This is the RAIN practice that can help us during times of emotional difficulty.
So let's start by settling into a comfortable position,
Feeling the contact of your body on the support underneath,
The feeling of your feet on the ground,
And if it feels right for you,
Taking a few deeper,
Longer breaths.
Breathing all the way in,
All the way out,
Again all the way in,
All the way out,
Letting go with the out-breath,
And a third time in your own time,
And letting your breathing return to its normal depth and pace,
And then taking some time to bring to mind a situation that you're finding challenging at the moment,
Scanning through your life and thinking of something that might be presenting you with some difficulty.
Nothing traumatic,
But just something that's presenting you with some challenges.
It might be that you've got a relationship challenge of some sort,
A physical health problem that you're dealing with,
Financial issues,
Something hard at work,
Or in the family.
Taking your time to bring that to mind,
And then when you've done so,
Letting yourself be in that situation,
Bringing to mind where you are when you feel most triggered by that situation,
Whether there are other people there,
The words that might be spoken.
It's as though you can see yourself in a movie frame,
And finding that point in that movie where you feel most challenged or most triggered by it,
Most reactive.
And then when you're in touch with those strong feelings,
We can begin the RAIN practice.
And RAIN is an acronym that R is the first,
And it stands for Recognize.
So we begin to recognize exactly what's going on for you at the moment.
What's the emotion that you feel most strongly in this situation?
Might it be fear,
Frustration,
Anger,
Worry?
You might even like to just whisper that word in your mind as a way of really being able to recognize it.
You might like to say it two or three times,
Whatever that emotion is.
And then we move on to the A of the RAIN practice,
Which stands for Allow,
Which is letting whatever it is be here.
We're not pushing it away.
We're not blocking it.
Nor are we drowning in it.
We're allowing it to be here as it is.
Allow is acknowledging the reality of the situation and letting it be here.
That doesn't mean that we agree with it or that we want it to be here.
It's just acknowledging,
Allowing that to be here.
And then we move on to the I of RAIN,
Which stands for Investigate.
So we get quite curious about what's going on for us.
We get intimate with the experience.
It can be helpful to ask yourself,
What am I believing right now?
Am I believing that this is permanent,
That it was my fault,
That I'm unlovable?
And whatever it is that you're feeling or believing,
Seeing how that expresses itself within your body,
What sensations do you feel in your body?
Is there a tightness,
A clamping,
Rigidity,
Numb,
Dull,
Aching?
And where do you feel it most strongly in the body?
Is it in the jaw,
The shoulders,
The belly?
Are the fingers tight?
Or is it somewhere else for you?
And so we're really tuning into the somatic experience of what it is that we're feeling.
And if it helps you,
You might like to place a hand on your heart to feel that connection that you've got.
A way of accompanying whatever it is that you're feeling in the part of the body where you notice this most distinctly.
And breathing.
You might imagine that you can breathe either into the place where your hand is resting on your heart,
If it is,
Or breathing into the part of the body where you're experiencing that emotion and that sensation most distinctly.
We're inviting and allowing that vulnerability to be here.
And as you do that,
We move on to the N of RAIN,
Which is NURTURE.
And you might sense what's most needed by you,
For you at the moment.
That part of you that's hurting,
What does it most need to feel as though it can be healed,
To feel as though it can be comforted?
Does that part of you need to feel loved?
Taken care of?
Supported?
Accepted?
Forgiven?
And seeing if you can offer that to yourself.
That offering might be in strengthening that hand against the heart.
It might be touching your hands together as a sense of connection.
Perhaps it's words that you could say to yourself,
Tuning in to see if that might be helpful.
Saying,
I'm here for you.
I know this hurts.
I won't leave you.
I forgive you.
We'll be okay.
You are okay.
I am okay.
Just sensing whatever the words are or the message that's going to be most nurturing for you at the moment.
And if that's hard for you to give those words to yourself,
Perhaps you can imagine a dear friend saying that to you,
Or maybe someone whom you respect,
Or a spiritual figure.
Imagining they're saying it to you.
It might even be a sense of nurturing and warmth,
Caring coming from a pet,
Or even just from the natural world in which we live.
Letting that sense of loving and caring and nurturance marinate inside of you.
And breathing,
Breathing.
You might like to pause before we finish just to tune in and notice,
Is there any greater sense of calm at the moment?
Is there any greater sense of ease or spaciousness inside of you?
Knowing that you can access this at any time by recognizing,
Allowing.
Investigating with kind curiosity and nurturing yourself.
And then whenever you're ready,
You're welcome to open your eyes if they were closed and continue with your day.
Thank you.
