Connecting to your JOY … or, to any one of your emotions, really.

This weekend during our most recent Mindful Mamas Support Group, we explored a meditation practice centered around some of the work from American Psychologist & Buddhist Meditation Teacher, Tara Brach, and her acronym, RAIN:  Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture. 

We began in a simple seat on couches and chairs, wherever anyone felt the most comfortable.  Then we invited our hands positioned in a mudra (gesture) that supports contemplation, known as ‘Buddha Mudra.’ For those who identify as feminine/female, you would place the back of your left hand in the palm of your right, with thumbs coming to touch (the opposite for those who identify as masculine/male).

It moves from there much like other meditations: after recognizing yourself in the context of the environment (eg: feeling yourself on the couch, wiggling toes, sensing the temperature of the room on your skin), you slowly begin to pay attention to your breathing.  From here, I led the group in a meditation around JOY.

We recalled from prior experiences, maybe from the previous 24-hours, the previous week or two, a moment during which we experienced and felt in our body utmost JOY.

I continued to encourage the group to pay attention to their breathing, as well as other physiological indicators that JOY was being felt in their bodies. This could range from that ‘butterfly feeling’ in the belly, to a quickened heart rate, or a smile across your face (and many more).

Recognize:  identify the feeling you want to meditate on.
Allow:  invite the feeling or experience back into your mind/body.
Investigate:  become curious about the feeling or experience by asking questions, staying with it now.
Nurture:  welcome the feeling and physiology to exist in consciousness for up to 10 minutes.

This brief, but powerful, meditation can be applied to any one of our many feelings or emotions experienced.  I have encouraged clients in the past to especially invite “RAIN” into a meditation practice if sensing a barrier to one of the often perceived ‘negative’ feelings such as ANGER, SADNESS, or MISTRUST.

What would happen if we stay curious, rather than try to fix or solve things?  How might we invite Radical Acceptance and truths for what they are in our life, instead of trying to block them or repress them?

*Be sure to check back soon on my Events page for an upcoming Live Webinar with myself and Elizabeth Earnshaw, practice owner at A Better Life Therapy, on Mindful Connections with Your Partner!*