RAIN Meditation To Regulate A Difficult Emotion

This is a practice to sit with an emotion and is usually used for challenging ones like anger, envy, sadness, fear, etc. Listeners will be invited to recognize, allow, investigate, and non-identify with whatever they are experiencing. This is an adaptation of the meditation created by Michele McDonald.

Transcript

I'll invite you to establish a comfortable posture. You could be seated, Standing, Or even laying down. Always choosing a position that's going to best support you in this moment. Once you have established your position for this practice, Allowing your eyes to close or simply lowering your gaze. We'll be spending a lot of our time inward and our bodies. I'll invite you just to notice what your body feels like in this moment. You could become aware of different temperatures like coolness on the hands or warmth in the chest, Or perhaps the subtle sensation of gravity below your feet, Or the support of a chair. Then tuning into your posture and whatever shape you're in, Seeing if you can be relaxed and attentive at the same time. Strong and flexible like a bamboo. And seeing if there's any places of stress or tension in your body. Perhaps you could make a little more room between your eyebrows, Unclenching your jaw, And giving your shoulders permission to dissolve. And as we prepare to begin this practice of rain, To work with an emotion, I'm going to first invite you to locate a place on your body where there's comfort or ease. And if both of those words seem like an impossibility, Even picking a place that's neutral works. And we're identifying this to establish a place of safety for our practice. If things become too intense, This is some place we can come back to at any time. It could be as simple as noticing your feet connected to the ground. It could be noticing the expanding and contracting of your belly with each breath. Or it could just be as simple as noticing your hands perhaps there holding each other. And you can also pick an area that I didn't touch on. I'm just giving you some examples, Some possibilities. So take a moment to choose your place of ease and safety. And let your attention rest there for a moment. As we continue forward, Remember this can be your home base. If and when things become too difficult in this practice, Knowing that you also have the option to simply stop the practice if it's too overwhelming. I'll invite you to bring to your mind's eye a situation that's creating some challenge for you. It could be a person or a dilemma. And if there were a scale from one to ten, Ten being the most difficult thing ever and one being the least challenging. Choosing something in the three to four range if this is your first time doing this practice. And knowing that each time you do this practice it's like expanding and growing your lifeboat. Your capacity to be with different difficulties in life. So just taking a moment to choose the situation. We're gonna go into the first letter of RAIN now and the R stands for recognize. And what the invitation to do now is to recognize what emotion is associated with this situation or dilemma. Maybe it's anger or sadness, Bitterness, Resentment. So we're naming this emotion so that we can recognize what it is. And it's possible that just by recognizing this emotion there's some discomfort. And so I'll invite you to come back to your place of safety for a moment and we can practice this toggling back and forth to help regulate our experience through this practice. Now we're gonna move to the second letter A which stands for allow. And this is where you get to ask yourself, Can I allow myself to be with this emotion that I've recognized? Can I allow myself to be with frustration? Can I allow myself to be with jealousy? Really allowing yourself to be honest with yourself in this practice. If the answer is yes you'll continue to work with the emotion you've recognized. If the answer is no, And that's okay if it's a no, I invite you to work with the emotion that's arising with your inability to work with the original emotion. So for example maybe you're feeling disappointed or frustrated that you can't allow the original emotion to be here now. And as we continue forward you're either working with the original emotion or the new emotion. And we're gonna go to the third letter, The I which stands for investigate. We're gonna be spending more of our time here as we investigate what this emotion we've selected feels like in our body. Is there tightness in the chest? Is there a watering in the eyes? Maybe pressure in the jaw? Just take a moment to explore. How does this emotion show up in my body? And a reminder that if this becomes too intensive an exploration to simply go back to that place of safety that you identified at the beginning. And you can also alternatively tune into the sounds around you if that's too much. And are there bodily sensations that exist in more than one place that are connected with this emotion? If your mind wanders just gently bring it back to the sensations in your body connected with this emotion. And as you've been spending some more time with this emotion are you noticing any changes with the sensations? Do they still hold the same level of intensity? Have things shifted elsewhere into the body? And bringing this aspect of curiosity to whatever you're noticing. Now we're going to transition from this investigation to the last letter of RAIN, The N which stands for non-identify. And here we're going to see if it's possible to create a little bit of space with what you just experienced. Rather than completely identifying with the emotion, For example, I'm feeling frustrated. Is it possible to reframe this as, Huh, This is the feeling of frustration in my body. And in no way are we trying to dismiss the emotion or make it different. We're just seeing if we can shift our relationship and perspective with the emotion. And as we bring this practice to a close, I invite you simply just to acknowledge the work that you've done here. Working with a challenging situation and difficult emotion is not an easy task. Just acknowledging your effort here. And then maybe contemplating what might serve best coming out of this practice. Whether it's a warm cup of tea or a nice long bath. Just maybe thinking about any additional self-care that might support you after this. And then making your way back, Wiggling your toes and fingers if your eyes were closed, Allowing them to open. Maybe taking a deep breath to signal the end of this practice.

Reviews

I use RAIN by 2 other teachers. This was the best "I" cause you guided the meditation to follow the sensation with the invitation to explore what came up. And, then you helped by identifying frustration at a moment i could sense that then the experience of impatience that is right b4 and right after....
What a fabulous recording of RAIN! ty

Great straightforward RAIN practice. Thank you! 🙏🏼

One of the most kind, tender and helpful RAIN guidance that i've tried. Thank you so much!

Thank you. The “safe spot” was very helpful so I could explore without getting caught up in the complexity of what I was feeling. It is a situation that has multiple layers and needed space to tease out all the individual emotions connected to one event. Peace.