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Penn State University studying yoga-based program to reduce cancer risk
 
A research at Pennsylvania State University is reportedly undertaking a yoga-focused mind and body intervention that uses stretching, breathing, prayer and relaxation strategies to increase physical activity, reduce sedentary time, and reduce stress among adults in Pennsylvania’s Centre County.
 
This faith-based, mind-body intervention named as “Harmony & Health”, and lead by assistant professor of kinesiology Scherezade K. Mama seeks to increase physical activity and reduce health disparities, including cancer risks, among those who reside in rural areas; reports suggest.
 
Fifty men and 50 women, over 18 years of age and overweight or obese, will participate in “Harmony & Health” for 14 weeks.
 
Meanwhile, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, called this Penn State study looking into the possible reduction of cancer risk by a yoga-based program “a step in the positive direction”. Zed urged all major world universities to explore various benefits yoga offered.
 
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 a “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.

Between 2.5 to 2.9% of Canada’s population will be Hindu in 2036
 
Hindus would increase to between 2.5% and 2.9% of the total population of Canada in 2036, according to a study of population projections developed by Canada’s national statistical agency, Statistics Canada (SC).
 
The number of religiously unaffiliated people would also continue to increase and could represent between 28.2% and 34.6% of all Canadians in 2036. Nearly one in two Canadians could be an immigrant or the child of an immigrant by 2036, according to this SC study.
 
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended the Canadian Hindus for their valuable contributions to the nation and society in Canada. He urged them to continue with the traditional values of hard work, higher morals, stress on education, sanctity of marriage, etc.; amidst so many distractions.
 
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, advised Canadian Hindus to focus on inner search, stay pure, explore the vast wisdom of scriptures, make spirituality more attractive to youth and children, stay away from the greed, and always keep God in the life.