Washington Capitals ice hockey team offering free yoga classes to fans

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The 2016-17 Presidents’ Trophy winners Washington, DC based professional ice hockey team Washington Capitals (Caps) is offering free yoga sessions held in the morning of each Caps game day in upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs April 12 to 26.

Called “Playoff Stress Yoga”, Caps team yoga instructor Kelly Moore will host these yoga sessions on the rooftop of Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia.

These one-hour workouts begin at 6:30 am, which are open to the public on a first come first serve basis but the participants have to complete an RSVP form. First class will be held on April 13, when Caps head into their first round matchup with Toronto Maple Leafs, and the last seventh class will be held on April 25.

Hindu religion advocate Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, commended Caps for offering free classes for the fans and including yoga as part of the team training. He urged all the US sports teams 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.

Zed 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.

Founded in 1974, Caps, a National Hockey League team, has won one conference championship and nine division titles. Ted Leonsis, Brian MacLellan, Barry Trotz and Alexander Ovechkin are Chairman, General Manager, Head Coach and Captain, respectively.