Julia Roberts and the Hindu Community

Julia Roberts, Oscar-winning Hollywood star, was recently thanked by the Hindu community for validating the art of yoga.

A few years ago, Roberts confessed that she practiced Hinduism and recently she urged singer Taylor Swift to practice yoga to help her cope with stress, quiet her mind, and tone her body.

Rajan Zed, Universal Society of Hinduism president, said the community admires Roberts for her recommendation of yoga to other folks. Zed said yoga is often called a “living fossil” because it dates back to approximately 2,000 BCE during the Indus Valley civilization. Yoga is both a mental and physical discipline that all people can benefit from.

Zed, a renowned Hindu statesman, said, despite being brought forth to the world by Hinduism, yoga is a global legacy and liberation inspiration that everybody can use.

Patanjali, an Indian saint, codified yoga in Yoga Sutra, saying it is a precise energy to achieve excellence through the control over various elements of psychological, physical, and human nature.

The United States National Institutes of Health say yoga helps people in numerous ways:

– Increased relaxation
– Increased flexibility
– Better posture
– Stress elimination
– Ability to breathe deeper

Today, there are 21 million Americans, who use yoga to help them with their lives. Zed said yoga is the source of basic things in the human spirit and soul.

Roberts, 45, is one of Hollywood’s most successful actresses; she’s also a fashion model and producer. She has starred in Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias (Oscar nominated) and Erin Brockovich (Oscar for Best Actress). She also starred in the 2010 film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat, Pray, Love, in which a woman embarks on a journey across the globe, at one point spending three months in India to discover her spirituality through Hinduism. She owns the production company Red Om Films. In Hinduism, Om is the mystic syllable for all-encompassing mystic entity.

Hinduism, which currently has about three million followers in the U.S., is regarded as the oldest and third biggest organized religion on Earth. There are about one billion followers to date.