RAIN Meditation With Values Work

This is a version of the RAIN meditation that is designed to help gain insight around a difficult issue or stressor. In this case, work around your values is added into the meditation, to help create more awareness around your emotions and needs in order to take nurturing steps towards greater emotional balance, increased self-compassion and more mindful action. For your safety, please choose to work with something mildly annoying or bothersome, not with something traumatic or overcharged.

Transcript

This exercise is a mindfulness technique called RAIN,

Often credited to Tara Brach.

RAIN stands for Recognize,

Allow,

Investigate,

And Non-identify or Nurture for the N.

And we'll be adding in values to this.

So our first step will be to recognize just what's going on with the issue that you're dealing with,

And then we'll invite it and allow it to hang out with us for a while so that we can get a little different look at it by investigating it with curiosity and kindness.

And then we'll non-identify with it by looking at something from a distance so we can see that it's not really part of us.

We can begin to let go of that attachment that we have to it and nurture ourselves with kindness and compassion.

So now I'd invite you to find a warm and comfortable space where you won't be interrupted.

And finding a posture that's also comfortable yet allows for your attention to remain alert.

So maybe with your back straight,

Not too rigid,

But alert and straight like a dignified posture.

And taking very special care to,

You know,

Call to mind extra doses of kindness and non-judging as we're doing this exercise.

And it's suggested to work with something that's not too intense for the first time you do this exercise,

And recognizing where your limits are and never going beyond those.

Respect what your body,

Heart,

And mind need in every moment,

Even if that means not following my guide exactly.

So if you need to just do something a little different than what I'm guiding you to do,

Then feel free.

You can always come back to the breath.

As you'll see,

We'll start this meditation and focusing on the breath.

And so anytime that you feel that you need to just maybe not go in the direction I'm taking you,

Just finding your breath again and connecting with that can be very helpful.

So right now,

If you need to,

Pause the recording and get set up,

Finding that quiet and comfortable space,

And then start it again when you're ready.

And so connecting with the breath.

So we're going to just get into this comfortable posture.

And so finding that comfortable position that is not too comfortable where you're sleeping and not too rigid where you're striving to feel,

You know,

Erect or too tense.

And just noticing how your body might be,

Maybe your spine is kind of,

You know,

Straight up.

So coming into this comfortable yet dignified and attentive position are,

If you're sitting down,

Your back at the bottom might be against the chair but maybe not having the top of your back leaning against the chair.

So holding yourself upright.

And you could also do this laying down and connecting with the sensations in your breath.

So kind of gathering your attention and noticing where the breath kind of shows up in your body.

Maybe it's more noticeable at your nostrils as it's coming in and out,

Or maybe it's more noticeable in your chest or your lower abdomen.

So just connecting with that sensation of the breath.

Feeling the breath and the body together as you breathe in,

Sensing the breath entering your body.

And as you breathe out,

Noticing how it leaves your body.

And just allowing yourself to have nothing else to do right now.

Just connecting with the sensations in your breath.

And when you're ready,

If it feels right,

Bringing to mind this conflict or source of stress that you've been dealing with.

Maybe it's a conflict of values or a situation that you have chosen to focus on.

And we're gonna take ourselves through RAIN with this.

So first of all,

Just recognizing what is going on there.

Maybe giving it a name.

For example,

Could just be conflict with one of my parents or it could be something like noticing the sensation of not feeling right in a certain situation.

Just putting a name to it,

Recognizing that this exists right now in your life and bringing in a lot of kindness and non-judging.

And just coming into this A of allow.

So we've recognized what it is.

We're allowing it to be there.

We're allowing it to remain in the focus of our attention.

So we've let go of the breath and we're recognizing,

Calling to mind this situation or this sensation that we have.

And we're allowing it to be there.

So we're opening to what might normally seem uncomfortable for us.

And as you're allowing it to be there,

I'm inviting you to investigate it.

So bringing in as much as you can your curiosity and non-judging so that we can really take a look at what's going on here.

So investigating,

Maybe allowing yourself to find an emotion that might be connected to this situation and not being afraid of what might be that emotion.

It could be anger,

Could be frustration,

Fear,

Could be dissatisfaction,

Boredom.

So allowing whatever emotion is connected to the situation to arise in your awareness.

