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November 28, 2010 | Christian churches in US offer yoga class to reduce stress and tension |
Nevada (US): Many Christian churches in the USA are offering yoga instruction. Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica (California) offers 'Restorative and Hatha Flow Yoga' class to reduce stress and tension while promoting healing and growth. St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Washington (DC) has offered quality yoga instruction since 1978 emphasizing effective breathing, mastery of asanas (comfortably held postures), relaxation, positive thinking, and meditation as elements of healthy
spiritual living that promote happiness and true knowledge of self. Yoga classes, to find 'peace within', led by six instructors at Mountain Park Community Church in Phoenix ( Arizona) has over 800 people enrolled in the nine classes that are offered six days each week. Pineville United Methodist Church of Pineville
(North Carolina) offers 'Chair Yoga' and 'Floor Yoga'. Vale United Methodist
Church in Oakton (Virginia) offers yoga class suitable for all ages. Old Stone
Church (Presbyterian) in Cleveland (Ohio) offers 'No-sweat Yoga' and describes
Hatha Yoga as 'a gentle practice that assists in releasing internal pressures'.
Class is 'held in the Chapel - a beautiful space filled with candlelight and stained
glass - a peaceful place for meditation and relaxation'. Sunbury United Methodist
Church in Sunbury ( Ohio ) offers class which focuses “on learning a series of
poses to form the foundation of a personal practice”. “Yoga stretches improve
circulation, muscle tone, joint and muscle flexibility and balance”, it points
out. St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne ( Pennsylvania ) is offering “A Quiet
Morning of Yoga and Centering Prayer” on December four. “We will spend 30
minutes
experiencing the richness of centering prayer, 60 minutes enjoying a vigorous
yoga practice and 30 minutes in a guided meditation for a deep, conscious rest.
We promise you will head back into the holiday hustle and bustle centered, focused
and energized”, it claims. It also offers “Yoga with Spirit” “vigorous yoga classes”.
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Charlotte ( North Carolina ) has
yoga classes. “Yoga for Every Body” class is held at Sardis Baptist Church in
Charlotte by a Hatha Yoga instructor. The Way of Life Church (Assembly of God)
in Ventnor ( New Jersey ) offers “Spiritual Yoga” and says “Spiritual Yoga involves
the total person: spirit, mind, and body”. Church of Saint Paul the Apostle (Roman
Catholic) in New York ( New York ) offers “series of yoga postures, set to music”.
University Lutheran Church and Student Center in Norman ( Oklahoma ) reportedly
sponsored a market on October nine, which was to offer free yoga instruction.
Welcoming the widespread interest in yoga, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan
Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that although introduced and
nourished
by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized
by all. One could still practice one’s respective faith and do yoga. Yoga would
rather help one in achieving one’s spiritual goals in whatever religion one believed
in. Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that
yoga, referred as “a living fossil” whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE
to Indus Valley civilization, was a mental and physical discipline handed down
from one guru to next, for everybody to share and benefit from. 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.
Yoga was based on an eightfold path to direct the practitioner from awareness
of the external world to a focus on the inner, Zed added. Rajan Zed argued that
yoga, which never had any formal organization, was the repository of something
basic in the human soul and psyche. 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. According to an estimate, about 16 million Americans, including many
celebrities, now practice yoga.
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