Coaching practices for Rising Falling Meditation
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Rising Falling Meditation, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- When I finally work through a hard feeling I rush straight back into doing and it all snaps shut again
- Every time I try to just sit and watch my breath, my mind slips off into thought within seconds
- I calm down for a minute with my eyes closed, but the second I open them and step back into the room I snap right back into the same tight, tunnel-visioned reactivity
- I’m brand new to this and when I try to meditate my mind just wanders off and I don’t even notice for minutes
- A few minutes into sitting and I’m fogged-over and heavy, my head nodding, fighting to stay awake
Practices that may help
- 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 - Basic noting — rising and falling
Label the physical sensations of breath as "rising" on the inhale and "falling" on the exhale.
Noting Practice, Made Practical - 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. - Expand: widen awareness back to body and situation
After the breath anchor, expand attention outward to include the whole body and the surrounding moment.
The Three-Minute Breathing Space - Counting the breath (susokukan)
Count breaths from one to ten and start over, a traditional on-ramp to a steady mind.
Zen Practice (Zazen and Beyond) - Working with sloth-and-torpor (thina-middha)
Dullness and sleepiness in meditation require energising antidotes, not more settling.
The Five Hindrances: Diagnosing and Working with Meditation Obstacles - Working with restlessness-and-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca)
Restlessness and worry require settling, earthing, and narrowing the attentional field — not more vigilance.
The Five Hindrances: Diagnosing and Working with Meditation Obstacles - Group and retreats — the Zen sesshin context
Understand the role of structured retreat periods in deepening breath counting beyond what daily practice alone achieves.
Breath Counting Meditation - Balance torpor and agitation
When the mind dulls, energise it; when it races, settle it.
Shamatha: The Buddhist Practice of Calm Abiding - Develop introspective metacognition
Train the ability to notice, in real time, when attention has wandered — before you’ve been distracted for a long time.
Shamatha: The Buddhist Practice of Calm Abiding
Related concerns
- How To Recover In Meditation
Treat losing count not as failure but as the most useful moment in the practice — the instant you catch mind-wandering.
The restart — losing count as the practice
- Alert Resting State Meditation
Dullness and sleepiness in meditation require energising antidotes, not more settling.
Working with sloth-and-torpor (thina-middha)
- How To Prepare For Meditation Retreat
Understand the role of structured retreat periods in deepening breath counting beyond what daily practice alone achieves.
Group and retreats — the Zen sesshin context
- Rain Meditation Tara Brach S Four Step Practice When Starting Out
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.
- 10 Second Meditation
Apply breath counting for 10–20 breaths during stressful transitions or idle moments in the day.
Informal counting — using the practice during ordinary tasks
- After Rain Meditation Rest
After the four steps, rest in the open awareness that remains — not returning immediately to doing.
After RAIN: resting in natural, open awareness
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.