S25. After Meditation I’m Not That Inferior Anymore – My Confidence Slowly Came Back, And I Even Started Liking Myself

Have you ever seen students – or your own kids – who are clearly not bad at all, yet keep saying things like: “I’m useless”, “I’m not that good”, “Forget it, I can’t do it”?Or maybe that’s how you talk to yourself – on the outside you seem to cope, but inside you feel like a “low‑confidence nobody”.

There is a group of young adults in India who look quite similar to others from the outside: they face the same pressure, competition and anxiety.But when psychologists measured them, their self‑esteem, resilience and mental well‑being were all clearly higher than their peers.The only major difference: they had been practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation for a prolonged period.

This article uses simple, everyday language to walk teachers, parents and young people through how a scientific study describes this phenomenon with real data:“How does life look when, after meditation, you feel less inferior, your confidence slowly returns, and you even start to appreciate yourself?”

What was this study about?

The study is titled “The Effect of Sahaja Yoga Meditation on Self-Esteem, Resilience and Mental Well-being among Young Adults”, published in 2022 in the journal Mind and Society.

The researchers recruited 91 young adults aged 20–34 from urban areas in India and divided them into two groups:

• Sahaja Yoga meditation group

  • 44 participants

  • Had been practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) regularly for at least one year

  • Were not practicing any other type of meditation

• Non‑meditation group (control group)

  • 47 participants

  • Did not practice Sahaja Yoga or any other form of meditation

Methodologically, this is a quasi‑experimental, cross‑sectional comparison study. That means researchers did not randomly assign people to “meditate” or “not meditate”. Instead, they compared a group who already practiced SYM with a group who did not, at one point in time.

In simple terms:The study can reliably tell us: “These two groups are clearly different”, but it cannot 100% prove: “Meditation caused all of the differences”.

What did the study measure?

The study did not just rely on vague impressions like “they seem more confident”.It used three well‑established psychological scales to measure:

• Self‑esteemMeasured by the Rosenberg Self‑Esteem Scale (RSES), a classic 10‑item questionnaire widely used around the world. In essence, it assesses how much you accept and value yourself – whether you feel you are a person worthy of respect.

• ResilienceMeasured by the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), which focuses specifically on how well you can “bounce back” after stress or setbacks. Higher scores mean: life can knock you down, but you get back up faster.

• Mental well‑beingMeasured by the Warwick‑Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), which captures more than just the absence of depression. It looks at whether you feel energetic, hopeful, connected and that life is meaningful overall.

In other words, the study does not talk about vague “spiritual improvement”, but uses standard, internationally recognised psychological tools to measure things that can be compared and analysed.

How was the study carried out?

• Data was collected via online questionnaires using Google Forms.

• Each participant first provided some basic information (age, gender, whether they practiced SYM and for how long, etc.).

• Then they completed the three scales on self‑esteem, resilience and mental well‑being.

• Afterwards, the researchers used statistical analyses to compare the average scores of the two groups.

One key technique they used is called a t‑test. You can think of it like this: if Team A scores slightly more goals on average than Team B in one game, it could just be luck. But if across multiple games Team A’s average score is consistently much higher, then something real is going on – they are actually stronger. A t‑test helps decide whether the difference is likely due to chance or reflects a real, reliable difference between groups.

They also used Pearson correlation to see how self‑esteem, resilience and mental well‑being relate to each other within the meditation group and within the non‑meditation group.

The key result: meditators, on average, are doing better

The results are quite straightforward.

1. Higher self‑esteem

   • The average self‑esteem score in the meditation group was about 33.

   • In the non‑meditation group, it was about 28.23.

   • The difference was statistically highly significant (t = 4.97, p < 0.01).

   In plain language:Young adults who had been practicing Sahaja Yoga Meditation for at least a year felt more positive about themselves and less “I’m just not good enough” compared with those who did not meditate.

2. Stronger resilience

   • On the Brief Resilience Scale, the meditation group scored about 3.71 (on a 1–5 scale).

   • The non‑meditation group scored about 3.08.

   • Again, the difference was highly significant (t = 4.63, p < 0.01).

   This suggests that SYM practitioners, on average, recover from stress and setbacks more quickly – they are better at “bouncing back”.

3. Better mental well‑being

   • On WEMWBS, the meditation group scored about 55.86.

   • The non‑meditation group scored about 47.48 (total possible range is 14–70).

   • The difference was statistically significant (t = 4.87, p < 0.01).

So SYM practitioners were not just “less distressed”; they also showed higher levels of positive mental well‑being – more vitality, more sense of meaning and more psychological balance.

To sum this up in everyday words:This group of young people who practice Sahaja Yoga Meditation are, on average, less self‑deprecating, more able to withstand stress, and feel mentally more at ease and positive.

An interesting finding: gender differences become weaker

Another striking part of the study is how it looked at gender differences.

In many previous studies around the world, it has been found that men tend to report higher self‑esteem than women, especially from adolescence onwards. This study confirmed that pattern in the non‑meditation group:

• Among non‑meditators, men scored significantly higher in self‑esteem than women (t = -2.26, p < 0.01).

