Many of us have heard of meditation’s benefits. We may have even tried meditation once or twice. And many of us will have found it hard and concluded that
“meditation is not for me.” But wait! Did you know there are many forms of meditation? There are mantra meditations, visualization meditations, open-focus
meditations, breath-based meditations and so many more. You just have to find the shoe that fits. An easy one to start with is one that evokes a very
natural state in us: kindness.
What is Loving-Kindness Meditation?
Loving-Kindness meditation focuses on developing feelings of goodwill, kindness and warmth towards others (Salzberg, 1997). As I’ve described in my TEDx talk, compassion, kindness and empathy are very basic emotions to us. Research shows that Loving Kindness Meditation has a tremendous amount of benefits ranging from benefitting well-being, to giving relief from illness and improving emotional intelligence:
WELL-BEING
1. Increases Positive Emotions & Decreases Negative Emotions In a landmark study, Barbara Frederickson and her colleagues ( Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008) found that practicing 7 weeks of loving-kindness meditation increased love, joy, contentment, gratitude, pride, hope, interest, amusement, and awe. These positive emotions then produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms), which, in turn, predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.
2. Increases vagal tone which increases positive emotions & feelings of social connection
A study by Kok et al (2013)found that individuals in a Loving Kindness Meditation intervention, compared to a control group, had increases in positive emotions, an effect moderated by baseline vagal tone – a physiological marker of well-being.
HEALING
We don’t usually think of meditation as being able to help us with severe physical or mental ailments, but research shows it can help:
3. Decreases Migraines:
A recent study by Tonelli et al (2014) demonstrated the immediate effects of a brief Loving Kindness Meditation intervention in reducing migraine pain and alleviating emotional tension associated with chronic migraines.
4. Decreases Chronic Pain
A pilot study of patients with chronic low back pain randomized to Loving Kindness Meditation or standard care, Loving Kindness Meditation was associated with greater decreases in pain, anger, and psychological distress than the control group ( Carson et al., 2005).
5. Decreases PTSD
A study by Kearney et al (2013) found that a 12 week Loving Kindness Meditation course significantly reduced depression and PTSD symptoms among veterans diagnosed with PTSD.
6. Decreases Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders
Also, a pilot study by Johnson et al. (2011) examined the effects of Loving Kindness Meditation with individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Findings indicated that Loving Kindness Meditation was associated with decreased negative symptoms and increased positive emotions and psychological recovery.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE BRAIN
We know that the brain is shaped by our activities. Regularly practicing loving-kindness meditation activates and strengthens areas of the brain responsible for empathy & emotional intelligence
7. Activates empathy & emotional processing in the brain
We showed this link in our research (Hutcherson, Seppala & Gross, 2014) and so have our colleagues (Hoffmann, Grossman & Hinton, 2011)
8. Increases gray matter volume
in areas of the brain related to emotion regulation: Leung et al (2013); Lutz et al (2008); Lee et al (2012)
THE STRESS RESPONSE
Loving Kindness Meditation also benefits your psychophysiology & makes it more resilient
9. Increases respiratory Sinus Arrythmia (RSA)
Just 10 minutes of loving-kindness meditation has an immediate relaxing effect as evidenced by increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic cardiac control (i.e. your ability to enter a relaxing and restorative state), and slowed (i.e. more relaxed) respiration rate (Law, 2011 reference)
10. Slows Aging
We know that stress decreases telomere length (telomeres are tiny bits of your genetic materials – chromosomes – that are a biological marker of aging). However, Hoge et al (2013) found that women with experience in Loving Kindness Meditation had relatively longer telomere length compared to age-matched controls! Throw out the expensive anti-aging creams and get on your meditation cushion!
SOCIAL CONNECTION
11. Makes you a more helpful person
Loving Kindness Meditation appears to enhance positive interpersonal attitudes as well as emotions. For instance, Leiberg, Klimecki and Singer (2011) conducted a study that examined the effects of Loving Kindness Meditation on pro-social behavior, and found that compared to a memory control group, the Loving Kindness Meditation group showed increased helping behavior in a game context.
