Being in tune with our internal experiences and the world around us are core components of mindfulness. Incorporating mindfulness activities in individual therapy sessions can help clients decrease negative and maladaptive habits by increasing awareness of their thoughts and emotions without judging them. Keep reading to learn 10 mindfulness exercises and activities to do with clients in therapy sessions.
Mindfulness can enhance the use of various evidence-based therapies and is incorporated into approaches like mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and mindfulness meditation. The concept of mindfulness can be challenging for clients to implement, and may feel overwhelming. After all, for many it is a new skill, and learning new life skills can be challenging.
With its roots in Buddhist meditation, mindfulness can incorporate a range of practices that can help clients increase their awareness. It is important to review the concept of mindfulness with clients because it has become a popular term that may be misunderstood. You can explore mindfulness practices that align with your clients’ symptoms and lifestyle, for easier application.
Mental Health Concerns That Can Benefit From Mindfulness in Therapy
Mindfulness can be helpful for clients who are experiencing a range of mental health and physical health conditions. This includes depressive symptoms, anxiety, high blood pressure, and sleep disturbances. With an ability to stay grounded in the present moment, there is less of an opportunity to get wrapped up in fear, worries, panic, and wandering thoughts.
Additionally, mindfulness can help clients accept their thoughts as thoughts, without reacting to their presence. This can be impactful for clients who struggle with specific themes or cognitive distortions. Research is currently exploring the benefits of mindfulness-based therapies with conditions like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, and substance use disorders.
Mindfulness Exercises in Therapy
There are a number of mindfulness activities that can be incorporated into individual and group sessions. This allows you to choose mindfulness exercises that are appropriate for your client’s needs and capabilities. TherapyByPro is a valuable resource for mental health professionals that offers a range of customizable worksheets that can be used in therapy sessions. Worksheets can be a valuable intervention because it provides clients with a sheet that they can take home and use as a reminder of their session. Continue reading to learn more about mindfulness activities that you can personalize for your clients.
1. Mindful Coloring
Mindful coloring is a calming practice that can help clients improve their concentration and focus. By focusing on the images in front of them, they are less likely to find themselves lost in their thoughts, worries, and fears. As your client engages in this activity, you can encourage them to pay attention to their strokes, and possibly incorporate the use of different mediums like crayons, markers, or pencils. TherapyByPro offers a collection of Mindful Coloring Worksheets that your client can take to use at home. You can take time to explore their thoughts and emotions during this exercise, allowing them to process this experience thoroughly.
2.Body Scan Meditation
Body scans are a form of meditation where you would encourage your client to bring their attention to various parts of their body while being in control of their breathing. You may go from the toes to the head, or vice versa. During the scan, you can encourage your client to notice any sensations within that location. This can include tightness, warmth, coldness, tingling, etc. This exercise is intended to increase their awareness of their current experience, not to change it. After noticing one area of the body, continue on to the next. At the end of the body scan, you can take time to process your client’s experience and observations from this exercise. Was there anything that surprised them? Or do they tend to carry tension in the same location, such as their jaw or shoulders? Body scans can be helpful for clients who struggle with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and dissociative symptoms.
3. Loving-Kindness Meditation
Loving-kindness meditations can help clients show themselves kindness and compassion. This can be impactful for those who are experiencing depressive symptoms, low-self-esteem, trauma, inner criticism, or social anxiety. With this practice, you will encourage your client to repeat kind and affirming phrases towards themselves and others silently. This can be helpful to do with others that you find yourself having difficulty or conflict with. Allow time to process what it was like for your client to have these thoughts, and any changes that it had on their thoughts and emotions. With regular practice, loving-kindness meditations can increase their positive emotions and improve relationships with others.
4. Box Breathing
Box breathing is a strategy that can be helpful in moments where clients are struggling with anxiety or worry. This may arise during times in life when waiting is unavoidable. When clients experience these situations, they can discreetly use box breathing as a strategy to control their breath. This can decrease stress, improve their focus, and help them calm their body and mind. Incorporating the Box Breathing While Waiting Worksheet offered by TherapyByPro is a valuable resource because it gives your client a sheet to review during those moments when they’re struggling with anxiety and worry. After walking through box breathing with your client, you can explore recent situations or stressors in their life that they would have been able to apply this strategy to.
5. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is an example of a mindfulness practice that can easily be incorporated into a clients’ day. For this mindfulness activity, you will encourage your client to bring their attention to their senses. This can include the flavors they taste, textures of foods, aromas, and the act of chewing. To enhance this practice, encourage your client to turn off electronics to avoid multitasking. Mindful eating may be used with those who struggle with anxiety and disordered eating behaviors.
6. Grounding Exercise Using Five Senses
Grounding exercises can be simple and quick. You can encourage your client to notice five things they see, four things they can touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell, and one thing they can taste. This can be helpful for those who are experiencing panic, PTSD related symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and dissociation. Allow for time to process your clients’ experience, including changes they notice in their thoughts and emotions.
