In a nutshell, whereas Hatha yoga is mainly concerned with the body, the ‘Seen’ (rendering it fit for asana), Raja yoga focuses on the unseen aspects of the breath, energy, the mind and meditation.
Raja yoga employs many different techniques to suit all types of students; emotional, feeling types, intellectual questioning types, devotional prayer types.
With pranayama we become aware of our energy body and subtle systems, we learn to control our senses and our mind through concentration, contemplation and self enquiry or mantra; leading us towards a state of meditation and ultimately Samadhi (bliss)!
So you could say we move our awareness from BREATH TO BEING, from the gross to the subtle, from the outside to our inside, and experience our true Self!
Hari Om Tat Sat
We hold monthly Raja workshops for students interested in this practice (which are of course on hold for the moment but will definitely be back!) see our classes and workshops page for more information.