May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Throughout this month, the team from the Aultman Medical Group (AMG) Behavioral Health and Counseling Center is sharing tips on improving our relationship with our minds and our emotions.

Today, Liesa Conversino, MSW, LISW-S, is highlighting mindfulness: why it’s important and how to incorporate mindful practices into your day-to-day routine.

Let’s start with defining what mindfulness is: a state of nonjudgmental awareness of what is happening in the present moment. It includes one's thoughts, feelings and senses. It’s important to understand what some of the words in this definition mean:

• Awareness: This is simply being aware of one's thoughts, feelings and physical sensations as they happen – rather than getting lost in them.
• Acceptance/intention: These thoughts, feelings and physical sensations are to be observed in a nonjudgmental manner. No right or wrong, good or bad – it simply “is.”

Researchers have discovered many benefits to mindfulness practices, such as:

• Reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.
• Greater satisfaction within relationships.
• Improved memory, focus and mental processing.
• Reduced rumination.
• Improved ability to adapt to stressful situations.
• Improved ability to manage emotions.

Here are four ways you can practice mindfulness. All of them are free and can be practiced just about anywhere:

• Mindfulness meditation. Take a moment to check in with your thoughts, feelings and senses. What can you observe? Remember not to label or get too caught up in what you perceive.
• Mindfulness walk. As you walk, notice how your body feels. What can you observe with your given senses? How are you feeling? Take deep breaths and go slowly.
• Body scan. While sitting or lying down, scan one by one through the various parts of your body (i.e. head, chest, arms, hands, back, legs, feet and toes). Observe feelings of coolness, heat, tingling, pressure or perhaps the absence of sensation in that part of your body.
• Five senses. Wherever you are, focus on what you are aware of with each of your senses. What can you hear, see, touch, taste and smell?

Try these practices and see which ones resonate with you. Even five minutes a day of mindfulness can make a difference in your mental health.