If you live and/or work inside systems that are adversarial, bureaucratic, or punitive, like courts, probation, child welfare, incarceration, public defense, advocacy, your body is always the first place the damage shows up.
Not in dramatic ways. In quiet ones. Ones that you don’t immediately notice, but they catch up with you as time drags on:
- Jaw clenched all day
- Shoulders locked near your ears
- Shallow breathing you don’t notice until it’s gone
- A stomach that never quite relaxes
- Exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix
Paying attention to your body can tell you when to hit the brakes and rest. Body scanning techniques aren’t about “calming down” in a way that makes you more compliant. They’re about not losing yourself while navigating pressure that never quite lets up.
What Body Scanning Actually Is (and Isn’t)
If you’re like me, the concept probably sounded like a lot of “woo” at first, but Body scanning is actually a super simple awareness practice: you intentionally move your attention through your body, from head to toe or toe to head, noticing sensations without trying to change them.
It is not:
- meditation that requires silence or candles
- positive thinking
- dissociation
- pretending things don’t hurt
It is:
- noticing where your body is bracing
- recognizing stress before it explodes into panic or shutdown
- reconnecting to yourself when systems treat you like a case number
For people dealing with legal stress, surveillance, harassment, or ongoing uncertainty, this matters.
Why Body Scanning Is Especially Useful Under Legal and Institutional Stress
Systems train people to live in constant vigilance. It’s a lot of stress on the body when you’re expected to:
- stay composed
- sound reasonable
- absorb threats quietly
- respond strategically
- never show fear or anger at the “wrong” time
And your nervous system doesn’t get that memo. That’s why body scanning helps because it:
- interrupts stress before it becomes reactive behavior
- prevents burnout masquerading as “coping”
- gives you information before your body forces a shutdown
It’s not about becoming passive. It’s about staying present and intact; paying attention to how you are feeling in the moment.
A Grounded Body Scan You Can Do Anywhere (No One Will Notice)
If you want to try body scanning, I’ve whipped up a special version designed for:
- court days
- workdays
- job interviews
- late-night spirals
- moments where you must keep functioning
Step 1: Don’t Close Your Eyes (Optional, Not Required)
You can body scan while staring at a wall, a desk, or your phone.
Step 2: Start With Contact
Ask yourself silently:
- Where is my body touching something right now?
- Feet on the floor. Back in the chair. Hands on a table or in your lap, folded.
Step 3: Move Slowly, Without Fixing
Briefly notice:
- Jaw: clenched or soft?
- Shoulders: lifted or dropped?
- Chest: tight, open, shallow?
- Stomach: braced, loose, numb?
- Legs: restless or heavy?
No correction necessary. Right now you’re just noticing.
Step 4: One Small Release
Pick one place and soften it by 5%. Not relaxed. Just less tight.
That’s it.
And this all takes under two minutes. And it works because awareness alone reduces physiological load. Noticing how you feel and addressing it helps more than you realize.
Body Scanning Is About Agency, Not Compliance
Unfortunately trauma-informed practices often get dismissed as “soft.” Push that out of your mind. What it really is about is being centered and regulated. Because people who are regulated:
- think more clearly
- make fewer impulsive mistakes
- document better
- testify more steadily
- advocate longer without burning out
Body scanning doesn’t make you quieter. It makes you harder to destabilize. That matters in systems that intentionally push you and aim to benefit when people are harmed or unravel.
If You’re Doing It “Wrong,” You’re Probably Doing It Right
It’s really common for people to feel like, “I don’t even know if this is working” at first. Common reactions:
- “I feel worse when I notice my body”
- “I realize how tense I am and it’s upsetting”
- “I don’t feel calm, just aware”
That’s not failure. That’s information. You’re noticing what you’ve had to ignore to survive. And awareness is the first step toward choosing what happens next instead of your nervous system choosing for you.
Pulling It All Together
God knows no one needs another productivity hack. And the last thing you want to hear is to be more resilient. You don’t need to explain your stress to anyone who benefits from it. Body scanning is a way to say:
I’m still here. I still feel myself. And I’m not disappearing just because the system wants me exhausted.
That’s not just self-help.
That’s resistance.
