Loving Kindness Meditation and the Gamma Wave: A Marriage of Ancient Tradition and Modern Science

Of all the brain wave frequencies displayed by the human brain, perhaps the most fascinating is the Gamma wave, around 40 Hertz. When in a Gamma state, the brain appears capable of remarkable synergy, exhibiting a high level of holistic functioning that bridges multiple senses, perceptions, and memories. In short, we become almost superhuman. Interestingly, this state is commonly seen in experienced Tibetan monks who engage in a “loving-kindness” meditation. As we will see, Gamma waves are not the only benefit of this practice.

What is loving-kindness meditation?

loving kindness, gold metta bhavana in Buddhist terms, it is an ancient practice meant to teach us that happiness comes from loving and empathizing with others. It’s actually the foundational meditation in a four-part series, and the next steps are compassion (empathy for the suffering of others); empathic joy (joy in the well-being of others); and equanimity (acceptance of both joy and suffering, whether one’s own or another’s). Kind love creates harmony in our relationship with ourselves and with others, replacing anger, resentment, and hurt with patience, consideration, and forgiveness.

Since we are also looking at the effects of loving kindness from a more scientific point of view, it is worth noting that none other than Albert Einstein prescribed essentially the same practice:

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical illusion of his awareness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few people close to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to encompass all living creatures and all of nature in its beauty.

How to Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation

Cultivating loving-kindness begins with what should be the easiest subject, yourself, and works your way up from there in the following progression:

• Yourself
• A good friend
• A neutral person, such as someone who attends to you in a store.
• someone you have problems with
• all sentient beings

Various techniques are used to cultivate the feeling of loving-kindness. Visualize yourself or the other person being happy and smiling back. Reflect on the positive qualities of that person. Use your own affirmations to reinforce feelings of warmth towards yourself and towards others. And use mantras, repeating words or phrases like “loving-kindness,” pausing between repetitions to observe the impact on your emotions. It is recommended that you refrain from thinking about people you are romantically attracted to, as lust is not the emotion we seek to arouse!

The ultimate goal was beautifully expressed by one of the leading Buddhist websites, wildmind.org: “Eventually, we want to become like an emotional bonfire: a constant glow of emotional warmth that will embrace any sentient being we become aware of.” .

a new twist

While several prominent Buddhist meditation guides recommend guided meditation CDs, they don’t seem to have grasped the potential of adding brainwave training techniques to the audio soundtrack. This is almost certainly because they are approaching meditation from a traditional Buddhist perspective, including reciting prayers written by the Buddha himself. But we must not necessarily allow respect for traditions that are more than 2,500 years old to blind us to the teachings of modern science. If we can see from the EEG scans of experienced meditators that loving-kindness gives rise to Gamma waves, wouldn’t it make sense to encourage their formation? Listening to brainwave audio designed to entrain Gamma waves should in no way distract from the familiar processes of visualization and affirmation. In fact, I believe it greatly enhances the process by increasing focus and encouraging whole-brain thinking and feeling. And that has to be good news, because the world really doesn’t need to wait another day for more love and compassion.