Give yourself a break and focus on yourself for a change!

Mindfulness/body awareness is a relaxation tool that takes you on a guided tour around your body.
Choose the focus of the scan, the scenery, and duration and tap the play-icon.

Watch a demo with your PC/Mac here: http://www.ideaton.biz/site/webplayer.html

Use the app like this:

Find a comfortable posture, remove your glasses and open your belt. Loosen any constricting or chafing clothes. Find your breath. Focus your mind to how your breath feels in your nostrils and when the sparkles on the app's display begin to highlight different parts of the statue, imagine that your breath goes into and comes out of that same part in your body.

When you inhale, imagine that the breath goes directly to the highlighted area e.g. your toes. When you exhale imagine that the breath originates from the highlighted area and brings into your attention the physical sensations you feel in that part of your body - e.g. what kinds of physical sensations you feel right now in your toes?

Do you feel tingling? Cold? Heat? Tension? Nothing at all? All of these are okay. Let the sensations be. Do not try to change them. Do not judge them. Just notice them.

When your mind inevitably drifts to thinking about all that stuff that is going around in your head, gently notice this – you can say silently in your mind the word “thinking” -, find your breath, and focus breathing into the highlighted part and listening to what it has to say.

The scene that is displayed on your device contains various distracting audiovisual elements. The purpose of the distractions is to help you focus: the less the distractions are able to capture your attention the better.

Scanning your body is one of the techniques used in practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is a researched and acknowledged psychological tool for dealing with stress and being more present in this moment as opposed to being preoccupied by past or future events. Being present in this moment is one of the key themes in ACT - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Mindfulness techniques were pioneered by Professor of Medicine Emeritus Jon Kabat-Zinn of University of Massachusetts Medical School. The techniques are widely used at medical centers, hospitals and other health maintenance organizations.

If you are the busy executive you might have noticed how Harvard Business Review promotes mindfulness – see for example HBR’s December 2013 issue and the article titled “The Focused Leader” (HBR Reprint R1312B) or March 2014 issue / "Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity" (HBR Reprint R1403D).

The app contains various scenes and exercises that focus on specific areas in your body e.g. your back. In addition there are fast forward/backward and pause buttons to let you control the progress and duration of the exercise.

If you encounter technical or other problems, have any feedback or feature requests please drop us a note.

In the meantime give yourself a break, relax and enjoy listening to what your body has to say!

Please note that by installing this app you agree not to record, and/or distribute, or display the exercises to an audience e.g. in a mindfulness training session. If you need such functionality please contact us.

Please note: 1) This app is not a medical device. 2) Focusing intently on your body can cause powerful feelings, emotions or even distressing bodily sensations to emerge. If you are an experienced mindfulness practitioner you already know this and can accept it. If you are a beginner try to keep a bit more distance to the sensations. 3) If you feel overwhelmed stop the exercise immediately and consult a medical professional before trying again.