Evidence based research for practising Loving Kindness Meditation

Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) is one of the most commonly used types of meditation today. It often crops up in mindfulness and it originates from the Buddhist tradition. It is a type of meditation where you wish yourself and others happiness, ease and contentment.
All that sounds very nice and fluffy doesn’t it? And maybe even a bit hippy dippy woo woo if you’re not feeling quite as generous. However even the sceptics might be interested to know there’s a great deal of contemporary and ongoing scientific research into LKM’s benefits. The benefits of a regular practise (several times a week) stretch further than we may realise, and can actually alter the structure of our brain. It is perhaps not surprising that if you practise LKM everyday then the stress responses in your body can be markedly reduced. It can also have an impact on the inflammation response in the body  - a major factor for many diseases. After 9 weeks or so of regular practice researchers saw a difference in people’s reporting of positive emotions, they were generally more satisfied with their experience of life and suffered less depression. LKM has been shown to increase feelings of social connection and improve our vagal tone. *
And for me the best bit is that you can reap all these benefits whilst having a lovely relaxing time for just a few minutes a day. And you can learn for free. There are lots of resources on line and slightly different versions but here is mine available for free on Insight Timer. If you’d like to learn more I can teach you one to one and we can explore some of the many different types of meditation to find what suits you.

​*Vagal Tone