{"id":3424,"date":"2021-03-27T11:52:57","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T10:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/re-gnosis.com\/?p=3424"},"modified":"2022-03-12T16:49:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-12T15:49:14","slug":"praxis-des-radikalen-selbstmitgefuehls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/re-gnosis.com\/en\/praxis-des-radikalen-selbstmitgefuehls\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of radical self-compassion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The art of radical (self-)compassion.<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>

Carl R. Rogers<\/span><\/p>

When everything in our lives is going our way, it's easy for us to see things in a positive light. Everything seems to run on its own and comes easily to us. We have more capacity to take care of others and ourselves.<\/span><\/p>

But when we are confronted with challenging emotions such as fear, sadness or anger, the world often seems bleak and hostile. Instinctively, we go into resistance and try to get rid of these emotions as quickly as possible - but this defensiveness often fuels the emotions in the first place.<\/span><\/p>

How do you handle it when you're gripped by fear or sadness? What do you do when you've had an argument and haven't reacted the way you'd like? When you've fallen back into old behaviors, patterns, addictions or compulsions? When you judge yourself for it and are overwhelmed by feelings of worthlessness or guilt and shame?<\/span><\/p>

When we are in the midst of difficulties, when we are caught in emotional reactivity, our most ancient brain areas are active - the reptilian brain, the limbic brain - we are in fight, flight or freeze mode.<\/span><\/p>

This is where the mindfulness practice of RAIN offers a strategy for finding our way back into presence. This tool guides us to investigate what information our emotions carry and how we can deal with them constructively through mindfulness and compassion. With RAIN we can systematically activate the youngest part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, and thus regain conscious control over our actions.<\/span><\/p>

The term RAIN was first coined by meditation teacher Michele McDonald. It has been used by teachers for over two decades and has since evolved. The technique became widely known to address the \"trance of unworthiness\", a term that was brought into being by one of the most famous Western meditation teachers, Tara Brach (author of Radical Compassion).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The acronym RAIN is a tool to promote mindfulness and (self-)compassion with difficult emotions and feelings, and to move from unconscious reactivity to conscious action. In particular, this practice helps with:<\/span><\/p>