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Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has commended Hutt City Council for its ‘Yoga in Schools’ programme, and called for schools in all New Zealand cities to offer yoga to students.

In a statement from the USA this week, Zed applauded the Council for coming forward and providing an opportunity to students of city’s schools to avail the multiple benefits yoga provided.

 Zed urged New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Health Minister David Clark; to work towards formally introducing yoga as a part of curriculum in all the schools of the country, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of New Zealand’s students.

Zed pointed out the importance of yoga as a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back thousands of years to civilizations in the Indus Valley.

Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilised by all.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help participants feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to the 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.

In a statement on its programme, Hutt City Council advised “we’re on a journey to increase the awareness and accessibility of yoga in the community … we’ve developed the Yoga for Schools programme which brings yoga into the classroom and curriculum.

“School-based yoga offers many benefits to children and teachers and is known to have positive effects on student learning, well-being, behaviour, and performance.”

Image: Hutt City Council's ‘Yoga in Schools’ programme.

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