week is still worthwhile. The body scan works best as a regular habit, so choose a time you can keep, such as just after you get into bed.

Recap

The body scan, made widely known by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR program from 1979, moves attention slowly through the body, noticing rather than fixing. Grounding brings you back to the body and the present, through roots visualization or the five senses. Both are flexible: keep your eyes open or stop whenever you need to.

What next

My grounding and centering page has more variations, and protection builds on a grounded body. Next lesson: visualization, the imagination at work.

Further reading: David A. Treleaven, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (W. W. Norton, 2018). Edmund Jacobson, You Must Relax (McGraw-Hill, 1934).

Sources

• Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (Delacorte, 1990).
• David A. Treleaven, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (W. W. Norton, 2018).
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need To Know (NCCIH, updated 2022).

Go deeper: the witchcraft and tarot pages on this site

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