This is the Rain of Self-Compassion Meditation and it comes from the work of meditation teacher Tara Brach.
Please find a comfortable upright position,
Letting your eyes close either partially or fully.
And if you like putting a hand over your heart or in some other soothing place,
Just as a reminder to bring not just awareness but kind,
Loving awareness both to yourself and to your experience.
You can let your hand rest here if you like or let it return to your lap.
So now taking a few deep,
Relaxing breaths and feeling the sensations of breathing.
You'll be noticing the way the breath nourishes the body on each inhale and the way the body relaxes a bit on each exhale.
Just feeling the body breathing.
And now gently turning your awareness inward and noticing a place in your life where you're criticizing yourself.
Maybe it's in a relationship with another person in your personal life or work or maybe it's some habit that you think you should not be engaging in or some way that you're doing something that you don't think is okay.
So where are you telling yourself that how you are,
How you feel,
What you're doing is not okay?
Letting yourself gently feel into that and noticing what it's like,
The felt sense in your body when you judge yourself.
And then beginning the reign of self-compassion with the R of RAIN and that's recognizing what's happening.
So I'm blaming myself,
I'm at war with myself,
I'm suffering in self-judgment,
I'm suffering in self-blame.
Bringing mindfulness to this experience,
To what Tara Brach calls the trance of unworthiness.
So recognizing,
Recognizing that that's happening.
And then allowing this to be here.
This is the A of RAIN.
Allowing this to be happening without having to fix it or change it or make it go away.
So maybe saying silently to yourself,
Whispering to yourself,
This is how it is right now.
This is how it is right now.
And now beginning to investigate.
This is the I of RAIN,
Investigating with warm curiosity,
With a kind of respect and gentleness.
What's it like when I'm suffering in self-judgment?
When I'm in this trance of unworthiness?
What am I believing about myself or other people?
Is it that I should be different or that someone else should be different?
What's the belief that it's always going to be this way,
That I'm bad,
That I'm unlovable,
I'll never be enough or I'll never be good enough?
So just sensing what the core belief might be here.
And then really importantly investigating,
How do I feel in my body?
So when you're really feeling down on yourself,
How do you feel in your throat,
Your heart,
Your belly,
Other areas of your body?
This is really the most important part of investigating.
Connecting with your body and recognizing what the embodied experience of self-judgment is,
What it feels like.
And then sensing the most vulnerable part of you right now,
Where you really feel the worst.
Just sensing,
Investigating,
What does this part most need?
What's your best guess?
This part that feels like it's not enough or not okay.
Does it need to be seen,
Loved,
Understood,
Held,
Accepted,
Does it need to belong?
And as you're sensing into this most vulnerable part where you feel the worst,
Just try putting your hand on your heart if that feels right or some other soothing place.
And now turning toward the end of RAIN,
Nourishing,
Nurturing,
Seeing if you can offer what this part most needs inwardly.
So you might do that just by your soothing touch or you might offer some caring words.
Maybe it's okay or I love you.
However you feel is okay or I'm here with you,
You're not alone.
Or maybe you can sense the universe or the divine or your true nature or the ocean of compassion itself flowing through you,
Just seeing if you can open to the possibility of calling on this power of love and offering it inward as best you can,
Nourishing,
Nurturing this most vulnerable part of you with self-compassion.
And opening your mind to what this nourishment might look like.
It might look like light,
Energy,
A word,
Phrase,
Just noticing,
Not overthinking,
An offering and knowing just your willingness to do this,
To do this meditation,
To turn toward this part in this way,
However imperfectly,
Just your willingness to experiment with this way of relating to yourself.
It begins to build a new habit,
Begins to build or it builds on this capacity that you have to be kind to yourself.
And now simply taking a moment to inquire and notice who am I?
Who would I be if nothing was wrong?
If I was lovable just the way I am?
Who would I be if I made sense?
If how I am right now made sense?
And just sitting with this right now as an open question.
Getting into this open question,
This mystery,
This open question that you are when you relate to self-judgment with the reign of self-compassion.
And then for now letting go of this practice and resting quietly in your own experience,
Noticing how you feel,
Allowing yourself to be just the way you are as best you can.
And then as you feel ready,
Gently opening your eyes.
How it Milwaukee.
Come on.
