When challenges arise, consider turning inward to check in. Tying what is happening around you to what is happening within you.
But how?
Mediation teacher Tara Brach shares a mindfulness practice she calls R.A.I.N: recognize, allow, investigate, and nurture. According to Brach, mindfulness is like a bird with two wings. One wing: being open and receptive to what “is” right here, right now. What’s often called being fully present. The other wing includes doing so with loving-kindness, compassion, and non-judgment for self and others.
With this practice, you have a guide for what to do when you gaze inward. Exploring your thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, emotions, body sensations. Not rushing to fix. But instead, just noticing. And nurturing yourself.
One tip: perhaps take notice of how imbalanced you feel before you practice. On a scale of 0-10 how much disturbance are you experiencing: zero is total calm and ten is the most disturbance you can imagine.
Then, after the R.A.I.N practice, take this measure again. You might notice that the “RAIN” has cleared away some of the disturbance. Just as when rain falls from the sky, leaving a sense of clearing, freshness, renewal.
I’ll share the practice in writing for you to download and review, followed by two videos of Tara guiding you through R.A.I.N:
Follow a guided R.A.I.N practice with Tara Brach below:
Tara offers a shorter version of this practice, calling it a “light” R.A.I.N. Please do not start with this one; but rather, try the longer version out first. Everyone wants a ‘quick fix,’ but through our work together I hope you know by now that short cuts often leave you falling short when it come to health and well-being.