Resources ~ RAIN: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture

The acronym RAIN is an easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness and compassion using the following four steps:

Recognize what is happening;

Allow the experience to be there, just as it is;

Investigate with interest and care;

Nurture with self-compassion.

You can take your time and explore RAIN as a stand-alone meditation or move through the steps whenever challenging feelings arise.

Visit the RAIN of Self-Compassion for a full description of the steps, including some translations to other languages.

Note: A Change in the Acronym RAIN:
There have been two primary forms of the RAIN acronym circulating in the meditation spheres, and we would like to clarify between the earlier and more recently updated versions. (read more)

Here are some talks and meditations that you might find helpful:

Part 1 – Healing Anxiety – How Meditation Frees Us

Anxiety and the fear of failure is a pervasive suffering around the world. It is also increasing—along with the...

Survival of the Nurtured – Our Path to Belonging

“We are not the survival of the fittest. We are the survival of the nurtured.” — Louis Cozolino We...

Healing Depression with Meditation - Part 2

Part 2: Healing Depression with Meditation

Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of...

TaraTalks: Meditation – RAIN: Working with Difficult Emotions (11:43 min.)

This guided practice applies mindfulness and self-compassion to challenging emotions. It is based on the acronym RAIN, and provides...

Eating Addiction: How Meditation Helps Free Us

Buddhist psychology views clinging as the source of suffering, and one of the great domains of clinging is compulsive...

After the RAIN (retreat talk)

This talk offers an in-depth exploration of RAIN, applying the wings of mindfulness and compassion to painful domains of...

Meditating with RAIN (11:43 min.)

This guided practice applies mindfulness and self-compassion to challenging emotions. It is based on the acronym RAIN, and provides...

Dissolving Trance with RAIN

One of the pervasive expressions of trance is identifying with a limited and separate sense of self. This talk...

Meditation Instructions with RAIN from Retreat

Meditation Instructions – RAIN and Question-Response (14:23 min)

Tara gives morning instruction on retreat including RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nourish), then responds to questions from retreatants. Includes...

The RAIN of Forgiveness

The capacity to release the armoring of hatred and blame is intrinsic to our evolving consciousness. This talk explores...

Reflection: RAIN - A Guide to Embodied Presence

Reflection: RAIN – A Guide for Embodied Presence (8:13)

We have deep conditioning to disconnect from our body’s awareness and, in so doing, leave the site of our...

Reflection: RAIN – Entering the Wilderness (10:10 min)

This short reflection, guided by the acronym RAIN, engages mindfulness and compassion as we open to life that we’ve...

Blog: RAIN de la Auto-Compasión

• Ver o descargar la versión PDF Nota: La palabra RAIN en inglés es LLUVIA. Sin embargo, hemos decidido...

Reflection: The Power of Inquiry – Untangling Emotional Tangles (10:30 min)

This short meditation helps us get unstuck from emotional difficulty with the practice of Inquiry. We use the acronym...

Meditation: The RAIN of Self-Compassion (10:42 min)

This meditation is included at the end of the RAIN of Self-Compassion talk. This talk explores three key features...

The RAIN of Self-Compassion

This talk explores three key features of the trance of unworthiness and introduces a guided meditation based on the...

RAIN – Cultivating a Mindful Awareness

The acronym RAIN is a powerful tool for interrupting habitual patterns of emotional reactivity and discovering the freedom of...

Former version of RAIN:
Recognize what is happening (roots of understanding)
Allow life to be just as it is (grounds of love)
Investigate with kindness (deepens understanding and care)
Non-Identification (realizing freedom from narrow identity)

Updated RAIN:
Recognize what is happening (roots of understanding)
Allow life to be just as it is (grounds of love)
Investigate with gentle attention (deepens understanding)
Nurture (awakens love)
After the RAIN (realizing freedom from narrow identity)

In the former version, the I-Investigate, included an attitude of care, but we’ve found that the RAIN process is more transformative when N-Nurture is intentionally engaged as a full step on its own.

The essence of a healing attention is understanding and love. In the updated version of RAIN above, each of these qualities is directly cultivated.

You might wonder how the Non-Identification step from the former version fits into the new version. When you’ve completed the active steps of RAIN, it’s important to simply notice your own presence and rest in that wakeful, tender space of awareness. In the same way that the earth blossoms following a spring shower, after RAIN, realization naturally arises as to our true nature. We are no longer identified with passing states like fear or anger; we are free to inhabit the wholeness of our Being.