However, in the meditation group, something different appeared:

• Among those who practiced Sahaja Yoga, men and women showed no significant differences in self‑esteem, resilience or mental well‑being.

• Their average scores were very close. For example:

  • Self‑esteem: women 33.29; men 32.63

  • Mental well‑being: women 56.54; men 55.63.

The usual “men have higher self‑esteem” pattern virtually disappeared in the meditation group.

The authors suggest that long‑term meditation may help people:

• become more self‑aware,

• less constrained by traditional gender roles,

• and more likely to evaluate their self‑worth from a holistic, inner perspective rather than from rigid social expectations.

This point is quite powerful:If a practice can help both young men and young women build equally healthy self‑esteem, rather than one gender consistently feeling “a level lower”, that could be very valuable for long‑term mental health.

Another subtle point: meditators’ happiness doesn’t rely only on self‑esteem and toughness

The study also examined how the three variables relate to each other.

In the non‑meditation group:

• Higher self‑esteem was strongly linked to higher resilience and higher mental well‑being.

• Higher resilience was also strongly linked to higher mental well‑being.

• All three variables were significantly correlated with each other.

In simple terms: for non‑meditators, if you feel bad about yourself and feel easily crushed by stress, you also tend to feel less happy and less mentally well.

In the meditation group, the pattern shifts:

• Self‑esteem and resilience were still positively and significantly correlated (r ≈ 0.53, p < 0.01).

• But the links between self‑esteem and mental well‑being, and between resilience and mental well‑being, were not statistically significant.

This is quite thought‑provoking.

It suggests that, for Sahaja Yoga meditators, mental well‑being is not entirely dependent on self‑esteem and “toughness”.Their sense of inner happiness and balance may also be supported by other internal sources – such as spiritual connection, values, and an inner state of calm – which were not directly measured in this study.

In other words:A meditator’s happiness is no longer built only on “I must be strong”, “I must be good enough”, but also on a deeper, quieter foundation that does not fluctuate as easily.

Sahaja Yoga Meditation and mental silence

In the background section, the study briefly summarises what Sahaja Yoga Meditation is:

• It describes an inner subtle system of channels and energy centres (chakras) within each person, related to physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects.

• Through a simple, natural process, the inner Kundalini energy is awakened.

• When this energy rises to the top energy centre, the practitioner can enter a state of “mental silence”.

In Sahaja Yoga terms, this state is often called Thoughtless Awareness:You are fully awake, present and aware of your surroundings, but your mind is no longer dragged around by constant thoughts, worries and internal chatter.

This article will not go into detailed explanations of Kundalini, chakras or the full SYM system.If you are curious about those foundations or the actual meditation steps, you can find separate pages on this website with more complete explanations and free guided practice resources.Here, the focus is on one question: what does this particular study show scientifically about SYM and young people’s mental state?

Does the study have limitations?

Yes – and the researchers are transparent about them.

• It is not a randomised controlled trial:People already chose whether to meditate or not; they weren’t randomly assigned. So other factors (such as personality or family background) could also influence the results.

• It is cross‑sectional, not longitudinal:The data were collected at one point in time, not tracked over months or years. We cannot firmly say “meditation caused all the changes”; we can only say “meditators and non‑meditators differ in meaningful ways”.

• The data come from self‑report questionnaires:People may under‑ or over‑estimate themselves, or answer in a socially desirable way.

• The sample is relatively small and limited to urban Indian young adults:The findings should be tested further in different countries and cultures to see how universal they are.

Even so, the study still carries weight because:

• It uses well‑validated, mainstream psychological scales.

• Its results are consistent with a growing body of research suggesting that Sahaja Yoga Meditation is associated with reduced stress, improved mood, higher subjective well‑being and better mental health outcomes.

A quiet invitation, not a hard sell

Many people still think of meditation as “just a way to relax” or “something extra if you have time”.This study shows a different angle: meditation can be linked to deeper internal changes – how you see yourself, how you cope with pressure, and how stable your sense of well‑being is.

If you are a young person:

• You might not say, “I want to improve my self‑esteem”, but you probably recognise the feeling of being overly sensitive to others’ opinions, being afraid of failure, or quickly writing yourself off when something goes wrong.

• This study quietly suggests: there is a way of working with your inner state that is more than “just motivate yourself harder” – and Sahaja Yoga Meditation might be one such path.

If you are a parent or teacher:

• You may have tried encouragement, discipline, or endless “pep talks”, yet find it still hard to help children truly feel at ease with themselves.

• This study hints that self‑esteem and resilience are not built by scolding or slogans, but by cultivating a calmer, more integrated inner state – something that practices like SYM specifically train.

And if you are simply curious:

• You do not have to accept all spiritual explanations at once.

• You can start with this: at least one peer‑reviewed study has observed that young adults who practice Sahaja Yoga Meditation show higher self‑esteem, stronger resilience, and better mental well‑being, and that common gender gaps in self‑esteem become much less visible in this group.

If you would like to explore further – what Thoughtless Awareness feels like in practice, what the subtle system is, and how to start with simple SYM exercises – you can find more detailed introductions and free practice guides on other pages of this site.

Further Reading:

• Research Articles: Original Articles and Research Papers