However, if you practice loving-kindness meditation, you can achieve all of this. And science supports my assertion.Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is an ancient Buddhist practice that promotes goodwill and universal compassion toward oneself and others.
In this essay, I'll go over what it is, how it works, and the advantages of the practice based on studies. I'll also share valuable materials and scripts to assist you in trying LKM, deepening your current practice, and introducing it to your customers.
Before continuing, consider downloading three free Self-Compassion Exercises. These precise, science-based activities can help you develop your compassion and kindness toward yourself, as well as provide you with skills to assist your customers, students, or workers demonstrate greater compassion to themselves.
What Is Loving-Kindness Meditation?
Loving-kindness Meditation is the English translation of "metta bhavana," the first of the Buddha's four Brahma Vihara meditation techniques for cultivating pleasant emotions (Feldman, 2017).
Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) focuses on gradually developing loving-kindness toward oneself and others, with the goal of ultimately include all living creatures, both visible and unseen, throughout the universe. Importantly, metta is frequently translated as "universal friendliness" to underline the impersonal quality of the emotion created, which lacks any desire or expectation of reciprocation (Griffin, 2022).
Recent scientific study supports Buddha's original teaching that LKM improves mental wellness in several ways. The advantages of the practice are explained in further detail below.
4 Brahma Viharas
LKM is the foundational practice of a quartet of Buddhist meditation practices called the Four Brahma Viharas (also called the four divine abodes or the four immeasurables). These are a set of complementary meditation practices that focus on cultivating positive emotions (Feldman, 2017):
- Metta (loving-kindness)
- Karuna (compassion)
- Mudita (appreciative joy)
- Uppekha (equanimity)
Each of these beneficial meditation techniques lays the groundwork for the next. For example, we must develop loving-kindness in order to grow compassion, and both loving-kindness and compassion practices are required to build the appreciating pleasure that celebrates the abilities and successes of others (Nhat Hanh, 2006).
The Buddha prescribed these three practices as a method for transforming their opposing emotional states as follows:
- Loving-kindness overcomes hatred.
- Compassion overcomes cruelty.
- Appreciative joy overcomes envy.
When these three practices are combined, a state of serenity is eventually attained called equanimity. This is the emotional foundation of freedom from suffering (Nhat Hanh, 2006).
What loving-kindness is and isn’t – Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg (2002), a meditation teacher and worldwide bestselling author, discusses in further depth what loving-kindness is and is not. This is significant because, in Western, competitive societies, the concept of practicing loving-kindness toward all living forms may elicit feelings of weakness and gullibility.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. Rather than placing practitioners at danger of manipulation or abuse, the benefits of LKM practice include an open and courageous heart, as well as an improved capacity to handle conflict by taking things less personally.
In the section below, I outline the practice's advantages, but generally, research demonstrates that frequent LKM practice enhances resilience and should be seen as a source of strength.
Salzberg demonstrates how loving-kindness practice contradicts traditional views of love as personal, conditional, and transactional.
Benefits of Loving-Kindness Meditation
Taking a more secular approach, one may argue that the Buddha taught metta to the monks to assist them overcome their anxiety while meditating alone in the jungle, surrounded by various perils. The premise for the practice is that spreading goodwill to all living creatures eliminates fear since loving-kindness and dread cannot coexist. According to Ñanamoli Thera (1994), Metta provides both bodily and emotional protection.
For example, most of us are aware of how fear and anxiety may increase your vulnerability to injury while traveling alone far from home. When attempting to target a victim, criminals seek for signs of weakness.
A same reasoning applies here. The Buddha taught his monks metta because love and fear are incompatible. A lack of terror reduced the monks' vulnerability, calmed them down, and caused less disturbance in the forest. According to the narrative, after the monks started to practice metta meditation, the tree and soil spirits were appeased and even protected them as they practiced.
According to the Buddha
The Buddha gave a talk on the 11 benefits of loving-kindness meditation (AN 11.16), some of which are now supported by science.
- You sleep well.
- You awaken refreshed.
- You don’t have bad dreams.
- Other people regard you with affection.
- Animals and pets regard you with affection.
- Celestial beings protect you.
- You will be free from injury from fire, weapons, and poison.
- You can concentrate quickly.
- You have a bright complexion.
- You will die peacefully, free of fear and agitation.
- If you fail to attain enlightenment, you will have a pleasant rebirth.
According to science
Below is a snapshot of the benefits of LKM according to the latest scientific research.
1. Reduced self-criticism
Loving-kindness meditation reduces self-criticism, quietens our inner critic, and makes us more self-accepting (Shahar et al., 2015).
Also, seven weeks of LKM resulted in a marked reduction in self-harming impulses in individuals with suicidal tendencies and borderline personality traits (Fredrickson et al., 2008).
2. Enhanced wellbeing
Studies have shown that regular LKM practice increases vagal tone, a physiological marker of subjective wellbeing that improves the quality of life and life satisfaction (Kok et al., 2013).
3. Reduced cellular aging
A 12-week randomized control trial comparing the effects of mindfulness meditation and LKM on telomere length in beginner practitioners found that LKM buffered the telomere shortening associated with cellular aging (Le Nguyen et al., 2019).
4. Reduced pain
Pilot studies on patients with chronic back pain (Carson et al., 2005) and migraine (Tonelli & Wachholtz, 2014) showed that when they practiced loving-kindness meditation for brief periods, participants experienced a reduction in pain symptoms and accomplished their daily tasks with more ease and comfort.
5. Greater resilience
A study of patients with long-term post-traumatic stress disorder showed that engaging in compassion and self-love meditations reduced trauma symptoms and flashbacks (Kearney et al., 2013).
Control studies showed that groups that received loving-kindness meditation scripts during their sessions could resume work sooner than participants who received other instruction.
Also, LKM improves resilience and helps prevent burnout in healthcare providers (Seppala et al., 2014).
6. Improved relationships
Loving-kindness meditation results in greater empathy for strangers and better social connections at work (Hutcherson et al., 2008), as well as greater stability in social relationships in general (Don et al., 2022).