bengaluru he rises before the sun his day begins at 130am and an hour later he plunges into his regular twoandahalfhour yoga session meet dr h r nagendra who could soon be treating delhi chief minister arvind kejriwal if all goes according to prime minister narendra modis prescription seeing kejriwal battling persistent cough at a programme in delhi on tuesday modi suggested that he consult the yoga therapist allergic cough and diabetes are ailing kejriwal says dr nagendra who is known for having treated over 2 lakh asthma patients from threemontholds to nonagenarians through yoga and ayurveda kejriwal though is yet to approach nagendra the 72yearold yoga therapist is cofounder swamy vivekananda yoga anusandhana samsthana svyasa and lives in prashanthi kuteera on the university campus at jigani near electronics city stating that specialized yoga and lifestyle modifications are the key to stay healthy nagendra told toi we have taught yoga to special kids weve even had monks from ramakrishna ashram and nuns from christian missionaries approach us nagendras association with modi began 10 years ago when the bjp leader came to meet nagendras uncle hoo ve sheshadri an rss leader in karnataka the acquaintance has only grown since then once a year i travel to gujarat to teach yoga to cabinet ministers including cm anandi behn he added in a polluted city like bengaluru asthma cases are on the rise wed conducted a study on how yoga helped asthma patients which was published in the journal of asthma usa we formed separate groups of those who practised yoga regularly those who werent so regular and those who had learnt it but were not doing asanas the study revealed that even the third category of people had benefited recalled nagendrafrom nasa to svyasa dr hr nagendra is a mechanical engineer who has a phd from iisc hes had a stint with nasa as a space scientist and also served as a consultant in harvard university many premier institutions including nimhans consult him he has been guiding the yoga centre in nimhans for more than 15 years we have signed an mou with svyasa university and will continue to do collaborative research he has an objective approach towards yogic science hes been working on taking yoga beyond faith as youngsters look for scientific validation said dr b n gangadhar professor of psychiatry and programme director of advanced centre for yoga at nimhans nagendra is also a mentor to svyasa and nimhans students pursuing doctoral research he has penned 35 books on yoga and presented over 100 research papers on engineering and yoga another feather was added to his cap when he was honoured with the yoga sri by none other than the legendary bks iyengar