Mindfulness meditation is my daily practice but is it worth doing other types, such as loving-kindness, on a regular basis?

Hi, I have to admit that I haven’t done much love and kindness meditation. I do body scan and mindful breathing, which is I guess mindfulness meditation. I do know that I feel like something is stopping me from trying love/kindness meditation. This is probably the reason why I should do it. I suspect that I’m afraid of what that kind of meditation may uncover about me. I may be even more emotional than I thought, or may be not at all… so maybe I’ll return a question to you: Why haven’t you tried it yet?

I find that switching up the daily guided meditation helps me stay focused and keeps the rituals fresh for me. If I do the same one all the time my mind will wonder more.
Each different type gives you new techniques for meditating too.

A few years ago, I participated in a study to determine whether engaging in loving-kindness meditation reduced racial bias. I am not sure if the results of the study were published, but the data seemed to indicate that regularly participating in metta-loving kindness meditation is correlated with a reduction in implicit negative bias against other racial groups. The author of the study was Yoona Kang of Yale University. I think other studies support these findings, but I encourage you to dig deeper!

It is important to know why you are meditating. Do you want to improve creativity? Focus? Sleep better? Or even perform better at work. Some of the practices learned while meditating can be applying to every day life. Realize what is needed in your life to progress and make you happy. And focus that energy into meditating and loving yourself

I have used loving-kindness intermittently to deal with anger and other issues. I have found it very effective for that purpose. I have found various types of mantra or chanting meditations to be very effective as forms of mindfulness training as well. There is sounds scientific evidence that suggests mantra or chanting may change the brain in ways similar to mindfulness alone. I recommend looking into mantra and chanting and see if there is something there for you!