Welcome back to Practicing Human, the podcast where every day we are getting a little better at life.

I am your host, Kory Muscarra, and today I'm going to be sharing a simple mindfulness practice called rain.

Rain is an acronym and it's a practice that can be used in difficult situations.

I'll share more about that in a bit. First, let's settle in with the

bells, bringing your full focus and presence to the sound until it dissolves into silence. As I mentioned in yesterday's episode, I'm going to use these weekend sessions to offer short, simple, very practical exercises

that you can use in your day-to-day life.

Yes, this podcast is devoted to that each day,

but there are certain things that are more technique-based,

and Rain is one of those.

Originally created by the meditation teacher,

Michelle McDonald,

Rain is a four-part acronym that stands for recognize, allow, investigate,

and non-identification, all to be used specifically in relationship to difficult

circumstances. So I'll break those four down in this episode. First, recognize

the experience.

This is pretty straightforward.

It's essentially our willingness to turn toward

what actually is present right now?

What am I feeling?

Where is it in my body? What am I feeling? Where is it in my body? What am I thinking about? And even though this is simple, the

willingness to be truthful with your experience, to acknowledge and recognize, oh, this is what's here now,

is the first step to not being controlled by that experience.

...