Loving Kindness Meditation
Or "Metta" Meditation is the Buddhist practice of sending out compassion to all beings. While it sends blessings to others, it brings lightness and composure to anyone who practices it, and it is easily altered to bring whatever state you are looking for.
Or "Metta" Meditation is the Buddhist practice of sending out compassion to all beings. While it sends blessings to others, it brings lightness and composure to anyone who practices it, and it is easily altered to bring whatever state you are looking for.
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Instructions
Time Required: 3 minutes x 2 Take the following steps 2 times per day First, I’m going to give you a few phrases to use, but ultimately, you will want to devise your own. May I be healthy and strong. May I be happy. May I be peaceful and at ease. Loving-kindness meditation is a simple repetition of these phrases, but directing them at different people. Adjust as you like, or follow the 6 steps below. Enjoy! |
Practice
- Get ready, breathe deeply, again…
- Repeat the phrases to yourself: May I be healthy and strong…
- Direct the phrases to someone you feel grateful for: May you be healthy and strong…
- Direct the phrases to someone you don’t like or are angry with. May you be healthy and strong…
- Direct the phrases to everyone everywhere: May all beings everywhere be healthy and strong…
- Breathe deeply, smile…
More on the Loving Kindness Meditation
This one may feel counter-intuitive… but there is plenty of science behind it! Studies have shown this particular form of meditation to:
If you want to dig deeper into the data, check out Emma Seppala at Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She also has a TEDx talk that will certainly inspire.
You might also want to subscribe to the Greater Good Magazine put out by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center
Sources
2012 Christine Carter, Ph.D. Sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Christine Carter, Ph.D.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/
Emma Seppala, Ph.D.
Science Director Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
http://www.emmaseppala.com/18-science-based-reasons-try-loving-kindness-meditation-today/
This one may feel counter-intuitive… but there is plenty of science behind it! Studies have shown this particular form of meditation to:
- Increase positive emotions & decreases negative emotions
- Increase gray matter volume
- Slows aging
- Increase compassion and empathy
- Make you more helpful
- Decrease your bias towards others
- Curb self-criticism
If you want to dig deeper into the data, check out Emma Seppala at Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She also has a TEDx talk that will certainly inspire.
You might also want to subscribe to the Greater Good Magazine put out by UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center
Sources
2012 Christine Carter, Ph.D. Sociologist and Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Christine Carter, Ph.D.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/
Emma Seppala, Ph.D.
Science Director Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
http://www.emmaseppala.com/18-science-based-reasons-try-loving-kindness-meditation-today/