Dr. Sundar Balasubramanian is a cell biology researcher from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina, USA, and is a yoga researcher specializing in breathing exercises. He is the Founder & CEO of PranaScience Institute and the Yoga Specialist at the MUSC Health & Wellness Institute. Sundar’s Yoga research provided evidence linking salivary biomarkers and Yogic breathing (also called Pranayama). He studies how breathing practices could promote well-being in health and disease. His current studies include testing a Yogic breathing app for cancer survivorship funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has developed several tools to improve the practice of Yogic breathing for employee wellness, cancer survivorship, aging, and scleroderma.
Sundar is the author of four books and several book chapters. His notable books include PranaScience: Decoding Yoga Breathing and Mind Your Breathing: The Yogi’s Handbook with 37 Pranayama Exercises (available in Tamil, English, and Hindi versions). He uses chanting as another way of practicing breathing regulation and these chants are available as audio albums such as Chanting Is Pranayama, Kandhar Anubhoothi, and Thirukkural Maraimozhi. Sundar grew up in Tamilnadu, India in a traditional Yoga and Siddha medicine-practicing family background. He has been conducting workshops and training programs and giving talks on the scientific aspects of Pranayama globally. He is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and the Integral Yoga Teachers Association, and he is an IAYT certified Yoga therapist (C-IAYT). His popular TEDx talk has over 1 million views.