Welcome to RAIN: The Nourishing Art of Mindful Inquiry

RAIN stands for Recognition, Acceptance, Interest, and Nonidentification, the qualities that make up a moment of mindfulness. Because of its simplicity and power, RAIN has become recommended by meditation teachers worldwide as a helpful approach to steering us through challenging emotions and situations. This 6-part online course is an opportunity to learn and deepen this practice under the guidance of Vipassana teacher Michele McDonald, who first coined RAIN. We will look at an aspect of RAIN (Recognition, Acceptance, Interest, and Nonidentification) in detail each week. 

Since creating RAIN, Michele has expanded the acronym to RAINDROP, which includes Distraction, Resistance, Obliviousness, and Personification. Rather than thinking of these factors as problems or enemies to combat, we can understand them as conditioned defences that we can investigate. No matter how many hours we may devote to formal practice on the cushion, in reality, we spend most of our waking hours distracted, resistant, and somewhat oblivious to what’s actually happening around us. RAIN charts out a way for us to steer through the emotions that rattle us and to respond—rather than react—from a place of greater balance and grace.

In the final unit Michele will explore how we can bring RAINDROP fully into our lives and offer detailed instruction on walking meditation.

RAINDROP makes the wisdom of the Buddha's mindfulness available to us all. It is profoundly deep and yet easy to put into practice in the midst of living. Each unit of the course offers guided meditations and investigations to nourish your practice.

Let's begin!

Course Syllabus

Each unit will offer roughly one hour of material to work with. There will also be suggested take-home practices, including guided audio meditations, for you to explore in your own practice. You are invited to study at your own pace.

Unit 1 | Introduction to RAINDROP

Learn the basics about RAINDROP and how to use it. Learn techniques for remembering to be present and anchoring the attention.

Unit 2 | R Is for Recognition

Cultivate the ability to wake up to what's happening. Learn how to work with the opposite of recognition: distraction.

Unit 3 | A Is for Acceptance

Distinguish between acceptance and its near enemies. Learn how to work with resistance.

Unit 4 | I Is for Interest

Can we bring genuine interest to our practice? Explore ways of stepping out of obliviousness into the present.

Unit 5 | N Is for Nonidentification

It can be tempting to misinterpret events and phenomena as being about ourselves. We don't have to take things personally.

Unit 6 | Practicing RAINDROP in Our Lives

Practice bringing everything you've learned together and into your life. Includes sense door walking meditation instruction in a beautiful Hawaiian setting.