Objective: To assess the effectiveness of Heartfulness Meditation Masterclass in reducing stress levels of college students. Methodology: We assessed stress levels of students from different colleges in Chennai, who attended the online live event of ultra short (one hour a day for three days) Masterclasses on Heartfulness Meditation conducted on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2017, by the global trainer of Heartfulness Meditation. A standard stress questionnaire comprising of 30 questions assessing joy and common types of emotional stress such as overload, worries, tension and harassment- was filled up before and after the Masterclass. Results: Data from 848 students was analysed. At the baseline, females had more stress than males and adolescents had more stress than adults. Emotional stress due to overload, worries, tension and harassment reduced and joy increased after meditation. This response was greater in subgroups that had higher stress at the baseline. Conclusion: Heartfulness Meditation Masterclass has significantly reduced stress due to overload, worries, tension, harassment etc. and enhanced joy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the shortest meditation based intervention studied in the medical literature to reduce stress in college students. Along with the time tested heart based raja yoga meditation, the synergistic combination of certain unique methods like Relaxation, Cleaning and Yogic transmission that helped participants to go deep in to the meditation quickly, are the likely reasons for such a significant stress reduction.
