Hi folks, welcome to this month’s guided meditation on recognizing and allowing what’s present.
Last week, I wrote about the RAIN practice. RAIN is an acronym that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture.
In this practice, we’ll be focusing on the first two steps: recognizing and allowing.
Recognize means seeing clearly what’s happening inside of us in any given moment. Allow means practicing not resisting what’s happening inside of us and allowing our experience to be here.
I like to focus on these first two steps of the RAIN practice because they really enable the other two steps. It can be difficult, and it takes a lot of practice, to say yes to something that feels really painful or overwhelming inside. And it can be very hard to investigate and nurture something that we aren’t able to stay with long enough to become curious about.
So I like to put a lot of emphasis on these steps in the beginning because they make the investigation and nurturing much easier and more fruitful.
We’ll begin the practice with mindfulness of the breath, or your chosen anchor, and establish this as a safe place for you — your anchor to the present moment that you can always return to if you need to.
Then I’ll invite you to bring to mind a situation in your life. It could be something recent or something from the past that was difficult for you.
It could be a conversation that you regret. It could be an illness. It could be a loss or something that you’re grieving. It could be an addiction or an unhelpful habit that you don’t feel good about.
Whatever you choose, try to choose something that is about a 3 to 5 out of 10 in terms of how difficult it feels for you. We don’t want to start with something that feels like too much. We want to begin with something manageable.
So I’m going to give you about a minute right now to scan your life and notice what comes up that you might like to work with in this practice.
(Pause)
Okay. Hopefully by this point you’ve found something that feels alive for you — something you’d like to work with.
During the practice, I’ll invite you to bring this situation to mind, practice recognizing it, seeing it clearly, and then allowing whatever emotions, sensations, or experiences arise to be present without judgment.
If at any point you feel overwhelmed or like it’s too much, you can always come back to your anchor.
If coming back to your anchor doesn’t feel like enough, you can open your eyes, look around the room, notice your feet on the ground, or feel the places where your body is touching the chair.
And if that still doesn’t help, I invite you to find someone you trust and connect with them for support and comfort.
As always, everything I say is an invitation or suggestion. If anything doesn’t feel right to you for any reason, you don’t have to do it.
I’ll start and end the meditation with the bell, and I’ll give you a one-minute warning when we’re getting close to the end.
Okay, we’ll begin by finding a way to sit that feels both comfortable and alert. You might be sitting in a chair, on a meditation cushion, or standing. If you’re not feeling overly tired or sleepy, you could also lie down.
If it feels okay, you can close your eyes. If closing your eyes doesn’t feel comfortable right now, that’s okay. You can keep them open with your gaze soft and resting on the floor in front of you.
Now bringing your attention to your breath.
I’m going to invite you to breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth, allowing the inhale and exhale to be about the same length.
You might try counting to five on the inhale and five on the exhale.
Just allowing four or five breaths in this way — slow and steady.
(Pause)
Now allowing your breath to return to its natural rhythm.
You might notice a place where it feels easiest to feel your breath moving in and out of your body. Allow your attention to rest there.
Or you could choose another anchor, such as the sensation of your feet on the floor or the sounds you hear around you.
Just establishing your home base for this practice — a place you can always return to if you become distracted or things begin to feel like too much.
Now noticing where your mind is right now.
Maybe it has drifted away from the present moment into a thought, a story, or a distraction.
Gently bringing it back to the present moment.
If you’re drifting into thought, that’s okay. Thinking is natural.
You might notice where your mind has gone.
Is it imagining what the practice will be like?
Remembering the experience you brought up earlier?
Noticing an ache or sensation in your body?
Wherever it has gone, kindly bringing your attention back.
That is the practice.
Now we’ll begin the Recognize step.
I’ll invite you to bring to mind the situation you thought of earlier — something difficult that brings up strong emotions, repetitive thoughts, or something that feels challenging to be with.
Visualize the scene.
Notice where you were.
Any words that were spoken.
Any words that were left unsaid.
Any beliefs or stories you have about the situation or the people involved.
The invitation here is simply to see it clearly.
Give this about two minutes of space.
(Pause)
Thank you.
For these last 30 seconds, notice if your mind has drifted away from direct contact with the experience and into storytelling or thinking about something else.
And if it has, gently come back to witnessing this experience clearly, just as it is right now.
(Pause)
Now moving into the Allow step.
In this step, we’re essentially saying yes to this experience.
Not necessarily saying that we’re okay with what happened, but acknowledging that right now, this is what is here.
These feelings are present, and they can be here.
It’s okay for the emotion to live in our body. It’s okay for the sensations created by that emotion to be present.
Allowing might look like saying inwardly, “yes,” “okay,” or “I consent.”
This can be here.
If another word naturally comes to mind, feel free to offer it silently to yourself.
I’ll give about two minutes for this part of the practice.
(Pause)
Thank you.
If you notice yourself drifting into thinking away from the difficulty, that’s okay. That’s normal.
Just as we practice with mindfulness of the breath, we gently return to direct contact with the experience.
(Pause)
Okay, now we’ll begin transitioning out of the Allow step and back into mindfulness of the breath or your chosen anchor for this last minute of practice.
Bringing your awareness to your breath, your feet on the ground, or whatever your preferred anchor is.
Offering it your strong and steady attention.
Noticing any thoughts, emotions, or remnants of the RAIN practice that return to your awareness.
You can name them.
You can offer them care.
And then gently return to your anchor and the present moment.
(Pause)
Okay.
Take your time coming back into your space.
Open your eyes.
Feel free to stretch, move your body, or do whatever movement feels needed.
Have a sip of tea.
Notice what you need, and see if you can offer that to yourself.
I really want to thank you for joining me in this practice.
If any questions come up, feel free to post them in the comments or reach out to me directly by replying to the email you received.
And if this practice resonates with you and you can think of someone else who might appreciate it, I encourage you to share it with them.
I hope it’s been of benefit to you, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Take care.
