What is Loving Kindness Meditation?

One of the simplest ways to bring more love, peace, and joy in your life is to give these things to others even if you don’t know them. A loving-kindness meditation is a beautiful way to open your heart and share a flow of unconditional love to yourself and others.

Not only can you promote kindness for yourself especially at those times when you might be beating yourself up about something, you can give kindness for difficult people which helps to ease any pent-up resentment you may be carrying towards someone.

This is also known as a compassionate heart meditation because it really helps you to open your heart so that you have more space inside you for even deeper levels of happiness and peacefulness. It really is a powerful way to get out of your head and into your heart while promoting kindness and well-being to other people.

Ultimately, it will also help you to be less judgmental towards yourself and others and will help to reduce any anger, hurt, or frustration that keeps you stuck in blame or pain. It also reduces the chatter in your head and helps to free you from your own suffering.

A Simple Loving Kindness Meditation

1. Start by closing your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths to clear your mind and relax your body.

2. Recall a time when you felt deeply loved. Focus on this memory for a few minutes and allow yourself to feel the love and gratitude arising in your heart for the person who loved you.

3. Allow these loving feelings to flow through your entire body so that every cell becomes filled with love. As you breathe in, feel even more love moving into your heart and then as you breathe out, feel this love expanding outwardly from your heart. You can also repeat words in your head during this stage such as, “May I be happy. May I be at peace. May I be free from suffering.” If any other similar words come to you feel free to use them as well.

4. When you feel filled with love focus on extending this loving kindness to a loved one or someone you know. You can also use similar words to express your intention of unconditional love being sent to them such as; “May you be happy. May you be at peace. May you be free from suffering.” Once you get the knack of it you can then extend this loving energy to anyone you feel like. It’s a really powerful way to help heal any negativity or resentment you may be holding onto with others as well as sending them some good vibes for free.

5. Just before you end the meditation and open your eyes bring all the love you have been extending back to your heart. Feel it radiating light, clarity, and calmness that pulses through your entire body. Then carry this feeling and image into your day and let this be the light that you shine on the world around you.