Welcome to your Rain Cloud Meditation.
You can start by lying on your back with your hands down by your side.
Let your feet be floppy and gently close down your eyes as you start to settle into your meditation.
Take a full breath in through your nose and a long breath out through your mouth.
Another full breath in and a long breath out.
Notice how with each breath your body feels heavy,
Relaxed and still.
As you lie here with your eyes closed,
See if you can notice any sounds that are around you in this room.
Now extend your hearing out,
Outside of this room.
What sounds can you hear?
They might be quiet or loud.
Bring your hearing back inside the room and into yourself.
We count backwards and as we do you feel your body becoming heavy and still.
You feel safe and secure.
Here we go.
We count 10,
9,
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2 and 1.
You feel completely calm and relaxed.
Keeping your eyes closed,
I'd like you to imagine a beautiful glowing star just above your head.
Notice how it sparkles and shines.
Your star can be any colour you wish it to be.
Go ahead,
Choose a colour for your star.
As you breathe,
Your star comes closer to you and as it does,
You feel more calm and relaxed.
Your star floats over your face and you feel all the little muscles around your eyes relax.
You feel your cheeks relax.
Gently open and close your jaw one time and notice any tension that you might have there float away as the star moves down your body.
The star floats over your shoulders,
Down your arms and your hands,
Across your fingers making them feel soft and relaxed.
Your star floats over your body and you feel your back and belly relax and you become even more still.
Your star floats over your body,
You feel your back and belly relax.
Notice how your hips feel heavy as your star floats over them and continues down your legs,
All the way down to your feet and your toes.
As the star floats away,
Your whole body is completely still and relaxed.
I'd like you to imagine that you're sitting on a sofa in your front room.
It's all warm and cosy inside your house and you're wrapped up in a big soft willy jumper.
You look out of the window and you see that there's a storm building up outside.
Look up into the sky,
Can you see the heavy dark clouds?
You might see them as deep purple,
Black or grey or maybe another colour.
Can you think of a time when you have felt a storm building up inside you?
We can sometimes feel like this when we're angry.
Anger is an important emotion,
It shows us that there's something happening that needs our attention.
When anger storm clouds float into our lives,
They can sometimes be so powerful that they can take all our sunshine away.
We might feel so angry that our storm cloud lets out lightning and thunder.
When this happens,
We might do things or we might say things that hurt ourselves or others.
Think about something that's made you feel angry recently.
I'd like you to picture who you were with,
Where you were and what happened.
Can you bring the memory of what made you feel angry into your mind?
You might start to feel some anger rising from the memory.
If you do,
It's okay,
It's not going to be there for long.
Storm clouds empty and become lighter when it rains,
Just like our anger.
Rain is also the name of today's mindfulness practice.
The R in rain is for recognition.
Take a moment now to think about what made you angry.
What sentence can you say to yourself to recognise the anger you are feeling?
Maybe it's what he said hurt me or she didn't listen to me or something else.
Say to yourself the sentence that describes what made you feel angry.
The A in rain is for allow.
This means letting yourself feel your anger.
It may not feel very pleasant right now,
But we need to feel it so we can let go of it.
If we push down or ignore anger,
It won't go away,
It will just get bigger instead.
Say to yourself,
Yes,
I am angry.
I is for investigate.
Notice where you feel that anger in your body.
Is it in your head or in your chest or somewhere else?
Take a moment to notice where you feel the anger in your body.
The N in rain is for non-identification.
Your anger is an emotion that's visiting.
Just like a cloud,
It will float away.
We don't need to hold on to it because it's not part of us.
We can let it go.
We can use our breath to blow our angry storm clouds away.
Take a full breath in and a long breath out.
Take a big breath in,
Breathing kindness for yourself.
Take a breath out,
Breathing out your anger.
Breathing in kindness,
Breathing out anger.
Breathing in kindness to yourself,
Breathing out anger.
Notice how with each breath,
The anger shrinks and you start to feel calm and peaceful again.
Well done for letting your anger go.
When we practice rain,
We become more confident in noticing and releasing our emotions.
Instead of getting caught up in our anger,
We can let the rain wash it away.
The storm has eased and the rain is only falling gently now.
The sun is starting to break through the clouds.
Look up to the sky.
Can you see it?
Put on your raincoats and your boots.
Let's go outside and play in the rain.
You open the door and walk outside.
Look up to the sky and feel the fresh raindrops on your face.
It's so nice and refreshing.
The rain has made a big puddle.
What type of puddle do you want to create?
Is it a big muddy puddle?
Or a clear shallow puddle on the path?
Or maybe it's a different type of puddle altogether.
Create your own puddle.
Go ahead,
Jump in it.
Jump up and down.
And as you do,
Let go of any last bits of anger that might be inside you.
Let it all go.
When we let go of our anger,
It leaves room for us to experience more of the things that we enjoy.
You can now feel the warmth of the sun on your face.
Feels nice,
Doesn't it?
You look up and you see the most beautiful rainbow shining its colours across the sky.
All the colours of the rainbow sparkle,
They send their light down to you and fill you with peace and joy.
The rain has stopped now,
The clouds are parting and clear blue skies reappear.
And as it does,
You feel a smile spread out across your lips.
Notice this lovely warm feeling inside you,
How it glows within.
It's time now to slowly start bringing our attention back into the room.
Can you notice if there's any sounds around you?
You might be hearing sounds in the room.
Now extend your hearing to outside of the room.
Can you hear any sounds out there?
There may be quiet sounds or louder ones.
Bring your hearing back inside the room,
Back into yourself.
Become aware of your body lying in the room.
You might notice the temperature of the air on your face.
And slowly start to bring some movement into your body by wiggling your fingers and wiggling your toes.
Reach your hands up,
Reach your legs out long,
Have a big stretch.
You might even yawn.
Wrap your arms around yourself,
Give yourself a big hug and thank yourself for taking this time to look after and be kind to yourself.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes.
Congratulations on completing your Rain Cloud Meditation.
Namaste.
