Use this Mindfulness Practice for Self-Compassion

 

This technique was developed by Michele McDonald, Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Non-Identification (RAIN). It’s a four-step mindfulness technique used to ease stress and improve self-compassion. This meditation is great for when you’re feeling ungrounded, experiencing anxiety or stress.

How to practice RAIN

  1. Recognize - Turn inward and notice which emotion you’re experiencing. Name them with compassion. By naming your emotion - you’re empowering yourself.

  1. Allow - Sit with this emotion. Feel it without trying to change it or judge it. Give yourself permission to feel and allow this emotion to flow through you.

  2. Investigate - Explore this emotion. How does it feel in your body? Are you feeling any physical tension? Name where you’re noticing this emotion and where you might be holding it in your body.

  3. Nurture - Proceed with self-compassion. Give yourself permission to be gentle with yourself, find ease in those spaces of tension, and remind yourself that you’re enough.

After this practice, you can journal your experience or sit with it for a moment and notice how you felt before and how you feel afterwards. Notice the change and the way your mind + body finds ease though mindfulness.

 
Molly Black