From Rocket Science to Soul Science

Early life and an Ayurvedic family

Dr. Lingam was born into a lineage of healers rather than wealth. His grandfather and great-grandfathers were Ayurvedic physicians, said to read illness in the faintest change of a pulse. His father, a school principal and boxing coach, practised Ayurveda after school hours and offered it to the village for free.

Watching neighbours arrive with their ailments, young Lingam learned that a healer listens to the whole person, and that helping others brings good karma. As a boy he blended neem and turmeric, hand-ground sandalwood paste and slipped behind the family apothecary to smell rare herbs.

He also wanted to know why remedies worked. Chemistry became his passion. In high school he built an eight-foot replica of the Saturn V rocket and launched small homemade rockets into the sky.

Focus, confidence and the firewalk

Encouraged into sport by his father, he chose track and field so he could keep time for his studies. He trained in high jump and hurdles and became national school champion in the high jump. The lesson stayed with him: put all your energy into one thing and you can succeed.

At twelve, at a religious festival, his father had him and his ten-year-old sister walk across fire, telling them to walk fast, never stop and believe they would not be burned. They crossed safely. His father, his role model, taught him to believe in himself, take chances and never fear failure.

When he left for England on a scholarship, his mother placed holy ash on his forehead and gave him a gold ring set with a yellow sapphire. His father asked him never to forget the family's knowledge. He never did.

Chemical engineering

He earned a BSc (Honours) in Chemical Engineering at Teesside University, studying with an intensity his professors remembered. He wanted to master the craft, not simply pass exams.

Through a work-study program he joined the pharmaceutical company Glaxo, learning batch manufacturing of the antibiotics penicillin and cephalothin. Years later, that experience shaped how he manufactured skincare.

The rocket years

After graduating he moved to Canada and joined a synthetic fuel plant in Alberta, studying combustion and energy at the molecular level. The plant's U.S. parent company won a United States Air Force contract to develop synthetic fuels for rockets and military aircraft.

In 1978 he was invited to join its research and development team in the United States, working on propulsion systems, rocket fuels and classified military projects. Through long days of equations and pressure chambers, he kept his evening meditation practice, and his Ayurvedic roots stayed with him.

The day the skin spoke

The birth of his daughter changed everything. Days old, she was treated with a lotion recommended by trusted parenting magazines. Within an hour a red, angry rash spread across her skin.

He read the ingredient label as he would an engineering blueprint and found parabens, phthalates, petroleum derivatives and formaldehyde donors. Within weeks he had stopped designing propulsion systems and started designing gentler skincare.

He called his friend Dr. Brian Jegasothy, chair of dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh, whose research pointed to chronic inflammation as a root cause of skin aging and disease. Their partnership became Hylunia.