Dr. Kumar is an authority on the science of yoga and its diverse systems, an award-winning scientist and a renowned yogi. His teaching is informed by his extensive experiential and theoretical knowledge, developed through his education in more than 37 schools of Hatha yoga and 50 traditions of meditation and progressed through decades of self-practice. He has taught over 100,000 people in India as a public service, focusing on free public health and yoga awareness workshops that address the growing levels of lifestyle related diseases.
As a child he began his formal studies at the Sivananda Ashram under Swamy Vishnudevananda. He was initiated by Swami Chinmayananda, Sachidananda & Omkarananda and later under Swami Rama and Satyananda Saraswathi. He also learned asana practice with BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Desikachar among other renowned teachers as well as unknown but equally accomplished Himalayan masters and monks. He learnt powerful health rejuvenating pranayamas in Shakthi traditions of Tantra such as Prakrithika (external respiratory techniques), Vaikrithika (internal respiratory techniques) and Kevala (natural respiration). Other schools include Kaivalyadhama-Lonovala, Ananda Ashram-Himachal and Kriya Yoga traditions such as Babaji Kriya Yoga, Yogoda, Mangeshda.
Dr. Kumar’s first teacher cautioned him to avoid being limited to the methodology of only one school, realizing that each school gives importance to only a few limbs of yoga. This is something Dr. Kumar has followed throughout his life, allowing him to keep an open mind, and continuously learn and expand his knowledge, respecting all traditions.
Dr. Kumar’s teaching is informed by his deep understanding of yoga traditions and focuses on practice. His theoretical studies of Hatha Yoga have explored Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Hatha Ratnavali, Gheranda Samhita, Siva Samhita, Hatha Yoga Rahasyam, Kurantaka Yoga and Kapala Kurantaka Yoga and he has translated many of these original texts for his training program.
Dr. Kumar has studied meditation in Hindu, Yoga, Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist schools including monastic traditions in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka and Tibetian traditions such as Dzogchen , Kagyu, Goenka, Ektha, Pa-Auk, Panditarama, Shwebu and various Nyingma traditions. Rather than belonging to any one school, Dr. Kumar’s teaching adheres to the genesis of yoga and its many components.
Dr. Kumar has been teaching residential meditation courses in India and the UK since 2008 and has trained meditation teachers to conduct non-residential courses for the registered charity, Traditional Yoga, in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, India and the US. He has taught over 100,000 people in India as a public service, focusing on free public health and yoga awareness workshops that address the growing levels of lifestyle related diseases in India.
Dr Kumar is a practitioner and teacher of Kayachikitsa, a system of yoga that was practiced in the tradition of Narayana Swamy by the author of HathaYoga Ratnavali. This tradition was passed through his family lineage to Narayana Munindra, with whom Dr. Kumar studied. Dr. Kumar is one of only three people in the world to have been trained in this knowledge and to currently practice this particular system. Kayachikitsa is an ancient science focused on the treatment of physical and mental illness, and with his advanced knowledge this technique, his understanding of medical conditions, and his reassuring compassion, Dr. Kumar continues to bring effective relief to many people. The long-term benefits are the regeneration of the whole body system and the means to achieve and maintain a status of complete health.
Dr. Kumar’s personal experience of the therapeutic benefits of yoga inspired him to teach. In 1992 Kumar was involved in a road accident. He suffered multiple fractures in the lower spine, hip and pelvic bones. He also lost control over his lower torso and his urethra was ruptured. He was told that he would not be able to have children and may not walk again. He was bed ridden for two years and doctors had little hope for his recovery. Finally, he used his deep knowledge of yoga to design a systematic program of treatment for himself with asana and pranayama practice. By the following year, he was mobile and in two years he could run. He resumed practicing around 300 asanas and had his first daughter in 1994. In gratitude for the benefit he has received he has volunteered his time to teaching yoga and meditation for free to thousands of people in India and reviving the ancient system of yoga therapy, Kaya Chikitsa.
A government scientist at BARC, Dr. Kumar has been honoured with the Homi J. Bhabha award for his excellent contribution in the field of Nuclear Science & Technology and Rajiv Gandhi Excellence