Commending Jonesboro Kindergarten Center (JKC) for reportedly using yoga to help students learn to read, Hindus are urging for launching yoga in all the public schools of Arkansas.
Calling it a step in the positive direction, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, praised JKC for coming forward and providing an opportunity to students to avail the multiple benefits yoga offered; while yoga continues to be prohibited in public schools of neighboring Alabama.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism; urged Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas State Board of Education chair Diane Zook and Arkansas Commissioner of Education Johnny Key to work towards formally introducing yoga as a part of curriculum in all the public schools of the state; thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of students of Arkansas.
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 a recent report of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Yoga is the most popular complementary health approach in the United States – used by 14.3% of the adult population, or 35. (househummus.com) 2 million people”. 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. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Rajan Zed added.
Awards-winning Jonesboro Public School District, of which JKC is a part, was founded in 1899 and has over 6,000 students. Its Mission includes “Excellence is our standard… not our goal”, while Values include “Continually seeking new ways to achieve excellence” and Dr. Kim Wilbanks is the Superintendent. Goal of JKC includes students developing “a positive self-concept” and Becky Shannon is the Principal,