Meditation For Curiosity Rain Method

This is a meditation for inquiry and curiosity using the Rain method. This can be practiced sitting up or lying down and suitable for everyone. RAIN meditation is a mindfulness technique. In this guided meditation we will maintain awareness of our surroundings along with the thoughts and feelings that accompany them without judgment. We remove judgment and replace instead with curiosity, exploring multi-levels of experience and developing a deeper understanding of our internal and external world.

Transcript

Hello, Welcome to today's practice. My name is Tiffany and I will be guiding us through this practice today. Today's meditation practice is all about curiosity and we're going to be using a method called RAIN. So make sure you're in something comfortable. Maybe elevate your hips up on a bolster or on a blanket. You can even sit in a chair to do this practice. And whenever you're ready, Meet me on the cushion. Welcome back. I trust that you have found yourself in a comfortable and seated position using any necessary props that you need to maintain your comfort throughout this practice today. So today's practice is called the RAIN method. And the RAIN method is a great practice, A great meditation practice that we can use when we're wanting to explore with a little more curiosity. And so I'm going to flow through what the acronym of RAIN stands for. R stands for recognize, A stands for allow, I stands for investigate, And N stands for nurturing. And so we're going to be using this method so that we can explore with a state of curiosity and open mindedness. This is oftentimes, Though, Where creativity lies, Where solutions to problems lie, And also connection to others. So if you haven't done so already, Go ahead and allow the hands to come into the lap, Maybe on the knees. You can also practice with one hand on the heart and one hand on the belly. And then become aware of the breath. Maybe you're noticing the rise and the fall of the belly. Maybe the rise and fall of the chest. Or maybe the airflow in and out of the nostrils. And now bring to mind a situation that maybe you're dealing with on a light level. So this doesn't have to be anything traumatic or any type of very troublesome situation. But maybe it's just something small going on at work or something, Maybe a little debate back and forth between you and your spouse or maybe your children. And maybe you find that it makes you a little bit more either angry or frustrated, Then you know that it really should. And then recall any of the details, Maybe from the last conversation or the last interaction or clash that you had with one another. It can also be something just as simple as the frustration of maybe standing in a line too long, Or maybe you're not one to handle traffic very well. And then allow these feelings to be here. So we're recognizing the situation for what it is. We're not trying to change anything. We know exactly what's going on. And then allow this frustration or maybe anger. Maybe feel inconvenienced. Allow this to just be here. And we're not trying to make it okay. We're just allowing it to be present. And now we're going to move forward into investigate. And now that we've recognized the situation for what it is, We're allowing it to be present. We're allowing all the feelings and the emotions. Now we're going to investigate. And we're not going to investigate by way of this is wrong because of that or they did this so this and this happened. But we're going to investigate by noticing where we're feeling this in the body. So maybe you're feeling this in the belly. Maybe there's a tinge in the heart. Constriction in the throat. Laboring in the breath. Maybe there is the tendency for the for the mind to just start chattering over and over again. And as you begin to notice where you feel this in the body. Become aware of the breath. Allow the investigation to be present. Let's see if you can just take a few moments to hold this space. And now moving on to the last part of this rain practice. And this is nurturing and self compassion. So there's a lot of emotions that can come up in rain. But nurturing and self compassion allows for whatever to be here exactly the way it is and then offering yourself some loving kindness. And so how do we practice nurturing? Well, It's a really simple technique of just bringing to mind something that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. So maybe that's just your fur baby. Maybe it's the smile of your child. Maybe the love from your parents. And or maybe it's just a bright, Beautiful, Sunny day. Maybe you like the ocean. Whatever it is that brings a sense of calm and peace to the body and to the mind. And then when you bring this awareness here, Nurturing, Then begin to breathe into that space. And so as we finish up our rain method, You can use this practice over and over in a formal setting like we're doing right now in our meditation practice. Or we can do this very quickly. Maybe when we're standing in the line at the grocery store. Maybe when you're having a conversation with somebody and you notice maybe there's a little tension in the flow. That's a lighter version of rain. Remember, We just want to recognize what is here and what is present. We're allowing whatever is here to be here without distraction or pushing it away. We're investigating where we feel this in the body. And once we have finished up with investigating, Then we can move into the nurturing, Allowing ourself the love and compassion that we need to be fully aware and fully present with what is happening. So just taking one minute to receive our rain practice. And when you're ready to move forward, Proceeding on with your day. Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me. Namaste.