¿Por qué la Meditación Funciona? Un Estudio de Yale Revela la Verdad - El Arte de Vivir

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:06][music] >> We know that college-age students have a greater prevalence of mental health issues than any other age group. We also know that 60% of students report that [music] they have felt overwhelming anxiety and over 40% of students have reported feeling so depressed that they were unable to function. I seriously feel that a lot of students here don't have healthy coping mechanisms um to deal with stress. And then we just kind of like shove it under the rug.

[00:00:33]>> The strategies that I use to manage the pressure points at Yale have varied.

[00:00:39]Usually, I kind of don't manage them, but in general, like last semester, if I was overwhelmed by something, I would just kind of shut down.

[00:00:47]>> We see students come in with so much burnout and stress and a very distracted mind, and that makes academics [music] hard and social life even harder.

[00:00:56]Instead of sitting down and doing what I needed to do, whether that be work or sports or going to the gym, I would find myself sort of moping around my room a little bit, [music] becoming extremely distracted with social media. Stress in my life was like um I would kind of have meltdowns night before a race or a big test because I wouldn't know how to handle it that well.

[00:01:19]So that's why we launched this randomized control trial with around 200 Yale students. So what we did was half the students go through this 8-week intervention, and right before and right after those 8 weeks, we collected data on their [music] psychological well-being, on measures of stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, life satisfaction, self-compassion, all of the different facets of well-being. We decided to evaluate [music] three different empirically validated well-being interventions side by side >> [music] >> compared to a control group. An emotional intelligence program, the mindfulness-based stress reduction, and finally we selected the SKY Campus Happiness Program. The SKY Campus Happiness Program is a comprehensive wellness program that addresses wellness and happiness from many angles, incorporating breathwork, yoga, and deep meditation, as well as leadership and service learning, and also positive [music] psychology. The core of the SKY Happiness Program is SKY meditation.

[00:02:19]Quite honestly, I was pretty skeptical going into it. [music] I've never really done breathing exercises. I didn't know that was a thing that you did >> [laughter] >> with meditation. I just assumed meditation was kind of like sitting in a dark room and like trying not to think about anything. Um I never really bought into meditation or yoga as a way to improve my well-being. And then my thoughts about meditation and mindfulness started to change a little bit until we actually got to the SKY meditation [music] retreat.

[00:02:52]I cannot believe [music] still to this day how deep of a meditation I fell into.

[00:02:58]>> But I didn't know how much of it was like your physiology, like how you control like the things inside of you, like with breathing, which I had no idea that you could even do that.

[00:03:09]>> SKY meditation immediately starts releasing stress from the nervous system >> [music] >> and has a deep physiological effect.

[00:03:22]I felt [music] alive. I felt energized.

[00:03:24]I felt awake. I remember waking up after that SKY meditation session, I cannot remember a day I was more productive.

[00:03:32]Well, when I do the practice, I feel rejuvenated. My head is clear. I know what I have to do this that day, and then it it feels really good. Like I'm full of energy.

[00:03:49]Being equipped with [music] the knowledge that I've gained from this class, the different breathing techniques, has really helped me to de-stress and re-equilibrate myself.

[00:03:58]Like it's a dome around me. The stresses [music] would come, but they would just bounce off the dome, and they aren't as impactful. Like they don't [music] get to me.

[00:04:10]>> [music] >> I think I like come out of the breathing and the meditation as a happier, >> [music] >> like more balanced person, which is something I did not expect at all. I'm just [music] having a much better semester, and I feel so much happier and like so much more stable. Like I come back [music] to my suite, and my roommates are like, "Why are you so calm right now?" And I'm just sitting there, and I'm like, "Guys, it's I don't know.

[00:04:33]I'm just enjoying life."

[00:04:42]So I find that students end [music] up practicing often daily because the practice feels so good. Their mental health and well-being feels so boosted.

[00:04:50][music] >> I wake up and do my SKY meditation routine, and it's really not a difficult program [music] at all. I wake up, and I'm ready to go for the day.

[00:05:04]Rather than wait until students have mental health issues and then addressing that with therapy, medication, etc., why don't we teach students tools to take care of their well-being ahead [music] of time? Why don't we take a preventative approach? What would it mean if students everywhere were equipped with these techniques and tools [music] so that they can not only do well in school, but also learn to thrive in life?