Ben writes and speaks about Stoic philosophy, comfort zones, mental health and adventure. He is the author of How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable, How to Control the Uncontrollable, Seriously Happy and the Get Out of Your Comfort Zone Cards.

Ben has spoken to audiences around the world, appeared on TV & radio and been interviewed on high-profile podcasts. His books have been translated into 6 languages and featured on a variety of bestseller lists.

His message encourages others to build resilience by stepping outside of their comfort zones in a host of different ways. His methods and thinking are inspired by ancient philosophy and modern psychology.

Ben's book recommendation: 

- The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff

- Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

Sonya had a successful career in advertising until a breakdown and stint in rehab introduced her to mindfulness and wellbeing practices. 

Inspired by these she started her own company, Waves Mindfulness, and from there began a new conversation with the Universe. 

Sonya’s podcast recommendations:

• This American Life

You can find the Satori Podcast here on Instagram: @find_satori

Attend Anil's upcoming lecture on 26/03/24 here

Follow Satori on Instagram @find_satori

Anil's book recommendation: Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

With more than two decades of research and outreach experience, Anil’s mission is to advance the science of consciousness and to use its insights for the benefit of society, technology and medicine. An internationally leading researcher, Anil is also a renowned public speaker, best-selling author, and sought-after collaborator. 

Anil is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex, Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Program on Brain, Mind and Consciousness, a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator, and Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Neuroscience of Consciousness (Oxford University Press). He has published more than 200 research papers in a variety of fields, is recognized as being in the top 0.1% of researchers worldwide (2019-2023, Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher) and was named as in the Top 50 Innovators by World Summit AI (2022). He holds degrees in Natural Sciences (MA, Cambridge), Knowledge-Based Systems (MSc, Sussex), and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (Ph.D., Sussex). He carried out his postdoctoral work in San Diego with the Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman. 

Anil’s book - Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (Faber/Dutton, 2021) – was an instant Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller and was a 2021 Book of the Year for The Guardian, The Economist, The New Statesman, Bloomberg Business, and a 2021 Science Book of the Year for The Guardian and The Financial Times. 

In 2023 he won the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize, awarded annually to the scientist or engineer whose expertise in communicating scientific ideas in lay terms is exemplary. Prospect Magazine listed him as one of 25 top global thinkers for 2024. Anil’s main-stage TED talk has been viewed over fourteen million times and is one of their most popular science talks. He was the 2017 President of the British Science Association (Psychology Section) and the 2019 winner of the KidSpirit Perspectives award. He has featured in many high-profile podcasts (including Sam Harris, Rangan Chatterjee). He has appeared in several films (The Most Unknown, The Search), appears regularly on BBC Radio (Life Scientific, Inside Science, Today Programme, etc), and has written for Aeon, The Guardian, Granta, New Scientist, and Scientific American, among other venues. His other books include 30 Second Brain (Ivy Press, 2014) and EyeBenders (with Clive Gifford, winner of the 2015 Royal Society Young Person’s Book Prize), and he has collaborated on a wide range of art-science projects from drama (Elegy, Nick Payne) to rap (The Rap Guide to Consciousness, with Baba Brinkman), and is lead scientist on the groundbreaking immersive science-art experience Dreamachine, which won the 2023 CogX Best Innovation in Creative Arts award and the 2023 Lumen Immersive Environment Award.

Driven by pioneering spirit, Anouk Jans is a Creative Director who creates brand identities, creative concepts, campaigns, social media strategies and digital content to help define, establish and build international love brands that shape culture.

Anouk was the main focus of the documentary, ‘Kill Your Darlings: Presented By Togetherr’ based on the advertising and creative industry, and is currently the Creative Director of Spring Studios Milan, and the Founder of Creative Collective BYUS Global.

You can find her on Instagram @anoukjns, @byusglobal

Anouk’s book recommendation: 101 essays that will change the way you think - Brianna Wiest

You can also find Satori on Instagram here: @find_satori

Gin Rimmington Jones is a lens-based photographic artist exploring ideas of time, space and coexistence in the nested relationship between humans and the natural world. Fascinated by the point at which the two worlds collide, her work interrogates the connections between landscape, representation and the image to question cultural assumptions around agency and the natural world.

Gin's book recommendation: 

The Poetics of Space - Gaston Bachelard

Phil Hewitt is a Suffolk born photographer; now residing in North London.

At heart, a man of the countryside. Phil grew up in rural Suffolk and spent most of his childhood building dens, picking up woodlice and catching tadpoles.

As he moved through his teens, the birth of the internet ignited his enthusiasm of what the world had to offer. An enormous playground of chance and possibility. 

He tends to focus on projects that take him far and wide. This has an unusual paradox at its core; when you’re away you can’t wait to get home and when you’re home you can’t wait to get away. Either way, he feels most at home with a camera around his neck and some comfortable shoes on his feet.

