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82    <title>Meditation Heart-Rate Findings: Dojo 2026 | Blog</title>
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304        <h1 class="page-document__title">
305          The State of Meditation 2026: Heart-Rate Response During Qualified Dojo Meditation Sessions
306        </h1>
307        <p class="page-document__meta">
308          By Asaf Shamir, Founder, Dojo · <time datetime="2026-07-23">Updated July 23, 2026</time> · ~11 min read
309        </p>
310
311        <p class="page-document__tldr">
312          <strong>TL;DR:</strong> Among qualified Dojo meditation sessions with wearable heart-rate data, 76.8% lowered
313          heart rate.
314        </p>
315
316        <article class="page-document__prose">
317          <ul>
318            <li>The average start-to-end decrease was 6.5 bpm.</li>
319            <li>The median first decrease came after 1.0 minute.</li>
320          </ul>
321
322          <p>
323            <em>
324              A formal research summary of how the body responded, in aggregate, during qualified Dojo meditation sessions.
325            </em>
326          </p>
327
328          <p>
329            Download the reports:
330            <a
331              href="/assets/reports/state_of_meditation_2026_research_report.pdf"
332              target="_blank"
333              rel="noopener noreferrer"
334              >Research paper (PDF)</a
335            >
336            and
337            <a
338              href="/assets/reports/state_of_meditation_2026_pr_report.pdf"
339              target="_blank"
340              rel="noopener noreferrer"
341              >Visual report (PDF)</a
342            >.
343          </p>
344          <p>
345            This report covers the method and the rules a session had to meet. It also covers what heart-rate change can
346            and cannot say about meditation.
347          </p>
348          <p>
349            This page reports product data, not clinical outcomes. The figures describe qualified sessions with usable
350            heart-rate coverage.
351          </p>
352          <p>They should not be used to judge a single session or to make a health decision.</p>
353
354          <section class="research-visual" aria-labelledby="state-of-meditation-key-findings">
355            <p class="research-visual__eyebrow">Aggregate physiological signal</p>
356            <h2 class="research-visual__title" id="state-of-meditation-key-findings">What the body showed</h2>
357            <p class="research-visual__text">
358              Across qualified sessions, heart rate most often moved downward. The first measurable decrease appeared
359              quickly, while the lowest point tended to arrive later in the meditation.
360            </p>
361            <div class="research-stat-grid" aria-label="Key findings from the State of Meditation 2026 analysis">
362              <div class="research-stat">
363                <span class="research-stat__value">76.8%</span>
364                <span class="research-stat__label">of qualified sessions lowered heart rate</span>
365              </div>
366              <div class="research-stat">
367                <span class="research-stat__value">6.5</span>
368                <span class="research-stat__label">average BPM start-to-end decrease</span>
369              </div>
370              <div class="research-stat">
371                <span class="research-stat__value">1.0m</span>
372                <span class="research-stat__label">median first heart-rate decrease</span>
373              </div>
374              <div class="research-stat">
375                <span class="research-stat__value">7.63m</span>
376                <span class="research-stat__label">average time to minimum heart rate</span>
377              </div>
378            </div>
379          </section>
380
381          <h2 id="how-to-read-this-report">How to read this report</h2>
382          <p>A few terms come up again and again in this report. Here is what each one means in plain words.</p>
383          <p>Bpm means beats per minute. It is the number of times the heart beats in one minute.</p>
384          <p>Start-to-end change compares heart rate at the start of a session with heart rate at the end.</p>
385          <p>The mean is the plain average of all the values. The median is the middle value when all values are put in order.</p>
386          <p>Half of the sessions sit above the median, and half sit below it.</p>
387          <p>A qualified session is one with enough heart-rate coverage. That coverage lets us build research-ready numbers for it.</p>
388          <p>Resting heart rate is a person's usual heart rate at rest. Here, it comes from a baseline users shared through connected health data.</p>
389          <p>Aggregate means the numbers are pooled across many sessions. No single person's session is shown on this page.</p>
390
391          <h2 id="abstract">Abstract</h2>
392          <p>
393            Meditation is usually judged by what people say about how they feel. Wearables and connected health data now
394            add another view.
