Welcome to a listening meditation with RAIN.
This meditation technique that I am sharing comes from a meditation teacher of mine named Tara Brach,
Who got it from a mentor of hers.
So when we are triggered or when we're feeling overwhelmed or we're feeling a lot of energy or even if we're feeling really good and really grounded,
It's important for us to start to listen to our bodies.
Really listen.
And so in order to listen to the language of the body,
We have to know what our bodies are saying.
We have to be curious about what we are feeling.
So RAIN is the acronym.
It allows for us to start to gain a language of our bodies.
So I'll first talk about what RAIN is,
Then we'll go into a brief practice,
And then we'll finish by what we call AFTER the RAIN.
So RAIN stands for Recognize What's Going On Inside.
Allow your experience to be there just as it is.
Investigate somatically what you're feeling in your body and then nurturing yourself with compassion.
Let's take a few deep breaths.
Breathing in through your nose and breathing out through your mouth.
Breathing in,
Sitting up tall and breathing out,
Releasing.
Put yourself into a comfortable position.
Maybe that's standing,
Sitting,
Lying down.
And perhaps you'd like to soften your eyes or you just allow for your gaze to go down towards the ground.
Whatever allows for you to listen to your body.
So first,
The R of RAIN.
Recognize any thoughts,
Feelings that you might be having right now.
Bringing your awareness to what's most present right now for you.
And then the A of RAIN is Allow.
Allow this experience.
Letting these thoughts and these sensations be just as they are.
You don't need to change anything.
You don't need to fix anything.
Perhaps there's a tenderness you can offer to yourself by saying,
It's okay.
Or maybe you say,
Yes,
This is what's happening.
This creates a pause.
A little bit of space so we can actually allow and be curious about what's happening.
Now we investigate.
You might ask yourself,
What most wants my attention right now?
And how am I experiencing this somatically?
So imagine you'd like to paint a picture of what you're feeling inside.
Breathing deeply.
Turning on your curiosity.
See if you can imagine what's happening on the inside of your body somatically.
And imagine you are a five-year-old who's going to paint what's happening.
So what are the colors that you might be using?
What's the background color?
Are you using paper?
Are you painting in sand?
Are you painting the sky?
What do you notice about these sensations?
Is there a color that you might use to draw this sensation?
Maybe there's many colors.
What is the shape that you draw?
Are you scribbling really hard?
Is it soft and flowy?
Are you using watercolor?
Are you using chalk?
And then what's the texture of this painting?
Of painting these emotions?
Taking some breaths with this.
This way of understanding the message of your body.
The language of your body.
Understanding if there's a different way to relate to these feelings.
And then we nurture ourselves with compassion.
Knowing that emotions are coming up.
Feelings are arising.
And not needing to label them as good or bad.
Just being kind to ourselves,
Offering a sense of nurture.
Maybe you'd like to hold your own hands in your lap.
Letting yourself know that you're here with yourself.
Maybe you say something like,
Sweet one,
I'm sorry,
I love you.
Maybe you just take deeper breaths.
Perhaps you envision yourself being embraced by a warm,
White light that's holding you,
Cradling you in your fullness of your experience.
Perhaps it's challenging for you to hold yourself in love.
So maybe you invite in a family member who you're close to or pet or a friend,
Spiritual figure.
And you just let their wisdom and love flow into you.
Breathing deeply here.
Noticing the undulation of movement happening.
The vibrations in your body.
Feelings flow like the water,
Like the tide.
They come in and they go out.
And then they build.
And then they grow.
As you finish your RAIN practice,
I invite you to rest in the space of awareness that you have created within yourself.
The point of this is so that we can free ourselves of being controlled by our emotions.
We can simply notice and release and relax and surrender into them.
This is such a gift that we're able to offer ourselves,
This freedom of feeling emotions,
Trusting emotions,
Knowing that they're natural.
They come from a really deep place and they just want to be heard and known and seen.
I invite you to bring this practice forward into your life.
Play this recording when you are feeling at ease and also if you're feeling triggered.
It's important to practice during both of these times so we can practice when we're resourced,
When we're fed,
When we have water in our system,
When we're feeling really grounded and connected.
And also when we're feeling chaotic and when we're feeling overwhelmed,
Practicing RAIN,
Practicing,
Listening deeply to this internal wisdom,
Our intuition is speaking to us all the time and grounding into this wisdom.
It's such a gift we get to offer ourselves.
So thank you for taking the time to do this listening exercise.
And perhaps you even want to listen to the RAIN outside and see if nature has any messages for you.
Using this acronym of RAIN,
Listening to your inner landscape and the external landscape from the earth.
And then we can bring these understandings and these dialogues together,
Letting the wisdom naturally arise when we create the space,
Quiet space to listen.
Thank you for listening to yourself.
Such a pleasure to be your guide.
My name is Eleanor Medina and I am a guide to wholeness.
This is how we continue to cultivate wholeness by deeply listening.
Thank you my friends.
We'll see you again soon.
Goodbye.
