Our reputation here at Alternatives has always been to deliver a high quality selection of teachers and speakers from the world of Spirituality, personal development and wellbeing.

Tonight we invite you to experience a selection of 15 minute presentations in this ‘TED Talk’ inspired event!

The speakers tonight are:

Jonny Benjamin - An Award winning mental health campaigner, writer and filmmaker. Jonny will share his own personal journey through mental illness, from childhood to present day, with his story of hope and recovery. 

At the age of 20 he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar, and later began making films on YouTube about the condition that have since been watched by hundreds of thousands of people.

Jonny now speaks publicly about living with mental illness and has written articles and given various interviews on TV, Radio and in print around the world to help educate and break stigma.

In Jonny 2014 launched a social media campaign called Find ‘Mike’ to search for the stranger who talked him out of taking his own life.

Jonathan Sattin, the managing director of Triyoga will be speaking about Yoga & Business. Jonathan will be in dialogue with Co-Founder and Co-Director of Alternatives, Malcolm Stern. 

Jonathans story.....Cigarettes + coffee

"In 1985, I was a senior partner in my own west end law practice. One of my partners who always thought I was a little 'left of centre' suggested I try a yoga class. In my first class,  I lay there with my eyes closed. I could see in my mind a wall of mirrors and I was running away, not wanting to look at myself in the mirror. For some reason I knew it was time to stop + take a good look. Within a few months of practising yoga +, as corny as it may sound, it completely changed my life. I gave up smoking (40 cigarettes a day) + coffee (14 mugs a day with at least 2 sugars) + a few other health tweaks along the way. It wasn't that I suddenly gave up practising law, shaved my head + wore orange robes (never been my colour), but yoga, combined with meeting my teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, were catalysts for change."

Judymay Murphy is a behavourial expert,speaker, success coach and author.  In this talk she will explain the basics of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), how it was created in your childhood, and how we can begin to tackle it.

JudyMay is the author of seven books, highly skilled in NLP, transactional analysis, CBT, Enneagram and systems thinking. She uses these skills, as well as her own change models (which she has been creating and teaching for the last ten years) to leverage the power of the individual to affect real progress.

Dr Emily Grossman will discuss the value of emotions in science and in society, in both men and in women in her talk  - Why Science Needs People Who Cry.

She will examine the outdated stereotype that all scientists are cold, unemotional... and male, suggesting that it is due to this stereotype that many young people, especially girls, simply do not see a place for themselves in science.

Do join us for this inspiring line-up of speakers on Monday night.