Mindfulness Cheatsheet

I. How to Use This Page

This is a practice catalogue, rather than a curriculum. The practices below are drawn from multiple contemplative traditions, contemporary clinical applications, and the broader mindfulness literature. Each entry covers what the practice does, when to use it, and brief instructions for doing it.

Most readers will want to scan to find a practice that fits their current situation rather than reading the page linearly. The opening Quick Reference Index supports this: practices organised by time available, by purpose, and by difficulty. From there, jump to the relevant catalogue section for full details.

Mindfulness Basics covers what mindfulness is, the neuroscience, and what the research supports. Meditation covers the major traditions and their development. Mindfulness Integrated covers how to bring practice into daily life. The Cheatsheet is the practical reference; use the other pages for context.

II. Quick Reference Index

By Time Available

• Under 1 minute: Single conscious breath, body anchor check-in, STOP practice (Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed).
• 1 to 3 minutes: Three-breath grounding, brief body scan, RAIN practice (Recognise, Allow, Investigate, Nurture), five senses check-in.
• 5 to 10 minutes: Breath-anchored meditation, brief metta practice, walking meditation, body scan light, mantra repetition.
• 15 to 30 minutes: Full body scan, sustained focused attention meditation, full metta practice, open monitoring meditation, Yoga Nidra.
• 45 minutes or more: Extended formal practice, full Yoga Nidra session, intensive concentration practice, longer walking meditation, retreat-style sessions.

By Purpose

• Stress reduction: Breath-anchored meditation, body scan, walking meditation, five senses check-in, progressive muscle relaxation with mindful attention.
• Anxiety in the moment: STOP practice, five senses check-in, three-breath grounding, body anchor check-in, RAIN practice.
• Difficulty sleeping: Body scan, Yoga Nidra, breath counting, soft belly breathing with awareness, settling practice.
• Rumination and unwanted thoughts: Noting practice, labelling thoughts, “this is a thought” recognition, open monitoring with non-engagement.
• Emotional overwhelm: Body anchor practices, RAIN, self-compassion break, gentle metta toward self.
• Anger and reactivity. Pause practice, body scan with attention to anger sensations, noting anger as anger, breath-anchored cooling.
• Grief and sadness: Self-compassion break, gentle metta toward self, body scan with attention to grief sensations, allowing without forcing.
• Building concentration: Sustained breath-anchored attention, mantra repetition, counting breaths, single-point focus.
• Building awareness: Open monitoring, noting practice, body scan, walking meditation.
• Building compassion and connection: Metta in all its forms, tonglen, compassion cultivation training, common humanity reflection.
• Pre-meeting or pre-event: Three-breath grounding, brief body anchor, intention-setting practice.
• Decision-making clarity: Sustained breath-anchored meditation, body wisdom check-in, sit-with-the-question practice.
• Pain management: Body scan with non-reactive awareness, breath-anchored meditation, noting pain sensations, RAIN for chronic pain.
• Creativity and insight: Open monitoring, walking meditation, sustained concentration followed by release.

By Difficulty Level

• Entry level (no previous practice required): Single conscious breath, three-breath grounding, body anchor check-in, five senses check-in, STOP, brief breath-anchored meditation, brief metta with phrases.
• Intermediate (some practice background helpful): Full body scan, noting practice, sustained breath-anchored meditation, walking meditation, full metta practice, mantra practice.
• Advanced (substantial practice background recommended): Open monitoring without anchor, non-dual recognition practices, intensive jhana practice, tonglen, koan practice, extended retreat practices.

III. Foundational Practices

The practices most beginners benefit from establishing first. These form the base on which more specific practices build.

Breath-Anchored Meditation

• What it does: Develops sustained voluntary attention. Engages parasympathetic nervous system through vagal pathways. Reduces default mode network activity. Provides the foundational concentration capacity that other practices build on.
• When to use it: As the foundational daily practice. Most days. Most beginners should establish this before exploring more elaborate practices.
• How to do it: Sit in a position you can sustain comfortably (chair, cushion, floor all work). Set a timer for the chosen duration (5 to 30 minutes typically). Place attention on the sensation of breathing, anywhere it is most distinct (nostrils, chest, abdomen). When attention wanders (it will, repeatedly), gently return it to the breath without judgement. Continue until the timer ends.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes for established practice. 5 minutes minimum for daily practice. Beginners can start at 5 minutes and gradually extend.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in instruction). Lifelong (in depth).

The Body Scan

• What it does: Develops interoceptive awareness. Reduces tension. Identifies stress patterns held in the body. Engages the parasympathetic nervous system. Foundational practice in MBSR.
• When to use it: Daily or weekly formal practice. Before sleep. After a stressful day. When disconnected from bodily awareness.
• How to do it: Lie down (or sit if lying down induces sleep). Move attention systematically through the body, typically starting at the feet and moving upward (or starting at the head and moving down). At each region, simply notice whatever sensations are present, including the absence of clear sensation. Do not try to change anything. Move to the next region after 20 to 60 seconds of attention.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes for the full practice. 10 minutes for a shortened version.
• Difficulty: Entry level.
• Variations: The Goenka tradition’s body scan emphasises maintaining equanimity toward all sensations. The MBSR version is more permissive about responding to discomfort. Brief versions can target specific body regions.

