Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Poster: MBSR “Languaging”: A Close Examination of the Body Scan

Moakley Atrium

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program teaches attention-focusing practices to foster present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. Research on the Body Scan, a core component since the program’s inception, remains undeveloped. This study will distinguish it from other stress management techniques and illustrate how analyzing the language used to teach the Body Scan offers a promising direction for research into mindfulness practices. Language patterns employed in MBSR training comprise a mostly overlooked source of research data. Critiques of MBSR research advocate closer examination of language and interpersonal processes. We thus employed qualitative methods to examine the Body Scan; the transcribed data were an early recording made by Kabat-Zinn. A coding system was developed to systematically analyze the transcript for content and discursive style. Results distinguish the Body Scan from relaxation techniques and highlight Kabat-Zinn’s distinctive “languaging” patterns. Implications for studying language use in MBSR include improved teacher training via direct focus on languaging.