Lauding City of Compton offering free yoga, Hindus urge all California cities to follow

Hindus have commended City of Compton in California for announcing free yoga classes for residents.

To be held in Burrell-MacDonald Park, these are open to all ages and experience levels, ranging from beginner to advance. Compton Mayor Aja Brown said: “A physically and mentally fit person strengthens the family unit and ultimately the Compton community”. “…community yoga classes are an important part of our continued efforts to create a healthier and more vibrant Compton…”

Calling it a step in the positive direction, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, applauded City of Compton for coming forward with this initiative and providing an opportunity to its residents to avail the multiple benefits yoga offered.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged California Governor Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. to work with various city councils and county commissions in California for offering free yoga classes to the residents in city/county parks, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of Californians.

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 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 recently released “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, Rajan Zed added.

Prominent people associated with Compton, incorporated in 1888 and located south of downtown Los Angeles, include former US presidents George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush; tennis champions Serena Williams and Venus Williams; actors Kevin Costner, James Coburn, Tiny Lister; football players Larry Allen, Mike Garrett, Anthony Munoz; Olympian gold medalists Bob Beamon, Charles Dumas, Quincy Watts, Ulis Williams; baseball player Eddie Murray; rappers Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Kendrick Lamar, Coolio, The Game, Tyga; besides rap group N.W.A. Isaac Galvan is Mayor Pro Tem, while Roger L. Haley is the City Manager.