Walking Meditation

• What it does: Integrates attention training with physical movement. More accessible than seated practice for some practitioners. Provides direct integration with embodied experience.
• When to use it: When seated practice is difficult or counterproductive. Between seated practice sessions during long practice periods. As a daily integration practice. When restless during seated practice.
• How to do it: Walk slowly with attention on the sensations of walking: the contact of the feet with the ground, the rhythm of movement, the breath, the surrounding environment. The Thich Nhat Hanh tradition emphasises walking as if kissing the earth with each step. The Theravada formal version uses a defined back-and-forth path of 10 to 30 paces.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes for formal practice. Any walking can become walking meditation with attention.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

IV. Focused Attention Practices

The concentration practices. Attention is sustained on a chosen object. When it wanders, it is returned. The capacity being developed is sustained voluntary attention.

Counting Breaths

• What it does: Provides additional structure for beginners who find pure breath awareness too unstructured. Develops sustained attention with built-in feedback (losing count signals attention has wandered).
• How to do it: Count each breath silently. Several variations: count to 10 and start over; count exhales only; count on the in-breath and exhale on the out-breath; count down from 10 to 1 and start over. When the count is lost, gently return to 1.
• Duration: 5 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Single-Point Focus

• What it does: Develops sustained focused attention through a single chosen object beyond the breath. Useful for practitioners who find breath attention has plateaued.
• How to do it: Choose a single object: a small visual object (candle flame, dot on the wall), a specific bodily sensation, an internal sensation. Sustain attention on that object only. When attention wanders, return.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Intermediate.

Visualisation Practice

• What it does: Develops sustained mental imagery alongside sustained attention. The Tibetan deity yoga practices use elaborate visualisations; simpler forms are accessible to non-traditional practitioners.
• How to do it: Choose a mental image: a flame, a sphere of light, a symbol that has meaning. Sustain the mental image with as much detail as possible. When attention wanders or the image fades, gently reconstruct it.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Intermediate to advanced (traditional forms with full elaboration are advanced).

Mantra Repetition

• What it does: Anchors attention through repetition of a word, phrase, or sound. Occupies the verbal-thinking dimension of attention. Develops sustained attention through a different modality than visual or sensory anchors.
• How to do it: Choose a mantra (traditional or secular). Repeat silently, mentally, or audibly. When attention wanders, return to the mantra. Some traditions coordinate the mantra with the breath; others repeat at their own rhythm.
• Common mantras: So’ham (Sanskrit, “I am that”). Om mani padme hum (Tibetan Buddhist). Kyrie eleison (Greek Christian). The Jesus Prayer (Eastern Orthodox). A self-chosen secular word.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in technique). The Transcendental Meditation organisation teaches a specific protocol; the broader practice does not require their institutional structure.

V. Open Monitoring Practices

The awareness practices. Rather than sustaining attention on a single object, attention is broadened to observe whatever arises in awareness without selecting any specific object.

Noting Practice (Mahasi Tradition)

• What it does: Develops sustained awareness across the changing field of experience. Builds insight into the impermanent, conditioned nature of mental contents. Reduces identification with arising experiences.
• How to do it: Sit with attention broadly receptive to whatever arises. When something appears in awareness (a thought, sound, sensation, emotion), apply a brief mental note: “thinking,” “hearing,” “feeling,” “remembering.” Then return to receptive awareness. The notes are not labels to analyse the content; they are brief acknowledgements that something has been noticed.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes for formal practice.
• Difficulty: Intermediate.

Open Awareness Without Anchor

• What it does: Cultivates spacious, receptive awareness. Develops capacity for non-reactive observation of mental contents.
• How to do it: Sit without any specific object of focus. Rest in awareness itself. Let whatever arises arise and pass without intervention. Do not select any object to attend to. Do not push away anything that arises. Simply be aware.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Advanced. This practice is harder than it sounds. Most beginners find that “no specific object” rapidly becomes “lost in thought.” Some concentration foundation is typically required.

Sound Meditation

• What it does: Uses the constantly changing field of sound as the object of open monitoring. Sound is particularly useful because it is unavoidably present and constantly changing.
• How to do it: Sit with attention broadly receptive to whatever sounds arise. Notice sounds appearing, changing, and passing. Do not name sounds (do not think “that is a bird”). Simply notice the auditory experience as it occurs.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level to intermediate.

