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DBT Skills · Part 3 of 4

Mindfulness Skills

Coming Back to Now
Healing Light SA — Client Worksheet
How to be in the moment
Print & Write
A4 Printable
Use Alone or in Session
Emotions and distress are part of life, and mindfulness — being fully present in the moment — is one of the most reliable ways to tolerate difficult emotions without being swept away by them.

Training Your Mind

Being mindful is a lot like teaching a dog to sit still — your mind will wander, and you'll gently bring it back, again and again. That's not failure. That's the practice.

Counting breathsCounting stepsListening to a song Taking a walkEating slowlyYoga MeditationDrawing or doodlingWriting a letter

What can you do to bring your mind back to now?

When you notice your mind has drifted off, what's one thing you can do to focus back on the present moment?

The Inside of the Now

Check in with what's happening inside your body right now.

Breathing & heart rate

What's your breathing like? Your heart rate?

Feelings & emotions

What are you feeling on the inside, emotionally?

The Outside of the Now

Now notice what's happening around you — your five senses, right here.

Hear & smell

What do you hear? What do you smell?

Touch, taste & see

What do you feel, taste, and see?

Wrap-Up: Mindfulness Skills

← Part 2: Interpersonal Effectiveness Next: Emotion Regulation →

References (APA 7th)

RecTherapyToday. (2018). DBT skills workbook. https://www.rectherapytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DBT_workbook.pdf

Linehan, M. M. (2014). DBT skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Reformatted by Healing Light SA from the original combined RecTherapyToday PDF into four standalone skill-module worksheets. Free to reproduce for educational/non-commercial use with source credit retained. DBT itself was developed by Marsha M. Linehan, PhD.