Welcome to this meditation that's focused on turning towards goodness and I'll be using Tara Brach's RAIN meditation format and this particular practice was inspired by one of Tara's guided practices that's called Nourishing Happiness with RAIN and please know everything in my guidance is all just suggestions and I always encourage you to do whatever works best for you as you engage in this meditation and you can start by finding whatever position allows you to feel as comfortable and as relaxed as possible in this moment.
You could have your eyes open or your eyes could be closed if that feels okay for you right now knowing you can open your eyes at any time and as you start to shift your attention inwards into your inner world you might like to start by noticing the parts of your body that are contacting surfaces under you and around you,
Noticing the contact points of your body touching these surfaces and and how you're really truly being held and supported in this in this moment by these things around you as well as the earth as well that's underneath us all the time and if you like sometimes it can be helpful at the start of the meditation to take some longer slower deeper breaths as a way to invite a bit of relaxation into your your body as well as allowing your body to let go of any stress and tension that it's ready to let go of.
This might be just lengthening your in-breath a little bit and also having and allowing your out-breath to be longer than it was before as well.
Just seeing what it's like to breathe like this and you can continue with this breathing as you would like or allow your breathing to come to a natural rhythm and with any meditation it's really normal and natural for the mind to wander away from what we're focusing on and anytime that that happens you can remind yourself that you haven't done anything wrong when that happens that's just what the mind does and each time you notice with some gentleness and kindness you can bring your attention back to what you're focusing on in the meditation and know that every time this happens no matter how many times it happens it really is strengthening your your mindfulness when you do this and then as we move into the the RAIN practice and with this being a RAIN practice that's a really focused on turning towards feelings of goodness the invitation is here as we start this is to bring to mind a memory of an experience you had that was really special to you where you find that just by thinking about it really easily brings up some feelings of goodness like maybe feeling safe,
Feeling a sense of well-being,
A sense of enjoyment,
You know something you're really grateful for that you've experienced and that's a special part of your life and it could be something that's even really small could be a time in nature,
A certain part of the natural world where you love spending time like being in the forest or by a beautiful body of water or maybe you're remembering an activity that you love doing maybe something involving moving your body like dancing or some sort of sport or maybe when you're doing a creative activity that makes you feel alive and connected to your most authentic self or you might be bringing to mind a really special animal,
An animal or even a bird you've seen in nature or a really special pet in your life or maybe it's bringing to mind a loved one,
A friend,
Really could be anything that just naturally brings up feelings for you that feel good and as you're connecting with these memories you could be doing this in any way that works for you.
Some people find as they bring things to mind they just naturally can sense into the experience.
Some people like to connect to sensory qualities in the memories,
Maybe certain sounds or sense of touch,
How things feel in your hands or how your body feels when you're moving or smells or maybe there's visual images you can bring to mind if you're a visual person and if it's ever hard to bring things to mind you may find it helpful to have your eyes open looking at something that's with you or around you that's connected to something special in your life and really memorable things to bring to mind.
And we're not trying to make anything happen when we're doing this.
This isn't about trying to feel a certain way.
It really is just about bringing things to mind and relaxing into the memories and the experiences we've had.
And as we move into the R of RAIN,
R is for recognize and here you get to recognize what you're experiencing in your body now that you've had some time to connect with the memories and these experiences in your life.
You're just seeing what's easy to notice.
There might be some sensations in your body that feel pleasant or at least somewhat neutral,
Maybe feelings of openness,
Warmth,
Tingling,
Aliveness or something else.
You might even be noticing some lighthearted emotions and you may not know exactly what those are or you might be able to name what you're feeling.
It might be gratitude,
Joy,
Awe,
Wonder,
Peace,
Safety,
Connection,
Love or something else.
It also might be hard to notice what's happening in your body and that's okay too.
Sometimes these sensations can be really subtle and harder to notice.
And if you're really having difficulty right in this moment connecting with a sensation,
You could even really just pay attention to sensations that might be in your hands right now or your feet.
You could have one hand holding the other hand,
Seeing how that feels or having one hand on your belly or another part of your body and tune in to and recognize what you're noticing there.
And then we move into the A of RAIN and A stands for allow.
This is about allowing space for what's here.
Knowing that anything and everything you're feeling all belongs.
This is all part of being human.
Really allowing ourselves to open to the pleasant feelings that are here that we're tuning into.
Really allowing ourselves to be with these feelings.
And we can also allow any unpleasant sensations or feelings that might be here as well.
You know,
Having them maybe be more in the background.
But we're not pushing them away.
They're allowed to be here as well.
And then we move into the I of RAIN and I stands for investigate or interest.
Because here we're bringing some real genuine curiosity to what's happening in our body.
Really deepening our mindfulness.
It's really turning towards the pleasant or neutral sensations and feelings.
If there's many happening,
You could choose one.
And just bringing some interest to what shape these feelings are.
And maybe curiosity about the size of them.
How big or how small they are.
Noticing if they're changing.
Are they moving?
Are they staying the same?
And here we can invite them to to move as they would like to.
Maybe inviting them to be as big and as full as they might want.
They may want to move and expand and feel more feel more of our body.
Maybe even filling the whole body.
Some people find it helpful to even see what it's like to allow their body and their face to express the pleasant feelings they're noticing.
This might mean sitting up a little bit more.
Or maybe there's an expression that comes over your face.
Just really being able to get to know these feelings in ways that work for you.
And then we move into the N of RAIN.
And N stands for nurture or nourish.
And here we get to really honor and appreciate these feelings of goodness that are a natural part of our human experience.
The opportunity is to savor these feelings.
Really allowing ourselves to feel them.
Giving ourselves the gift of taking time with these feelings.
Maybe even imagining that they are really expansive and supportive and surrounding us.
Bathing us.
Filling us.
And soaking into us.
Soaking in just like if we were sitting in the warmth of the sun.
Or in a warm bath.
Or sipping a warm drink.
Imagining these feelings of goodness really just coming deep into our body,
Into our mind,
In really soothing and supportive ways.
And then as we come to the end of the meditation,
The last part is called AFTER THE RAIN.
And here you just get to notice how you're feeling.
If there's any changes to how you're feeling compared to when you started.
You might not be noticing any differences.
You might be noticing some subtle shifts.
Or maybe some larger shifts that can be different every time we do this meditation.
There really is no right or wrong.
We're just noticing how we're feeling.
And even if you're not noticing anything different,
Just by taking the time to turn into your inner world with curiosity and care does have helpful benefits to your brain,
To your body,
To your nervous system.
Even when they're not obvious.
And I invite you to thank yourself for giving yourself the gift of taking the time out of your day to do this meditation.
It's not easy to do this.
To take time and thanking yourself for that.
And I thank you as well for meditating with me today.