7. Tracking Mindfulness Practices
A helpful step for you and your client would be for your client to actively track their use of mindfulness skills in everyday life. This can serve as a reminder to incorporate these practices into their everyday life, and to notice shifts in their thoughts and emotions before and after their practice. TherapyByPro has a Mindfulness Practice Log that you can offer your client to track their use of mindfulness practices. Encourage your client to bring their log to each session to review. You can spend time processing their experiences with mindfulness practices, including which approaches were the most helpful and those that weren’t. This can help bring your attention to skills that your client may benefit from reviewing again, or help you think of new practices to introduce to them.
8. Mindful Journaling
Mindful journaling is a mindfulness activity that can be used with clients who are experiencing depressive symptoms, emotion regulation difficulties, trauma, and overwhelming stress. With this activity, encourage your client to write freely, with a heightened awareness of their thoughts and emotions at that moment. Encourage them to be honest, without a filter. Their writing should focus on the current moment while trying not to judge their experience. Encourage your client to bring their journal into future sessions to process their experience. Did they find journaling to be a helpful emotional release? Did it bring anything to their attention that surprised them?
9. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation resembles a body scan, with a few added steps. With this mindfulness exercise, you will encourage your client to tense specific muscles and then release. Beginning in the toes, you will work your way up to their facial muscles. Throughout this exercise, encourage your client to pay attention to the sensations within their body. Are there areas that were already holding tension? Did they find that tensing and letting go helped them release some of the emotions they were carrying? This exercise may be helpful with clients who are struggling with stress, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and some trauma related disorders. It is important to note that this exercise may not be a good fit for everyone, including those with histories of trauma and abuse.
10. Single-Tasking
Single tasking may be helpful for clients who are living with stress, anxiety, ADHD, and those feeling overwhelmed. You can encourage your client to pick a simple task. This can include things like washing dishes, sweeping, or folding laundry. As they engage in this activity, encourage them to be mindful. They can focus on the sensations that they feel, their movements, their thoughts, and emotions. Encourage your client to elaborate on their experience in their next session so you can process this mindfulness activity.
Frequently Asked Clinical Questions
Below are FAQs clinicians are asking:
How does a clinician differentiate between standard sensory awareness and clinical mindfulness exercises during a session?
Evaluate whether the intervention merely identifies external stimuli or explicitly trains the client to observe their internal experiences without judgment. Standard sensory awareness focuses on simply noting surrounding environments, whereas a clinical mindfulness exercise intentionally shapes how a client accepts their wandering thoughts, physical sensations, and automatic cognitive distortions without reacting to their presence.
What is the recommended clinical protocol if a deep progressive muscle relaxation script triggers sudden traumatic memories or emotional flooding?
Cease the muscle contraction commands immediately and guide the client safely into a brief, low-arousal grounding exercise using their five senses. Avoid forcing the client to remain still or analyze their physical tightness while their autonomic nervous system is hyper-aroused; instead, instruct them to open their eyes and name neutral external objects in the room to re-establish somatic containment.
How should a practitioner handle an anxious client who understands box breathing in theory but feels an escalation of panic during breath retention?
Modify the breathing intervals immediately by eliminating the holding phases and transitioning into an unpaced, natural breathing rhythm. Forcing a client to hold their breath when they suffer from high somatic anxiety can mimic feelings of suffocation, requiring you to utilize a localized physical anchor or mindful coloring pages to lower threat pathway activation instead.
When is it clinically appropriate to transition a client from basic single-tasking activities to intensive loving-kindness meditation?
Introduce loving-kindness meditations or compassionate visualizations once the client demonstrates a reliable baseline of affect tolerance and can track their daily routines on a mindfulness practice log. Attempting to generate warm phrases toward oneself or a conflicting relationship before building core emotion regulation skills will activate an intense inner critic and increase feelings of shame or low self-esteem.
Can standalone mindfulness practices be safely implemented as the primary treatment framework for a client presenting with acute, unmanaged PTSD?
No, standalone mindfulness exercises must be carefully delayed or strictly embedded within a structured, trauma-focused framework like EMDR or Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). Attempting to sit quietly with uncontained intrusive memories, nightmares, and severe hypervigilance without manualized psychological containment risks triggering profound dissociation, secondary retraumatization, and immediate treatment dropout.
Final Thoughts On Choosing Mindfulness Exercises For Your Clients in Therapy Sessions
Mindfulness can be a great topic to incorporate into therapy sessions for clients experiencing a range of mental health conditions. Clients often notice a decrease in their overall level of stress and an improvement in their ability to regulate their emotions. This often includes the use of grounding techniques, which are commonly incorporated into trauma therapies.
Additionally, mindfulness techniques can help clients learn to show themselves compassion and kindness, while practicing acceptance. If you would like to learn more about the use of mindfulness within your clinical setting, we encourage you to explore continuing education and training opportunities. You may even find mindfulness practices that you can incorporate into your own routine to promote emotional wellness.
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Resources:
- Mindfulness. American Psychological Association. (n.d.-c). https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2024c, June 18). Mindfulness for your health. National Institutes of Health. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/06/mindfulness-your-health