Welcome to this guided mindfulness meditation.
Please find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed.
Turning off or silence any distractions and find a comfortable seated position and softly close down your eyes if that's comfortable.
We will begin by relaxing the mind and the body by taking three deep cleansing relaxing breaths.
On your next inhale take a long slow deep inhale.
Notice your stomach expand,
Your chest and shoulders rise and a slow full exhale.
Chest and shoulders lower,
Your stomach contracts.
Taking another deep inhale filling your body up with air and a complete full exhale allowing your mind and body to relax.
Taking one more full deep inhale and a complete full exhale allowing any stress and tension to drift away and just return your breath back to its natural rhythm breathing in and out of your nose naturally.
Taking your attention to the top of your head now as you relax the top of your head continuing that relaxation down to your face as your face softens relaxing into your eyes unclenching your jaw allowing your tongue to rest away from the roof of your mouth continuing that relaxation down into your neck and your throat down into your shoulders as they become heavy and rest away from your ears continuing that relaxation down into your upper arms your lower arms,
Your hands and your fingers relaxing into your chest and your upper back your middle back and your lower back softening into your stomach allowing it to become heavy and rest naturally relaxing into your upper legs,
Your lower legs,
Your feet and your toes and just return your attention back to your breath as you breathe in and out of your nose naturally just observing any sensations you notice at your nose that can be the cooler air on the inhalation or the warmer air on the exhalation you may notice tingling,
Twitching,
Throbbing just allow your awareness to rest upon these sensations without going into any stories or judgments and if you get distracted at any point during this meditation that is okay,
Just be kind to yourself and return your attention back to the meditation we will practice the RAIN mindfulness meditation the RAIN meditation is to recognize,
Accept,
Investigate and non-attach to our thoughts,
Our feelings or physical sensations and this is just a practice it's not going to be perfect every time but the more we practice the more space we can put between ourselves and our habitual thinking or our negative emotions or physical sensations and the more that we can detach from these sensations or thoughts the less power and less control they have over us so if you're having any negative thoughts about yourself or others any self-defeating,
Self-critical thoughts or you're having judgments about yourself or other people or it might be feelings that you're experiencing strong emotions,
Negative emotions or it may even be a physical pain first we need to recognize recognize what it is and we can put a label to this you can label it thought or you can label the particular thought or you can label your emotion or physical sensation but without going into a story about it just simply label what it is you are experiencing in this moment just to recognize that it is there the next step is to accept,
Accept that we have this thought accept that we have this emotion or physical sensation because we are human beings we are going to have negative thoughts about ourself or others we are going to experience strong emotions negative emotions or we will experience physical discomfort but if we can recognize what it is and simply put one label to it without going into a story then now just accept that it is there accept that we have this negative thought or negative emotion because everything is impermanent it will soon pass and rather than beating ourselves up about it if we can just accept that in this moment this thought,
This feeling,
This physical sensation is there in this very moment and we can just accept it we make friends with the present moment rather than making an enemy and then causing more pain and suffering for ourselves because it is okay to feel pain it is okay to feel emotions and it's okay to have habitual thinking and this practice will help us detach from the suffering that it causes us or the suffering that we add on top and cause ourselves more the next step is to investigate investigate this thought,
This feeling this physical sensation is this thought that we are having do we know it's the absolute truth do we know it's certain or is it just what we think it is and this thought is this what everyone else thinks is this the absolute truth or is that just what it is it is just a thought it probably holds no value no truth but yet it probably causes a lot of pain and suffering just investigate this thought and just notice how it feels in your body does it feel good to have this thought just notice the effect that it is having on you and this is the same practice if it's an emotion or physical sensation investigate the emotion what does it feel like is it anger,
Sadness,
Frustration where does it come from where is it located in the body how does it feel does it move does it change shape and is this emotion permanent is it there for the rest of your life or is it only momentarily and notice the effect that it has on you on your mind on your body and it's the same if it's a physical sensation notice the pain or the discomfort investigate where it is and what it feels like does it move does it change shape does it have a color and is it permanent or is it only there when you notice it and when you allow it to be there and allow it to cause more suffering the next stage is non-attachment so if you're having thoughts just allow your thoughts to pass through your mind just like the clouds in the sky knowing that they are here in this very moment but soon they will pass and you don't need to allow your thoughts to take you over to cause you more pain and suffering they don't define who you are they don't define your life have non-attachment to your emotion knowing that it is just energy in motion and it is passing through your body in this very moment and soon it will pass it doesn't define who you are it doesn't define your life so having this non-attachment you are giving it space space to have their life to have their moment to move through you and to pass through you and you can simply observe and watch and allow these thoughts emotions or physical sensations just to move through you and in doing this practice they have less control over you less power and you can break that cycle and you can start to step away from it giving yourself more space more freedom more peace more love and joy having non-attachment to your physical sensation knowing that this pain or discomfort isn't you it's a sensation in your body and it might be discomforting and it might be painful but if you can feel for what it is without letting the pain define you and define who you are you can create space between you and the pain and it just becomes a physical sensation anytime that you are experiencing any negative thoughts habitual thoughts strong emotions or physical sensations you can practice the RAIN meditation you can recognize the thought or feeling for what it is and give it one simple label you can accept that it is there there in this very moment but soon it will pass you can investigate it know what it feels like where it is in your body how it affects you and how it doesn't define who you are and then finally non-attachment not allowing the thought or feeling to define who you are not allowing it to control your life so it causes less pain and less suffering and you can detach yourself giving yourself more space more freedom bringing in more peace love and joy into your life i invite you to take a few deeper breaths now and with each slow deep inhale and exhale breathe in what you wish to breathe in this may be love joy peace happiness contentment compassion and as you breathe out breathe out these same qualities your thoughts your feelings your sensations they don't define who you are they are not you you are much more than that but anytime you feel yourself being overwhelmed then i invite you to practice mindfulness and practice the RAIN meditation to help navigate these thoughts and feelings you can return your breath back to its natural rhythm now and just sit in the stillness around you you can begin to listen to the sounds that are around you starting to get a sense of your surroundings keeping your eyes closed you can begin to move your body and stretch into the space around you you can slowly begin to open your eyes taking your time coming back around thank you for meditating with me
