Loving-kindness meditation links to lower anxiety through self-compassion

By Vijay Kumar MalesuReviewed by Susha Cheriyedath, M.Sc.Mar 31 2026

A new study suggests that loving-kindness and compassion meditation may be linked to lower anxiety over time, not just through longer practice, but also by building self-compassion and loosening the grip of distressing thoughts.

Study: Frequent loving kindness meditation relates to lower anxiety in long term practitioners through higher self compassion and cognitive flexibility. Image Credit: chayanuphol / Shutterstock

In a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers examined how long-term Loving-Kindness and Compassion Meditation (LKCM) practice influences anxiety through self-compassion and cognitive fusion, considering the role of practice frequency.

LKCM Background and Long-Term Benefits

What if practicing kindness toward yourself could reduce anxiety? Various studies suggest mindfulness improves mental well-being, but its long-term benefits remain unclear. Second-generation mindfulness approaches, such as LKCM, expand beyond observation to nurture warmth, care, and emotional resilience.

While short-term benefits are established, evidence on sustained practice is inconsistent, particularly regarding how duration and frequency shape outcomes. Some individuals meditate for years without clear psychological gains, raising questions about what drives effectiveness.

Understanding how meditation works may help optimize its use, although further research is needed to determine how different practice routines influence long-term outcomes.

LKCM Study Design and Measures

The study employed a cross-sectional correlational design involving 60 long-term LKCM practitioners recruited from a meditation center in Spain. Participants had 2 to 15 years of experience and practiced 1 to 7 times per week for 15 to 120 minutes per day.

Data were collected via an online survey between November and December 2022, following ethical approval.

Anxiety was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety subscale (HADS-A), while self-compassion was assessed using the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Cognitive fusion was measured using the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ).

Statistical analyses used the PROCESS macro to test moderation and mediation effects. Weekly practice frequency was evaluated as a moderator, and age was included as a covariate. Bootstrapping with 10,000 samples was applied to improve robustness.

Self-Compassion, Cognitive Fusion, and Anxiety

The study identified a complex relationship between meditation and anxiety. Years of meditation alone were not directly associated with lower anxiety, suggesting that how individuals practice may be more important than duration.

Weekly practice frequency was associated with increases in self-compassion. Individuals practicing 2 or 4 days per week showed increases in self-compassion over time, whereas this relationship was not observed among near-daily practitioners.

This pattern suggests that individuals who practice more frequently may reach higher levels of self-compassion earlier, while those who practice less frequently may experience more gradual improvements.

Higher self-compassion was associated with lower cognitive fusion, meaning individuals were less likely to treat thoughts as literal truths. Lower cognitive fusion was, in turn, associated with lower anxiety.

Mediation analyses showed that self-compassion and cognitive fusion jointly explained the relationship between meditation and anxiety through a serial pathway, rather than independently.

Practice Frequency and Clinical Implications

The indirect association between meditation and anxiety depended on practice frequency, with significant effects observed among individuals practicing two or four days per week.

Descriptive results showed relatively high self-compassion (71% of maximum score), low cognitive fusion (40%), and low anxiety levels (27.5%), suggesting possible ceiling and floor effects.

Overall, long-term LKCM practice was associated with lower anxiety indirectly through increased self-compassion and reduced cognitive fusion, rather than through duration alone. Practice frequency appeared to shape how these relationships developed over time.

These findings do not support the idea that more frequent practice is always better. Instead, they highlight the importance of psychological mechanisms such as self-compassion and cognitive flexibility.

However, the cross-sectional design and the selected sample limit causal inference, and the findings should be interpreted cautiously.