RAIN Down Under

I've been in Australia for the past two weeks. I was fortunate enough to be hired as a consultant by Smriti: School of Mindful Science, an emerging organization bringing mindfulness programs to schools and social service centers in the Sydney area. Their main objective is to bring mindfulness based programs to schools serving the Aboriginal communities. They are off to a great start and I feel blessed to be part of it.

My visit here is focused around three workshops, two for parents and one for educators wanting to bring mindfulness to kids. To both groups I've been highlighting the importance of self care. I thought I would share a wonderful tool that has been part of my training agenda.

R.A.I.N

I believe this acronym comes from Michelle McDonald, a Buddhist meditation teacher in the US. I’ve heard it used by many other meditation teachers as well such as James Baraz and Andrea Fella. I’d like to pass it on as just another practical tool. When you are experiencing difficult emotions, overwhelm, stress, or anxiety, RAIN is a simple step by step process to bring awareness, acceptance, and balance to your experience. Educators and parents may find this particularly helpful as school gets started.

Recognize – Knowing in the moment what emotions are being experienced. Sometimes labeling the emotion can be helpful.

Allow – In mindfulness all emotions are okay. Notice if you want to push it away or change the emotion. Aversion or judgment to an emotion is perfectly normal. With mindfulness we can begin to notice how our relationship to our emotions further complicates or stimulates them. Sometimes I use a deep breath to help aid me in the allowing process.

Investigate –Take an interest in your emotional experience. Notice how it affects your body and mental state. Getting to know our emotional landscape allows us to become more equipped to understand how our emotions are linked with certain habitual thoughts and emotional patterns. Moving our attention out of the mental storyline and into the physical experience of the emotion can also help us regulate and come to balance faster.

Non-identify – To have emotions is to be human. Sometimes we can become judgmental of our self due to our emotional responses. We take it personal. With mindfulness we can begin to let go of those judgments and identification. 

Using RAIN with strong emotions - See if you can recognize it and name it. See if there is any added layer of aversion or judgment. Breathe and ask yourself to “Allow” the emotion to be present by opening up to it best you can. Investigate it in the body; take an interest in how the emotion plays itself out in your body. As the emotion becomes less powerful or as your awareness increases, notice if an appropriate response (vs. habitual reaction) becomes more available. 

Smriti Founder, Araliya De Silva, has been teaching mindfulness to a local preschool. I got the opportunity to visit and teach some fun mindful breathing exercises. I've never taught to kids this young. The one smiling at the camera is only 2! They were a very mindful bunch and did a great job.