Classification of Rajayoga Meditators Based on the Duration of Practice Using Graph Theoretical Measures of Functional Connectivity from Task-Based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
International Journal of Yoga January 1, 2022 Ashwini S Savanth, P A Vijaya, Ajay Kumar Nair et al.
Long-term Rajayoga meditators from the Brahma Kumaris tradition show distinct brain functional connectivity patterns compared to short-term practitioners, even while performing a non-meditative task. Using task-based fMRI data, graph-theoretical measures of functional connectivity (adjacency matrices, global efficiency, local efficiency) were calculated from 132 brain regions. Machine learning classifiers—especially decision tree, random forest, and gradient boosted tree—achieved over 84% test accuracy in distinguishing long-term (mean 13,596 hours of practice) from short-term (mean 1,095 hours) meditators. These findings suggest that extensive meditation practice produces lasting changes in brain network organization that persist outside of meditation.