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A Calm Way to Reconnect: A 60-second Body Scan Meditation for ADHD
Living with ADHD can feel like your mind is always bouncing between thoughts, plans, and distractions. For many, medications can help manage symptoms — but they may not work equally well for everyone, or be enough by themselves. Plus, medications can come with side effects that are often amplified with increasing doses.
That’s where mindfulness comes in. Studies show that mindfulness-based mental practices, such as body scanning, may help to improve ADHD symptoms when implemented in addition to treatments.
The challenge? A lot of mindfulness programs are long, formal, and hard to stick with — especially when your brain isn’t wired for stillness. So if you’ve ever thought, “Meditation just isn’t for me,” you’re not alone. But what if there was a gentler, simpler option?
Good news: short, body scan meditations might be the right starting point for you.
Why Try a Body Scan?
A body scan is a type of mindfulness practice where you gently bring attention to different parts of your body — from head to toe or toe to head — noticing sensations, tension, warmth, or even nothing at all. It’s like a calm check-in with your body, one small area at a time.
Body scans are one of the easiest mindfulness practices to try. In fact, in a recent survey of people with ADHD, most said they hadn’t been practicing mindfulness — but they would be open to trying body scans. They liked that it was short, simple, guided, and improvements could be experienced when body scans were practiced just once or twice a week.
Other benefits of body scans include that you don’t have to sit still for hours or spend money on class or equipment, and you don’t need to clear your mind or breathe in a special way. You just need a few minutes and a little curiosity.
Moreover, body scan can help you to:
- Slow down a racing mind
- Notice what’s happening inside your body
- Ground yourself in the present moment
- Practice focus in a gentle, low-pressure way
How It Can Help ADHD
ADHD brains often bounce between thoughts which can be mentally exhausting. But that cognitive busyness can leave you feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or scattered. A body scan gives your mind something specific and structured to focus on, without pressure or judgment.
Over time, this can improve:
- Awareness (what’s happening in your body and mind)
- Focus (practicing returning attention again and again)
- Self-regulation (feeling calmer and more centered)
It’s okay if your mind wanders. That’s part of the practice. Critically, a body scan gives a structured, gentle target for attention and practices the skill of noticing mind wandering and returning to focus, which are core challenges for those with ADHD.
Think of your body scan like working out at the gym – with each exercise repetition you get stronger, but in this case the exercise is shifting the focus of your attention back to the body scan.
Try This Quick Body Scan Now
If you’re here reading this, you’re probably curious about how this can help you. Why not try it right now, wherever you are? It only takes a minute.
Note that tuning into your body sensations can feel overwhelming for those who can experience panic, dissociation or have a history of trauma. Body scans can be performed with eyes-open with a soft gaze and attention anchored to external sensations such as your feet on the floor or an object in your hand. Skip any area or stop anytime. If symptoms spike, consult a clinician trained in trauma-informed care.
Here’s a simple version to try.
Step 1: Get Comfy
- Find a quiet-ish space.
- Sit or lie down — whatever’s comfortable.
- Close your eyes if you like. You can also keep them soft or gently gaze at one spot.
Step 2: Take a Breath
- Just notice your breathing for a few seconds.
- No need to change it. Just let yourself land here.
Step 3: Start Scanning
- Begin at your toes. What do you notice? Warmth? Tingling? Nothing? It’s all okay.
- Slowly move your attention up: toes → feet → ankles → calves → knees → thighs.
- Pause at each area for a few seconds and focus on the new area.
- If your mind wanders (it will!), gently come back to the body part you were on. No big deal.
Step 4: Keep Going
- Continue moving up through your body: hips → stomach → chest → back → shoulders → arms → hands → fingers → neck → face → head.
- You can move faster or slower, depending on what feels good.
Step 5: Wrap Up
- When you reach the top of your head, take one more deep breath.
- Notice how you feel. Maybe nothing’s different — or maybe you feel just a little more grounded.
That’s it. One scan, one moment of attention at a time. After your first try, you might notice that you feel more grounded.
You can also try a body scan with guided audio. Quick tip: research indicates that sitting upright or lying on your back might make body-scan meditations easier for people.
Tips That Make It Easier
- Start with one whole body scan at your own pace, so that slowly but surely you can improve this practice. Don’t aim for perfection. Just try.
- Use guided audio.
- Try it once or twice a week, especially during quiet times or before bed and gradually build up to make sessions more frequent and part of your routine.
- It’s okay if you fidget or need to move. You don’t have to maintain total stillness.
- Be kind to yourself if you forget or skip sessions. ADHD brains do that. Just come back when you can.
What Comes Next
If body scans feel helpful, you can integrate them into your lifestyle routines — weekly, daily, or whenever you need to reset. You might explore other grounding practices like mindful walking, breathing, or sensory check-ins.
Your attention might wander, or your leg might fall asleep. You might forget where you were in the scan. All of that is normal. The point is to keep practicing returning your mental focus to the process, kindly and gently — one breath, one body part, one moment at a time. You don’t have to be perfect to benefit from these short sessions. You just have to give it a go.
Expert Board Member
Short, 60-second body-scan practices provide a simple and ADHD-friendly mindfulness practice that helps to build cognitive skills in noticing mind-wandering and gently returning attention. Research suggests that regular brief guided body scans done once or twice weekly can offer a practical way to help improve awareness, focus, and self-regulation, with emerging evidence for ADHD-symptom improvement.
