Lesson 1
What Is RAIN?
In this first session, we explore the theory behind RAIN and how the practice works.
RAIN stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. Together, these four steps offer a simple structure for bringing mindful awareness to our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, particularly when something difficult arises.
We will look at each stage individually, exploring how we can recognize what is present, allow it to be without judgment, investigate it with curiosity, and nurture ourselves with kindness and compassion.
By the end of this session, you will understand the basic RAIN process and be ready to begin putting it into practice in the guided meditations that follow.
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Lesson 2
Meditation: Returning To The Present
In this first guided practice, we begin putting RAIN into action.
We start by calming the nervous system through slow breathing and stillness, before moving through Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. From there, we sit together in silence, giving you space to practice the technique for yourself.
This session is about becoming familiar with the process and using RAIN as a simple way to return your awareness to what is happening here and now.
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Lesson 3
Talk: How To Know If You Are Meditating Correctly
Meditation is an internal practice. What looks like contemplation could instead simply be 'thinking with your eyes closed'. You can find guidance through talks, teachers, and traditions, but ultimately, how do you know if you are meditating correctly? In this talk, we offer some clarity and a way through to deepen your practice!
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Lesson 4
Meditation: Allowing What Arises
In this session, we continue our RAIN practice with a particular emphasis on allowing.
Mindfulness is not about forcing ourselves to feel calm or trying to remove every uncomfortable thought or emotion. Instead, we practice noticing what is here and permitting it to be here, even if only for this moment.
After settling the body and breath, we move through the four stages of RAIN, followed by silent practice and a gentle grounding back into the room.
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Lesson 5
Talk: Begin Again
Begin again: the simplest of instructions, but one with profound implications, both on and off the meditation mat. If you get distracted, if you forget a session, if anything arises, simply begin again. Good session? Begin again. Racing thoughts? Begin again. Distracted? Begin again.
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Lesson 6
Meditation: Investigating With Curiosity
This guided meditation takes us a little deeper into the Investigate stage of RAIN.
Once we have recognized and allowed what is present, we can begin to explore it. What thoughts are arising? What emotions are present? Where do we feel them within the body? What might this part of us need?
Rather than analyzing ourselves or searching for the “right” answer, we investigate with curiosity, allowing our experience to reveal itself in its own time.
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Lesson 7
Talk: Why We Practice Loving Kindness
Almost all texts and teachers of mindfulness meditation offer a loving-kindness or compassion practice. But why? If we are aware of and non-judgmentally accepting the present moment (mindful), why attempt to change our state? This talk explores why we should soften our hearts.
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Lesson 8
Meditation: Nurturing What You Find
In this session, we bring greater attention to the final stage of RAIN: Nurture.
After recognizing, allowing, and investigating our experience, we practice responding to what we find with kindness and compassion.
Rather than judging ourselves for what arises, we ask what support, reassurance, acceptance, or care might be needed in this moment. We then move into silence, giving you space to continue the practice for yourself before grounding and returning
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Lesson 9
Talk: Breathwork Before Meditation
If you calm the body, the mind follows. Breathwork is a meditation practice in its own right, but it can also be used as a primer for formal mindfulness meditation. There are many counts and approaches, but the principles are 'nose, low, slow'. If you make your outbreath longer than your inbreath, you will calm.
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Lesson 10
Meditation: Sitting With What Is
As the practice becomes more familiar, we begin to rely a little less on instruction and a little more on our own awareness.
We once again calm the body and breath before moving through RAIN, noticing whatever happens to be present today. No particular experience needs to arise. There is nothing that you need to find, fix, or achieve.
We simply practice meeting this moment as it is, then sit together in silence and allow the practice to unfold.
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Lesson 11
Talk: We Don't Meditate To Get Better At Meditating
Most of us do not meditate to get better at meditating... we meditate to bring the benefits off the mat and into our lives. This short talk covers the principles of healing and growth: Awareness. Acceptance. Action. Offering a process whereby we can begin to live mindfully.
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Lesson 12
Meditation: Deepening Your RAIN Practice
In this final guided meditation, we bring everything we have practiced together.
By now, the four stages of RAIN should be becoming increasingly familiar. We settle the nervous system, recognize what is arising, allow it to be present, investigate with curiosity, and nurture what we find with compassion.
The aim is not to perform RAIN perfectly. It is to develop a practice you can return to whenever you want to become more present, understand your inner experience, or simply sit with yourself for a while.
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Lesson 13
Talk: RAIN Recap
In this final session, we bring the RAIN practice together and review what we have learned throughout the course.
We revisit the four stages of Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture, reflecting on how each step supports greater awareness of our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, while helping us process our experience with less judgment and more compassion.
We also look at how RAIN can continue beyond this course, both as a formal meditation practice and as a simple framework you can return to during difficult or overwhelming moments.
The aim is not to memorize the process perfectly, but to become familiar enough with RAIN that you can use it naturally whenever you need to slow down, reconnect with the present moment, and respond to yourself with greater awareness and care.
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