A — Allow the experience to be as it is

Let what is present be here, without pushing it away, numbing it, or elaborating it.

Why it works

Experiential avoidance — the attempt to suppress, escape, or control unwanted inner states — is a transdiagnostic mechanism that maintains anxiety, depression, and trauma-related symptoms. Allowing reverses this: the emotional state is permitted to exist without the secondary layer of resistance that typically amplifies it. This is not approving of the emotion; it is removing the war on top of what is already present.

How to do it

1. After recognizing the emotion, say internally: "This is here. I let this be here."
2. Notice if there is a pull to fix, analyze, or escape — and allow that pull too.
3. Breathe slowly and let the emotion be present in the body without narrating it.
4. Stay with allowing for 60–90 seconds before moving to the next step.

Evidence

Acceptance-based strategies have strong clinical trial support through ACT and DBT, both of which target experiential avoidance as a primary mechanism. The allowing step of RAIN operationalizes this mechanism in a meditation context. (clinical)

Evidence is for acceptance-based therapies as programs; the allowing step within RAIN as a standalone intervention has not been trialed. For trauma, allowing without appropriate support can be destabilizing — professional guidance may be needed.

Sources

• Hayes et al. (2006), acceptance and commitment therapy, Behaviour Research and Therapy

Common mistake

Performing allowing as a verbal statement ("okay, I allow this") while internally still bracing or suppressing — the practice requires genuine somatic softening, not a cognitive declaration.