Long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation had larger grey matter volume overall compared to non-meditators, with significant differences in the right temporal and frontal lobes, left frontal lobe, and brainstem. The differences were more pronounced in right hemisphere brain areas, suggesting neuroplastic changes linked to emotional and attentional control developed through meditation. The study used a novel statistical approach that identified more brain regions with significant volume differences than traditional methods, which may be prone to Type II errors.
Long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation had larger grey matter volume overall compared to non-meditators, with significant differences in four of sixteen lobe areas: the right temporal and frontal lobes, the left frontal lobe, and the brainstem. When examining 116 finer brain subdivisions, eleven areas showed significant differences, with the right hemisphere more affected. These neuroplastic changes may reflect emotional and attentional control developed through the practice. The ad-hoc statistical method used revealed more significant brain areas than traditional approaches, which the authors suggest are prone to conservative Type II errors.
Praying during Sahaja Yoga Meditation deactivates the bilateral thalamus and reduces activity in frontal brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, compared to secular speech tasks. These neural patterns suggest that prayer in this tradition involves inner concentration and diminished social judgment or mentalizing, distinguishing it from Christian praying practices that engage social cognition. The study scanned sixteen experienced Sahaja Yoga Meditation practitioners using functional MRI while they performed formalized and improvised prayers and matched secular tasks.