Mindfulness worksheets
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Mindfulness, and the use of a mindfulness worksheet, can be a helpful strategy for therapists to incorporate into their treatment planning.
This guide to mindfulness worksheets provides an overview of mindfulness, describes its benefits, and lists different types of mindfulness exercises.
In addition, you can download a free printable mindfulness activities worksheet to save to your electronic health record (EHR) and use in your therapy practice.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a practice of present-time awareness of one’s internal states and environment. It fosters acceptance and non-judgment to increase awareness and decrease overwhelm.
Mindfulness is considered a practice, psychological state, and construct. It is at least 2,550 years old, with roots in Buddhist and other spiritual traditions. In Buddhism, mindfulness is an interconnected process to achieve liberation from suffering.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, introduced mindfulness into Western psychology and medicine in the 1970s and created a program called the mindfulness-based stress-reduction technique (MBSR) to treat patients with chronic illness.
The practice of mindfulness may be used therapeutically in several ways:
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): An 8-week program of weekly mindfulness activities to practice at home and in a group setting.
- Mindfulness-based cognitive behavior therapy: A therapeutic intervention for the treatment of depression that combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and MBSR.
- Mindfulness meditation: Guided or self-led meditations that can be practiced individually, in session, or in a community or group setting. The mindfulness worksheets you can download from this article include steps to a meditation mindfulness exercise.
How does mindfulness work?
Chronic stress impacts immune function and exacerbates physical and mental health conditions.
According to the American Psychological Association, researchers believe that mindfulness lowers the body’s stress response, positively impacting the brain regions associated with attention and emotional regulation, the immune system, and the rest of the body.
Programs like MBSR help participants strengthen their attention and emotional regulation so that they are less likely to react with unhelpful thoughts or heightened emotions during stressful events. It can also help them become less likely to ruminate.
Benefits of using mindfulness worksheets
Mindfulness handouts are a helpful way to illustrate mindfulness in client sessions.
Mindfulness worksheets can also provide clients with an overview of the key benefits of mindfulness, including:
- Reduced stress, anxiety, and depression
- Improved emotional well-being
- Enhanced distress tolerance skills
- Decreased mood disturbance and stress in cancer patients
- Effective treatment for pain, smoking, and addiction
- Reduced the rate of recurrence in clients with major depression
- Reduced pain, fatigue, and stress in patients with chronic pain
Preliminary research also suggests that mindfulness can boost the immune system and help people recover from colds and flu.
Types of mindfulness exercises
There are various types of mindfulness exercises therapists can use in their practice or provide within a mindfulness worksheets PDF, including:
Mindful breathing
Mindful breathing, which is included in the mindfulness worksheets, involves paying attention to the breath as it moves in and out of your body, related sensations, the movement of air, and the rise and fall of your chest.
Body scan
A body scan meditation involves mindfully checking in with your body by paying focused attention to scanning different parts of the body, starting with the toes and moving towards your head. You may notice feelings, sensations, points of contact, tension, or discomfort.
Mindful walking
This mindfulness exercise consists of focusing on the sensations of walking, such as how your feet feel when making contact with the ground, changing pace, and noticing the rhythm of walking.
Mindful observation
Mindful observation is the practice of engaging with an object or environment, focusing on the details, and what can be seen, smelled, felt, or heard.
Mindfulness in recovery worksheets
Used in substance use treatment, these mindfulness worksheets typically involve activities like deep breathing and the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise. They may also include other activities that promote distress tolerance and emotional regulation, like urge surfing and the ACCEPTS skill.
Loving-kindness meditation
This type of meditation cultivates feelings of compassion and love toward yourself and others by repeating phrases like “May I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be at peace” and “May they be happy, may they be healthy, may they be at peace.”
Sources
- American Psychological Association. (n.d). Mindfulness.
- American Psychological Association. (2024). Mindfulness meditation: A research proven way to reduce stress.
- Brown KW, Ryan RM. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.Keng, S. L., Smoski, M. J., & Robins, C. J. (2011). Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: a review of empirical studies. Clinical psychology review.
- National Institute of Health. (2021). Mindfulness for your health. The benefits of living moment by moment.
- Schuman-Olivier, Z., Trombka, M., Lovas, D. A., Brewer, J. A., Vago, D. R., et al. (2020). Mindfulness and Behavior Change. Harvard review of psychiatry.
- Tang, YY., Hölzel, B. & Posner, M. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nat Rev Neurosci.
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