395          </p>
396          <p>
397            They make it possible to see how the body responds during practice. This report looks at anonymized aggregate
398            data from qualified Dojo sessions in H1 2026.
399          </p>
400          <p>
401            A session was included only when it had enough heart-rate coverage. That was needed to build research-ready
402            session metrics.
403          </p>
404          <p>The key results were:</p>
405          <ul>
406            <li>Among qualified sessions, 76.8% showed a start-to-end heart-rate decrease.</li>
407            <li>The mean decrease was 6.5 beats per minute (bpm).</li>
408            <li>The median decrease was 5.11 bpm.</li>
409            <li>The median time to the first heart-rate decrease was 1.0 minute.</li>
410            <li>The lowest heart rate came later in the session, after 7.63 minutes on average.</li>
411            <li>Where users had shared a resting-heart-rate baseline, 27.0% of sessions fell below it.</li>
412          </ul>
413          <p>
414            These findings come from watching product data, not from a clinical trial. They are not clinical evidence.
415          </p>
416          <p>They suggest that qualified sessions often show a heart-rate change you can measure.</p>
417          <p>
418            They also suggest that two moments are worth telling apart. The first downward shift and the lowest heart-rate
419            point capture different parts of how the body settles.
420          </p>
421
422          <h2 id="introduction">1. Introduction</h2>
423          <p>
424            People often talk about meditation in terms of focus, calm, handling emotions, and less stress. These things
425            matter, but they are not always visible during a session.
426          </p>
427          <p>
428            Heart rate is one easy-to-reach signal from the body. It can help show whether the body is moving toward a
429            lower-arousal state during practice.
430          </p>
431          <p>
432            The aim of this report is narrow. It describes pooled heart-rate response in qualified Dojo sessions.
433          </p>
434          <p>
435            It does not try to rank all meditation techniques or to infer clinical outcomes. It does not claim that a lower
436            heart rate is always better.
437          </p>
438          <p>
439            Instead, it asks two questions. Do sessions with enough usable heart-rate data show a start-to-end change you
440            can measure?
441          </p>
442          <p>And if they do, how quickly does that change appear?</p>
443          <p>
444            The topic is linked to measured, heart-rate, and personalized meditation. But the focus here is on method, not
445            on selling a product.
446          </p>
447          <p>The main thing we study is the cleaned heart-rate signal from each session.</p>
448
449          <h2 id="methods">2. Methods</h2>
450          <h3 id="data-source">2.1 Data Source</h3>
451          <p>
452            The study used anonymized aggregate Dojo session data from H1 2026. Dojo captures heart-rate response during
453            each session.
454          </p>
455          <p>
456            It then cleans the signal into research-ready session metrics. The product can measure heart-rate response
457            during the session.
458          </p>
459          <p>This report analyzes the session-level metrics derived from that signal.</p>
460
461          <h3 id="inclusion-criteria">2.2 Inclusion Criteria</h3>
462          <p>
463            The research group includes qualified sessions with enough heart-rate coverage. Sessions without enough
464            coverage were left out, not filled in with guessed values.
465          </p>
466          <p>
467            This choice makes the sample smaller. But it makes the numbers for each session easier to trust and read.
468          </p>
469
470          <h3 id="endpoints">2.3 Endpoints</h3>
471          <p>The primary endpoint was start-to-end heart-rate change:</p>
472          <pre><code>HR drop = starting HR - ending HR</code></pre>
473          <p>Positive values indicate a start-to-end decrease.</p>
474          <p>Secondary endpoints included:</p>
475          <ul>
476            <li>median time to first heart-rate decrease</li>
477            <li>average time to minimum heart rate</li>
478            <li>median time to first point below resting heart rate, where baseline data was available</li>
479            <li>average minutes spent below resting heart rate, where baseline data was available</li>
480            <li>average largest drop from session start</li>
481          </ul>
482
483          <h3 id="resting-heart-rate-baseline">2.4 Resting Heart Rate Baseline</h3>
484          <p>
485            In this report, resting heart rate means an average resting-heart-rate baseline. Users shared this baseline
486            through connected health data.
487          </p>
488          <p>
489            Dojo did not work out each user's average resting heart rate for this study. So findings below resting heart
490            rate apply only to sessions where users had shared that baseline.
