Journal of Yoga & Physical Therapy
Open Access

Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga, a scientific approach of regulating the thought waves, is the third of the Four Paths of Yoga, and it is where we begin to transform all our mental and physical energy into spiritual energy.The chief practice of Raja Yoga is meditation. Compiled by Patanjali Maharishi, Raja Yoga is also known as Ashtanga Yoga because its practices can be divided into eight limbs, each limb developed to bring the body and thought energy under control.In Sanskrit texts, Raja yoga was both the goal of yoga and a method of attaining it. The term also became a modern name for the practice of yoga,when in the 19th-century Swami Vivekananda equated raja yoga with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.Since then, Rāja yoga has variously been called aṣṭāṅga yoga, royal yoga, royal union, sahaja marg, and classical yoga.