It’s not every day that the paths of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and an Indian yoga guru cross, but when they do, the results can be quite interesting.
American entrepreneur and longetivity enthusiast Bryan Johnson is sparring with Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev on X. The unlikely saga began after Baba Ramdev posted a video of himself jogging in his ashram in Haridwar. “To be able to run fast like a horse, build strong immunity, and get anti-aging effects and power, have Swarn Shilajit and and Immunogrit Gold,” Baba Ramdev had said.
It appears that Bryan Johnson happened to come across this post, and left a comment. But he claims that Baba Ramdev hid his comment and blocked him. “I replied with this comment and he hid it and blocked me: Air quality in Haridwar right now is PM₂.₅ 36 µg/m³ which is equal to smoking 1.6 cigarettes a day. This raises risks of heart disease by 40–50%, lung cancer by 3x, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and early death (5–7 years lost),” Johnson said.
But the story didn’t end there. The post appears to have made Baba Ramdev extend an invitation to Bryan Johnson to visit his ashram in India. “We are sharing a video with proof of Haridwar Yoggram’s excellent Air Quality Index AQI . We invite you to explore India’s yoga and yogis with a neutral and scientific perspective. The scientific approach to anti-aging is rooted in yoga, Ayurveda, and nature. As you had to leave Mumbai unexpectedly, we extend an invitation to visit Haridwar #patanjaliYoggram, From here, we can podcast on healthy lifestyle and real anti-aging solutions with scientific temperament and evidence,” Baba Ramdev posted. For good measure, he attached a video showing the air quality at his ashram and a video of himself running next to a horse.
Johnson appeared too graciously accept his invitation. “Thank you for the kind invitation. I would love to visit you and your wonderful country and explore the science of health,” he said. “Dear Mr. Bryan Johnson, Thank you for accepting our invitation. We look forward to meeting you soon and working together to advance evidence-based initiatives that promote healthy living and anti-aging solutions,” Baba Ramdev responded.
Both Baba Ramdev and Bryan Johnson have been teaching people how to live longer. Baba Ramdev comes at the problem with the traditional Indian approaches of Ayurveda and Yoga, and has built the multi-billion Patanjali brand in the process. Bryan Johnson, on the other hand, has been experimenting with all kinds of modern scientific treatments on himself, and is looking to establish his own health brand named Blueprint. Both could do with the publicity of the other — an association with Bryan Johnson could take Patanjali’s products international, while Johnson could attach to Patanjali’s name for traction in the 1.5 billion-strong market of India. And as their recent interactions on X show, we might be seeing some sort of collaboration between the duo in the not-too-distant future.