Body Awareness as Open Monitoring

• What it does: Combines body awareness with open monitoring. Uses the field of bodily sensation as the object of receptive awareness.
• How to do it: Sit with attention broadly receptive to whatever sensations arise in the body. Notice sensations appearing, changing, intensifying, fading. Do not focus on any specific sensation; let attention move with whatever is most prominent.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes.
• Difficulty: Intermediate.

VI. Loving-Kindness and Compassion Practices

The metta family. These practices cultivate specific positive emotional states rather than primarily training attention.

Metta Bhavana (Loving-Kindness Cultivation)

• What it does: Develops warmth toward oneself, others, and ultimately all beings. Reduces self-criticism. Increases prosocial behaviour. Modulates the same neural circuits as the compassion meditation research with Matthieu Ricard and other long-term practitioners.
• How to do it: Sit comfortably. Begin with oneself. Silently recite phrases of well-wishing: “May I be happy. May I be peaceful. May I be free from suffering. May I live with ease.” Allow the phrases to land without forcing any specific feeling. After several minutes, move to a beloved person and repeat with their image and name. Continue progression: a neutral person, a difficult person, all beings.
• Duration: 15 to 45 minutes for full practice. Briefer versions focus on one or two categories.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in technique). Sustained development across years.

Self-Compassion Practice

• What it does: Develops warmth toward oneself specifically. Counters the harsh self-criticism that is common in many practitioners. Builds on the work of Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer.
• How to do it: When experiencing difficulty or self-criticism, pause. Three phrases: “This is a moment of suffering” (mindfulness of the present). “Suffering is part of being human” (common humanity). “May I be kind to myself” (self-compassion). Place a hand on the heart or another comforting gesture if helpful.
• Duration: 1 to 5 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Tonglen (Tibetan Sending and Receiving)

• What it does: Counters the natural tendency to avoid the suffering of others. Develops capacity to be present with difficulty rather than turning away. Substantially taxing emotionally; not an entry-level practice.
• How to do it: Visualise another being who is suffering. Breathe in their suffering as dark, hot, heavy. Allow it to enter and transform through your own awareness. Breathe out wellbeing, light, ease toward them. Continue for the chosen duration.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Advanced. The practice can be destabilising for practitioners with substantial trauma history. Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart and other tonglen instructions warrant engagement under guidance.

Compassion Cultivation Training Practices

• What it does: Structured eight-week programme developed at Stanford’s CCARE integrating Buddhist compassion practices with contemporary psychological framing. Outcome research demonstrates effects on emotional regulation, compassion, and prosocial behaviour.
• How to do it: The full CCT curriculum is best engaged through the structured programme. Components include settling and focusing the mind, loving-kindness for self and loved ones, embracing common humanity, compassion for self, compassion for a loved one, compassion for strangers, compassion for difficult persons, active compassion in the world.
• Duration: Eight-week programme with daily practice.
• Difficulty: Intermediate.

Brief Loving-Kindness for Daily Use

• What it does: Quick metta application for daily integration.
• How to do it: When passing a stranger, silently wish them well: “May you be happy.” When in conflict with someone, briefly send them well-wishing. At the start of the day, briefly send wellbeing to specific people in your life. The brief versions accumulate across many contexts.
• Duration: Seconds to a minute per application.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

VII. Body-Based Practices

Practices grounded in somatic awareness. The body is always present; these practices use that constant availability.

Yoga Nidra

• What it does: Produces a distinctive state between sleeping and waking. Substantially relaxing while maintaining awareness. Useful for stress reduction, recovery, and accessing material below ordinary conscious awareness.
• How to do it: Lie down in a comfortable position. Follow a guided recording (most practitioners use guided Yoga Nidra rather than self-directed practice). The guide moves attention through systematic body parts, often with specific visualisations and intentions called sankalpa. The recording typically runs 20 to 60 minutes.
• Duration: 20 to 60 minutes typically. Brief versions exist down to 10 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level (with a recording).
• Recommended teachers: Richard Miller’s iRest protocol. Kamini Desai. Swami Satyananda Saraswati’s traditional approach.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation with Mindful Attention

• What it does: Combines progressive muscle relaxation (a stress reduction technique) with mindful attention to bodily sensations. Particularly useful for practitioners holding chronic muscular tension.
• How to do it: Systematically tense and release each muscle group in the body, from feet to head or head to feet. Hold tension for 5 seconds, then release with attention to the sensation of release. Notice the contrast between tensed and relaxed states.
• Duration: 15 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Somatic Awareness Practice

• What it does: Develops capacity to recognise the body’s signals before they become urgent. Builds the interoceptive awareness that supports both meditation and broader self-regulation.
• How to do it: Sit or lie down. Place attention on the body without systematic movement through parts. Notice whatever bodily sensations are most prominent. Stay with each sensation for as long as it remains prominent. Allow attention to move when sensations change.
• Duration: 15 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Intermediate.

