RAIN Meditation For Stress, Anxiety & Difficult Moments

A gentle guided RAIN practice for moments of stress, anxiety, and other challenging emotions or situations. This meditation offers a simple way to bring attention and care to what’s happening inside, moving through the four phases of RAIN: recognizing, allowing, investigating, and nurturing, with your own kindness and self-compassion. There’s no need to change or fix anything.

You’ll also be invited to reflect on how this way of meeting yourself might carry into your daily life. If you feel called, you’re welcome to share what you noticed in the comments.

May this practice support you in whatever you are holding and moving through.

Transcript

Hi there, I'm Katie and welcome. I'm so glad to have you here. So chances are if you made your way to this video, You might be going through something challenging or difficult or even painful. And this practice is really just an invitation to bring a little bit of kind awareness and kind attention to that experience that you might be going through at this time. And nothing needs to be solved at this time. That's not what we're trying to do. We're just trying to hold space for ourselves, Make space for whatever it is that we are experiencing. And do that through the spirit of compassion, Wise self compassion. And that can really be some of the best medicine that we can offer ourselves when we're going through difficult stuff. So there's no wrong or right way to practice this. If you're new to this, We'll go through four steps. Recognize, Allow, Investigate and nurture, Which is what RAIN stands for. But you're welcome to follow the guidance very closely, Or you're just welcome to simply listen and let the words sort of wash through you. And at any time during this practice, You're always welcome to move or adjust your posture, Keep your eyes open or keep your eyes closed, Whatever feels right and safe for you. So let's start our practice if you're ready. So we're first going to start by just sort of landing, Landing to this moment, Kind of landing into our body in a way that's accessible and comfortable and safe. And also kind of landing within our breath. So if it feels comfortable, You might just begin by noticing the breath. I'm not changing it. I'm just sensing the natural rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. However that is happening for you today. Noticing the body breathing itself. You might also notice where your body is being supported. Noticing the contact with the chair or the floor or wherever you are resting. And taking a moment to just do a gentle scan through your body, Noticing if there's any tightness or holding or discomfort. And you're welcome to breathe through, Breathe into those areas, Not to force relaxation or fix them, But to just invite a gentle possibility of a little bit of softening. Maybe a softening in your jaw, Maybe a softening in your forehead, Perhaps a softening in your shoulders or your back, Or wherever feels best for you in this moment. Again, No forcing, Just making small little adjustments if they feel natural. And as you're breathing with this body of yours, If the mind starts to wonder, Which minds often do, Simply notice that and see if you can gently return back to that breath, Back to the inhale, Back to the exhale. And so from this place of slow and gradual settling, You might allow the mind to bring forward a situation in your life that carries a little bit of difficulty. That might be a little activating, A little challenging, A little painful or stressful. Now, Nothing completely overwhelming, Just something that you have the capacity to work with in this moment. Maybe it's an irritating situation, Or a worry that keeps surfacing, Or a hurt, Or maybe even a physical pain. But allow the situation to come to mind in whatever way it naturally appears. And you might imagine a specific moment connected to it, Almost like kind of pausing in the middle of a scene. Although you are here in this moment and present and safe, But just start to simply and gently notice what begins to rise inside of you. And from that part, We will start to dive into the R, The recognize part of the practice. So first, Just noticing what's here, What emotions are present, Perhaps frustration, Or sadness, Maybe even uncertainty. But you're welcome to quietly name what you notice. Just name, You don't have to analyze it. And sometimes maybe we're not even sure, We can't name it, And that's okay. But you know something's there. Can you simply recognize that? Just a soft acknowledgement of noticing, Yeah, This is here. And so now that we've met this with some recognition, We will move to the A of RAIN, Which is allow. Can you gently allow this experience to be here for a few moments? Not push it away. Not try to fix it. Allowing doesn't mean we're approving of it. We're just making a little bit of space for it to be known. We're just recognizing what's here and breathing with it and being with it. And just giving it a little room to be known. And if this is hard or if this is challenging to do, You're welcome to use your breath to support you. Breathing in. And breathing out. And so moving now to the I, Which stands for investigation. And if it feels okay for you, You might start to get a little bit curious about how this experience presents itself or starts to show up for you in this moment. Maybe noticing how it shows up in the body. Where do you feel it the most? Maybe it's in the chest or the belly or the throat. Or somewhere else. And again, Maybe you're not sure, And that's okay, Too. But we're not analyzing it. We're staying out of the analyzing mode. We're just sensing into. Again, That breath is here to support you. If it feels a little too much, You're welcome to ease back. But as you rest your attention here for a few breaths, You can ask yourself quietly what feels most tender here. Or also, What is this part of me wanting to express? What does it want me to know? And again, If you're not sure, That's okay. We can be with that, Too. Perhaps we can plant a little seed for that to be known at some point. Sometimes it doesn't always come up in this particular moment. And that's okay. At least we're bringing our kind awareness and presence and attention to it. And so breathing in. And breathing out as we move to the next phase, Which is nurturing. And in this phase, All we are doing is practicing bringing a little kindness, A little care to the place that feels most vulnerable. Most challenged. Most hurt. Some people might find it supportive to place a hand on the heart or the chest as an offering, A gesture of kindness. And if that doesn't feel right, You're welcome to simply just imagine a gentle presence that's there. That can be enough. But you are welcome to offer a quiet message of care to yourself. Something like, I'm here. Yeah, This is a hard moment. I'm okay. Even though this is hard. Whatever words feel genuine and real for you. And see if you can allow that sense of care, Of kindness, Of sweetness to resonate through your body, To land inside. To integrate into your nervous system. To your breath. And into your heart. And it may be hard or it might be easy. But we're just practicing. That's all we can do sometimes. It's just practice. Practice bringing kindness and self-compassion in the face of difficulty. And so taking one more nice breath in, Perhaps a slow, Steady exhale out if that feels right for you as we start to move towards the conclusion of this practice for now. But you're welcome to let that specific situation start to fade away now into the background. Perhaps imagining that it's literally starting to fade visually. Or maybe even the volume of it is starting to go down. It doesn't mean it's completely gone, But it's a little further away now. And see if you can start to feel your breath in this moment now. See if you can feel the body sitting here in this moment now. Maybe noticing whatever sense of space or presence that's available to you now. Knowing that in this moment now, There's nothing to hold. There's nothing to change. Just being. So as we come to the end of this practice, You might take a moment to reflect gently if you feel called. But I'm curious, What did you notice when you allowed yourself to meet this situation, This difficult situation, With just a little bit of curiosity? Instead of resistance. And also, How might this kind of attention, This kind of presence and offering self-compassion, How might it show up in small ways in your daily life? And there's no need to have the perfect answer to this question, But perhaps just letting them sit kind of quietly with you as you move forward. So thank you so much for taking the time to engage in this RAIN practice. You're always welcome to come back here as needed. And again, I'd love to encourage you to practice this on your own and let it become your own practice as well. So may we all be well, May we all be safe, And may we all be free.