Sheffield, Kimberley

English

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Understanding loving kindness meditation: western meditators’ views of their practice

This work has been submitted to NECTAR, the Northampton ElectronicCollection of Theses and Research.Conference or Workshop ItemTitle: Understanding loving kindness meditation: western meditators’ views of theirpracticeCreator: Sheffield, K.Example citation: Sheffield, K. (2014) Understanding loving kindness meditation:western meditators’ views of their practice. Poster presented to: InternationalSymposium of Contemplative Studies, Boston, MA, 30 October-02 November2014.Version: Presented versionhttp://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/7129/NECTARUnderstanding Loving Kindness  Meditation; Western meditators’  views of their practice  Kimberley Sheffield; kimberley.sheffield@northampton.ac.uk Introduction Loving Kindness (Metta): A practice which focuses on sending feelings of kindness to the self and others  Existing research: increases empathy1, positivity towards strangers2,   performance on cognitive tasks3, reduced levels of pain intensity, has an effect on implicit attitudes towards the self and others4 and increases in frequency and intensity of positive emotions in participants who have schizophrenia5  Rationale: Lack of research conducted on Loving Kindness Meditation, inconsistencies in how the practice is explored within research, and potential implications of the specific focus of the practice on social connectedness and relationships.  1 Császár, E. (2012). The Effect of Loving Kindness Meditation and Student teachers Stress and Empathy, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Louisiana State University, United States of America;  2 Hutcherson, C.A., Seppala, E.M., &Gross, J.J. (2008). Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness. Emotion, 8 (5), 720-724;  3 Hunsinger, M., Livingston, R., & Isbell, L. (2012). The impact of Loving-Kindness Meditation on affective Learning and Cognitive Control, Mindfulness, 1-6;  4 Sheffield, K. (2012). An exploration of the effects of Loving Kindness Meditation through Implicit Association Tests, MSc dissertation;  5 Johnson, D.P., Penn, D.L., Fredrickson, B.L., Kring, A.M., Meyer, P.S., Catalino, L.I., Brantley, M. (2011).  A Pilot Study of Loving-Kindness Meditation for the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia research, 129, 137-140; 6  Salzburg, S. (2014). http://www.sharonsalzberg.com Conclusions     Self Loved one Strangers Enemies Whole World 1. Interviews  -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4                                                                                                     Least agree Neutral Most strongly agree 1 2 2. Q-study Learnings from stage 1  and 2   Wait-list control Mindfulness LKM 10 weeks of meditation sessions 2-3 testing points  Stroop test; Self-compassion; Perceived Stress; Mindfulness; Life Satisfaction; PANAS 3. Student groups Stage 1 – Qualitative interviews Stage 2 – Q-sort methodology Stage 3 – Quantitative project – student population Explore how LKM is being defined currently by practitioners Examine the cognitive and social effects of LKM with students The overarching, broad aim of the project is to: Understand the effects of LKM  ‘…the cultivation of  a steady, unconditional sense of connection that touches all beings without exception, including ourselves’ 6   Rationale: Explore how LKM is being defined and understood by experienced meditators . Also identify ‘key’ components of the practice to feed into student sessions (stage 3)  Participants: Five ‘experienced’ meditators with between 10 and 25+ years experience practising LKM. Varied backgrounds and ways of practising e.g. being Buddhist, coming to meditation following crisis.  Analysis: IPA was used to explore meditators’ understanding of their practice, what it meant to them, and how it related to other forms of meditation.  Themes:  Importance of the practice; • For personal change and becoming a ‘better person’  • Daily practice and intention in achieving personal change Components of the practice; • Importance of the Self within practice • Personalisation of practice Relation to other practices; • Seen as separate practice • ‘Essence’ of Metta and way of living Being a Western meditator; • View of LKM as being almost opposite of Western way of living • Conflict between wanting to live in more ‘LK’ way, but environment sometimes causing conflict  Rationale: Explore understanding of LKM with wider group of meditators – to include all ‘experience levels’. Further identify key components of the practice and commonalities/differences across meditators.  Method: Q is used for finding out attitudes towards a topic so was seen as an appropriate method choice. It asks participants to sort a set of statements into a forced distribution  which allows for existing groups of opinion or understanding to emerge.   Participants: 20 LKM meditators with between 10 month’s and 35 year’s experience  Statements: should reflect all opinions about a topic; statements were drawn from interview transcripts in stage 1.  Analysis: Uses a mixture of correlations and factor analysis to explore patterns in how participants sort their statements as a whole set. Qualitative analysis of the emergent groups can be written up and described as themes  Cluster 1: The practice as a life-changer  Loving Kindness practice is a fundamental part of me and my life (42;+4) Loving Kindness has made me a better person than I used to be (25;+3) Loving Kindness has wider physiological and physical implications (21; +4) Cluster 2: The practice and its components  Loving Kindness is more like friendliness than love (27; +4) Loving Kindness has a physical element (32; +4) Loving Kindness has helped me to see my emotions in a different way (23; +3) Cluster 3: I am  my practice   Loving Kindness Meditation has helped me realise that I deserve happiness as much as anyone else (16; +3) I believe Loving Kindness can change default attitudes (24; +3) Loving Kindness is like connecting with an energy that is always there in my heart (10; +4) Findings: Statistically ONE main factor; commonalities in sorting statements at the negative end. But at the other end of the distribution, differences emerging in three factors I don’t see the value in sending Loving Kindness to ‘enemies’ (-4) I think directing feelings of Loving Kindness towards my self is more a formality (-3)  • Variation in ways of practising as well as understanding and view of the practice, including differences in language used and potential challenges in misunderstanding what ‘Metta’ is. • Clear differences in views and understanding of the practice, but commonalities when it comes to what was sorted as ‘negative’; enemies as core part of LKM, and the importance and value  of the practice. • Therefore, focus on Self and ‘enemies’ very important to practice and need to be emphasised when introducing practice to novices. • Practice has self-reported effects on behaviour and provides support to explore this further. • Reported effects include inter and intra personal benefits  as well as increased compassion, empathy and a difference in perception of emotion. • Seen as practice that has its own benefits and effects, so supports further exploration in stage 3. 

Understanding loving kindness meditation: western meditators’ views of their practice

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