Hindus are urging all the cities and counties in Iowa to offer free yoga classes, on the same pattern as being offered by the City of Des Moines.
City of Des Moines is hosting 17-week long free “Yoga in the Park” outdoor yoga classes program ending September 30 in its various public parks. These yoga sites include Gray’s Lake, Union Park and James W. Cownie Soccer Complex. All skill levels, “from curious beginner to advanced yogi”, are welcome.
Calling it a step in the positive direction, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended the City of Des Moines for coming forward with this initiative and providing an opportunity to its residents to avail the multiple benefits yoga offered.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to work with various city councils and county commissions/boards in the state for offering free yoga classes to the residents, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of Iowans.
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 “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.
Iowa’s capital city Des Moines, incorporated in 1851 as Fort Des Moines, has been listed among the nation’s top Places for Business and Careers and is a major center of the US insurance industry. T. M. Franklin Cownie, Scott Sanders and Ben Page are Mayor, City Manager and Parks-Recreation Director respectively.
Source: World Hindu News (WHN)