Yoga has become a way of life for most people who are cautious of fitness, health, and wellness, but there are different types of yoga, each focusing on different aspects of wellness and mindfulness.

Raja yoga is defined as ‘a form of yoga intended to gain control over the mind and emotions’.

Raja yoga uses meditation as a tool to enable you to become aware of your habitual tendencies and ultimately go beyond identification with your body-mind-intellect complex.

Raja means king, and in many ways, raja yoga helps you attain a king’s attributes. Through raja yoga, you are able to gain self-confidence, independence, and assurance.

It is also referred to as ashtanga yoga because it is organized in eight steps of yoga, i.e.

Yama (self-control), Niyama (discipline), Asana (physical exercise), Pranayama (breathing exercises), Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses from external objects), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (complete realization).

These eight steps provide a systematic structure that helps you attain peace, clarity, realization, and self-control.

Raja yoga is accessible to people in all age groups and different backgrounds. It can be practiced anywhere and at any time because it doesn’t involve any mantras or rituals.

The history of raja yoga.

Raja yoga seeks to make your true spirit shine forth. People who practice and teach raja yoga believe that you can attain spiritual enlightenment by learning to control your own mind.

It is the highest form of yoga, a regal way of controlling your mind and thoughts. The earliest reports of the practice of raja yoga appear in the Rig Veda which started to be codified between 1500 and 1200 BCE. Early Vedic practices brought about the understanding that human beings can become one with the Supreme Being by inner sacrifice i.e. moral culture, restraint, and training of the mind.

The Bhagavad Gita refers to yoga as the highest state of enlightenment attainable to human beings. It was written between the fifth and second centuries BCE.

Patanjali is the author of the Yoga Sutras; a compilation of aphorisms on the philosophical aspects of mind and consciousness. Patanjali is regarded as the founder of yoga school and he/she was born in Gonarda and for some time (around 140 BCE), he/she lived in Kashmir.

Yoga Sutras is the basis of raja yoga. It gives us the earliest reference to the term Ashtanga yoga which refers to the eight limbs of yoga that are the cornerstone of raja yoga. 

The Yoga Sutras is a devotional handbook, not a philosophical text. This means that instead of approaching the practices outlined in this book intellectually, you should abandon the conceptual framework. In other words, the sutras are deeply understood in the context of the reader’s own direct meditative experiences.

The Goal of raja yoga. 

The goal of raja yoga is to cease mental fluctuations. Patanjali aimed to help people attain enlightenment through physical activity instead of metaphysical theory. Raja yoga encourages the mind to avoid absorption into obsessional practice (even other yoga exercises) that can create false mental objects and lead to a spontaneous state of a quiet mind.

This makes raja yoga the king of yogas because it is primarily concerned with the mind.

It forces you to tame your body through self-discipline and pushes you to attain physical health and psychological integration.

Through restraint from addictions and obsessions, you become more aware of your body’s actions, speech, and thoughts and then you can pursue deeper aspects of yoga.

Benefits of Raja Yoga.

It makes it easier for you to manage negative thoughts.

In today’s society, it is easy to be consumed by negative thoughts due to the nature of the lifestyle you lead. Focusing on insecurities, low self-esteem, criticism, and external influences on you as an individual has never had any benefits.

Raja yoga enables you to focus on the positive and by clearing your mind and helping you deal with your truth and your reality.

By practicing raja yoga for at least 10 to 20 minutes every day, you are able to point out your strength, listen to your thoughts, appreciate your weaknesses, and transcend all prejudices. This helps you manage negative thoughts and figure out what really matters to you.

Raja yoga helps you become more tolerant.

By having a clear understanding of your thoughts and emotions, you are able to identify what triggers certain emotions and how you can deal with negative external situations. This makes you more assertive and rational.

It makes you appreciate your emotions and helps you deal with them without necessarily reacting to everything that stirs these emotions. As such, you handle problems better and have more patience with other people because by understanding your emotions, you are able to understand where other people are coming from.

Raja yoga helps you commit to activities.

It can be your daily morning run or your devotional promises to yourself. Raja yoga enhances your sense of responsibility to yourself and to others.

By practicing raja yoga, you are able to commit to things that matter to you.

As you meditate, it becomes clear to you what you want to achieve and this makes it easier for you to commit to things that would otherwise be hard to commit to.

Raja yoga helps boost concentration.

Practicing raja yoga on a daily basis significantly improves your concentration. By clearing your mind of the noise and organizing your thoughts, you are able to focus on work, school, or any other task without being distracted. This is especially beneficial if you have a busy daily schedule.

How to practice raja yoga.

Raja yoga is not as physically demanding as other types of yoga. As mentioned before, it is primarily focused on the mind.

1. Find a peaceful spot. This can be indoors or outdoors, it just has to be quiet. It is recommended to meditate early in the morning in order to set the mood for your day and because there is usually less noise in the morning.
2. Sit comfortably on the floor or ground in the lotus position. Your shoulders should be down, your chest up, your back naturally straight, and your hands should gently lie on your knees.
3. Remain in the present. Keep your eyes open and focus on one point without straining your eyes. You will have some thoughts come as everything around you fades away, but you must acknowledge them all and always get back to your point of focus.
4. Concentrate on a thought. The negative thoughts will bombard you and pass, and then you will feel calm. Focus on a positive thought and let it blossom into other pleasant thoughts, the positive thoughts will lead you to self-realization. Embrace them and avoid any negativity that might attempt to distract you.
5. Maintain the positivity that you experience during meditation and carry it with you throughout the day.

Wellness and healthy living are not always about upbeat exercises, practicing positivity, and embracing tranquility put you in a better headspace that allows you to be more positive and productive.

With raja yoga, you can forget about negativity and embrace all the other aspects of your being as you start appreciating and acknowledging who you are as an individual.