Sadhguru: The neurological system in the body, if we have a way of monitoring that,
killing the pain completely at certain moments when we want. Just by touching certain parts of the body...
Nicholas D. Schiff: Well let me pose you a question Sadhguru.
So we can perhaps work as individuals to…
now that I know I take away wakefulness and not consciousness, right?
Make to move towards consciousness and that’s an individual’s decision to maybe train in this particular way.
So is there some way that we can harness these insights like you have?
Harness these... this understanding, and use it as anesthesiologists to take care of patients?
Because if we can reduce it to... or if we can adapt it, I shouldn’t say reduce,
if we can adapt it in that way, you know that would be very, very helpful
because we would be using the powers in a way that would control, have to use the word
the brain in a way that would be perhaps more, more physiologic?
Sadhguru: I’m not the expert in the subject but you are asking me the question I’ll (Laughs) say something,
but you are the expert in anesthesiology is it? Nicholas D. Schiff: Yeah. Sadhguru: I’m sorry (Laughs).
I... In my simple understanding, anesthesia as a process has come into being in this world
or is existing right now, because there is pain.
Pain when it happens to us is a bad thing, nobody wants pain.
But at the same time, if there was no pain, most people would not even know how to preserve their own body.
See wherever there is no pain in how many ways they’ve cut it (Laughter).
Suppose there was no pain in your nose, they would have cut it in various shapes (Laughter),
it’s part of the fashion (Laughter).
If there was no pain at all believe me, they would have pulled out intestines and swing it on the street, and go (Laughter).
You have any doubt about that?
Nicholas D. Schiff: None whatsoever (Sadhguru Laughs) (Laughter/Applause).
Sadhguru: So, essentially because there is pain in the body, and pain is a protective mechanism
because most human beings still don’t have the necessary intelligence even to preserve themselves.
If there was no pain, even if a bicycle comes people step back, don’t think this is out of civilization,
consequence of pain (Few laugh).
If there was no pain, even if a truck comes they would just walk (Laughter).
Yes, they would. So, because of pain...
So pain is essentially a protective mechanism for us.
Without it, people wouldn’t know how to stay alive, how to stay in one piece.
They would’ve cut themselves into pieces.
So… But sometimes as what is called as surgery, is in some way cutting people up.
Nicholas D. Schiff: Sure.
Sadhguru: So you… it has become a necessity to cut someone –
how to cut them with minimum amount of disturbance to the system, that’s the whole effort.
So in this effort as you said, essentially you’re disengaging different parts of the brain.
I don’t know if it’s an exact science, or it’s generally getting disengaged.
Whichever way it is getting effectively disengaged that people go through surgeries
without even knowing what happened, when something major was done with them.
Their ribs were opened up and… ribcage was opened up, heart was opened up, brain was opened up,
they don’t even know what happened.
Very innocently, they wake up after a day or so whatever amount of time.
So this is anesthesia.
How could we use…
see one… one dimension because when… when you… when we were speaking in the room
when you said, essentially, if I’m wrong please correct me,
you’re monitoring the physiological systems of heartbeat, blood pressure and temperature…
Nicholas D. Schiff: Brainwaves.
Sadhguru: Whatever else, the physiological factors.
If, I don’t know if it’s even a possibility, but if…
if you find a way to monitor neurological system ignoring the physiological system completely...
See, the concern may be the moment you somebody on the table and start opening the body,
the concern of a doctor or a surgeon may be that you don’t want him dead on the table.
So you’re watching his heartbeat, you’re watching his pulse
and you’re watching his all the other parameters.
I understand and appreciate that concern
but instead of… okay let’s leave the physiological monitoring as it is, but if we have a way,
I don’t know if there is a way in the medical science, if we monitor the neurological system.
Not just the brain, the neurological system in the body if we have a way of monitoring that,
I think the entire art of anesthesia could raise to a different level at a very minimal interference.
It could happen, because why I’m saying this is there is something called as Marma
in yoga and also in what is called as Kalari in south India, it’s a certain form of martial art.
Marma is a way of creating… killing the pain completely at certain moments when we want,
just by touching certain parts of the body, handling body in a certain way.
So essentially what we are doing is, the neurological system we’re shutting it off,
and there is no pain at all.
We can go ahead and do what we have to do and only when we release it, the pain will come back.
So using that as a basis I’m saying,
if medical science has a way of monitoring the neurological impulse as it’s happening,
and if there is some way to introduce... introduce anesthetics in whatever form that you use.
I don’t know all the cocktails that are used, but if it is done properly, probably
– I’m just guessing, I’m not an expert on this –
probably with two percent or three percent of your medicine,
you could still have the same effect on the patient.
Because how you use any medicine on the body and how you use it on the neurological system,
I would one percent of what you use on the muscle if you use it on the nerve,
it would produce equal effect.
Nicholas D. Schiff: But it’s interesting because I...
I think what you are saying has contact also with the work that... that we do in the recovery phase
and there are people now looking very carefully at cardiac and brain interactions.
And... and they do signal some of these changes,
and it’s suggestive that maybe more of the body could be engaged in the way we think and measure
and that makes a lot of sense to me actually.