How body scanning rewires your pain response

Chronic pain can feel like an unrelenting cycle - your body hurts, your mind tenses, and the experience reinforces itself.

But modern neuroscience shows that this cycle can be interrupted, and one of the simplest yet most powerful tools for doing so is the body scan.

A body scan is a mindfulness practice in which you direct attention through different parts of your body, noticing sensations without judgment. It might seem passive, but research shows that this practice can actively change how your brain processes pain.