Here’s something easy and you may find it helpful: the Body Scan. This was created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who created a mindfulness-based “stress-reduction” program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (which eventually became something called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy).
Don’t worry—I am not going to try to get you to meditate.
But Kabat-Zinn’s Body Scan is something you might find helpful. Think of it as a new tool in your toolkit. All you need is a quiet room and about 40 minutes.
Two things are important:
First, don’t approach this with any kind of agenda. Don’t try to get good at it. Don’t try to use it to make yourself feel better (Kabat-Zinn calls this “striving”). Just try it, in the spirit of experimentation, to see what happens, with no expectations.
If it helps you relax or even sleep—great!
But don’t do it to make yourself relax, or to try to fall asleep. Don’t try to do anything.
Just do it.
Point two: find a copy of Kabat-Zinn’s original tape. There are, as you can imagine, a lot of imitators out there. Here is a copy you can listen to for free on YouTube and also the original Body Scan can be found streaming here.
You can also buy the original CD from Amazon. It’s called Guided Mindfulness Meditation Series 1 and it has a yellow cover.
You can also buy a digital download (mp3) via Kabat-Zinn’s website. There is an Apple and Android app for your smartphone which I believe grants access to the original tapes, but unfortunately only via subscription.
That’s it!