Celebrity clients: Everyone from the late Mother Teresa, Uttam Kumar and music composer Salil Choudhury to Jyoti Basu, Om Puri, Kapil Dev, Jagmohan Dalmiya and Sourav Ganguly.

Why yoga? Both the brothers believe that as compared to general fitness, which takes cares only of the physiological health, yoga is a combination of physiological, psychological and nutritive health. "We train people in the science of harmonisation. That the rhythm of body, melody of mind and harmony of soul leads to the symphony of life is our basic concept," says Dr Premsundar Das.

It's a known fact that most young people nowadays suffer from stress and anxiety. More than any other form of medicine, yoga has proven powers to heal stress. While aerobics is great for fitness, it may create some adverse reactions in the body. Yoga, on the other hand, imparts fitness, while at once proving to be extremely therapeutic. In fact, even Jane Fonda, who propagated the cause of yoga earlier, has now taken to yoga.

But yoga can prove injurious too...
One of the most important aspects of practising yoga is that it should be done under expert guidance. It is easy enough for people with little experience to say that they have the required proficiency to teach yoga. So, nowadays, we are making it almost obligatory for trainers to acquire a diploma in yoga. The curriculum, which usually extends from one to three years, besides imparting knowledge of the asanas, also a keen knowledge about the human body, is essential. Now with the UGC's approval, almost all universities have these courses. So, there should be enough trained guides to help with the asanas. With continuous practice, yoga is known to cure several ailments, psychosomatic ones as well, but when it comes to dealing with obesity, experts usually primarily recommend aerobic exercises. What's your take on this?

It's true that aerobics is extremely effective in weight loss... any physical activity is, actually. But one must understand that obesity does not always result simply from a faulty diet or lack of exercise. It may also happen due to some metabolic or hormonal disorder, hypothyroidism being an instance. People may also gain weight during the post operative stage, say, after a caesarean delivery. So again, yoga may ultimately prove more beneficial in bringing about weight loss rather than cardiovascular exercises. In the ultimate analysis, yoga is the science of rhythm of the body, melody of the mind, harmony of the soul and symphony of life...

No wonder it has gained such acceptance abroad!
Yes, I figured that out recently. I had written a book about yoga last year, which I had dedicated to Mother Teresa, who was a client. I felt the need to write as most books available to readers explained the nuances of this form of exercise in a very terse, text book style of writing. I tried to combine scientific facts with a more informal style. When Sister Nirmala went to the US, she took the book along with her presented it to President Bush’s wife Laura. Soon, the couple wrote to me thanking me for writing the book.