491          </p>
492
493          <h3 id="privacy">2.5 Privacy</h3>
494          <p>
495            The study used anonymized aggregate data. It was designed to protect user data privacy rights.
496          </p>
497          <p>Results are shown only as pooled numbers across many sessions.</p>
498
499          <h2 id="results">3. Results</h2>
500          <h3 id="direction">3.1 Direction Of Heart-Rate Change</h3>
501          <p>Among qualified sessions, 76.8% showed a start-to-end heart-rate decrease.</p>
502          <p>A smaller share, 22.7%, showed a start-to-end increase.</p>
503          <p>The remaining sessions were roughly flat, by residual calculation.</p>
504          <p>The size of the change was:</p>
505          <ul>
506            <li>The average start-to-end decrease was 6.5 bpm.</li>
507            <li>The median decrease was 5.11 bpm.</li>
508            <li>The average absolute start-to-end movement was 8.96 bpm.</li>
509          </ul>
510          <p>Absolute movement counts the size of a change, whether heart rate went up or down.</p>
511          <p>
512            So the typical session showed a heart-rate shift you could measure, even when the direction varied.
513          </p>
514
515          <figure class="research-visual research-chart" aria-labelledby="direction-chart-title">
516            <p class="research-visual__eyebrow">Direction of change</p>
517            <h3 class="research-visual__title" id="direction-chart-title">Most qualified sessions moved downward</h3>
518            <div class="research-bars" role="img" aria-label="76.8 percent decreased, 22.7 percent increased, 27.0 percent went below resting heart rate where baseline was available.">
519              <div class="research-bar">
520                <span class="research-bar__label">Lowered HR</span>
521                <span class="research-bar__track"><span class="research-bar__fill" style="width: 76.8%"></span></span>
522                <span class="research-bar__value">76.8%</span>
523              </div>
524              <div class="research-bar">
525                <span class="research-bar__label">Increased HR</span>
526                <span class="research-bar__track"><span class="research-bar__fill" style="width: 22.7%"></span></span>
527                <span class="research-bar__value">22.7%</span>
528              </div>
529              <div class="research-bar">
530                <span class="research-bar__label">Below resting HR</span>
531                <span class="research-bar__track"><span class="research-bar__fill" style="width: 27%"></span></span>
532                <span class="research-bar__value">27.0%</span>
533              </div>
534            </div>
535            <figcaption class="research-chart__caption">
536              Below-resting-heart-rate findings apply only to sessions where a user-shared resting-heart-rate baseline was available.
537            </figcaption>
538          </figure>
539
540          <h3 id="timing">3.2 Timing Of Response</h3>
541          <p>The median first heart-rate decrease came after 1.0 minute.</p>
542          <p>
543            This suggests that the first downward shift you can measure often shows up early. The lowest heart rate c
543ame
544            later.
545          </p>
546          <p>On average, qualified sessions reached their lowest heart rate after 7.63 minutes.</p>
547          <p>The median time to the lowest heart rate was 6.0 minutes.</p>
548          <p>This creates a two-stage reading:</p>
549          <ol>
550            <li>The first downward movement often appears quickly.</li>
551            <li>The deepest observed heart-rate point tends to occur later, after more settling time.</li>
552          </ol>
553
554          <figure class="research-visual" aria-labelledby="timing-visual-title">
555            <p class="research-visual__eyebrow">Timing sequence</p>
556            <h3 class="research-visual__title" id="timing-visual-title">First shift and deepest point are different metrics</h3>
557            <div class="research-timeline" role="img" aria-label="Median first decrease at 1.0 minutes, median below resting heart rate at 2.0 minutes, average minimum heart rate at 7.63 minutes.">
558              <div class="research-timeline__point">
559                <span class="research-timeline__time">1.0m</span>
560                <span class="research-timeline__label">median first HR decrease</span>
561              </div>
562              <div class="research-timeline__point">
563                <span class="research-timeline__time">2.0m</span>
564                <span class="research-timeline__label">median first point below resting HR</span>
565              </div>
566              <div class="research-timeline__point">
567                <span class="research-timeline__time">7.63m</span>
568                <span class="research-timeline__label">average time to minimum HR</span>
569              </div>
570            </div>
571          </figure>
572
573          <h3 id="magnitude">3.3 Magnitude Of Response</h3>
574          <p>Aggregate landmarks were:</p>
575          <ul>
576            <li>average starting HR: 73.64 bpm</li>
577            <li>average ending HR: 67.14 bpm</li>
578            <li>average minimum HR: 62.27 bpm</li>
579            <li>average session HR: 69.36 bpm</li>
580            <li>average largest drop from session start: 11.37 bpm</li>
581          </ul>
582          <p>
583            The gap between the start-to-end decrease and the largest drop from start is important. End-of-session heart
584            rate may reflect a return phase.