Trauma-Sensitive Somatic Practice

• What it does: Adapts body-based practice for trauma-affected practitioners for whom standard practices may be counterproductive. Draws on Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing framework.
• How to do it: Engagement with a trauma-informed teacher is recommended. Briefly: attention is anchored on resources (sensations of safety, ground, support) before approaching difficult material. Pendulation moves attention between difficult sensations and resources rather than sustaining attention on difficult material. The window of tolerance framework (Daniel Siegel) is used to calibrate intensity.
• Difficulty: Requires qualified guidance.

VIII. Movement-Based Practices

Practices that integrate attention with physical movement.

Walking Meditation (Formal)

What it does. Foundational practice covered above. Different traditions use slightly different formal approaches.

Variations.

• Theravada formal: Slow walking on a defined path of 10 to 30 paces, then turning and returning. Attention on the discrete components of walking: lifting, moving, placing.
• Thich Nhat Hanh: Slow walking with each step coordinated with breathing. “I have arrived. I am home” or similar phrases.
• Zen kinhin: Walking between periods of seated meditation. Slow, deliberate, with specific posture.

• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level to intermediate depending on tradition.

Tai Chi

• What it does: Integrates sustained attention with slow continuous movement. The traditional Chinese practice combines meditation, gentle exercise, and energy cultivation. Substantial research base supports cardiovascular, balance, and stress reduction benefits.
• How to do it: Best learned from a qualified teacher. The various tai chi forms involve sequences of slow continuous movements with attention to posture, weight transfer, breathing, and energy flow.
• Duration: 20 to 60 minutes for full forms. Brief practices available.
• Difficulty: Entry level (basic forms). Lifelong (deeper development).

Qigong

• What it does: Combines slow movement, breath coordination, and attention. Related to but distinct from tai chi. Multiple traditions and forms exist.
• How to do it: Best learned from a qualified teacher. Forms vary substantially across traditions.
• Duration: 15 to 45 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level (basic forms).

Mindful Yoga

• What it does: Hatha yoga practice with attention to the breath, body sensations, and awareness rather than primarily focused on physical positions or fitness. The MBSR programme includes mindful movement components drawn from yoga.
• How to do it: Move through a yoga sequence with attention to breath, alignment, sensation, and the present-moment quality of each position. The emphasis is awareness, not achievement of advanced positions.
• Duration: 20 to 90 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level (the contemplative aspect; physical demands vary).

Mindful Running and Endurance Activity

• What it does: Integrates sustained attention with cardiovascular exercise. Some practitioners use endurance activity as primary meditation. The state changes induced by sustained aerobic activity overlap with meditative states.
• How to do it: Run or perform sustained activity with attention on breath, footfall, rhythm, surrounding environment. Avoid distracting input (no podcasts, no music) for some sessions to allow the meditative quality to develop.
• Duration: 30 to 120 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in concept; the physical demands vary).

IX. Non-Dual Practices

The deepest contemplative practices. These involve recognition of awareness itself rather than effortful cultivation of any specific state. Not recommended without substantial preparation through concentration and insight practices.

Dzogchen Pointing-Out Instructions

• What it does: Aims at direct recognition of rigpa (Tibetan: “pure awareness”). The instruction is less about doing something and more about recognising what is already the case prior to effort.
• How to do it: Traditionally requires a qualified teacher to point out the recognition. The Sam Harris Waking Up materials provide one contemporary articulation. Briefly: pay attention closely enough to glimpse what consciousness is like between thoughts, prior to the arising of the next one. Notice that consciousness does not feel like a self. Once one realises this, thoughts can be understood as transient appearances rather than features of self.
• Difficulty: Advanced. Substantial preparation through preliminary practices typically required.

Self-Inquiry (Atma Vichara)

• What it does: The Hindu Advaita Vedanta practice of asking “Who am I?” or “What is aware?” not as a philosophical question but as a direct investigation. Associated particularly with Ramana Maharshi.
• How to do it: Sit comfortably. When a thought or feeling arises, instead of engaging with its content, ask “Who is having this thought?” or “What is aware of this?” Direct attention to whatever is doing the noticing rather than what is being noticed. Continue.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Advanced.

Just Sitting (Shikantaza)

• What it does: The Soto Zen practice of sitting without any specific object or technique. The practice is the sitting itself with whatever arises.
• How to do it: Sit in correct zazen posture. Do not focus on the breath, a mantra, or any object. Do not try to empty the mind. Do not try to achieve any state. Simply sit with whatever arises and let it pass.
• Duration: 25 to 45 minutes typically (in Soto Zen, sitting periods are often 25 to 30 minutes).
• Difficulty: Advanced. Easier in description than execution.

X. Brief Practices and Micro-Practices

Practices under 5 minutes that fit into ordinary life. The micro-practices section in Mindfulness Integrated covers these in more depth; this section provides quick reference.

