The RAIN Practice
Many of us are striving to lead a healthy lifestyle making sure to avoid processed foods, eating veggies and fruit, and incorporating some vitamins, supplements and exercise in our daily routine.
However, in spite of all that care, many people still do not feel at the top of their wellbeing scale.
On the other hand, many other people are not careful with their diets, do not exercise and yet they experience joy and enjoy perfect health.
The question that arises is what do our bodies really need to create a state of joy and wellbeing? What if how well you manage your emotions contribute more to your wellbeing than any other thing?
Caroline Myss, Ph.D. author and internationally renowned speaker in the fields of human consciousness, energy medicine, and the science of medical intuition, writes in her Anatomy of the Spirit, “Your biography becomes your biology.”
The feelings and emotions we experience bring wise messages in a language that is only expressed in the body: a knot in the stomach, a tightness in the throat, chest pain, back ache….
If those messages are ignored repeatedly, they may turn into pathology.
Our task is to pause, reflect, go within and listen to the unmet needs that are sometimes lying below conscious awareness.
One technology which is very effective for this practice is the acronym RAIN, originally created by the Insight Meditation Society teacher Michele McDonald over two decades ago, and discussed by Diana Winston in Wide Awake and Tara Brach in True Refuge.
We can use RAIN when we are dealing with emotions, sensations, thoughts and behaviors that bring us discomfort, pain and suffering.
This easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness consists of four steps:
R is for Recognize:
The R in RAIN stands for Recognizing what is going on in the moment. It is to notice what is happening.
While this may seem like a simple process, it is not easy. Many of us automatically react to situations without being present to what IS.
Instead of reflecting on the feelings we are experiencing, and then responding wisely, we tend to react automatically.
Recognizing the emotion helps us pause and self-reflect. It helps us bring our awareness inward, and meeting the trigger where is originates, that is inside.
A is for Accept.
Accept the experience just as it is, without judging it. Welcome the emotion or the sensation as a message, and allow it to express itself in the body.
You will neither indulge in the emotion nor resist it. You might want to breathe into the area of the body where you feel the sensation the strongest, and as you bring awareness to your feelings, notice if the sensations shift.
By allowing the experience to be, you create a space that lets you see more clearly into your own patterns and the nature of your emotions, and empowers you to respond more wisely to your life challenges.
I is for Investigate.
The idea here is to explore where in your body you are feeling the emotion. Bringing awareness to your physical sensations with kindness.
And just label the emotion like This is sadness. This is anger. This is fear, and let it express itself in the form of tears if necessary.
Then, ask yourself, What does this sadness, anger or fear feel like?
The heart might beat faster, you might experience a flush of energy, heat, or dizziness or a tightening of certain muscles.
You might want to breathe into the area of the body where you feel the sensation the strongest.
As you bring awareness to your feelings, notice if the sensation slowly shifts. You may also experience a shift in perspective.
You might notice more opening, relaxation, and a feeling of letting go, which dissolves and integrates the emotional energy.
If this process is not done, the emotional energy might get “stuck” in the body, and will eventually reemerge unexpectedly, or may turn into pathology.
N stands for two things:
- Not Identifying with the experience. In other words, what you just experienced is an emotional event that does not define who you are.You were the observer of the event, not the event itself.You brought awareness to your experience. This realization opens a new door to freedom.You experience anger, for example which does not make you and angry person.
- Nurturing This is the moment when you bring nurturing self-compassion to your experience.You allow yourself to notice, with warmth, self-compassion and no judgement, the suffering you went through, and allow a tender feeling to embrace your entire being.
Gradually, you will be able to go through these steps in less than a few seconds.
And this RAIN of self-compassion will help you cleanse your challenging emotions and learn from them.
RAIN gives you the possibility of getting to know yourself and the inclinations of your mind better.
With RAIN you have the opportunity to metabolize challenging emotions in a way that might not interfere with your wellbeing.
Incorporating RAIN into your daily routine may be the ingredient you need to experience the quality of wellbeing you are longing for.
Teaching us about the steps of RAIN is very helpful.