NEW YORK (TIP): Jewish Federation of the Berkshires is offering free Chair Yoga to the community “for Flexibility, Mobility and Peace of Mind” in Pittsfield (Massachusetts) on January 8.

Announcement says: “Yoga is good for ALL BODIES.” Linda Novick, professional level Kripalu Yoga teacher, is the instructor. Her approach to yoga “encourages everyone to listen and love their body”. Yoga instruction will be followed by a kosher hot lunch.

Welcoming the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires for offering free yoga, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada Jan 6, urged all such community groups in USA to launch multi-beneficial yoga programs, including offering some free classes to low income enthusiasts.

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, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.

Rajan 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 “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, Zed added.

“Guided by our Jewish values, the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires brings together the Berkshire Jewish community”. Judy Usow is the President