Painful experiences are a part of everyday life, and can invoke any number of difficult emotions—anger, anxiety, fear, and so many more. The many disruptions of the past months including the pandemic, the fires over the summer, and now the election, have taken a toll on us all. Bringing mindful presence to our emotions helps us understand them and open space around them in order to respond in healthy ways.
Toward this end, RAIN is an invaluable tool. The acronym stands for:
R: recognize what is going on inside you
A: allow yourself to be fully present with it
I: investigate where the feelings reside in your body; what is familiar about them; what is most vulnerable
N: nurture what that vulnerable part needs
You can read more about the process in this introductory chapter from Tara Brach’s book Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN here.
Guidance with the process is helpful, and Tara Brach offers a number of guided meditations and other resources on her website:
- Bringing RAIN to Difficult Emotions: a 30-minute guided meditation You can access a pdf of this RAIN process here.
- Using RAIN to work with fear.
- Using RAIN to work with blame.
- Using RASIN to work with self-blame.
- Using RAIN to work with the wanting mind.
RAIN can be particularly powerful when practiced with a partner. Tara explains the process, and offers a guided practice, here.