And as you're recognizing that emotion,

Maybe just investigating if that emotion shows up anywhere in your body.

It might and it might not,

So if it doesn't that's okay too.

Just scanning around and seeing where it might appear in your body.

Might show up as a blockage in your neck or maybe a sensation in your stomach.

Might not be real pronounced or it might be very pronounced.

Anything that shows up is fine and if it doesn't show up in your body,

Just staying with whatever that emotion is.

And now if you can,

If it's possible,

Noticing what that sensation might be if it were a color in that in that part of your body.

And if it's not in your body,

Just what color would you give that emotion?

And in continuing our exploration,

Maybe it has a shape.

So what shape might it be?

Maybe it's a triangle or something geometric or maybe it's more of a an amoeba-like shape.

Just noticing what shape it has.

So we have a color and a shape,

Maybe,

And if it doesn't show up for you,

That's okay too.

We'll keep investigating and noticing if it has any texture.

Is it a thick kind of texture or is it something shiny or smooth?

Is it transparent or heavy?

So what are the texture and the general characteristics of this colored shape?

And whatever shows up is fine,

Just allowing whatever might appear in your conscious mind about it to be there.

And breathing when you need to breathe.

And allowing this shape and this color and this texture to remain in your awareness.

And just noticing anything else you might notice about it.

So is it moving or is it still?

Is it provoking any other types of sensations in your body?

What might be clinging on to it there?

And if you can,

Maybe asking this emotion,

Asking this object that you've discovered or investigated,

What does it need from you right now?

What is it asking for?

So taking a moment to just check in and say,

Why are you here?

What do you need from me?

And you may have gotten an answer,

Maybe not.

We'll just keep investigating,

Bringing to mind maybe your core values and exploring.

Do any of these core values feel maybe not honored or is there any type of contraction in your body around where these core values might not be being honored?

And just noticing if you can maybe just apply one of these values to the situation somehow without going too much into a story.

But just noticing if you bring in one of these core values,

Noticing if there's any change in in that emotion,

In that situation.

If you bring in maybe a core value of honesty or a core value of justice,

Whatever might be the value that would help you,

And seeing how that might shift or change any body sensations or how you're viewing this object,

This emotion,

The situation.

And if it feels right,

Maybe applying any other type of strength or value that you need to the situation,

What's called for here?

What do you have already within you that you can use to maybe just soften this situation a little bit without making too much of an effort,

But just recognizing what's there within yourself and see if you can hold an awareness,

This value and strength even next to that conflictive or difficult situation and the emotion that it brings up.

And holding them both in your awareness and just seeing what happens when you do that,

Noticing if there's any shift or change,

If there is and if not,

That's fine too.

And so we're nurturing this emotion,

We're nurturing this situation with whatever we need.

And if it's difficult to find something,

Just maybe bring in a huge dose of kindness,

A huge dose of,

Maybe just bringing in a huge dose of kindness and self-compassion,

Allowing that to run across the whole sensation or ooze into the whole sensation and soften it.

And the last step,

We're just allowing ourselves to let go of the sensation and recognizing that this is just something that's visiting us.

It's not how we've always been,

It's not what we saw,

What we've always felt,

It's just a passing sensation.

So as best you can,

Non-identifying and letting go of whatever that situation was,

Letting go of that emotion.

So for some people it's nice to do it visually by maybe minimizing that visual that we created or just blowing it away or continuing to apply that salve of self-compassion and kindness,

However it feels right to you.

Just taking a moment now to to let go of whatever it was as best you can and connecting with what still remains here as you let go.

Noticing that whatever was that situation in the emotion,

Noticing that the person that remains there,

The being that remains or the consciousness as an observer of all that,

Noticing that peaceful observer.

And just bringing ourselves to a close,

So coming back to those sensations of the breath,

Finding your breath again,

Reconnecting with your breath,

And if it feels right even connecting with your feet and noticing the sensation of your feet on the floor.

So holding your feet on the floor or on whatever they're resting on,

Feeling the weight of the floor holding you up and connecting with your breath,

Becoming grounded again in the space that you are sitting in or lying down in,

And feeling your bodily sensations again coming back in to the space that you're in.

And when you're ready you can open your eyes.

Reviews

Such a beautiful variation on Tara. I loved the inclusion of values. Healing