The Big Green Calm Experiment: First Session Results

Progress report on the Big Green Calm experiment.

We are monitoring the effects of some of my meditations over three classes in anonymous surveys on Zoom during the meditation classes over this weekend.

The first class was last night at 7pm and I will run similar classes tomorrow, Saturday, 26th of April and Sunday, 27th April in the regular Meditation Course class slots.

We can then learn which practices help to calm people the most. These are all meditations I have devised and refined myself.

Zoom provides the survey results as a data file. So, being a bit of a geek, I spent the morning writing a little app which takes that data and displays it in an interactive dashboard so that you can all check it out.

As I get more results, I shall update the app.

You can skip this article for the live interactive dashboard here-->

Here is what we have learned so far

After each meditation, participants selected one of these responses to describe their experience with each meditation:

• My mind is busier! 🙈 - The meditation actually increased mental activity
• Thoughts are the same 🙄 - No noticeable change in thought patterns
• Fewer thoughts 😌 - A reduction in mental chatter
• Some thoughts 💭 - Maintained awareness with occasional mind activity
• Inner silence is golden 🙏 - Achieved a deep state of mental calm

These responses help us understand which techniques are most effective at calming the mind — a fundamental step in building your meditation practices.

First Session Results: The Power of The Breath

Our first session identified patterns about how our different meditation techniques affect the mind. Most notably, the new Bilateral Breath Meditation showed up as our most effective technique, with 72% of participants experiencing significant calming effects.

We will have to see if this lead is maintained in the next classes.

Comparing the Techniques

We tested four meditations:

1. The Destress Meditation - A quick and easy breath regulation practice.
2. Candle & The Breath - A meditation combining visualisation and breath awareness.
3. Labelling The Quality of Thoughts - A unique way to neutralise thoughts.
4. Bilateral Breath - An innovative breathing technique.

The data reveals clear differences in how these techniques affect participants:

Bilateral Breath: Out in Front After Session 1

• 29% of participants achieved complete "Inner silence" — the highest rate among all techniques.
• 43% experienced "Fewer thoughts" — again, the highest percentage across all meditations.
• Only 14% reported having "Some thoughts" — the lowest rate of moderate thought activity.
• Just 14% said their "Thoughts are the same" — indicating high effectiveness for most participants.

This suggests that the Bilateral Breath technique may be particularly powerful for quickly inducing a calm mental state, even in a single session.

How Other Techniques Performed

Each meditation showed unique strengths:

The Destress Meditation:

• Balanced distribution between "Fewer thoughts" and "Some thoughts" (35% each)
• 12% achieved complete inner silence
• 18% reported no change in thought patterns

Candle & The Breath:

• Equal distribution between "Fewer thoughts" and "Some thoughts" (36% each)
• 14% experienced complete inner silence
• Only 14% reported no change, showing good overall effectiveness

Labelling The Quality of Thoughts:

• Highest percentage of "Some thoughts" responses (43%)
• 29% experienced "Fewer thoughts"
• Only 7% reached complete inner silence — the lowest among all techniques

What These Results Mean

These initial findings suggest some important insights for meditators:

1. Different techniques serve different purposes — Labelling thoughts may be better for maintaining mindful awareness, while Bilateral Breath excels at creating a deep calm.
2. All techniques showed positive effects — Even the least calming technique still helped 79% of participants experience some reduction in mental activity.
3. Individual responses vary — While Bilateral Breath was most effective overall, each technique worked best for different individuals.

What's particularly encouraging is that not a single participant reported having a busier mind after any meditation.

This affirms that all four techniques are fundamentally sound approaches to meditation.

Next Steps in Our Research

This is just the beginning of our exploration. The next two sessions will help us understand:

• If these patterns remain consistent across different groups.
• Whether certain techniques work better at different times of day.
• If participants with different experience levels respond differently to each technique.

I'm especially curious to see if the Bilateral Breath technique maintains its effectiveness across all three sessions, or if other techniques emerge as equally powerful in different contexts. I will shuffle the meditations around and add some extra practices as benchmarks.

Explore the Interactive Dashboard

For those interested in exploring the data more deeply, I've created an interactive dashboard where you can:

• Compare all meditation techniques.
• Examine detailed breakdowns of each approach.
• See visualisation of effectiveness scores.
• Get insights tailored for social media sharing.

Explore the interactive dashboard by clicking here →

The dashboard allows you to toggle between different views and dig deeper into the specific aspects of each meditation technique.

Join Our Next Sessions

If you're interested in participating in the next sessions of The Big Green Calm Experiment, they'll be held:

• Saturday, April 26th at 10 am.
• Sunday, April 27th at 7 pm.

Each session offers a chance to experience these powerful meditation techniques firsthand and contribute to our growing understanding of effective mindfulness practices.

I look forward to sharing the complete results after all three sessions are complete!