Immediate changes following a single 7-minute free digital Miracle of Mind meditation: a single-arm feasibility study
Deepthi Rajashekar, Saketh Malipeddi, Jyotsna Agrawal, Hemavarne Shankar, Kanakavalli Kundury, Amit Mehta, Parveen Sharma, Steven Laureys, Balachundhar Subramaniam
BMC Psychology September 28, 2026 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05696-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Single-arm pre-post feasibility study Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,325 |
| Population | Participants who completed a publicly available 7-minute guided digital meditation through a research application |
| Intervention | 7-minute guided digital meditation |
| Dose | 7-minute session |
| Measures | Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), SPANE-Balance, SPANE-Positive, SPANE-Negative |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | A single 7-minute digital meditation session was associated with medium to large immediate within-person changes in self-reported affect, with the largest change in SPANE-Balance (rank-biserial correlation 0.77). Negative affect items changed relatively more than most positive items. Sensitivity analyses suggested the magnitude of change exceeded what regression to the mean alone could plausibly produce, and the authors conclude the findings support feasibility of delivering and evaluating sub-10-minute digital interventions at scale and motivate a randomized controlled trial with an active comparator. |
Abstract
Scalable digital strategies that support subjective well-being before the consolidation of psychological distress remain limited. Ultra-brief, mobile-delivered interventions may offer a low-burden, just-in-time approach compatible with everyday digital ecosystems. However, the extent to which a single-session, sub-10-minute digital meditation is associated with immediate changes in self-reported affect remains insufficiently characterized. In a single-arm pre-post feasibility study, 1325 participants completed assessments before and after a publicly available 7-minute guided digital meditation, delivered unmodified through a research application. Affect was measured with the 12-item Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE), administered with standard instructions and two exploratory items. Within-person changes were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with rank-biserial correlations and 95% confidence intervals. A baseline adjusted regression (ANCOVA) model predicted post-intervention scores from baseline scores, prior meditation exposure, their interaction, and demographic covariates. Oldham’s method and a comparison of baseline slopes with published test-retest reliability were used to examine regression to mean effect. Medium to large within-person changes were observed across domains. SPANE-Balance demonstrated the largest change ( \(\:{r}_{rb}\) = 0.77, 95% CI [0.73,0.81]), followed by SPANE-Negative ( \(\:{r}_{rb}\) = -0.73, 95% CI [-0.77, -0.68]) and SPANE-Positive ( \(\:{r}_{rb}\) = 0.6, 95% CI [0.54, 0.65]). Negative affect items (e.g., sad, angry) had relatively more change than most positive items. In baseline-adjusted models, post-intervention scores were strongly predicted by baseline scores (β = 0.40–0.50, p < .001), and this relationship did not differ significantly by prior meditation exposure after correction for multiple comparisons. Sensitivity analyses indicated the magnitude of change exceeded what regression to the mean alone could plausibly produce across a range of reliability estimates, suggesting these shifts are unlikely to be fully explained by measurement artifact. A single 7-minute digital meditation session was associated with immediate within-person changes in self-reported affect. The findings support the feasibility of delivering and evaluating sub-10-minute digital interventions at scale and motivate a randomized controlled trial with an active comparator and state-sensitive affect measures.
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients | 2003 | Pre-post intervention study | n = 59 |
| Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample | 2010 | Pre-post intervention study | |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students | 2003 | Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study | n = 302 |
| Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls | 2011 | Controlled trial with wait-list control group | n = 60 |
| The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents | 2011 | Within-group waitlist controlled trial | n = 22 |