12. Increases Compassion
A recent review of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) concludes that Loving Kindness Meditation may be the most effective practice for increasing compassion (Boellinghaus, Jones & Hutton, 2012)
13. Increases Empathy
Similarly, Klimecki, Leiberg, Lamm and Singer (2013) found that Loving Kindness Meditation training increased participants’ empathic responses to the distress of others, but also increased positive affective experiences, even in response to witnessing others in distress.
14. Decreases Your Bias towards others
A recent study (Kang, Gray & Dovido, 2014) found that compared to a closely matched active control condition, 6 weeks of Loving Kindness Meditation training decreased implicit bias against minorities.
15. Increases Social Connection
A study by Kok et al (2013) found that those participants in Loving Kindness Meditation interventions who report experiencing more positive emotions also reported more gains in perception of social connection as well.
SELF-LOVE
How many of us are slaves to self-criticism or low self-esteem? How many of us do not take as good care as we should of ourselves?
16. Curbs Self-Criticism:
A study by Shahar et al (2014) found that Loving Kindness Meditation was effective for self-critical individuals in reducing self-criticism and depressive symptoms, and improving self-compassion and positive emotions. These changes were maintained 3 months post-intervention
IMMEDIATE & LONG-TERM IMPACT
The nice thing about Loving Kindness Meditation is that it is effective in both immediate and small doses (i.e. instant gratification) but that it also has long-lasting and enduring effects.
17. Is Effective Even in Small Doses
Our study – Hutcherson, Seppala and Gross (2008)
– found an effect of a small dose of Loving Kindness Meditation (practiced in a single short session lasting less than 10 minutes). Compared with a closely matched control task, even just a few minutes of loving-kindness meditation increased feelings of social connection and positivity toward strangers.
18. Has Long-Term Impact.
A study by Cohn et al (2011) found that 35% of participants of a Loving Kindness Meditation intervention who continued to meditate and experience enhanced positive emotions 15 months after the intervention. Positive emotions correlated positively with the number of minutes spent meditating daily.
Want to give it a shot? I created a recording of the loving-kindness meditation we used in our study that you can download here or access on youtube here.
Let me know what you think in the comment section below! Happy meditating!
[photo credit: Lara Laing]
38 comments
Thank you for these wonderful articles! It’s always nice to see the science behind what our intuition knows. I coach people in health and wellness and I firmly believe the work you do is an integral part of the human puzzle! 🙂
Again, I love having these articles to share.
Thank you Emma for this loving kindness meditation I felt a grand sense of calm and peace after doing it.
It feels so good to pause for a moment and stop doing.
Merci encore
Thank you Lisa! So glad it was helpful!
Hi Emma,
Great article. Thank you for that. Really interesting to see that many positive effects have a correlation with LKM.
Very exciting to see so many studies being done! Thank for for this post.
You’re welcome!
Love this post. It reminds me of the Golden Rule. Do you have it written out somewhere so someone doesn’t need to watch the video to remind them of the content?
I am a newbie, where do you find these guided meditations?
Thanks
Congratulations for this article, Dr. Emma. It’s very interesting and usefull.
I just found this from “Fulfillment Daily”‘s article on what type of meditation is right for you, and this certainly sounds good. I am going to refer friends with fibromyalgia to it.
However, shouldn’t number 10 be INcreases telomere length? I have heard of this marker before, and was a bit alarmed at “decreases.”
Your all-in-one article saved the day! I am writing a chapter on metta practices for my book and needed back up support for the benefits of practicing loving kindness.. There is was all under one heading. Well done. Keep up the great work.
Am I doing something wrong? All I hear is noise – like radio interference. Would love to try this…but?
Please try again!
Now that’s sublte! Great to hear from you.
Thank you for sharing this, it is just what I needed today!
Hello Dr. Emma. I meditate every day for 40 minutes, from a few months ago. As you very well exposed, the effects are immediate and long lasting. My heart has been very emotional and compassive. I feel very calm. My sociability has improved significantly… The technique that I follow is the carry out 1 or 2 breaths per minute. My thinking focuses on the breath. On three or four occasions I think of words such as love, peace, joy, kindness, forgiveness…
This is an old thread but in my understanding this meditation goes into a different area than does the golden rule.
