R.A.I.N
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice for working with difficult emotions, associated with Michele McDonald. Recognize names what is present, whether it is an emotion, a thought, or a physical sensation. Allow permits the experience to exist without suppressing or acting on it. Investigate turns attention to the felt experience in the body, such as tightness or heat, with an attitude of curiosity. Non-identification means relating to the experience as something observed rather than as a definition of the self. The practice assumes the person can direct attention deliberately.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use naming: identify the emotion or thought in a word or two as soon as you notice it. - Use allowance: let the experience be present without trying to fix or remove it. - Use observer stance: describe the sensation in the body rather than saying you are the emotion.
Anchor fast decisions
A strong emotion tends to absorb attention, so the person experiences it as a description of reality rather than as a state, leaving no room to choose a response. Naming it creates the first separation, since labeling requires a vantage point outside the experience. Allowing prevents the secondary struggle against the emotion, which often adds more distress than the original state. Directing attention to bodily sensation gives the experience a location and shape, and non-identification generalizes that distance.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Brachverified
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