#185 Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon with Dr Rahul Jandial

Today I'm delighted to welcome one of the world's leading neurosurgeons, Dr Rahul Jandial back onto the podcast. I first spoke to Rahul back on episode 76 about the simple things that we can all do to improve and optimise our brain health. I decided to invite Rahul back onto the show after taking a look at his latest book, Life on a Knife's Edge: A Brain Surgeon’s Reflections on Life, Loss and Survival, which is a beautifully written account of the resilience, courage and belief he has witnessed in his patients, and the lessons about human nature he has learned from them.

At this point in his career, Rahul has operated on several 1000 skulls and brains. He is the last hope for patients with extreme forms of cancer. And in treating them, he's observed humanity at its most raw, but also at its most robust. He has journeyed to unimaginable extremes with his patients, guiding them through the darkest moments of their lives and in today's conversation, he shares some of the powerful lessons that he's learned that are applicable to us all.

In our conversation, we cover a wide range of different topics such as Rahul’s own practices and rituals to get him ready for high pressure surgery. We also talk about what specific breathing technique he uses when stressful situations come up whilst he is in the middle of an operation. We discuss what Rahul has learned about the brain, our minds and our sense of self and what cancer patients at the ends of their lives have taught him about living. He explains the importance of balancing times of stress with time for rest, the importance of connection and compassion and we chat about resilience. This really was a fabulous conversation that I myself got a lot out of. I really hope you enjoyed listening.

Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/185

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