585          </p>
586          <p>
587            In that phase, awareness turns back toward normal activity. The lowest heart rate shows the deepest point seen
588            during the practice.
589          </p>
590
591          <figure class="research-visual research-chart" aria-labelledby="hr-journey-title">
592            <p class="research-visual__eyebrow">Aggregate heart-rate landmarks</p>
593            <h3 class="research-visual__title" id="hr-journey-title">Average HR moved from 73.64 to 67.14 bpm</h3>
594            <svg viewBox="0 0 640 260" role="img" aria-labelledby="hr-journey-svg-title hr-journey-svg-desc">
595              <title id="hr-journey-svg-title">Average heart rate over the course of Dojo sessions</title>
596              <desc id="hr-journey-svg-desc">
597                Average starting heart rate was 73.64 bpm, average minimum heart rate was 62.27 bpm, and average ending heart rate was 67.14 bpm.
598              </desc>
599              <line x1="58" y1="42" x2="58" y2="218" stroke="rgba(226,226,226,.35)" stroke-width="1" />
600              <line x1="58" y1="218" x2="590" y2="218" stroke="rgba(226,226,226,.35)" stroke-width="1" />
601              <polyline
602                points="74,72 382,181 566,134"
603                fill="none"
604                stroke="#03dac5"
605                stroke-width="8"
606                stroke-linecap="round"
607                stroke-linejoin="round"
608              />
609              <circle cx="74" cy="72" r="10" fill="#bb86fc" />
610              <circle cx="382" cy="181" r="10" fill="#03dac5" />
611              <circle cx="566" cy="134" r="10" fill="#bb86fc" />
612              <text x="74" y="45" fill="#f9f9f9" font-size="24" font-weight="700" text-anchor="middle">73.64</text>
613              <text x="382" y="214" fill="#f9f9f9" font-size="24" font-weight="700" text-anchor="middle">62.27</text>
614              <text x="566" y="108" fill="#f9f9f9" font-size="24" font-weight="700" text-anchor="middle">67.14</text>
615              <text x="74" y="244" fill="rgba(226,226,226,.75)" font-size="18" text-anchor="middle">Start</text>
616              <text x="382" y="244" fill="rgba(226,226,226,.75)" font-size="18" text-anchor="middle">Minimum</text>
617              <text x="566" y="244" fill="rgba(226,226,226,.75)" font-size="18" text-anchor="middle">End</text>
618            </svg>
619            <figcaption class="research-chart__caption">
620              This is an aggregate landmark visualization, not an individual session trace.
621            </figcaption>
622          </figure>
623
624          <h3 id="below-resting-heart-rate">3.4 Below Resting Heart Rate</h3>
625          <p>
626            Where users had shared a resting-heart-rate baseline, 27.0% of qualified sessions fell below that baseline.
627          </p>
628          <p>The median time to the first point below resting heart rate was 2.0 minutes.</p>
629          <p>The average time spent below resting heart rate was 1.3 minutes.</p>
630          <p>
631            Read this result with care. Dojo did not work out resting heart rate for this study.
632          </p>
633          <p>
634            It was a baseline that users shared through connected health data. So this finding depends on whether users
635            shared one.
636          </p>
637
638          <h3 id="content-groupings">3.5 Qualified Content Groupings</h3>
639          <p>Some content-level groupings met the reporting threshold and appeared in the aggregate output:</p>
640          <ul>
641            <li>Personalized sessions built in Dojo: 7.41 bpm average HR drop; 85.3% lowered HR.</li>
642            <li>Body scan module family: 8.93 bpm average HR drop; 84.6% lowered HR.</li>
643            <li>Intro module family: 9.12 bpm average HR drop; 87.1% lowered HR.</li>
644          </ul>
645          <div class="research-callout">
646            <p>
647              Content findings are useful for product research. But they should not be read as a universal ranking of
648              meditation techniques.
