Body Scan - Guided Meditation Script

Body Scan Guided Meditation for the Classroom

If you’re practicing guided meditation in your classroom and looking for a new script, you’ve hit the jackpot. The Body Scan meditation is great for kids, but it’s best for students who have practiced meditation a little bit already and can lie down with focus for at least 10 minutes or so. Also known as “progressive relaxation,” this type of guided meditation asks students to move their awareness through their entire body, from their feet to the tops of their heads.

The printable resource provides teachers with a script that can be spoken aloud to guide students through a Body Scan meditation. This is also a fantastic activity that students can take home with them. It can be particularly useful to do a body scan to help relax before sleep.

Not sure your students are up for 10 minutes of mediation? Try these 5-minute mindfulness activity cards! 

Tips for Using Guided Meditations in the Classroom

1. Develop a Personal Practice

Before jumping straight into running a guided meditation session with your students, spend some time familiarizing yourself with the practice. You can practice Body Scan meditation yourself with this meditation video that can also be played in the classroom.

2. Build Your Class’ Focus Stamina

Even within a single age group, different kids have different attention spans. Concentration is a practiced skill, and it’s important to take this into consideration when planning your classroom mindfulness activities and meditation sessions.

Begin teaching mindfulness through shorter, more active practices before expecting students to sit or lay down in silence for even a 5-minute guided meditation.

3. Set Mindfulness Homework

Encouraging your students to practice their own mindfulness and meditation skills outside of class time is important. Not only can students (in fact, anyone!) “practice” mindfulness during any of their regular activities (while walking home, eating, or lying down to sleep), but building a habit of making mindfulness a conscious choice, outside of a teacher’s direct instruction, is where these skills really become life-long ones.

Students could keep track of the number of times they use mindfulness or do quiet meditation outside of school with stickers on a personal chart or in a bullet-journal style record.

Print out this script, along with other mindfulness activities, and send them home for students to complete when they need some focused time.