Using RAIN for Difficult Emotions and Thoughts

RAIN stands for Recognize

You can use it with any experience, make it a stand-alone meditation practice, and return to it with ease in daily life.

It is especially helpful with difficult emotions and thoughts.

Sit comfortably and begin bringing your awareness to your present-time experience.

Give yourself a minute or two after closing the eyes to notice what you hear, what you feel in the body, and what is occurring in the mind.

Bringing up a difficult experience or emotion, start with recognition.

Recognize the thoughts coming up, the sensations in the body, and the critical inner voice you often hear.

Spend a few minutes just acknowledging the presence of the difficulty, tuning in to the different ways it manifests in your experience.

Move to the next phase: allowance or acceptance.

With unpleasant emotions, the habit of the mind is to try to get rid of these experiences.

Instead, allow it to be present in you.

You may try offering this simple phrase of equanimity and acceptance:

“Right now, it’s like this.”