When we’re upset, our first response is often to keep away from the ache we feel. But unfortunately, avoiding difficult feelings solely results in extra anxiety, stress, and heartache. Yet meditation is a highly effective tool that may assist you awaken consciousness and acceptance throughout difficult times. Specifically, studying how to make use of RAIN meditation, a type of meditation that lightly guides you whereas increasing your self-compassion, will provide the instruments you want to change the way you view yourself, your circumstances, and the world round you. Let’s begin.
What is RAIN Meditation?
First launched by Michele McDonald, RAIN is a type of meditation that focuses on 4 steps;
- R: Recognize what’s happening
- A: Accept and permit the thoughts, feelings, and sensations you acknowledged to be there
- I: Investigate the current second with kindness
- N: Non-identify to gain freedom from the painful experiences
The final letter, N, has been readapted by different meditation teachers like Tara Brach, who modified it to nurture. In her version, Tara believes “Nurture” ought to be a separate step by itself and involves nurturing your thoughts and physique after finishing the earlier steps. She additionally includes non-identifying on the finish to note the consciousness you cultivate. Yet, through its evolution, the purpose of RAIN has always remained to awaken self-compassion throughout moments of anxiety, trauma, and difficult emotions. For this article, we will focus on Tara’s version.
What Are the Benefits of RAIN Meditation?
Like any type of meditation, RAIN has a number of bodily and psychological benefits.
- Improved self-esteem
- Decreased depression and anxiety
- Better communication
- Reduced stress levels
- Improved emotional regulation
- Lower blood pressure
- Decreased bodily pain
- Soothes the nervous system
- Improved cognitive performance
- Increased happiness
How to Use RAIN Meditation
1. Find a quiet place
The first step to studying how to make use of rain meditation is to retreat to a quiet place, free from distractions. Then, sit comfortably or lie down and shut your eyes. Next, practice deep breathing or any different breathing exercise to assist you relax, focus your attention, and set the tone.
2. Recognize
Now bring your consideration to the current moment. Whether you’re anxious, depressed, or stressed, allow your self to note these shifting emotions. In this step, it’s useful to call the way you feel. For example, “Right now, I’m feeling angry, upset, and frustrated”. Or maybe you’re noticing difficult feelings are interfering with your life. Whatever you’re feeling, proceed to call any feelings, thoughts, or sensations and acknowledge what’s happening.
3. Accept
After recognition, you may really feel tempted to behave upon it…immediately. For example, you might imagine you want to solve the supply of your stress or create a plan. Or you may pile on the judgment for feeling the way you do. But rather than acting in your feelings or judging yourself, settle for how you’re currently feeling. Pause with your painful feelings and permit them to be as they are. In fact, accepting the resistance creates space for consciousness and reduces the energy of your difficult emotions.
4. Investigate with kindness
Now that you’ve accepted the way you feel, dive deeper and investigate. During this step, you’ll want to look at your feelings, thoughts, and sensations from a compassionate but curious stance. For example, pause and ask your self reflecting questions, such as “What is happening?”, “What does it really feel like?”, “How is my physique responding?” and “What am I believing?” These questions assist you uncover the core beliefs that add to your pain, “I am not enough” or “I am unlovable”. Therefore, you may fall down a rabbit gap of obsessive thinking. If this happens, pause and repeat steps 2-4.
5. Nurture
Since we’re following Tara Brach’s version, N stands for nurture. In this step, nurture your mind, body, and soul till you really feel comforted. To do this, do nothing; merely relaxation within the consciousness you’ve created and be gentle with yourself. After finishing the primary few steps, you’ll discover you’re no longer caught in thought traps. Your ache is much less and your consideration to the current second is strong. Therefore, enjoy this sense and bask in it.
6. Non-identify
After the RAIN meditation, discover the liberty from non-identification. Who you are is no longer attached to any limiting beliefs, emotions, stories, or sensations. You sat with your difficult feelings rather than avoiding them and learned how to create space for consciousness and acceptance. Take a second to relax and use this time to journal what you gained. For example, write about what has shifted for you and reflect on whether or not you really feel freer from the pain.
7. Practice
If you know you have a difficult emotion or experience, sit with this meditation and follow the steps. Or if you’re experiencing a difficult situation and have the space to step aside, use it then. Practicing it regularly will assist you return to a calmer state and assist you lower your fight-flight-or-freeze stress reaction.
Learning how to make use of RAIN meditation can be a difficult process. It involves sitting with your difficult feelings rather than running away from them. Therefore, take it slow, be kind to yourself, and take breaks if needed. And above all, remember that meditation is a gift. When you acknowledge patterns of pain, you learn to approach your self and your life with extra self-compassion, acceptance, and patience.
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