STOP

• What it does: Interrupts reactive patterns. Brief micro-practice from the MBSR tradition.
• How to do it: Stop. Take a breath. Observe (what is happening in body, mind, environment). Proceed.
• Duration: 10 to 30 seconds.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Three-Breath Grounding

• What it does: Brief reset. Engages parasympathetic nervous system. Provides a small space between situations.
• How to do it: Three conscious breaths. On the first, attend to the inhale and exhale. On the second, notice the body. On the third, set an intention for what comes next.
• Duration: 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Five Senses Check-In

• What it does: Anchors awareness in present-moment sensory experience. Useful for anxiety, dissociation, or when caught in mental loops.
• How to do it: Notice five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can feel, two things you can smell, one thing you can taste. The 5-4-3-2-1 pattern.
• Duration: 1 to 3 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

RAIN

• What it does: Brief practice for working with difficult emotions. Developed by Michele McDonald and elaborated by Tara Brach.
• How to do it: R: Recognise what is happening. A: Allow it to be present without resistance. I: Investigate with kindness (what does this feel like in the body? What does it need?). N: Nurture with self-compassion.
• Duration: 3 to 10 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

The Pause

• What it does: Inserts space between stimulus and response. The foundational integration practice.
• How to do it: When triggered by a situation, person, message, or thought, pause for at least one breath before responding. Often longer is better. The pause allows the response to come from considered attention rather than automatic reactivity.
• Duration: 1 to 30 seconds typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in concept). Sustained development across years.

The Body Anchor Return

• What it does: Returns attention to embodied present-moment awareness. Useful when caught in rumination, anxiety, or dissociation.
• How to do it: Notice the contact between your body and what supports it (chair, floor, ground). Notice the breath in the body. Notice the feet, the hands, the face. Stay with the bodily anchor for as long as needed.
• Duration: 30 seconds to several minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Single Conscious Breath

• What it does: The smallest unit of practice. A single breath taken with full attention.
• How to do it: One inhale and one exhale with attention on the sensation of breathing.
• Duration: 5 to 10 seconds.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Mindful Single Bite

• What it does: Brief eating practice. Establishes a different relationship to food in the middle of an otherwise distracted meal.
• How to do it: Take one bite with full attention to taste, texture, temperature, the actual sensory experience. Let the experience be the entire focus for that bite.
• Duration: 10 to 30 seconds.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Phone-Down Ritual

• What it does: Breaks the automatic reaching pattern that smartphone design produces. Creates a small space of choice around device use.
• How to do it: Before picking up the phone or after putting it down, notice the impulse. Take three breaths. Decide whether engaging with the device is what you actually want.
• Duration: 15 to 30 seconds.
• Difficulty: Entry level (in concept). Substantial sustained development required for habitual reaching patterns.

XI. Reappraisal Techniques

Cognitive practices that work alongside attention-based practices. The David Rock material from Your Brain at Work identifies specific cognitive reappraisal techniques worth integrating.

Uncertainty Reappraisal

• What it does: Addresses the threat response that uncertainty triggers. Useful when anxiety arises from not knowing.
• How to do it: Notice when uncertainty is creating a feeling of threat. Recognise the threat response as a brain pattern rather than an accurate assessment of the situation. Ask: what is actually known? What can be addressed now? What can wait for more information?
• Duration: 2 to 5 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Autonomy Reframing

• What it does: Addresses the threat response that reduced autonomy triggers. Useful in situations where you feel forced or constrained.
• How to do it: Notice when reduced autonomy is creating a sense of threat. Find ways to create choice within the constraints. Even small choices about how to engage with a constrained situation can shift the threat response.
• Duration: 2 to 5 minutes typically.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Expectation Reappraisal

• What it does: Addresses the disappointment response when expectations are not met. Useful for managing the dopaminergic patterns around anticipation and outcome.
• How to do it: Practice noticing what your expectations are in any given situation. Set them lower where doing so is realistic. If expectations are not met, recognise that the disappointment is your brain releasing less dopamine than it had anticipated, not a loss in any larger sense.
• Duration: 1 to 3 minutes typically (used in moments of disappointment).
• Difficulty: Entry level.

Five Reappraisal Strategies

The David Rock framework identifies five specific reappraisal approaches:

• Reinterpreting an event (giving it different meaning)
• Reordering values (recognising what matters more in context)
• Normalising an event (recognising it as common rather than personal)
• Repositioning perspective (taking a different vantage point)
• Reframing the timeline (considering longer or shorter time horizons)

• Each can be applied when a situation has triggered strong emotion that does not fit the actual stakes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

The Self-Distancing Practice

• What it does: Reduces emotional intensity by adopting a third-person perspective on one’s own experience. The Ethan Kross research has demonstrated robust effects.
• How to do it: Instead of thinking “Why am I feeling this?” think “Why is [your name] feeling this?” The shift in pronoun produces measurable reductions in emotional intensity and improvements in problem-solving capacity around emotional difficulties.
• Duration: 2 to 5 minutes.
• Difficulty: Entry level.

