Compassion Meditation: RAIN

RAIN is one of the simplest, most powerful tools I know for meeting difficult emotions without getting swept away by them. This guided meditation walks you through the four steps - Recognise, Allow, Investigate, Nurture - so that instead of pushing feelings down or spiralling into them, you learn to sit with what's actually here.
This practice is especially supportive if you're a highly sensitive person who tends to absorb emotions (your own or everyone else's) and struggles to know where they end and the feeling begins. It helps with anxiety, overwhelm, self-criticism, and the habit of overriding what you feel because it seems easier than facing it.

Transcript

Welcome to this RAIN style meditation. The idea of this meditation is to offer yourself radical acceptance. And radical self-compassion. Which is often something we can overlook. Especially in times of difficulty. Often in times of difficulty. We can pinpoint the blame to ourselves or wish things would be different. Really the key to being with what is difficult. Is to offer ourself. Compassion. Through this lens of recognise, Allow. Investigate and nurture. This is not about pushing away what is coming on. It's simply a practice of being present with it. So just begin as you would normally. By allowing yourself to. . . Find a comfortable position. Maybe in a chair or meditation stool. And just begin to arrive exactly how you are. Allowing your eyes to close. Or your gaze to rest gently downward. Feeling the support beneath you, Maybe feel the weight of your body on the chair. Feeling your feet connect to the earth. And take a deep breath in. Allowing that exhale to be longer than the inhale. Inhaling to breathe in. And exhaling to breathe out. Just being present with the breath. Allowing it to come in exactly how it is in this moment. There is no right or wrong way. And now we will begin the practice of Recognise. So that's just gently, Inwardly. Just recognize what is here right now. And this doesn't need to be the whole story. It's just what's present in this moment, In this body right now. See if you can meet it the way you'd meet a friend arriving at your door. Perhaps laying out the Welkin map for it. And you might sense whatever is here as an emotion of grief, Of overwhelm, Exhaustion. Or you might sense it in the body. For there is a word that you can call it. And whatevers here, Simply recognising that it is enough. Just noticing. Without needing to change it. And now as best you can. Let's what's here simply be here. This is the process of allowing. Not fixed. Are pushed away or not made bigger. You might offer some silent words of this is allowed to be here. If there is a part of you that is resisting. Maybe there's a part that says you can't feel this, You shouldn't feel this. Let that voice be heard too. Everything is allowed into this space. There is no right or wrong way to feel. That is only what is true. And now we will begin to investigate. With gentle curiosity. Not analysing, Not probing. Just seeing a sense of where this lives in the body. If it didn't already make itself present. Maybe you can see if it lives in the chest. The throat, The stomach, The shoulders. Once you find it. Just let your attention rest there. Softly the way you'd rest a hand on someone you love. You might ask quietly from a place of real care. What does this mouse need right now? This isn't what you think you should need. This isn't too tough for now. It's just simply listening. Underneath the thinking. For what wants to be heard. And you may not get words back. You might simply feel a softening. Or a breath landing a little deeper than the last. That is an answer to. And if thoughts arise here about what others are thinking of you. Or what you're responsible for holding on their behalf. Or what you can't control. Just let those thoughts come in like clouds. Don't need to be solving. You don't need to be solving these. This moment belongs only to what is actually yours. Now we move into nurturing. Gently bring a hand to your heart or wherever feels most honest. And call on the wisest. Most compassionate part of you. Part of you that already knows how to love. And let that part speak to what's hurting. You might offer a simple phrase, Silently. I'm here with you. Or you're not alone in this. Or it's okay that this is hard. And just let yourself receive even if just for a little time. You don't have to believe it completely. You can just let this offering land. And if it feels true for you, You might also ask quietly, What is mine in this moment to carry? And what was never mine to carry at all. You don't need the full answer just right now. Just let this question rest in you like a seed. Your hand might be on your heart space or your abdomen. And just let that be your anchor. Something you can return to today. And just gently begin to notice the room around you. Maybe the sounds, The lights. Maybe the child beneath you. And take one more breath, A little fuller than the last. And let it go completely. And when you're ready in your own time, Just let your eyes open.