106: From Ignorance to Knowing: A Journey of Art, Science & Healing

Dr. Banerji: In this episode of 'Change the Story, Change the World,' Bill Cleveland explores the inspiring journey of Dr. Subhasis Banerji, a bioengineer from Singapore. Dr. Banerji shares how he utilized the interplay between art, science, and the human mind to help brain-injured and stroke patients recover. After suffering severe injuries himself, Dr. Banerji’s personal tale of recovery through a combination of physical therapy, yoga, and martial arts led him to develop SynPhne—a groundbreaking therapeutic device integrating real-time brain and muscle feedback for accelerated healing. The discussion also parallels the transformative power of creative practices in prison arts programs, highlighting the human capacity for self-recovery and growth. This episode sheds light on the significant overlap between artistic creativity and medical innovation, offering profound insights into the potential of the mind-body connection. 00:00 Introduction to Change the Story, Change the World 00:46 Meeting Dr. Banerji 02:36 From Ignorance to Wisdom 04:54 The Journey of Self-Healing 08:31 Creating Synphne 11:02 A Moment to Remember 19:30 Common Ground 24:51 Final Thoughts and AcknowledgementsBIO Dr. Subhasis Banerji: Founder, Inventor Director of SynPhNe. Subhasis has over 20 years of experience in developing cutting-edge technology, 5 years of practicing therapy and10 years in clinical research. His diverse background led him to invent and commercialize the world's first fully wearable and connected brain plasticity training tool that trains Brain and Body as parts of ONE system. SynPhNe™ is the outcome of his PhD (Biomechatronics) study. He is involved in research in biomechanics, neuroplasticity, movement analysis, learning mechanisms and ageing. He has been a yoga and martial arts practitioner for the past 25 years.Notable MentionsAfter four years of study, collaborative research, prototype building and testing Dr. Banerji and his partners at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University ultimately produced the therapy that he described to me when we met in Washington D.C.Put simply, SynPhNe accelerates Dr. Banerji’s painstaking visioning and learning process by reading brain and muscle signals, representing them graphically, and then teaching the patient how to self-correct the signals through their thought processes.The early 1980’s was a building period for the Arts-in-Corrections program. At each of our six pilot sites we had been scrambling to secure the spaces we needed to establish the stable and sustained learning environments that we knew would have the most positive and persistent impact on the prisoners who were flocking to the program.  Our guide, so to speak in this was the visionary poet and potter M. C. Richards who, in her book, Centering, articulated the transformative power embodied in the simple act of throwing a pot on a spinning wheel.These breakthroughs, the state Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, calls flow was something we all knew from our own work, but they seemed to be happening with particular intensity in our prison classrooms. AcknowledgementsThanks to Dr. Banerji for sharing his story and for the whole Synphne team for their incredible work. Crowd walla whole foods grocery store food court 1.wav by lwdickens -- https://freesound.org/s/269412/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0prison soundscape stylised.wav by 7by7 -- https://freesound.org/s/72851/ -- License: Creative Commons 0