Lauding Mt. Holly school offering yoga, Hindus urge yoga in all New Jersey schools

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Hindus have commended John Brainerd Elementary School (JBES) in Mount Holly (New Jersey) for reportedly launching yoga, calling it a step in the positive direction.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, applauded JBES for coming forward and providing an opportunity to students to avail the multiple benefits yoga provided.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, New Jersey State Board of Education President Mark W. Bierdon and New Jersey Department of Education Acting Commissioner Kimberley Harrington; 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 New Jersey’s students.

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.

JBES in Mount Holly Township Public Schools (MHTPS), with about 400 students, has a “Character Education Program” and focuses “on the development of the whole child”. Joseph Convery is JBES Principal, while James DiDonato and Samuel “Skip” Reale Junior are Superintendent and Board President respectively of MHTPS.