Hindus are urging all the cities and counties in Virginia to offer free yoga classes, on the same pattern as being offered by the City of Lynchburg.

City of Lynchburg’s free “Yoga in the Park” for 16+ will launch on May six, ending on June 24. “Breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of yoga outdoors”, announcement says.

Calling it a step in the positive direction, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended City of Lynchburg 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 Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to work with various city councils and county commissions in the state for offering free yoga classes to the residents, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of Virginians.

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.

City of Lynchburg, located near the geographic center of Virginia and bordered by the eastern edge of Blue Ridge Mountains, claims to “remember its past while focusing on the future”. Incorporated as a town in 1805, it served as Virginia’s capital for four days in 1865. Joan F. Foster, Bonnie Svrcek and Jennifer Jones are Mayor, City Manager and Parks-Recreation Director respectively.