Today is International Yoga day; Age is just a number for yoga guru Venugopal

For 74-year old yoga acharya Venugopal, age is just a number. If you ask him how he managed to keep physical difficulties and diseases out of his house doorsteps, this retired air force officer has only one answer – Yoga.

No one will believe that he is 74.

He doesn’t remember any day when he had to go to hospital for treatment. Yoga which this Karamana Kaladi native started for just time pass is now an inseparable part of his life.

He wakes up at 4 am. From 5 to 6 he would swim in Karamana river. Then he would return home and from 7 am, he would do yoga for one and a half hour.

He also doesn’t miss badminton session for even a day. He learnt yoga from his Haryana friends while he was working in Delhi.

After retirement in 1999, he returned to Kerala and started cycling for entertainment.

He had grabbed headlines in newspapers by cycling for 278 hours continuously and hitting a record. He also used to give yoga training to prisoners in Poojappura Central jail.

Vilasini Amma is his wife; he also have two daughters who are married. “In Covid transmission times, pranayama in Yoga will help a lot. It will boost our immunity and release mental tension,” he points out.