Loving kindness meditation is a technique that focuses on the quality of compassion rather than on an object or action. Variations include inwardly speaking positive affirmations that wish security, safety, contentment, and health for oneself and others. The text provides an example from Vera Kaltwasser's book on mindfulness in teaching, with specific phrases for self and others wishing safety, freedom from distress, happiness, health, and well-being.
A meeting between the Dalai Lama, several monks, and Western scientists, recorded in Daniel Goleman's book Destructive Emotions, explored how mindfulness and meditation can manage emotions. The Mind and Life team demonstrated that these practices have measurable positive effects on emotional regulation. Subsequent laboratory studies found that mindfulness and meditation not only relax the mind and body but can also influence and sometimes restructure brain regions.