RAIN Practice: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For RAIN Practice, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
About 2 minutes
Try it here: a two-minute mini-RAIN
Spend two minutes moving through the four RAIN steps with one moment you are struggling with.
Pick one moment you are struggling with, then start the timer.
Practices that may help
- RAIN Meditation: Tara Brach’s Four-Step Practice
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol. - Mini-RAIN: a 2-minute version for mid-day use
Apply the four steps rapidly in 2 minutes to break emotional reactivity in the middle of a difficult moment.
RAIN Meditation: Tara Brach’s Four-Step Practice - After RAIN: resting in natural, open awareness
After the four steps, rest in the open awareness that remains — not returning immediately to doing.
RAIN Meditation: Tara Brach’s Four-Step Practice - Radical Acceptance, Made Practical
Radical acceptance, taught by Tara Brach and rooted in dialectical behavior therapy, means fully acknowledging reality as it is — including pain you cannot change — instead of fighting it. The point is not approval or giving up; it is to stop the extra suffering that resistance adds on top of the original pain. Acceptance-based skills are well-established in clinical practice (DBT, ACT); RAIN is a practitioner framework for applying them. - Bearing the darkness of not-knowing
Tolerate the felt absence of light, experience, or consolation during the practice.
The Cloud of Unknowing: Contemplation Beyond Concepts - Practice routine disruption so it doesn’t derail performance
Train yourself to reset and re-enter the routine after interruptions so disruption never catches you unprepared.
Pre-Performance Routines, Made Practical - Make it a recurring ritual
Schedule forest bathing as a repeating practice rather than a one-off mood rescue.
Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku), Honestly Explained - Worst-case rehearsal (take the shock out)
Calmly rehearse a likely setback in advance so it arrives expected, not as an ambush.
Premeditatio Malorum, in Depth - RAIN — Recognize what is happening
Pause and name the emotion or experience present right now, without editing it.
Radical Acceptance, Made Practical - Practise with the unexpected
When things go wrong unexpectedly, use that moment as the actual practice rather than a break from it.
Lojong: Tibetan Mind Training
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Something just got to me in the middle of my day and I can feel myself reacting, but I’ve only got a couple of minutes before I have to keep going
- When I finally work through a hard feeling I rush straight back into doing and it all snaps shut again
- My prayer has gone completely dry
- My prep works fine until something interrupts it
- I only ever go to nature when I’m already fried and desperate for relief, like an emergency brake
Related concerns
- Rain Method Tara
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol.
- Rain Practice Tara
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol.
- 2 Minute Rain Practice
Apply the four steps rapidly in 2 minutes to break emotional reactivity in the middle of a difficult moment.
Mini-RAIN: a 2-minute version for mid-day use
- Rain Acronym Meditation
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol.
- Rain Acronym Mindfulness
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol.
- Rain Allow
RAIN is a four-step mindfulness practice developed by Tara Brach that stands for Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Nurture. It is designed to meet difficult emotions — fear, shame, grief, anger — with mindful awareness rather than avoidance or overwhelm. The steps draw on mechanisms shared with acceptance-based therapies (ACT, MSC, MBCT); the RAIN sequence itself is practitioner-developed and not yet independently trialed as a protocol.
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