Brief meditation and acute stress in undergraduate nursing students: a pre-post study of an embedded wellness intervention.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether brief Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) was associated with changes in perceived stress and resilience, and whether observed changes were robust across analytic samples. PARTICIPANTS: First- and second-semester undergraduate nursing students at a private U.S. health sciences university (January-May 2026). METHODS: Single-group pre-post intervention study. Twenty-minute SYM sessions were delivered in-person and virtually. Resilience was measured via the Brief Resilience Scale and perceived stress via a single-item 0-10 scale. RESULTS: Across 84 participants (99 sessions), perceived stress declined sharply (mean reduction 2.33 points; d = -1.42, p < .001), while trait resilience was unchanged (d = +0.12, p = .281). The stress reduction was consistent across nested samples and demographic subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Brief, embedded SYM was associated with substantial within-session reductions in acute perceived stress, though trait resilience was unchanged over a single session. Controlled trials are needed to establish causal efficacy.