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October 5, 2010 | Lauding a few Arizona schools for introducing yoga, Hindus urge all USA schools to launch yoga |
Nevada:Hindus have commended Tucson Unified School District in Arizona (USA) for introducing yoga in curriculum and have urged all schools in USA to do the same for their pupils. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada
(USA) today suggested all elementary-middle-high schools of the nation to
incorporate yoga in the lives of the students, making it part of the curriculum. Yoga
was a mental and physical discipline whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE
to Indus Valley civilization, he pointed out. Tucson Unified School District provides
education for K-12 students. Its High School Course Catalog includes
(under Health/Physical Education) two-semester course titled "Yoga A, B" for grade
levels 9, 10, 11,
12, in which, besides other topics, students will participate in discussions of
Yogic philosophy. "The postures are taught in a way that integrates breath,
movement,
and mindfulness", it adds. "Yoga, Advanced 1, 2", two-semester course for grade
levels 11, 12 includes advanced levels of Yogic Philosophy. "Students will be
exposed to the Intermediate series of the Ashtanga tradition as well as a variety
of advanced pranayama (breath control) exercises. The course is physically and
philosophically vigorous. This course is designed to lay the foundations for a
life long Yoga practice", it points out. Zed, who is President of Universal Society
of Hinduism, further said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism,
yoga was a world heritage to be utilized by all. Yoga, referred as "a living fossil"
and handed down from one guru to next, was based on an eightfold path to direct
the practitioner from awareness of the external world to a focus on the inner.
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. Rajan Zed added that besides other benefits, yoga might
also help deal with the obesity crisis faced by the country. According to National
Institutes of Health, Yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible,
improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. Swami Vivekananda
reportedly
brought yoga to USA in 1893, and according to an estimate, about 16 million
Americans
now do yoga. Launched in 1867, Mission Statement of Tucson Unified School
District
includes "engaging, rigorous and comprehensive education". Currently it enrolls
about 54,000 students, but in 1956, its Tucson High school had the largest
enrollment
of any high school in USA with over 6,800 pupils. Judy Burns is President of
Governing
Board and Dr. John Carroll is Superintendent-Interim of the District, which also
owns a radio station.
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