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SYRACUSE, NY, USA, February 28, 2008: New York State’s math testing for 3rd through 8th graders begins next week. Some classrooms have found a way to calm students nerves, and teachers are using yoga moves to reduce stress.

Ms. Cathy Weeks’ class at Wheeler Elementary has her the fifth graders trying to relax by doing asanas, or postures. “If they’re frustrated or upset about something, they can calm themselves down,” the teacher says. When students are caught day dreaming, Ms. Weeks has the whole class do a specific pose to re-focus. To curb sleepiness, she asks the students to get in an energizing downward position.

“When students come back in from recess, I can see them starting to do the yoga poses on their own. They’re starting to realize how it impacts them and how much it helps them re-focus to the point where they want to do it even if not directed to do it,” says another teacher, Kristine Guptill.

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KERALA, INDIA, February 27, 2008: Cloth infused with the herbs of traditional Indian medicine is becoming increasingly popular as the county’s stressed urban workers seek cures for conditions such as insomnia and eczema. Wearing a special shirt is claimed to cure itchy or sore skin, while sleepless nights can be taken care of by putting a herb-infused sheet over your mattress.

The herbs are selected according to the traditional Indian medicine known as ayurveda, with the infused cloth known as ayurvastra.

“We have selected 28 medicinal plants based on ayurvedic texts and theory–then we dip the natural cotton into it to make sleeping cloths,” the chief dyeing technician of the ayurvastra project, Rajan Kay said.

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LONDON, UK, February 21, 2008: University of Oxford researchers will spend nearly US$4 million in a three-year program to determine why mankind embraces God.

The grant to the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion will bring together anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics.

“There are a lot of questions,” said Roger Trigg, the centre’s director. “What is it that is innate in human nature to believe in God?”

He said anthropological and philosophical research suggests that faith in God is a universal human impulse found in most cultures around the world even though it has been waning in Britain and western Europe.

The study is funded by the John Templeton Foundation, a U.S.-based
philanthropic organization.

www.hinduismtoday.com

KAUAI, HAWAII, February 26, 2008: In the course of researching Indian history from 300 to 1800 ce, Hinduism Today has come across the accounts of Chinese travelers who met brahmins capable of reciting from memory the entire Rig Veda. Question is, is there existing today anyone who can recite the Rig Veda from memory? If any reader can help, kindly e-mail ar@hindu.org.

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I am silence among all secrets. Bhagavad Gita 10.3;8