Hindus have welcomed Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s flagship university which claims to be “one of the premier Research Universities in the South”, for offering free yoga workshops and clinic; and are urging all US universities to offer such free yoga programs.
Besides free Yoga Pranayama (“bring harmony to the mind, body, and spirit”), and Yoga Handstands workshops in its reportedly 3,268 square foot “Mind & Body Studio” and a Paddleboard Yoga Clinic; LSU is also offering a “Yoga Retreat” which includes a “guided meditation”, Power Yoga, Yoga for Relaxation, Vinyasa Yoga, Align & Flow Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Yoga Fundamentals.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, termed it as a step in the positive direction to make yoga workshops and clinic available free of cost for students, faculty, and staff at such a renowned institution; and offer a variety of other yoga programs at an affordable price.
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, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.
Rajan 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, Zed added.
Established in 1860, LSU offers 211 degree programs and enrolls over 31,000 students. F. King Alexander, Scott Ballard and Laurie Braden are President, Board of Supervisors Chair and University Recreation Executive Director respectively.