4 Lovingkindness Meditations

It’s not always easy to be kind to others, much less ourselves. Or perhaps even more-so to ourselves. Lovingkindness meditation (also known as “metta”) helps us cultivate compassion, as well as self-compassion. It turns out when you do that latter, it helps with the former.

Here are four from teachers I love and respect.

• Tamara Levitt – 10 minutes: I love Tamara Levitt (I subscribe to the Calm app primarily for her content), so here’s one by her to start.
• Jack Kornfield – 12 minutes: The man, the myth, the legend. If you haven’t meditated with Kornfield, now is the time.
• Thich Nat Hahn Foundation – 14 minutes: This is actually shorter than 14 minutes, because there’s some explaination in there, too.
• Jon Kabat-Zinn – 47 minutes: This is a bit long for beginners so maybe wait a while if you are new to lovingkindness meditations or meditation in general, but it’s Kabat-Zinn has a great voice and, honestly, I could listen to him all day! There’s a great article around this one, so read and learn or simply scroll down for the audio.

These might be challenging at first. Even if you don’t feel like loving yourself, do it anyhow. Even it you feel cheesy or inauthentic saying or directing the words to yourself, do it anyhow. Feeling it will come over time. You got this.