XII. Specific Situation Practices

Practices targeted at specific situations.

Anxiety in the Moment

• What it does: Interrupts the anxiety spiral. Anchors awareness in present-moment sensory experience rather than catastrophising mental content.
• Recommended practices: Five senses check-in (5-4-3-2-1). Three-breath grounding. Body anchor return. STOP. Cold water on the face or hands (engages mammalian dive reflex, reducing sympathetic activation).
• Duration: 1 to 10 minutes.

Rumination and Unwanted Thoughts

• What it does: Interrupts the loop of repetitive thinking. Reduces identification with thoughts.
• Recommended practices: Noting practice (“thinking, thinking”). “This is a thought” recognition (briefly labelling the experience). Open monitoring with non-engagement. Walking meditation. Brief metta practice.
• Duration: 5 to 20 minutes.

Anger and Reactivity

• What it does: Interrupts the escalation. Allows the activation to discharge without acting from it.
• Recommended practices: The Pause (do not respond from the activated state). Body scan with attention to anger sensations. Noting anger as anger. Breath-anchored cooling (extended exhales). Cold exposure (brief cold shower can substantially reduce anger).
• Duration: 5 to 20 minutes.

Sadness and Grief

• What it does: Allows the experience without forcing it to resolve. Avoids both suppression and being overwhelmed.
• Recommended practices: Self-compassion practice. Gentle metta toward self. Body scan with attention to grief sensations. RAIN. Allowing tears or whatever expression arises. Common humanity reflection (others have grieved; this is part of being human).
• Duration: Variable. Grief works on its own timeline.

Decision-Making Clarity

• What it does: Settles the mental activity that interferes with clear seeing. Allows access to body wisdom and accumulated knowledge below conscious analysis.
• Recommended practices: Sustained breath-anchored meditation (20 to 45 minutes). Sit-with-the-question practice (briefly state the question, then sit without trying to answer it). Walking meditation with the question held lightly. Body wisdom check-in (after stating the option, notice the body’s response).
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes.

Conflict and Difficult Conversation

• What it does: Maintains presence during high-activation interpersonal situations. Allows skilful response rather than reactive escalation.
• Recommended practices: The Pause before responding. Body anchor return (feet on floor, breath in body). Three-breath reset. Brief metta toward the difficult person (silently). Noticing your own activation without acting from it.
• Duration: Throughout the difficult interaction.

Sleep Onset

• What it does: Settles the mind for sleep. Engages parasympathetic nervous system.
• Recommended practices.: Body scan. Yoga Nidra recording. Soft belly breathing with awareness. Counting breaths from 10 down to 1, repeated. Specific sleep meditations on apps. Avoid practices that risk increasing alertness.
• Duration: 10 to 30 minutes.

Sleep Disturbance and Waking

• What it does: Returns to sleep when waking in the night. Avoids the activation that thinking about not sleeping produces.
• Recommended practices: Soft belly breathing. Body scan. Counting breaths. Avoid checking the time or phone (both produce light exposure and cognitive activation). Avoid trying to solve problems or plan during night waking.
• Duration: Variable.

Pre-Meeting or Pre-Event Preparation

• What it does: Arrives at the situation present rather than carrying the previous activity’s momentum forward.
• Recommended practices: Three-breath grounding. Brief body anchor. Intention-setting (what do I want from this interaction?). Five senses check-in if anxious.
• Duration: 1 to 5 minutes.

Pain Management

• What it does: Changes the relationship to pain rather than the intensity of pain itself. Substantial MBSR research base.
• Recommended practices: Body scan with non-reactive awareness of pain sensations. Noting pain as pain. RAIN for chronic pain. Breath-anchored meditation. Loving-kindness toward the suffering body.
• Duration: 20 to 45 minutes typically.

Creativity and Insight

• What it does: Allows ideas to emerge from the background processing that the conscious analytical mind interferes with.
• Recommended practices: Walking meditation. Open monitoring. Sustained concentration practice followed by deliberate release (the “incubation” pattern). Yoga Nidra. The classical advice: work hard on the problem, then sleep on it or take a walk.
• Duration: 30 to 60 minutes.

XIII. Psychedelics and Contemplative Practice

The relationship between psychedelic substances and contemplative practice has been substantial, contested, and worth honest framing.

What’s Documented

Psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline, ayahuasca) can produce states that have substantial overlap with deep contemplative experiences. The phenomenological similarities have been documented across multiple research lines. Brain imaging research, particularly the work of Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London, has documented that psilocybin substantially reduces default mode network activity, the same pattern produced by sustained meditation practice.

The therapeutic research base for psychedelics has expanded substantially in the past decade. Psilocybin-assisted therapy has demonstrated efficacy for treatment-resistant depression, end-of-life anxiety in cancer patients, and substance use disorders. MDMA-assisted therapy has shown substantial effects for PTSD. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and other research organisations have driven the renewed research programme.

