I got to know Purnendu as a casual friend. In 2017, I mentioned to him that I was planning to do the Everest Base Camp trek. I was relatively new to trekking and Purnendu generously offered to help me in my training process. I was a reluctant participant at first, having never ‘trained‘ or ‘worked out’ in my life. I had never had a gym membership before and more importantly, had never been in a position of having to pay attention to someone else’s opinion when it came to my health and fitness.

However, I quickly recognised Purnendu’s skills – intention, attention and practice. He was able to quickly but safely introduce steps to improve critical areas – cardio capacity, overall strength and diet regulation. And when I felt I needed to focus on just a few important things rather than try many things, he was able to titrate everything down to the top 3 things that would provide me with the biggest benefits. The trek was a wonderful success and I was healthy and happy through it all.

It’s been 4 years since then, and while my interactions with Purnendu have since been informal, the learning continues. While EBC was a satisfying success, I think his biggest contributions have actually been more in the long term. I have come away with some mindset shifts. That it is okay to put some effort into staying fit! That there are small intentional steps that one can take every day to keep moving health and fitness up. That it is fine to go slow, but go one must. Earlier I thought differently about these things.

What I love is that his philosophy is backed by science and the fact that he is an unapologetic living example of everything he teaches! If you are serious about improving your health and fitness and improving decision making when it comes to these things, I would highly recommend Purnendu.

Thank you, Puru.

Dr Preeti Sharma
Dental Surgeon, Trekker, Mom