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Advanced · Emotion8 minutes

RAIN

If you've done this before

For a feeling you've been managing around for days without actually facing.

  1. Recognise. Name what's here in one word. Fear. Grief. Rage. Emptiness.
  2. Allow. Let it be there without fixing, arguing, or explaining it. Say this belongs — even if you don't mean it yet.
  3. Investigate. Where is it in the body? What does it believe? What does it most need right now — to be safe, seen, forgiven, held?
  4. Nurture. Offer that thing. A hand on the chest, a sentence said inwardly, an image of someone who'd give it to you.
  5. Sit for a moment afterward in what's left. That residue is the point of the practice, not the four steps.

Why it works: Most of us skip from recognise straight to fix. RAIN forces the two steps in between — allowing and investigating — which is where the feeling actually gets metabolised rather than suppressed. Developed and popularised by Tara Brach.

There's a longer guided version: Self-Compassion video