While considered quite difficult because of the enormous amount of mental discipline required to achieve its goal of pure enlightenment using mind control alone, Raja yoga is in some ways less demanding than the Hatha yoga with which most Westerners are familiar, because Raja yoga does not involve postures or a need for physical flexibility. The discipline involved in Raja yoga is entirely mental. 


Much like the “mindfulness meditation” that is popular in western culture today, Raja yoga is based upon a form of meditation that requires the practitioner to empty his mind of all thoughts, sensations, and distractions by focusing on a single, static object, usually the breath. Practitioners of Raja yoga believe that once the mind is free of all distractions it is possible to achieve a state of bliss or tranquility called Brahman, described by some as “pure awareness reflected on the still surface of the mind.”  


The second yoga path, which is the path best known to yoga practitioners in the western world, is Hatha Yoga, also called “The Physical Path.”  Practitioners of Hatha yoga strive to attain the goal of mind-body-spirit balance and integration through the practice of yoga postures (asana,) breathing (pranayama,) body movements (mudra) and purity (shatkarma.) While Hatha yoga in its original form was primarily a spiritual discipline, most Western practitioners today focus on the physical postures and breathing as a means of achieving improved levels of physical and mental health and wellness. The movements of Hatha yoga are slow and gentle, with an emphasis on breathing “through” or “into” the various poses, thus opening up the body’s natural energy pathways, known as Chakras, and allowing life-giving energy to flow freely throughout the body. 


A variety of Hatha yoga that is popular in Western circles today is Iyengar yoga, named for its creator, B.K.S. Iyengar, who founded the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India in January 1975. Iyengar yoga focuses heavily on yoga postures, especially on the achievement of the exact body alignment necessary to allow an optimal flow of energy through the Chakras. In order to attain the stringent poses required in the practice of Iyengar yoga practitioners use a number of “props” including belts, bands, wooden sticks and other similar devices to help them to achieve and hold the necessary positions. 





The third path of traditional path of yoga is Jnana Yoga–the Yoga of Wisdom. Jnana Yoga is considered to be the most difficult of the four main paths of yoga in that it focuses on the intellectual pursuit Brahman, which represents the integration of the inner self with the oneness of all life. Jnana yoga is based upon the mental techniques and disciplines known as the Four Pillars of Knowledge, which include:





Because Jnana yoga is focused on the intellectual understanding of these difficult constructs, it is easy for unskilled practitioners to become distracted from the goal of this and all yoga paths– spiritual enlightenment. 