649            </p>
650            <p>Session context and user state can change how the body responds.</p>
651          </div>
652
653          <h2 id="discussion">4. Discussion</h2>
654          <p>
655            The main result is that qualified Dojo sessions often show a heart-rate drop you can measure. The median
656            first decrease came quickly.
657          </p>
658          <p>
659            The lowest heart-rate point came later. This matters because one value taken at the end can miss the deepest
660            point in the session.
661          </p>
662          <p>
663            The findings point to a practical path for research. Meditation systems can be judged by more than completion,
664            personal taste, or content type.
665          </p>
666          <p>They can also be judged by how the body responds over the course of a session.</p>
667          <p>
668            For a personalized system, this creates a feedback loop. The loop runs from user intention, to session design, to
669            the body's response, to future adaptation.
670          </p>
671          <p>
672            The useful question is this. Can an app learn which exercise or technique seems to help a person reach
673            their desired state?
674          </p>
675          <p>And can it learn this from how that person's body actually responds?</p>
676
677          <h2 id="limitations">5. Limitations</h2>
678          <p>This report has several limitations.</p>
679          <p>
680            First, it is observational product research, not a clinical trial. It does not prove cause and effect or
681            clinical efficacy.
682          </p>
683          <p>
684            Second, heart rate is only one signal from the body. Posture, stress, breathing, hydration, caffeine, sleep,
685            device behavior, and other factors can all affect it.
686          </p>
687          <p>
688            Third, the report focuses on qualified sessions with enough heart-rate coverage. This improves signal quality.
689          </p>
690          <p>But it means the results should not be read as a count of all Dojo sessions.</p>
691          <p>
692            Fourth, the resting heart rate results depend on whether users shared a baseline. Dojo did not work out average
693            resting heart rate for this study.
694          </p>
695          <p>
696            Finally, the content findings are early and pooled. They should guide how future studies are designed.
697          </p>
698          <p>They should not stand alone as claims that one technique is always better than another.</p>
699
700          <h2 id="conclusion">6. Conclusion</h2>
701          <p>Among qualified Dojo sessions, heart rate decreased in 76.8% of sessions.</p>
702          <p>The median first decrease came after 1.0 minute.</p>
703          <p>
703The average lowest heart rate came after 7.63 minutes.</p>
704          <p>These results suggest that meditation can produce change in the body that you can measure.</p>
705          <p>
706            They also suggest that timing adds important context. That context goes beyond a simple start-to-end
707            comparison.
708          </p>
709          <p>
710            The broader lesson is about method. Measured meditation can help users and researchers see how the body responds
711            to practice.
712          </p>
713          <p>It can do this without reducing meditation to a single metric.</p>
714          <p>
715            <strong>The goal is not to chase the lowest possible heart rate.</strong> It is to make the link between practice
716            and the body's response easier to observe.
717          </p>
718          <p>What can a personal session graph show, and what can it not show?</p>
719          <p>
720            For a plain-language answer, read
721            <a href="/blog/can-meditation-be-measured-with-heart-rate-data/">Can Meditation Be Measured With Heart Rate Data?</a>.
722          </p>
723
724          <h2 id="suggested-citation">Suggested Citation</h2>
725          <blockquote>
726            Dojo. (2026). <em>The State of Meditation 2026: Heart-Rate Response During Qualified Dojo Meditation Sessions</em>.
727            Medidojo Inc.
728          </blockquote>
729
730          <p>
731            Download:
732            <a
733              href="/assets/reports/state_of_meditation_2026_research_report.pdf"
734              target="_blank"
735              rel="noopener noreferrer"
736              >Research paper</a
737            >
738            and
739            <a
740              href="/assets/reports/state_of_meditation_2026_pr_report.pdf"
741              target="_blank"
742              rel="noopener noreferrer"
743              >Visual report</a
744            >.
745          </p>
746        </article>
747      </div>
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