Phil’s book recommendation:

The Year Of Magical Thinking - Joan Dideon

Emma Slade (Ani Pema Deki), Buddhist Nun, inspirational speaker, transformational coach & charity founder.

A deep-seated desire to enquire into the deeper aspects of humanity arose following a life-changing trip to Jakarta, where she was held hostage at gunpoint. She resigned from her financial career and explored yoga and meditation and methods of wellbeing with the ultimate aim of turning a traumatic episode into wisdom and conditions for thriving.

Emma is the first and only Western woman to be ordained in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan as a Buddhist nun.

In 2015 Emma founded and became CEO of the registered UK charity, Opening Your Heart to Bhutan, to help special needs children in Bhutan. 

In 2017 Emma was given the Point of Light award by the UK Prime Minister in recognition of her exceptional volunteering.

Emma’s reading recommendations: Gampopa, Lisa Jewell

Laura El-Tantawy is an award winning British/Egyptian documentary photographer, book maker & educator.

Born in Ronskwood in Worcestershire, UK, Laura studied in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US & UK. Living between East and West for much of her life inspires her work. Her projects investigate notions of home and belonging, routinely approaching her work from a social and environmental perspective inspired by her transatlantic background. Her visual explorations often intertwine moving images, sound, and personal narratives, marked by the artist’s lyrical eye on reality.

Laura is the first Egyptian to be awarded the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund award, which she received for her long-term series I’ll Die For You. 

Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Afar, Le Monde, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Time, New York Times, Huck & Foam.

In 2020, Laura joined Canon’s global Ambassador Programme. Joining a roster of more than 100 visual professionals, she represents the future of visual storytelling, Canon's unique brand & “its silent heroes — the staff & visionary engineers who make my work possible” she said.

Laura prides herself on her independent identity as a visual creative. Her goal as an artist is to produce socially engaged, unique and thought-provoking work. She often collaborates with like-minded individuals, institutions & organisations driven to inform responsibly, contribute positive change to the world & encourage stimulating thought & creativity. 

Laura’s book recommendation: Think Like A Tree - Sarah Spencer

For this episode I sat down with Satori co-founder, Duncan Woods, and we asked each other questions. 

Duncan had suggested this idea to me as a way of exploring my involvement with Satori, and it also became a great way to discover more about his inspiration for the original magazine project and beyond.

Duncan Woods is a creative director from London UK, with 18 years experience working across a mixture of magazines, retail, and creative agencies. 

He co-founded SATORI magazine with Seb Camilleri in 2017 with the aim of creating a community where people who may have different religious beliefs, scholarly pursuits or cultural backgrounds can come together and share in their love for thought provoking content and stimulating artwork.

SATORI magazine ran for 3 issues before being re-imagined as a podcast. If you are interested in reading any of the print issues of SATORI please visit findsatori.cargo.site/Buy 

Books from this episode: 

Matt Haig - Reasons to Stay Alive

Ekhart Tolle - The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Today's main contributor, Dr. LLyn De Danaan, emerita, The Evergreen State College, is an author and cultural anthropologist.

She was a speaker for Humanities Washington for four years and a faculty with Western Washington University’s Academy for Lifelong Learning. Her 2013 book, Katie Gale: A Coast Salish Woman’s Life on Oyster Bay, is called, “a masterpiece of creative interpretation…" She appeared throughout the Washington State to encourage conversations on historical research and the history of critical encounters between EuroAmerican and Native Americans. For many years, she consulted with Washington Tribes on treaty matters and was an expert witness in key cases. She produced curricula with Indian educators and the State Superintendent of Public Education’s office and consulted on the Washington State Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum, now in all Washington schools. She received the State Historical Society’s Peace and Friendship Award for furthering understanding of cultural diversity in Washington. She conducted research in Asia, Romania (Fulbright Scholar), and Yakima Valley. Her Mountain of Shell project focused on Japanese American labourers on Oyster Bay. She reviews for Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries and has contributed to Kithfolk, No Depression, the Oly Mountain Boys’ White Horse album, and Voice of the Wild Olympics. Her fiction and poetry has appeared in a Timberland Regional Library Collection and in an anthology produced by Washington State’s Poet Laureate, WA129. She was a founding member of the Mason County Historic Preservation Commission and was a member of Olympic Park Associates and Great Old Broads for Wilderness. She was also involved with Mason County March for Science and is a member of League of Women Voters. She worked as a beach naturalist with Puget Sound Estuarium for two years. Her most recent project focused on the life of the first Native American woman pilot, Mary Riddle, a Quinault allotted woman whose ancestors were among the first oyster farmers on Willapa Bay. 

Llyn’s book Recommendations:

Thich Nhat Hanh - Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

CS Lewis - Surprised by Joy / A Grief Observed

Francesca French and Mildred Cable - The Gobi Desert

Halldor Laxness - Independent People

Olga Tokarczuk - The Books of Jacob