Guided Meditation For Loving-Kindness

Loving-Kindness Meditation generates feelings of goodwill, compassion and warmth towards ourselves and others. Research suggests that when practiced regularly, it has far-reaching benefits including:

1.An overall sense of well-being

Loving-kindness meditation cultivates a sense of love, contentment, gratitude, and feelings of social connectedness. These positive emotions decrease depressive symptoms and increase personal resources. (Fredrickson, Cohn, Coffey, Pek, & Finkel, 2008)

2.Physical Healing

Regular practice has been shown to decrease chronic pain ( Carson et al., 2005) including migraines. (Tonelli et al 2014)

3.Increased Emotional Intelligence

Regular practice of loving-kindness meditation has been shown to strengthen the areas of the brain responsible for emotional intelligence. Hutcherson, Seppala & Gross, 2014

4.Helps to remind us that we are all one

This study found that 6 weeks of Loving-Kindness meditation decreased bias against minorities. (Kang, Gray & Dovido, 2014)

5.Increases a sense of social connection

A study found that those participants in Loving-Kindness Meditation interventions reported feeling more positive emotions and also more sense of social connection. (Kok et al 2013)

6.Reduces self-criticism

Loving-Kindness Meditation was effective for individuals in reducing their self-criticism and depressive symptoms. They also reported improved self-compassion and more positive emotions. These changes were maintained three months post-intervention. (Shahar et al 2014)

The effects of Loving-Kindness Meditation can be felt immediately, and will be increasingly more effective and long-lasting the more often you practice it.

Happy meditating!