What’s Not Equivalent

Psychedelic experiences are not equivalent to meditation experiences despite phenomenological overlap. Several differences matter.

The states are induced rather than developed. Psychedelics produce the state through pharmacological action; meditation produces it through sustained practice that develops the capacity to access the state. The capacity persists after meditation; the state typically ends when the psychedelic wears off.

Integration is critical and often inadequate. Psychedelic experiences without adequate integration can produce destabilisation, spiritual bypassing, or grandiose interpretations of experience that do not survive contact with ordinary life. The contemplative traditions developed elaborate integration structures over centuries; the contemporary psychedelic context typically lacks comparable support.

The risks are real and asymmetric. Psychedelic experiences can substantially destabilise practitioners with pre-existing psychiatric vulnerabilities. The screening processes in research settings exist for empirical reasons.

The Trauma Reflection

A reflection worth preserving on what psychedelic experiences may represent, particularly the DMT “blast-off”:

The intensity of DMT experiences may partly reflect a full sensory explosion and activation occurring without external input, followed by the production of images that represent unresolved trauma or thoughts that have claimed the mind. These issues often go untended in ordinary life as we build defensive mechanisms to cover them up while we are still too vulnerable to resolve them. The evolutionary expectation is that the individual will eventually come back from their traumatic experience and be able to recover with the help of their tribe members.

Without the same peer system that we evolved to rely on, we build defence mechanisms to carry on without learning and growing from the experience. The system tells the brain that there is a constant threat that must be stayed vigilant for. By using these psychedelic substances under qualified guidance, the brain can potentially access this material and rewire its response to that experience.

The caveat: it is essential for the individual to have an integration plan to reconsolidate their new response to that experience. Otherwise, the individual may place too much importance on the psychedelic experience, depend on the “magic” of the substance (a form of addiction), and resort to previously learned responses once they are reintroduced into their normal environment.

This is the case for the therapeutic potential of psychedelics under qualified guidance, combined with honest framing about the requirements for the work to actually produce lasting benefit.

What’s Not Recommended

Recreational psychedelic use without context, intention, integration, or appropriate setting is not a contemplative practice and is not recommended. The substantial recent cultural shift toward casual psychedelic use is not supported by either the research on therapeutic applications (which all involve substantial preparation and integration) or by the contemplative traditions (which generally do not endorse drug-induced states as substitute for development).

Psychedelic use in the presence of substantial psychiatric vulnerability (psychosis history, severe trauma, certain medications, severe depression with active suicidality) is not appropriate without medical guidance. The screening protocols in therapeutic research exist because these factors substantially affect outcomes.

The Substances in the Original Page

The original Cheatsheet listed: carbogen, oxygen therapy, nitrogen, ayahuasca, LSD, 5-MeO-DMT, psilocybin. These are different substances with different effects, different risk profiles, and different appropriate contexts.

• Ayahuasca, LSD, 5-MeO-DMT, psilocybin: Classical psychedelics with serotonergic mechanisms. The therapeutic research is most developed for psilocybin. Ayahuasca has substantial traditional Amazonian use. 5-MeO-DMT is qualitatively different from DMT in intensity. Engagement should be in appropriate research, therapeutic, or traditional contexts rather than casual recreational use.
• Carbogen: A mixture of carbon dioxide and oxygen used in some experimental psychiatric protocols. Produces brief panic-like states followed by altered awareness. Not a contemporary mainstream practice.
• Oxygen therapy: High-dose oxygen administration. Used in some wellness contexts. Limited empirical basis for contemplative applications.
• Nitrogen: Nitrogen-induced altered states have been explored in some experimental contexts. Substantial risks; not recommended for self-experimentation.

These substances exist and can produce states with overlap to contemplative experience. The substantive applications require appropriate context, preparation, integration, and ideally qualified guidance. Casual recreational use is not contemplative practice. The substantial recent commercial promotion of psychedelics as wellness products substantially understates the requirements for actually producing benefit.

XIV. Trauma-Sensitive Modifications

For practitioners with substantial trauma history, several modifications to standard practices warrant consideration. Drawing on David Treleaven’s framework.

Anchors Outside the Body

Standard practice often uses the body as anchor. For trauma survivors, the body itself may contain substantial difficult material. Alternative anchors include sounds in the environment, sights with eyes open, sensations of contact with the chair or floor, breath sensations in less activated regions.

Choice and Agency

Trauma survivors benefit from explicit permission to modify, pause, or stop any practice. The “stay with whatever arises” instruction can produce flooding rather than processing. Choice and agency in practice support gradual capacity-building rather than reactivation.

Eyes Open Practice

Closed eyes can increase vulnerability for trauma survivors. Practice with eyes open, soft gaze toward the floor or a neutral object, may be more accessible.

