Intro into Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving kindness meditation, also known as metta meditation, is a form of meditation that encourages the growth of love, forgiveness, kindness, connection and compassion for the self and others.

Some may find the notion of loving kindness meditation a bit redundant, since most basic forms of meditation produce similar results. However, practicing loving kindness meditation is a bit different because it encourages the development of certain intentions and emotions rather than simply cultivating awareness of the emotions that already arise in your mind. 

A Healing Meditation Founded in Compassion

To practice loving kindness meditation, one can use various tools such as visualization, mantra, and breathwork to promote feelings of well-being and love. The idea is to practice building up feelings of loving kindness, allowing a practitioner to increase the frequency at which these emotions arise in their being or the ease at which they can be recognized and held on to. 

During a meditation, a practitioner can conjure up images of themselves and their loved ones feeling safe and supported, memories of times that they felt loved and cared for, or any other visual or emotional substance that produces a sensation of well-being. It is this sensation of well-being that the meditator will focus their awareness on for the duration of the meditation.

Meditators can work with this feeling, projecting it outwards towards others or bathing in the sensation itself. 

Take Care of Yourself with Loving Kindness Meditation

By honing an awareness of loving kindness and the related feelings, meditators will be better able to replicate these feelings in their daily lives. This, in turn, will develop their capacity to intuitively act with compassion and kindness in their interactions.