Hi Scott,
I have used "earbud" type headphones quite a bit for monitoring myself. If they were cordless, is would be much better, but actually the cord is so tiny that it is not intrusive.
I have tried coming directly out of the headphone out, but seem to have better results from the headphone jack on the Mackie 1202. I sometimes use an extender cord so that I am not so closely tied to the mixer.
You are still able to heard people talk and other normal sounds. The headphones of course are stereo and the sound is phenominal. The ones I used cost about $10.00!
Don