Positive Emotion Correlates of Meditation Practice: A Comparison of Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-kindness Meditation
Mindfulness May 29, 2017 B. Fredrickson, Aaron J. Boulton, A. Firestine et al.
Both mindfulness meditation and loving-kindness meditation increase daily positive emotions without changing negative emotions. The more minutes people meditated on a given day, the more positive emotions they reported that day, and people who meditated more over the 9-week period also experienced greater overall gains in positive emotions. This dose-response relationship was stronger for loving-kindness meditation than for mindfulness meditation. The findings suggest that either practice can improve emotional well-being.