This technique is not easy as you are asking yourself to send kindness your way or to others.
It often takes practice to allow yourself to receive your own love or to send it.
Click below to listen now.
Caterinac / Getty Images
During your meditation, you generate kind intentions toward certain targets including yourself and others.
The following is a simple and effective loving kindness meditation technique to try.
Next, bask in feelings of warmth and self-compassion for a few moments.
If your attention drifts, gently redirect it back to these feelings of loving kindness.
Let these feelings envelop you.
Feel your gratitude and love for them.
Stay with that feeling.
You may want to repeat the reassuring phrases.
Then branch out to other friends, family members, neighbors, and acquaintances.
You may even want to include groups of people around the world.
Extend feelings of loving kindness to people around the globe and focus on a feeling of connection and compassion.
When you feel that your meditation is complete, open your eyes.
Remember that it’s possible for you to revisit the wonderful feelings you generated throughout the day.
Finally, direct loving kindness meditation towarddifficult peoplein your life.
Lastly, remember that this meditation can be practiced in many different ways.
The method outlined above is a sample of how you might choose to begin.
You may come up with your own loving kindness meditation technique that works better for you.
Learn about the21 best meditation podcasts.
Hofmann SG, Grossman P, Hinton DE.Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions.Clin Psychol Rev.
2008;95(5):10451062. doi:10.1037/a0013262
Graser J , Stangier U.Compassion and Loving-Kindness Meditation.
Harvard Review of Psychiatry.