R.A.I.N. For Difficult Emotions

Using RAIN for difficult emotions and thoughts.

RAIN stands for Recognise,

Allow or Accept,

Investigate,

Nourish.

You can use it with any exercise,

Make it a standalone meditation practice and return to it with ease in daily life.

It's especially helpful with difficult emotions and thoughts.

Sit comfortably and begin bringing your awareness to your present time experience.

Give yourself a minute or two after closing the eyes to notice what you hear,

What you feel in the body,

Bringing up a difficult experience or emotion.

Start with recognition.

Recognise the thoughts coming up,

The sensations in the body.

Spend a few minutes just acknowledging the presence of the difficulty,

Tuning into the different ways it manifests in your experience.

Moving to the next phase,

Allowance or Acceptance.

With unpleasant emotions,

The habit of the mind is to try and get rid of these experiences.

Instead,

Allow it to be present in you.

You may try offering the simple phrase of equanimity and acceptance.

Right now,

It's like this.

Continue to work with acceptance for the next two minutes,

Bringing the mind back to the feelings and sensations when it starts pushing the difficulty away.

Now,

Begin investigating more deeply.

You recognise what you were feeling in the first step of RAIN.

In investigating,

Allow curiosity to take over.

Ask yourself where you feel vulnerable,

How this emotion serves you,

And if you believe you can be free from this pain.

Turn towards nourishing yourself with self-compassion.

This whole exercise has been a practice of self-compassion,

As you are tending to the pain with awareness,

Rather than denying it.

However,

Make a dedicated effort to continue offering new phrases of compassion and an open heart to yourself and your experiences.