R A I N

Moving through an emotional experience: 

I have been reading some work by Tara Brach, a wonderful mindfulness teacher. I highly recommend any of her work, and wanted to share a helpful tool I came across. 

R A I N is an acronym that stands for recognize, allow, investigate, and nurture. Rain can be used to weather any storm of life. All the meditation training in the world cannot take the turbulence of life, nothing we do can stop life from life-ing. However, we can learn to ride through the waves of any strom life throws our way by leaning into those feelings, allowing them to be, offering ourselves to live along the way while we investigate with love and care where the roots are. 

R ecognize the sensations in the body, recognize the feelings.

A llow and acknowledge those emotions without judgement. Allow them to simply be.

I nvestigate and explore the roots of those feelings with curiosity & kindness.

N urture yourself as you tend to this emotional experience with love, practice self-compassion.

Learning how to shift our awareness this way, we can take the time to feel our feelings, explore where they are coming from, and offer ourselves love and care in the moments of need. We can begin to regulate ourselves better and move through those hard feelings instead of becoming entrenched in them. By doing this we can move with more ease through life. 

“My anxiety hasn't gone away, but something fundamental has changed. The anxiety doesn't take over. I don't get lost in the dense forest of trance. Instead, when I pause and then shift my attention from my story about getting things done to my actual experience in my body and heart, there's a spontaneous shift to increased presence and kindness.”