Hello,
Hi.
This is the introduction and explanation,
If you will,
For the RAIN meditation.
Again,
I've made this introduction separate from the actual meditation itself so that you may want to listen to this once or twice before you practice,
Or at least once to get a little bit more context about the meditation.
I find this meditation particularly helpful when struggling with craving,
Desire that perhaps maybe isn't in our best interests,
Which we are being swept away with feeling.
And subsequently,
I find it also very helpful practice when dealing with more challenging emotions and thoughts,
And particularly helpful in that way.
So something to consider.
I also find this practice particularly helpful during,
In combination with compassion practices,
That we can bring this along to support us.
And I'll explain more about the acronym itself.
A couple things that we have explored,
If you've been reading the book,
Of course,
Is in mindfulness training.
This isn't,
Mindfulness isn't about ignoring what's going on,
Expecting it to disappear.
And it also isn't about giving into our,
Giving into our feelings or becoming identified with feelings and thoughts either.
So we find ourselves really in this middle path of being with and and acceptance at the same time that we can find ourselves making wise choices and being skillful about what we do want.
And I find this RAIN meditation to be very helpful,
Supporting us.
We then through this meditation and compassion practices,
Which will have other resources for that available,
We really learned that we can ride out our emotions,
Our feelings and our thoughts,
Without having to act on them,
Or the fear that they might bring up through us.
And also by not having to avoid them.
We really become a surfer,
If you will,
And we can ride the waves of difficult emotions,
Difficult thoughts,
Feelings,
And ride the waves of craving,
Desire that may not be the most skillful for us.
So RAIN is based on an acronym,
RAI and N,
And really brings in a couple different components,
Four different components.
The first being the R,
Recognizing what is happening,
Recognizing and giving true acknowledgement of what's occurring in the moment.
For example,
With emotions,
Maybe there's a difficult emotion of anger or frustration or a difficult craving.
Perhaps you've tried to change a habit,
Such as smoking,
A very difficult habit to change,
And really recognizing the desire,
The wanting.
And an example,
Expansion of the R that I like to add into the recognizes an ability to relax into that experience.
So often we find that the other unconscious R we can bring into it is resisting that experience.
But if we allow ourselves to recognize and relax into that experience,
We tend to decrease our stress,
We become already more wise.
So we recognize what's occurring,
Can relax into it.
And then the letter A actually is the moment of allowing or acceptance of just what is in that moment.
It doesn't mean accepting that we're given to the craving per se,
But allowing what is occurring,
Not trying to push it away or distract ourselves from it or trying to fix it in some way.
And this is,
If we pay attention to our experience,
This is where we often get hooked that we have an arising of a thought or a rising of a desire or a craving.
And we try to think that we need to fix it to do something about it.
So the A in the RAIN acronym is the moment of acceptance that here's what's happening.
I'm noticing frustration is here.
And I can allow this frustration,
I can accept that this frustration is here.
This is actually what's happening in my experience.
And there are some words or phrases we can use,
Such as I consent or sometimes a simple phrasing of yes,
This is here now.
Yes.
One of my friends used to say,
Yep,
Here we go.
That's sort of,
Sort of fun.
So we can just give a simple nod and acknowledgement of what's happening.
And at this point,
With the R recognizing and relaxing,
And then the A accepting and allowing,
We're starting to catch the wave,
Much like a surfer,
We're able to be with it to ride it to really notice it fully.
And then the I in RAIN is investigating it.
As it builds,
We can really become aware and this is the root of many of the practices from the book.
But what's what am I aware of?
What's here now?
What's happening in my body?
How am I relating to this?
And not necessarily trying to search for answers,
But really just seeing what arises,
Letting it come to us,
If you will.
And then N is noting and,
And also another way that N has been used is non identification.
And what this really means is noting the experience,
By the way,
Not only just in the mind,
But also in the body.
And just letting it be as it is.
And you can notice the sensation,
Much as you've done the body,
Done the body meditation.
What's here?
Rising tension,
Decreasing tension,
Burning.
And maybe you'll feel a bit of relief.
And you can notice that too,
Decreasing sensation,
Or you might notice craving,
Craving.
You may notice that as well.
And the path here is really to note the experience fully to become non identified to see what you're aware of in the moment.
And what we notice is that if we can allow ourselves to be with what's occurring,
Or if the wave starts to feel too unmanageable,
We simply return our attention to a part of our body or our breath,
A place where we feel safe,
We feel neutral.
And in most instances,
What we start to notice is that much like a surfer,
We can ride the wave,
And when not,
We can duck under the water and be in a place where we feel a bit safer through this practice.
So this is a basic explanation of RAIN to work with difficult emotions,
Difficult,
Difficult situations that may arise.
And we can practice this at any time.
But this is really the practice of having an open hand of holding what we know to be true,
What we want to be true,
And holding it open handed in an open handed way versus trying to hold on to something,
Trying to deny what's happening or push craving away or resisting our experience and our emotions.
So there's a guided meditation on RAIN,
And you may enjoy practicing with that.
And I will be with you during the RAIN meditation.