Shorter Sessions

The standard recommendation of 20 to 45 minute sessions may be too long for trauma survivors initially. Shorter sessions (5 to 15 minutes) sustained consistently typically work better than longer sessions that produce activation.

Pendulation

Rather than sustained attention to difficult material, attention can pendulate between difficult sensations and resources (sensations of safety, ground, support). The technique from Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing.

The Window of Tolerance

Daniel Siegel’s framework: there is a window of arousal within which integration occurs. Below it, the practitioner is dissociated or numb. Above it, the practitioner is flooded or overwhelmed. Effective practice operates within the window, gradually expanding it. Practice that pushes into hyperarousal or hypoarousal may damage rather than build capacity.

Qualified Trauma-Informed Teachers

The single most important consideration. Standard meditation teachers may not be equipped for trauma-affected practitioners. Trauma-informed teachers have specific training in modifications and recognising when practice is producing reactivation rather than integration.

When Meditation Is Probably Not Indicated

Several situations warrant clinical guidance rather than independent meditation practice:

• Active psychotic symptoms or psychotic disorder history
• Severe acute trauma or untreated PTSD
• Severe untreated depression with suicidal ideation
• Active eating disorders with strong dissociative features
• Severe dissociative disorders
• Recent severe psychiatric crisis

These do not necessarily preclude practice but indicate the need for clinical guidance.

XV. Apps, Recordings, and Tools

The contemporary mindfulness ecosystem includes substantial digital infrastructure. A practical reference.

Meditation Apps

• Waking Up (Sam Harris). Substantial content including the foundational Introductory Course, daily meditations, conversations with practitioners across traditions, and content on non-dual practice. The app reflects Harris’s particular orientation (secular, oriented toward direct recognition of non-dual awareness) and may not suit all practitioners.
• Insight Timer. The most comprehensive free meditation app. Thousands of teachers and traditions represented. Useful for exploring different approaches. Less curated than other apps; quality varies.
• Calm. Substantial content on sleep, meditation, and stress reduction. Particularly developed for sleep applications. More wellness-oriented than contemplative-tradition-oriented.
• Headspace. Well-produced content for beginners. The animations and narration are accessible. Less depth than some alternatives but useful entry point.
• Ten Percent Happier (Dan Harris). Substantial content with multiple teachers from various traditions. Less polished than Calm or Headspace but with more substantive content from established teachers.
• Plum Village App (Thich Nhat Hanh tradition). Specific to the Plum Village/Thich Nhat Hanh tradition. Walking meditation, eating meditation, broader Thich Nhat Hanh content.

Yoga Nidra Recordings

• Richard Miller’s iRest: The major contemporary clinical Yoga Nidra protocol. Research base for stress reduction, PTSD, chronic pain.
• Kamini Desai: Traditional Yoga Nidra with substantial depth.
• Insight Timer Yoga Nidra recordings: Multiple teachers available.

Online Courses and Programmes

• MBSR programmes: Eight-week structured programmes available online and in person through licensed MBSR centres. The Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School trains and certifies MBSR teachers.
• MBCT programmes: Eight-week structured programmes for depression relapse prevention. Specific certification programmes for MBCT teachers exist.
• CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training): Stanford’s structured programme. Available in person and online.
• Local Buddhist centres: Most major cities have Buddhist centres offering introductory courses and ongoing practice opportunities. Substantial variation in tradition and quality; recommend visiting multiple centres before committing.
• Retreat centres: Insight Meditation Society (Massachusetts), Spirit Rock (California), Plum Village (France and global), various Tibetan centres, Zen monasteries, and others. Intensive practice opportunities lasting from a weekend to several months.

Books for Practice Support

See Mindfulness Resources for the comprehensive reading list.

Specific Tools

• Timer with bell: A simple meditation timer with bell tones (rather than a phone alarm) supports practice. Most meditation apps include timer functionality.
• Cushion (zafu) or bench: Useful for sustained sitting practice. Not required; chair practice is fully valid.
• Quiet space: Designating a specific space for practice supports consistency. Need not be elaborate.

XVI. Cross-Links

The broader Mindfulness section covers different dimensions:

• Mindfulness Basics for the foundational framework, the neuroscience, and what the research supports
• Mindfulness Integrated for the daily life integration including the phone and attention economy considerations
• Meditation for the major formal meditation traditions in depth
• The Mindfulness Rabbit Hole for contested empirical territories, adverse effects research, the McMindfulness critique, and the broader philosophical questions
• Resources for the comprehensive reading list

The practices connect to the rest of the manual:

• Breathing for the breath-based practices and the underlying parasympathetic mechanisms
• Sleep & Circadian Rhythm for the sleep onset and sleep disturbance applications
• Movement for walking meditation, tai chi, qigong, and movement-based practices
• Nutrition for mindful eating applications
• Connection for loving-kindness applications and relational presence
• Environment for the broader framing on designed environments and contemplative practice