Dr. Bala Subramaniam

Director, Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet at BIDMC, Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School
#HarvardConsciousness

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

We did not answer these questions. Nobody has.

But the collision of anesthesiology, contemplative science, and physics is exactly where the answers will come from.

Gratitude to John and Alex. 🙏

Full episode: https://t.co/fPNEGgci1H

#Consciousness #AI #Meditation

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Can we hack human consciousness?
Can we upload the human brain?
Can we anesthetize an AI?

I joined @ImaginationInAction's Conversations in Action with John Werner and Alex Wissner-Gross to explore exactly these questions, https://t.co/gYSJR4IeCa

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

The frontier questions we explored:

If consciousness arises from physical processes, can we upload it?

If an AI ever becomes conscious, could we anesthetize it?

What do meditation cessation states tell us about what consciousness IS?

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Knowing this is very different from living it.

I hope we all find our way to practice whatever form it takes. Not because I wish disaster on anyone. But because we may face the unthinkable.

Better to meet it having prepared.

🙏 Nepal. Every life matters.

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Become a mother to the world.

My heart goes out to every life lost in the Nepal flash floods. Thousands gone. Families shattered. Overnight.

Some reflections on grief, identity, and awareness.

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Our research measures this. Using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale:

⏱ 6 weeks of practice → significant gains in awareness, stress down 41%
📅 12 months → gains deepened, not plateaued
🧠 Lifetime practitioners → brain age ~6 years younger, higher meta-awareness on EEG

Awareness is trainable.

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Larger, multicenter trial is the next step

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

1 in 3 people with Parkinson's lives with significant anxiety.
No approved medications for it.
Access to therapy limited by mobility and cost.
We asked: could Breath, Sound, and Meditation help?
New pilot RCT — a thread. 🧵

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

For a population facing real barriers to mental health care — this direction matters.

Full paper — open access:
https://t.co/EDzq4pkvfT

Gratitude to every participant, collaborator, and teacher who made this possible. 🙏

#ParkinsonsDisease #Meditation #MentalHealth #ClinicalResearch #Anxiety

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

MIT just named Emery Brown an Institute Professor, the highest faculty honor at MIT.

One of only 12 in the entire institution. Member of all three US National Academies- Science, Medicine, and Engineering plus the National Academy of Inventors. National Medal of Science, January 2025.

The most decorated anesthesiologist in the history of the field. And in 2018, he opened a conversation on science and consciousness with Sadhguru at Harvard Sanders Theatre, a moment I think of as the origin story of our research center.

Honoured to work alongside him. Congratulations, Emery. 🙏

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Miracle of Mind, MoM for all.
@ishafoundation @SadhguruAcademy @SadhguruJV

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

Meditation never worked for me, so I had Harvard researchers scan my brain, writes WSJ columnist Elizabeth Bernstein https://t.co/gC2Iq4WpnY via @WSJ

Her story is live today. Here's what happened. 🧵

[Dr. Bala Subramaniam @balachundhar]

A stressed journalist. Zero meditation experience. An EEG cap. 15 minutes.

Read the full @WSJ story:
https://t.co/6SYKqb0iMz

What are you waiting for?
Engage. Experience. Enjoy the stillness. 🙏