It reaches an unconditional state . Not a recompensetory set up. Alternately, not a blind or doormat state. but one of true and healthy resilience. One with boundaries that act not as limits but invisible gates to more loving and understanding . It also grants access to imaginative problem solving by not building a wall of definitions around a “problem” but approaching them with relaxed and generous loving kindness.
Can loving kindness meditation improve empathy in everyone, without exception?
No, not in my experience Clare, as some people find it very hard to evoke the feelings of loving kindness. Some people instead benefit more from other forms of meditation such as breath meditation. There are other mediations, as well, such as the meditation of sympathetic joy, which may also be focused towards empathy.
As a scientist, we can never make those kinds of broad assumptions so I cannot say for sure. Warmly, Emma
I would be surprised that it could help everyone with empathy, since people suffering from psychopathy literally are incapable of empathy due to a gap in their frontal cortex.
This is so useful i.e. having the research all mentioned in one place, thanks so much. Loving-kindness has been my main meditation practice for many years and I teach it to others, and i have gained enormous benefit from it. It is so rewarding to actually have it studied and the benefits clearly delineated. Thank you.
So glad you found this useful!
A great article describing one of my favourite meditations for adults and children! Thank you!
Since I’m a Buddhist I’ve been practicing this meditation time to time but very recently as my anxiety level took a major rise I made it a habit to meditate twice or thrice a day for 5 minutes.By the second day my self confidence,mental stability and mental wellbeing were restored.It was a dramatic change..I’m always in a happy and joyful mood.I feel love towards everyone.My physical health has improved alot!I request you all to try this and see for yourself.I haven’t been this much confident,happy and healthy before.It feels like as if my mind and soul is cleansed each time I do the love kindnesses meditation.Try to do this on a daily basis 🙂
Thanks Emma, this is a really effective way for me to get in that space where self care and acceptance is healing. Every time I listen to the meditation I feel calmer, more complete and grounded.
Thanks,
Bren
Is Loving-kindness meditation the same or different as CCARE’s “Compassion Cultivation Training Program?” If I live in Ohio, how could I go about learning the techniques, for myself and for others?
I liked your blog on Kindness Meditation. I have read many blogs but now this blog is one of my favorite blog. I like all the views that you have shared in this blog. Keep it up and share it with all others.
Hi up until 16 years ago i suffered from chronic depression which had started to become life threatening. I went to a meditation session run by the Theravadin Buddhist monks in Perth Australia. They taught loving kindness(Metta) meditation. I intuitively knew this was important for me.
II started doing the practise. and after doing it for a few weeks i had a meditation which blew my socks off. Initially i felt frightened. Something which felt this good could not be right(legal :D) i had also stopped drinkjing for twenty years at that stage.
I kept at it. After about six months i had an idea.
I visualized my depression as an entity and i did loving kindness towards it. BINGO.
Sixteen years later i do not get depressed. I did not BEAT depression, i made friends with it and by participating with it i stopped being a victim.
Loving kindness cured what was for me, self loathing, rather than low self esteem.
I now carry this message wherever i can. It has changed my life.
Congratulations on having a website that promotes wellbeing from within. there is so much rubbish on the internet, and you have provided gold.
With Metta
Martin
Wow amazing 🙂 so happy for you!
What a wonderful reminder; this healer needed to heal myself so I can assist others on their journeys. Will be using regularly. Loveing ourselvea unconditionally is perhaps our biggest task in life.
I also love what Martin said about making friends with his depression. Thank you all
Great article, thanks for sharing the research findings too. So many benefits, and very interested about the impact on Vagal tone. I’m going to focus on this kind of meditation in my daily practice.
Thankyou,havent had a dry eyed meditation yet,so healing and allowing grieving to express itself.
Been meditating 46 years and never done this type of meditation,it takes empahsis away from the me and allows universal love to grow naturally.
Wonderful.
Thanks a lot for your Loving kindness sharing.谢谢！
You’re welcome 🙂
This is a great list to remove toxicity in our lives. Meditation really helps us to grow and be stress-free. This is a must read!
Many thanks for writing this article Emma. I have recently started trying to meditate again to bring myself out of a pretty major episode of depression and anxiety, reading scientific findings of the benefits of metta meditation, together with noticing positive effects after only two days of practice, helps strengthen my resolve to carry on.