Today we are going to explore Raja Yoga. That is, the path of meditation. Meditation in English is synonymous with thinking, contemplating, or devising. In the yoga world, it is the seventh of the eight limbs of Yoga.
It holds a deeper connotation than the English synonyms and is the ultimate yoga practice. Built upon physical postures (asanas ), breath control ( pranayama ), moving the focus inside by controlling the senses ( Pratyahara) and concentration ( Dharana ). Its ultimate goal is the eighth limb which is samadhi, or union with the divine.
Raja Yoga, or meditation, is known as the royal path of Yoga and existed long before the Yoga asanas, or postures, that we are familiar with here in the western world.
There are two types of meditation.
•Active Meditation
• Passive Meditation
Some people believe active meditation is the most effective and others believe passive meditation is the most effective.
From my experience as a teacher and a practitioner I feel that both types are important. I think we must be able to have a balance of both. It is important to be able to meditate actively and keep the mind fixed on something. It is equally important to let go of the mind and allow it to relax passively.
It is similar to strengthening and stretching a muscle. We learn from practicing yoga asanas the importance of stretching any muscle that we just strengthened. At the same time, we learn the importance of strengthening a muscle that we have just stretched.
The same goes for the mind. If we remain constantly active in our mind it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to allow the mind to simply relax. If we spend too much time with the mind in a state of passivity it becomes difficult to then focus the mind when we need to. 
In today’s society, most of us are accustomed to being taught that we must be active, constantly doing something, producing or accomplishing things. Unfortunately, this results in raised stress levels and the ensuing health maladies that go with stress.
•Neck and shoulder tension
• Painful joints
• High blood pressure
• Heart conditions
• Simpler things such as wrinkles.
We may not think of wrinkles as an actual health condition, but as a fact of life. Most people see them as a natural condition of aging. But the outside is usually a reflection of the inside. So it might be worth our while to ask if we are drying up and wrinkling on the outside, what is drying up and wrinkling on the inside?
What if, by meditating, we can find a calm and a balance for the mind between active and passive? What if that balance between active and passive in the mind could help us, in the end, to be more productive, healthier and happier?
The following are examples of passive and active meditation. Before beginning decide how long you want to meditate and set an alarm for the length of time you want. Try to find a nice sounding alarm that will bring you back gently.
Passive Meditation:
- Sit comfortably with eyes closed.
- Inhale deeply through your nose, exhale deeply through your nose.
- Repeat a few times, slowing the breath down each time.
- Inhale slowly on a 4 count. Exhale slowly on a 4 count. Continue breathing on a 4 count, listening closely to the sound of your breath.
- Listen. Once you are only paying attention to your breath, let go of counting and simply listen to the beautiful sound of your breath.
- Focus. If you notice your mind wander to something other than your breath, begin to count the length of your breaths on the 4 count again.
- Continue for as long as you like.
Active Meditation:
- Choose an inanimate object. It should be something that you have no emotional connection to. For example, a pencil or some other object that isn’t of significant importance to you.
- Examine this item thoroughly with your eyes open. Look at the size, shape, observe any colors, if it has an inside and outside, and any other thing you can notice about how it looks.
- Pick up the object and thoroughly examine how it feels. Notice temperature, texture, weight, indentations, fasteners, and any other details about how this item feels.
- Now observe if this item has a smell. Notice the sent if it is sweet, sour, pungent or any other thing you can notice about how this item might smell.
- Next, pay attention to any sounds that this item might make. For example, keys make link together, water in a bottle may slosh around. Play with it and make any sounds with it that you can.
- Finally, review everything about this item that you can. Turn it, twist it, jingle it, shake it, feel everything about it, take in all of the aspects of the item that you can.
- Now put the item down, close your eyes and begin to recall the details of the item. Begin with everything you noticed about how it looks, then everything about how it feels, then any sent you noticed, and any sounds that you could make with the item. Spend about five minutes recalling everything you can about the item.
- Open your eyes and once again examine the item. Check to see how many things you were able to recall when your eyes were closed and you were not touching the item.
- Practice this frequently and notice how much your observation skills improve and how much easier it becomes to pay attention to details.