Different Mind States According to Raja Yoga Meditation
If you have read up on what raja yoga meditation is, you won't have failed to realize how effective a technique it is in meditating that helps in eliminating stress as well as worries from your mind. In fact, through practice of raja yoga meditation, you can gain total control over your entire life and it is certainly more than just controlling the breath because it also helps you to control your mind so that you can achieve total integration of body and mind.
Eight Principles
In essence, the practice of raja yoga meditation involves eight principles and this practice is also known (in Sanskrit) as Ashtanga or a technique comprising eight principles. Among the main such principles you can include self-restraint, Niyama or committed, Asana or integrating mind and body, Pranayama or regulating the breath, Pratyahara or perceiving different senses, Dharana or concentrating the mind, Dhyana or quiet meditation done in a non-sensual manner, and finally, there is Samadhi or achieving super consciousness.
Another aspect to raja yoga meditation is the one that deals with different mind states of which there are five main ones including Kshipta, Mudha, Vikshipta, Ekagra and finally, Niruddha.
Kshipta is the first mind state in raja yoga meditation and it involves a mind that is not focusing in the here and now and in fact, wanders between the past, and future and thus it keeps one away from the here and now, which is a state of mind that most of us are familiar with - even though such a state is not all that desirable or beneficial to us.
The next state of mind is that of Mudha in which the mind may be unsettled though thanks to this raja yoga meditation, such unsettled mind state will not be quite as intense as compared to Kshipta mind state, though the mind is still foolish as well as forgetful.
A mind that is not able to focus and in fact, easily gets distracted is known, in raja yoga meditation as Vikshipta. To achieve a state of mind in which it is possible to concentrate, you need to be in a state known as Ekagra, while Niruddha is the final state of mind in raja yoga in which the meditator can totally control their minds and thus feel enlightened and it even goes so far as to enable one to be in unity with the Creator, which of course is the ultimate kind of mind state that we should strive to achieve.
