Mindfulness Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Mindfulness distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

PiqCue — piqcue.com/mindfulness/cheatsheet

Quick Reference

Present-Moment Awareness

The deliberate practice of directing attention to what is happening right now — including thoughts, feelings, and sensory experiences — rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

Non-Judgmental Observation

The capacity to observe inner experiences such as thoughts, emotions, and sensations without labeling them as good or bad, right or wrong, and without trying to change or suppress them.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

An eight-week structured program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center that combines mindfulness meditation, body awareness, yoga, and inquiry to help people manage stress, pain, and illness.

Body Scan Meditation

A formal mindfulness practice in which attention is systematically moved through different regions of the body, noticing physical sensations such as tension, warmth, tingling, or numbness without trying to alter them.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

A therapeutic approach that combines mindfulness practices with cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, specifically designed to prevent relapse in individuals who have experienced recurrent depression by helping them disengage from habitual negative thought patterns.

Beginner's Mind (Shoshin)

An attitude of approaching each experience with fresh curiosity and openness, as if encountering it for the first time, free from preconceptions, expectations, and the assumption that one already knows what will happen.

Focused Attention Meditation

A foundational mindfulness practice in which the meditator sustains attention on a single object — typically the breath — and gently returns focus to that object whenever the mind wanders.

Open Monitoring Meditation

An advanced mindfulness practice in which the meditator maintains a broad, receptive awareness of all arising experiences — thoughts, emotions, sounds, sensations — without selecting any particular object of focus or getting carried away by any single experience.

Emotional Regulation

The ability to manage and modulate one's emotional responses to situations, which mindfulness cultivates by creating a space between stimulus and response, allowing for more deliberate and less reactive behavior.

Decentering (Cognitive Defusion)

The ability to observe one's thoughts and feelings as transient mental events rather than as accurate reflections of reality or core aspects of the self, reducing their power to trigger automatic behavioral reactions.

Key Terms at a Glance

Mindfulness:The practice of intentionally paying attention to the present moment with an attitude of openness, curiosity, and non-judgment.

MBSR:Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, an 8-week program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn combining meditation, body awareness, and yoga for stress management.

MBCT:Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, a therapeutic approach blending mindfulness with CBT techniques to prevent depressive relapse.

Meditation:A broad term for practices that train attention and awareness, often involving focused concentration, open monitoring, or guided visualization.

Vipassana:An ancient Buddhist meditation practice meaning 'insight' or 'clear seeing,' focused on observing the nature of reality through direct experience of bodily sensations.

Body Scan:A meditation practice of systematically directing attention through regions of the body to notice physical sensations without judgment.

Focused Attention Meditation:A practice of sustaining attention on a single chosen object, such as the breath, and redirecting focus back when the mind wanders.

Open Monitoring:A meditation style of maintaining broad, non-reactive awareness of all arising experiences without fixating on any single object.

Non-Judgment:The practice of observing experiences without categorizing them as good or bad, a foundational attitude in mindfulness.

Beginner's Mind:The attitude of approaching each experience with fresh curiosity and openness, as if for the first time, without preconceptions.

Decentering:The ability to observe one's thoughts as transient mental events rather than facts, reducing their emotional impact.

Rumination:Repetitive, passive focus on symptoms of distress and their causes and consequences, a major risk factor for depression.

Amygdala:A brain structure involved in processing emotions, particularly fear and threat detection. Mindfulness has been shown to reduce its reactivity.

Prefrontal Cortex:The brain region behind the forehead responsible for executive functions such as attention, planning, and impulse control, strengthened by mindfulness practice.

Default Mode Network:A network of brain regions active during mind-wandering and self-referential thought, whose activity is modulated by mindfulness meditation.

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