The short version
Shapiro and colleagues (2006) proposed that mindfulness rests on 3 interwoven "axioms": intention, attention, and attitude. Nonjudgment belongs to attitude, not attention.
The part most summaries skip is reperceiving, stepping back to observe thoughts instead of being swept along by them. The authors proposed it as the core mechanism, but a later test did not confirm it as a separate step.
A wandering "monkey mind" is normal. People's minds drift nearly half the time, and the practice is noticing, not stopping thoughts.
Mindfulness programs reduce distress by small to moderate amounts, and they have not beaten other active approaches. Coaches should not offer mindfulness as treatment for anxiety or depression.
The model, and the part most summaries skip
Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, and Freedman (2006) wrote a theory paper proposing a model of how mindfulness leads to change. Their 3 axioms are:
Intention: why you are practicing. For example, a client might want to feel calmer, understand themselves better, or be kinder to others.
Attention: observing your experience, moment to moment, inside and out.
Attitude: how you pay attention. Open, accepting, curious, and kind.
These are not steps done in order. They are aspects of one process that happen together. A common mix-up, including in the older version of this article, files "without judgment" under attention. In Shapiro's model, nonjudgment is part of attitude. That distinction matters in practice: a client can attend very well while criticizing themselves the whole time.
The authors then proposed reperceiving as the overarching mechanism: a shift in perspective in which a person can observe their thoughts and feelings rather than being identified with them. Reperceiving, they suggested, leads to 4 further changes: better self-regulation, clearer values, more flexible thinking and behavior, and greater willingness to stay with difficult experiences (described in Carmody et al., 2009).
The model is a useful map, not a proven one. When Carmody and colleagues (2009) tested it with participants in a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, the data did not support reperceiving as a separate step between mindfulness and those 4 changes. Mindfulness and reperceiving may be closer to the same thing than the model assumes.
The monkey mind is normal
"Monkey mind" is a common name for racing thoughts that jump from topic to topic. The research suggests a wandering mind is the default, not a failure.
Killingsworth and Gilbert (2010) used a phone app to sample the thoughts and moods of 2,250 adults at random moments. Minds were wandering in 46.9% of samples, and people reported being less happy when they were wandering than when they were focused on what they were doing (Harvard Gazette, 2010). This is observational data, though time-lag analyses suggested the wandering tended to come before the low mood.
The picture is not all negative. Franklin and colleagues (2013) found that when people's off-task thoughts were interesting to them, those episodes went with a better mood. Smallwood and Schooler (2015) describe mind-wandering as a balance of costs, such as errors, and benefits, such as creativity and planning for the future. The goal is not to shut thoughts down. It is to notice where attention has gone and choose where to put it next.
What the outcome evidence supports
Mindfulness has real benefits, but they are smaller than many wellness claims suggest.
Goyal and colleagues (2014) reviewed 47 trials with 3,515 participants. Mindfulness programs showed moderate evidence of small improvements in anxiety, depression, and pain, and low evidence for stress. They found no evidence that meditation programs were better than active treatments such as medication, exercise, or other behavioral therapies.
Galante and colleagues (2023) pooled individual data from 13 trials (2,371 adults in nonclinical settings). Programs reduced psychological distress compared with no program, a small to moderate effect. There was no evidence they reduced distress more than active comparisons such as exercise programs.
Van Dam and colleagues (2018) warn about hype, inconsistent definitions, and weak methods, and note that meditation can sometimes bring difficult experiences, such as sleep changes or a shifted sense of self.
Using it with clients
The 3 axioms work well as a quick check when a client says, "I tried meditating and it didn't work."
Intention: Has the purpose drifted, or was it borrowed from someone else? Practice tied to the client's own reason is more likely to last.
Attention: Is the client expecting a quiet mind? Reframe the moment of noticing a drift as the practice itself.
Attitude: Is the client attending well but judging harshly? This is often the missing piece.
Keep it an experiment the client designs, and share research only with permission.
Example lines: - "What were you hoping practice would do for you when you started?" - "When you notice your mind has wandered, what do you say to yourself?" - "Would it be helpful if I shared what one study found about how often everyone's mind wanders?" - "Noticing that you drifted is the part that counts. What happens if you treat that moment as a success?"
Where coaching stops
Coaches don't provide psychotherapy, and mindfulness is not a treatment a coach delivers for anxiety, depression, or trauma. When MBSR has been tested for diagnosed anxiety disorders, it was delivered as clinical care inside a clinical trial (Hoge et al., 2023). Refer to a mental health professional or the client's physician when racing thoughts are persistent, disrupt sleep or daily life, or come with panic, intrusive memories, or hopelessness. If practice itself raises distress, pause it and refer. If a client mentions thoughts of suicide, follow your crisis protocol; in the U.S., the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline takes calls, texts, and chats (988 Lifeline, n.d.).
Go deeper
The Sleep, Stress, and Movement package, which includes mindfulness-based approaches and their evidence, is in development.
References
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. (n.d.). 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://988lifeline.org/
Carmody, J., Baer, R. A., Lykins, E. L. B., & Olendzki, N. (2009). An empirical study of the mechanisms of mindfulness in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65(6), 613–626. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20579
Franklin, M. S., Mrazek, M. D., Anderson, C. L., Smallwood, J., Kingstone, A., & Schooler, J. W. (2013). The silver lining of a mind in the clouds: Interesting musings are associated with positive mood while mind-wandering. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 583. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00583
Galante, J., Friedrich, C., Collaboration of Mindfulness Trials (CoMinT), Dalgleish, T., Jones, P. B., & White, I. R. (2023). Individual participant data systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials assessing adult mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in non-clinical settings. Nature Mental Health, 1(7), 462–476. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00081-5
Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M. S., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E. B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(3), 357–368. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018
Harvard Gazette. (2010, November). Wandering mind not a happy mind. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/
Hoge, E. A., Bui, E., Mete, M., Dutton, M. A., Baker, A. W., & Simon, N. M. (2023). Mindfulness-based stress reduction vs escitalopram for the treatment of adults with anxiety disorders: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 80(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.3679
Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439
Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., Astin, J. A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(3), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20237
Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2015). The science of mind wandering: Empirically navigating the stream of consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 487–518. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015331
Van Dam, N. T., van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., Fox, K. C. R., Field, B. A., Britton, W. B., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., & Meyer, D. E. (2018). Mind the hype: A critical evaluation and prescriptive agenda for research on mindfulness and meditation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 36–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617709589
