Lauding Milford School District for offering yoga, Hindus seek yoga in all New York schools
Hindus have commended Milford Central School District (MCSD) in upstate New York for reports of plan of offering yoga to its students, calling it a step in the positive direction.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, applauded MCSD 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 New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Education Department Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa and New York State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia 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 New York’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 a recent report of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Yoga is the most popular complementary health approach in the United States - used by 14.3% of the adult population, or 35.2 million people”. 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. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Rajan Zed added.
MCSD serves about 400 K-12 Milford students in countryside surroundings featuring rolling hills. Its Mission includes providing students “with the knowledge, skills, and values to become productive participants in a changing world”. Susan Ward and Mark A. Place are Board President and Superintendent respectively.