Loving-indness meditation: To Reduce Negative Emotions of Undergraduates

Abstract

A growing body of literature has identified a range of beneficial biological and psychological outcomes from the regular practice of loving-kindness meditation. For university students, Loving-kindness meditation is claimed to reduce negative emotions, distress, anxiety, fatigue, and enhance strength. The objective of this consolidative review was to critically appraise the literature that related to the effectiveness of loving-kindness meditation programs for undergraduates and other students who follow different academic courses at the university and was to look at whether LKM may be a compelling mediation to advance positive psychological wellness to diminish negative emotions such as sadness, anger, frustration, loneliness, etc. in university undergraduates.This review was conducted using Whittemore and Knafl's framework (2005) for integrated reviews. Using the terms mindfulness, emotion reduction, meditation, Loving-kindness meditation(LKM), undergraduates and higher education a comprehensive search of the google scholar database. The initial search located 1250 articles. After screening and checking for eligibility 30 articles were critically appraised using qualitative papers and quantitative papers. The final number of papers included in the review was 17. The results of this review identified that loving kindness meditation has a positive impact on undergraduates as well as university students’ distress, negative emotions, depression, fatigue, sense of emotional well being, and compassion. However, most of the papers described small-scale localized studies which limit generalizability. The complicated and exacting nature of present higher education emphasizes the necessity for techniques like LKM that has the potential to make resilience and enhance university students ‘well-being. There is a possibility to advocate LKM systems involving mind and body relaxation to be introduced to the educational program for university students within the first year ofevery academic course. It helps to regular students’ negative emotions and distress. . Further studies focusing on many research articles of the world would be useful in extending this effort.