Hello and welcome to this guided RAIN practice to support you through emotional difficulty.
My name is Alexa Zahner and I'll be guiding you through this gentle practice today,
Originally pioneered by the very brilliant Tara Brach.
In this mindfulness practice,
We'll be exploring RAIN,
Which stands for Recognise,
Allow,
Investigate and Nurture,
And is a tool you can use to work with difficult emotions and thoughts.
We'll begin by recognising what's happening within us.
Next,
We'll allow these emotions to be present without trying to change or resist them.
Then we'll investigate them with curiosity,
Looking deeper into where these feelings are coming from.
And finally,
We nurture ourselves with compassion and kindness.
This practice is especially helpful when we feel overwhelmed or caught up in negative thought patterns.
By slowing down and creating space for these emotions,
We can approach them with greater understanding and care.
When we become more aware of our emotions and what has triggered them,
We can create more space between the experience and our reaction.
This puts us into the driver's seat and is what we call emotional wisdom,
The attunement to our emotions without letting them run the show unchecked.
Now to begin our practice together.
Gently close your eyes wherever you are.
Take a big,
Deep breath in.
And just let yourself settle down,
Sink into the floor.
Notice where your sit bones are,
Either meeting the chair or meeting the floor where you're sitting.
Just gently allow any tension or any stress held in the body,
Maybe the shoulders,
The neck,
The jaw,
Just fade away here now.
I just want you to now turn your focus inward on what you're feeling,
What your current emotion or feeling is and where you're experiencing it.
I want you to just recognize this emotion.
Can you put a label to it?
Is it frustration,
Anxiety,
Sadness?
What emotion can you recognize within yourself right now?
Notice the urge to judge that recognition,
To judge that label.
Notice your mind creating that judgment and gently just let it go.
There is no right or wrong,
Good or bad emotion.
There is simply your experience.
Just recognize it for what it is.
Can you now simply allow that emotion to be what it is?
Can you allow it to just exist without trying to change it,
Without trying to avoid it?
And just remind yourself that it's okay to feel whatever it is you're feeling in this moment.
Emotions are temporary.
They come,
They go,
They ebb,
They flow.
Just allow whatever your experience is to be.
Now I want you to turn your attention very intentionally onto the emotion with some curiosity.
We're going to investigate the emotion.
Where do you feel the emotion in the physical body?
Is it sitting in your belly?
Maybe it's sitting as tension in your lower back,
In your neck,
In your shoulders.
Maybe it's sitting in your heart space.
Can you notice where this emotion sits in the physical body?
Can you notice any sensations this emotion brings with it?
Without any judgment,
Just gently investigate where the emotion sits in the body with curiosity.
Can you notice any thoughts that are associated with this emotion?
Can you notice your mind trying to create some meaning around this emotion?
Maybe it's trying to label it good or bad,
Right or wrong,
Whether it should be embraced or avoided.
Just gently investigate the thoughts that are created about this emotion.
Again,
Approach them with gentle curiosity.
And just notice the judgments as they come into your mind and gently let them float away.
Can you investigate what's triggered this emotion?
Maybe it was an event,
A conversation.
Maybe it was even an email or something happened on your way to work today.
What has triggered you to experience this emotion?
Again,
Approach this with gentle curiosity.
There is no home for self-criticism here,
Only self-compassion.
There is no judgment,
Only self-compassion.
Now what do you think would nurture you most in this moment?
How might you offer yourself kindness and self-compassion like you would a friend,
A family member or a child to move through this emotion,
Especially if it's a difficult one?
How can you offer yourself nurturing in this moment?
Now is the perfect time to acknowledge that emotions are part of the ever-present human experience.
They're always with us,
Whether we want them to be or not.
Offer yourself some words of encouragement,
Some words of kindness,
Some words to nurture yourself if you need them right now.
Perhaps words like,
It's okay,
I'm here for you.
Give yourself some reassurance or forgiveness if that's what you need most in this moment right now.
Whatever it is you feel you most need,
Offer it up to yourself now unconditionally.
Continue to breathe deeply and just notice how the grip of this emotion slowly loosens,
Perhaps on your heart and on your mind and even on your physical body as you offer yourself nourishment and nurturing in this moment.
Now this is the part of the practice we call after the rain.
And as you continue to sit there with your eyes closed,
I just want you to notice.
Can you see a difference in the quality of your attention now?
Can you sense a deeper presence,
Perhaps a presence with more intentionality around your internal state?
Can you feel how the emotion has loosened its grip on you,
Loosened its control over your thoughts now that you've created the space to investigate it?
Thank you for joining me in this powerful tool for emotional regulation.
Rain is a practice that you can return to any time you're feeling overwhelmed,
Maybe stressed or just emotionally activated.
Remember that our emotions are only messengers.
Go gently and meet yourself with self compassion and kindness.
Thank you for joining me in this practice today.
With gratitude,
Alexis.
