The effects of loving-kindness meditation

Mascaro, J. S., et al. (2015). The neural mediators of kindness-based meditation: a theoretical model. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 109. Abstract and Full Text.

Excerpt. Over the last 25 years, research on meditation has [been] motivated by an often implicit conviction that mindfulness and attention practices are effective interventions for remediating psychopathology and augmenting well-being and resilience, and may be used as tools to help scientists understand the human brain, body, and brain–body connections.

More recently, researchers have turned their attention to kindness-based practices, frequently in search of answers to the dual questions of, “Can kindness be trained?” and “Are kindness-based practices good for us?” Increasingly, the answer to both of these questions appears to be yes.

Hofmann, S.G., et al. (2015). Loving-Kindness Meditation to Target Affect in Mood Disorders: A Proof-of-Concept Study. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In press. Full text (open and click on Provisional PDF).

From the Abstract. Loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is a traditional meditation practice directly oriented toward enhancing unconditional and positive emotional states of kindness towards oneself and others.

We report here two independent and uncontrolled studies carried out at different centers, one in Boston, USA and one in Frankfurt, Germany, to examine the potential therapeutic utility of a brief LKM group intervention for symptoms of dysthymia and depression. Results at both centers suggest that LKM was associated with large-sized effects on self-reported symptoms of depression negative affect and positive affect.

For anyone unfamiliar with the practice of Loving-Kindness Meditation, I offer basic guided meditation #6 and a detailed CD.