Why we label examples, experience and evidence differently
You want to know which parts are real findings and which are just illustrations.
We use five labels: independent evidence, provider description, everyday example, editor test and participant experience. Each answers a different question, and none is allowed to pretend to be another.
At present we publish no participant experiences, because we do not have any we can report accurately.
What do the five labels mean?
This list gives each label and what it can tell you.
- Independent evidence: a finding from a named source such as a health agency, shown with a source marker and its limits.
- Provider description: what an app or service says about itself, shown as its own words.
- Everyday example: a scene we write to help you picture a practice, such as a commuter at the LRT. It is not a real person.
- Editor test: one of our team tries a practice and reports what was easy or hard, labelled as an editor’s view.
- Participant experience: an account from a consenting person who tried a practice, with the method, version and context stated.
Why do we keep them apart?
Because they answer different questions. Evidence is about what tends to happen across people. A story is about one person. Mixing them makes a story sound like proof.
The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) defines the placebo effect as a beneficial health outcome resulting from a person’s anticipation that an intervention will help1. That is one reason a warm personal account cannot, alone, show that a practice caused a change. NCCIH also states that much of the research on meditation and mindfulness is preliminary or not scientifically rigorous2.
What was it like for someone who really tried it?
We cannot answer that honestly yet. We have not run a participant project, so we have no consenting people, no sample size and no results to report. A brief for such a project is a plan, not completed research.
We will not invent people, quotes, numbers, before-and-after results, clinical conclusions or native reviews to fill the gap.
What did not work, and what did the person choose instead?
Same answer: we have no real accounts to draw on. If we publish them in future, we would report the method and version they tried, the context, what they found useful, what was difficult, what they chose instead, and the limits of the account.
Every account would say whether it comes from an editor test or from a participant, and a participant could withdraw their words.
What choices would a participant have?
Anyone sharing an experience should be able to choose how. The choices we would offer are private feedback only, anonymous sharing, sharing under a first name or initial, or withdrawing later. Nothing would be published without a clear yes.
Try this: label what you read
Take one page you saw on social media and sort its sentences. This takes about five minutes.
- Underline any sentence that cites a named source as a finding.
- Mark any sentence that is the provider talking about itself.
- Mark any story about a person, and ask whether you can tell it is real.
- Mark what is left as advice or opinion.
- Notice how much of the page is story or description and how little is evidence.
Our guide on what a testimonial can and cannot tell you goes deeper on step three.
Adapting this to real life
When a friend sends a glowing story in the family WhatsApp group, you can say “that sounds like a good experience” and still keep it in the story box. You can enjoy the story without letting it decide for you.
For how we handle the app, read how we keep evidence and app marketing separate.
When to get more support
If reading about other people’s experiences leaves you unsettled, it is fine to stop and to talk to a doctor or counsellor. Our support page lists where to start.
Where to go next
Learn to read charts with no comparison group in understanding a before-and-after study without a control group. All of these guides sit on our what the research says guides.
When you would like an experience of your own to label, Sadhguru’s free seven-minute guided meditation in the Miracle of Mind app is an optional way to begin.
Common questions
Are the examples in your guides real people?
No. Examples such as a commuter on the LRT or a parent after the school run are everyday scenes we write to help you picture a practice. They are not real people, reviews or testimonials, and they are not evidence.
Do you share what real users experienced?
Not at present. We have no consenting participants whose experience we can report accurately, so we publish none. We will not invent quotes, numbers or before-and-after results. If we add real accounts later, they will be labelled and shared with consent.
What is the difference between an editor test and a participant experience?
An editor test is one of our team trying a practice and noting what was easy or hard, labelled as that. A participant experience comes from a consenting person outside the team. Mixing them up would mislead you, so each gets its own label.
Why does a personal story count for less than evidence?
A story tells you what something felt like for one person. It cannot show what caused a change, or whether it would happen for you. It is still valuable for understanding. We keep it in its own box so it is read for what it is.
Sources
- NCCIH defines a placebo as an inactive substance that looks like the drug or treatment being tested, and the placebo effect as a beneficial health outcome resulting from a person's anticipation that an intervention will help. NCCIH, US National Institutes of Health
- NCCIH states that much of the research on meditation and mindfulness is preliminary or not scientifically rigorous, so results should be read cautiously. NCCIH, US National Institutes of Health. Varied practices and hard-to-measure effects make results difficult to analyse; findings may be overly optimistic.
Read next
If you would rather form your own experience than read about anyone else's, a short guided session is a simple way to try a practice yourself.