Lifeyoga’s Dr Varun Veer and Dr Tanu Singh on why Stillness is India’s True Luxury

While wellness is becoming louder and increasingly performative, India’s most discerning professionals are moving in the opposite direction. For senior business leaders, diplomats, and decision-makers operating under sustained pressure, the focus has shifted away from fitness and optimisation towards mental stability, clarity, and long-term resilience. This change is increasingly described as the Stillness Economy, an India-led recalibration of wellness in which time, attention, and cognitive precision are emerging as the ultimate luxuries.

At the centre of this movement are Dr Varun Veer and Dr Tanu Singh, Delhi-based scholar-practitioners behind Lifeyoga, one of the country’s few institutions built specifically for this new era of mind–body health. Working with India’s most intellectually demanding clientele, Lifeyoga integrates yogic science, Ayurveda, and contemporary research to offer structured, evidence-informed practices designed to build inner capacity rather than external routine. In an exclusive conversation with Robb Report India, they unpack what it actually means to integrate wellness into daily life, and why silence, not stimulation, may be India’s most undervalued luxury.

Robb Report India (RR): Much of modern wellness focusses on stress management. You speak about attention recession instead. Why is attention, not stress, the real mental health crisis of our time?

Dr Varun Veer: Stress is not the real problem. It is a natural part of modern life. The deeper crisis is attention. When attention is fragmented, stress becomes overwhelming. When attention is present, stress moves through without accumulation.

In yogic psychology, this is described as saakshi bhav, the capacity to witness with steadiness. Modern wellness often tries to manage stress externally, through control and optimisation. Yoga addresses the precondition of stress: A distracted mind. With discipline and rhythm in daily life, stress does not dominate. Even when it arises, awareness allows it to dissolve.

Attention restores alignment between body and mind. Without it, reactions become automatic and exhausting. Attention is not a coping strategy. It is mental hygiene.

RR: You’ve described meditation as the new literacy of the 21st century. What happens when people never develop this capacity in an age of constant cognitive noise?

Dr Varun Veer: Meditation is not a new technique. It is an essential capacity that has been neglected. In today’s overstimulated world, the absence of meditation makes mental balance increasingly difficult.

Without dhyana, the mind accumulates unnecessary thoughts, leading to anxiety and emotional volatility. In yogic understanding, imbalance in the bhavnatmak sharir, the emotional body, eventually manifests in the physical body. Western wellness often focusses on managing symptoms at the level of behaviour or physiology. Indian traditions address the inner layers first.

Meditation cleans mental clutter and restores clarity. It trains the mind to return to stillness rather than remain trapped in noise. Today, meditation is not a spiritual luxury. It is basic literacy for mental health.

RR: Much of modern wellness is obsessed with time management. Your work focusses on energy regulation. Why is this distinction important?

Dr Tanu Singh: The body does not operate on a clock alone. It operates on energy. Discipline and structure are essential, but discipline without awareness becomes mechanical. Many people follow rigid routines without listening to internal signals. That disconnect is where the imbalance begins. Energy regulation recognises fluctuation. Some days require intensity. Others require restraint.

Long-term mental and emotional healths depend on recognising these shifts rather than overriding them. Yoga teaches consistency over excess. Offering 80 per cent is more sustainable than forcing 100.

RR: High-performing leaders often say they don’t have time for stillness. From your research, what fractures first when stillness is continuously postponed?

Dr Varun Veer: What fractures first is inner order. Thoughts remain unresolved, emotions unprocessed, and the mind becomes restless. In yogic language, this state is called tamas — inertia and internal confusion. Modern lifestyles normalise this through constant stress, poor nourishment, and sensory overload. Yogic practices work at the root. Dhyana, pranayama, and yogabhyas restore internal cleanliness. They bring lightness, attentiveness, and emotional stability. Stillness is not withdrawal from life. It allows engagement without fragmentation or ashanti.

RR: Burnout is increasingly normalised among high-functioning individuals. What are the earliest signals people ignore?

Dr Tanu Singh: Burnout reveals itself quietly. Posture collapses. Breathing becomes shallow. Focus declines. Emotional tolerance lowers. High-functioning individuals override these signals, mistaking endurance for resilience. Psychologically, this is dangerous because it disconnects the mind from the body. Some self-soothe through excess, overstimulation, or distraction, which deepens dysregulation. Recognising burnout early allows correction without collapse. Ignoring it trains the mind to distrust the body.

RR: Breath is central to your work. How does it function as mental architecture rather than a relaxation tool?

Dr Varun Veer: In yoga, it is understood that you cannot directly control the mind, but you can regulate it through breath.

When negative thoughts arise rapidly, breath becomes fast and irregular. Anxiety follows. By consciously slowing the breath, the nervous system receives a signal of safety. Calmness emerges naturally. Yogic science sees breath as architecture for mental immunity. External pressure may continue, but internally, balance and clarity remain.

RR: You link nourishment directly to emotional stability. How do eating patterns influence anxiety and hormonal balance?

Dr Tanu Singh: In Ayurveda, nourishment is not just nutritional. It is emotional and contextual. Ritbhuk teaches eating according to season and geography. What stabilises one person may disturb another.

Equally important is mitbhuk or moderation. Leaving space in the stomach supports digestion and mood. Modern anxiety is often aggravated by erratic eating, extreme fasting, or replacing food with supplements.

Food carries emotional memory. Meals prepared with care, when eaten calmly, regulate the nervous system in ways supplements cannot. Nourishment is relational. When chosen according to individual needs, it supports hormonal balance and psychological steadiness.

RR: If someone wanted to integrate wellness into daily life without adding another layer of effort, where should they begin?

Dr Tanu Singh: Wellness does not require optimisation. The most sustainable shifts are quiet. Merely 10 to 15 minutes daily in natural light recalibrates the nervous system. Morning routines matter. Keeping mornings slow and screen-free stabilises hormonal rhythms. Rather than radical dietary rules, gradual substitution builds balance.

For me, luxury is spaciousness. Waking without urgency. Sitting quietly. Drinking warm water. Being present before engaging the world. Wellness is not about doing more. It is about removing excess.