Welcome to this practice,
The rain meditation.
Finding a comfortable and upright posture,
Sitting on a chair or on the floor with a straight spine,
Body relaxed and stable,
Or lying down if you prefer.
Gently closing the eyes or looking downward with a soft gaze.
Taking a moment to settle in.
Noticing how we feel right now.
Becoming more and more relaxed with each incoming breath.
And letting go of any tension,
Worry or anxiety with each outgoing breath.
In this practice we will work with a recent incident or a situation in your life that brought up some challenging emotions.
Maybe you are upset with a colleague or down on yourself for some reason,
Or maybe annoyed or frustrated with someone.
Please don't pick anything too dramatic.
On a scale of 0 to 10,
0 meaning this incident didn't affect you at all,
And 10 is you are highly triggered that you cannot manage your emotions.
Please pick something around 3 or 4.
The idea is to revisit this recent incident,
Paying close attention by noticing our emotional reactions.
Once you have a situation or an incident to work with,
Start replaying this in your mind's eye,
Making it as vivid as you can.
If it involves another person,
Noticing how they look,
How they sound,
Becoming aware of what is happening in the situation.
If it does not involve another person,
Then noticing why you are feeling down.
Maybe you made a mistake or something went wrong in your life.
Watching the incident unfold as if you are watching a movie.
Noticing when you feel stuck or get triggered with some challenging emotions,
And pressing the pause button at that moment.
Stopping when we feel the emotions coming up.
The first part of the RAIN meditation is to recognize,
Becoming aware of what is happening right now.
Asking yourself,
What is happening inside me at this moment.
Recognizing the feelings,
Emotions,
Thoughts and body sensations that are coming up with a sense of curiosity.
Letting off any preconceived ideas and paying attention to the situation.
Letting off any preconceived ideas and paying attention in a kind way,
Without judgment.
The second part of the RAIN is allowing these emotions,
Feelings,
Thoughts and sensations to be there.
Asking yourself,
Can I be with this right now?
Can I sit with these emotions and observe?
Often we try to push things away or suppress them because they don't feel comfortable.
Can you make space for whatever is arising within you and be willing to be present with it?
Allowing is essential to healing.
When you hold these feelings and emotions in awareness,
Things start to shift.
We have recognized what is going on,
Allowed it to be there and the next part of this process is investigating our inner experience with kindness.
What does this situation bring up in you?
Maybe some anger,
Frustration,
Sadness or any other emotion.
Noticing what is happening in the body.
If the emotional charge decreases,
You can always go back to the incident and replay it in your mind's eye until you feel the emotion once again.
Investigating by asking,
How am I experiencing this in my body right now?
What most wants my attention?
Noticing the thoughts as they come and go.
What does this feeling want from me?
When was the first time I felt this way?
What was happening back then?
Is there a story or a belief system I'm reacting to here?
Offering a warm and gentle welcome to whatever surfaces,
As without kindness and compassion there will not be enough safety or openness for real contact.
The last part of the RAIN practice is non-identification or resting in natural awareness.
Letting go,
Breathing in,
Breathing out and resting in awareness of these emotions.
Imagine that you're facing a violent storm in the middle of a big ocean in your little tiny boat.
Big waves,
Strong winds and lots of rain.
How do you feel?
Probably terrified,
Scared for your life.
You can also face the same storm in a well-built lighthouse,
Watching it behind the glass windows.
Would this make any difference in your experience?
You probably would feel more relaxed and maybe even enjoy watching these big waves crashing into the shore.
Although we cannot avoid the storms happening in our lives,
We get to choose where we face them.
Non-identification with our emotions help us to hold them in awareness without getting caught up in them.
As we rest in natural awareness,
We become like the ocean that can hold these big waves.
Simply resting in this spacious awareness,
Becoming the ocean and not getting lost in the waves.
Holding them in awareness in a gentle,
Compassionate way.
We are honoring the life,
The gift we have been given and accept it as it is with pure awareness,
Consciousness and presence.
Now gently letting go of the situation and once again noticing our whole body sitting or lying here.
Becoming aware of the sensations of the breath,
Noticing any sounds and smells in the environment.
Gently opening our eyes if they've been closed and remaining in the present moment without any effort.
