February 19 2016, 09.21 AM IST || Pocket News Alert
Hindus have commended Cullman City Schools (CCS) in Alabama for reportedly introducing yoga, calling it a step in the positive direction.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, applauded CCS for coming forward and providing an opportunity to students to avail the multiple benefits yoga provided.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley, who is President of Alabama State Board of Education; and Dr. Thomas R. Bice, Alabama Superintendent of Education; to work towards formally introducing yoga as a part of curriculum in all the public schools of the state, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of Alabama’s students.
Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Rajan Zed pointed out.
Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.
According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a recently released “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Rajan Zed added.
According to reports, CCS, in partnership with City of Cullman Parks and Recreation Department, is offering yoga to students, first grade and up, as a part of promoting healthy lifestyle.
