Welcome to this RAIN meditation practice.
This short practice is a practice for life,
For helping us to be with more challenging aspects,
With softness,
With gentleness,
Moving towards healing.
So to start,
You might want to come into a comfortable position where you can focus within.
It doesn't have to be a perfect meditation posture,
But maybe closing your eyes if that feels comfortable for you,
Or resting your gaze.
And taking a few deeper conscious breaths.
So this practice is to help us deal with those places where we feel a little bit stuck,
A little bit of a challenge or discomfort.
So we start by bringing to mind a situation like that in our lives at the moment.
So nothing too traumatic to start with.
Something where there's a bit of a difficult reaction,
Difficult emotion,
It could be fear,
Anger,
Annoyance.
Maybe there's some disagreement you have with a friend or a family member,
Some illness,
Some worry about the future.
Maybe a failure in your work or a conversation you regret.
So something where there's that emotional charge,
Somewhere where you're stuck.
And then taking a few moments to really enter into this experience.
Maybe playing the story over in your head.
And finding the part where you feel most stuck.
And then staying with that part.
Maybe noticing how it feels in your body.
And knowing that tuning in,
Feeling our stuckness is the start of the journey for healing,
For this practice of RAIN.
So the first step,
The AH,
Is recognizing what's happening.
So just asking what's happening inside me right now.
What sensations are there in my body?
What emotions are present?
Just noticing the thoughts,
Maybe they're churning away.
Maybe they're churning away.
Just becoming gently aware how the experience is in the heart,
In the body,
And in the mind.
So the A,
The next step is allowing life to be just as it is.
So taking a pause.
Sending a message to the heart,
To let life be just as it is.
Mentally whispering,
Yes,
Let it be.
Even if the whole of your body and your mind seem contracted into a big no.
Seeing if you can soften,
Gently,
Any resistance that you find,
Softening the no.
Then the I is for investigate with intimate attention and kindness.
So being curious,
Looking closer,
What is it that wants attention?
So maybe noticing where you feel this stuckness,
This discomfort most in your body.
When you found it in the most intense place,
Maybe seeing if you can bring that into your face,
Even exaggerating how that would feel.
Maybe asking what am I believing?
Is it that I'm not good enough?
That I'm not loved?
That I'm flawed or stupid?
Or that I'll never be happy?
And then seeing if you can soften into whatever you find,
Allowing.
And seeing if it's possible to sense into the most vulnerable part of yourself right now.
And see what it is that it needs,
What it wants.
Maybe it's acceptance,
Forgiveness,
Love.
And so we move to the final stage,
The N for nurture.
So whatever it is,
Whatever it is that you're feeling,
The N for nurture.
So whatever it is that vulnerable place within you needs right now,
Nurturing that.
So it might be putting a hand to soothe on your body where it needs.
Or it might be giving a message to yourself,
A message of acceptance,
Forgiveness or love.
Whatever you need,
Giving that love,
That care,
That nurturing.
And seeing if you can keep this feeling of care and love towards yourself as you move into the rest of your day.
