11:00 am, June 18 2017
Conway Hall
Speaker: Lots
Poet: Lots
4th Birthday & Kindfulness!
- 15 January
- Speaker: Shamash Alidina
Can you believe it?
Sunday Assembly is 4 years old and we’re going to party in style! Bring your party hats, put on your Sunday best and let’s get ready to celebrate us celebrating life as a community for all this time!
As well as having a party, we’re going to hear from one of our favourite speakers of all time, Shamash Alidina. He wow’d us at the Conference Called Wonder and we’re so excited to have him at Sunday Assembly London. Shamash is speaking on kindfulness: a meditation and way of living that’s relaxing, calming and fun!
Mindfulness is so last year! Start 2017 with a relaxed, fun and transformative attitude to life, with a powerful combination of mindfulness, kindness and compassion. Mindfulness comes mostly from ancient eastern traditions, and science finds it to be effective for better health, wellbeing and performance. But…these ancient traditions also included lots of self-kindness and friendliness towards yourself and others, which can easily be lost through just trying to practice mindfulness alone.
In this talk you’ll discover how to go from being a control freak to a kindness freak.
Experience a kindfulness exercise to cultivate joy, clarity and resilience.
Discover how kindfulness can help reduce suffering.
Understand why science is implementing kindness and compassion practices to overcome stress, anxiety, depression, and build a more resilience brain.
What a treat we’re in for! And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Attraction Matters: Or Does It?
- 5th February
- Speaker: Viren Swami
February is love month at Sunday Assembly London and to kick it off, we’re talking about how we are attracted to people.
How much does appearance matter when it comes to forming relationships? This talk looks at the way in which our physical appearance – and other factors – affect our decisions about romance.
When it comes to relationships, a pervasive stereotype is that physical appearance matters more than anything else in determining attraction. But is there any truth to this idea? And what about the old idea that beauty is only skin deep?
In this talk, Social Psychologist Viren Swami will suggest that appearance does matter, but that it’s importance to romantic decision-making has been overblown. He will talk about other person-centred factors too – especially the quality of being ‘nice’. He will also present evidence that physical attractiveness is not a static quality – that being ‘nice’ can make a person seem more physically attractive. He will also discuss why, even though appearance does matter, we probably don’t need to worry too much about appearances when it comes to romantic relationships.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Connection & Playfulness
- 19th February
- Speaker: Adam Taffler
The first casualty of becoming adult can be the playfulness of our childhoods, despite researchers and psychologists confirming this is a vital way for us to learn and relate to each other. We are continuing our love month at Sunday Assembly London by speaking about connection and playfulness and have trained fool and cultural entrepreneur Adam Taffler speaking. He will be telling us about his experience of how playfulness crosses political & ideological divides and can serve to unite us and foster harmony, trust, community and joy when practised in everyday situations. Giving practical examples there will be an opportunity to try techniques out on the day and takeaways for the wider world.
Adam (who also runs the only silent dating company!) will be running an informal games session during tea and coffee. The games are simple, easy to learn and designed to bring out an infectious playfulness. All games are suitable to be played by adults and children.
It’s going to be a corker!
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Girls to the Front
- 5th March
- Speaker: Jessie Maryon Davies
It is International Women’s Day on March 8th and so we are going to celebrate all things women at Sunday Assembly London.
Our speaker is Jessie Maryon Davies, who is a musician and facilitator working across the U.K and internationally to energise groups into making music. She co-directs all female pop choir LIPS and refugee choir Woven Gold. Jessie is a founder member of charity Girls Rock London (GRL) whose aim to empower women and girls to make music and build self confidence.
In the assembly, Jessie will demonstrate the community-building powers of music while showing that everyone can make music and feel good doing it! She will do this through facilitating us all as the audience in writing a song together – generating words and melody together as a group. She will be joined by all new band Judi Hench, Featuring GRL! participants in a live performance.
We.Cannot.Wait.
We will also hear from Sunday Assembly London member, Hayley who will be Trying Her Best and we will be singing some raucous power ballads! Join us afterwards for tea and coffee and get to know some of the amazing people who are part of the community.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Sea Soup
- 19th March
- Speaker: Russell Arnott
Back by popular demand, we present our most loved science geek Russell Arnott. He has been an oceanographer, science teacher, punk-rock guitarist and Outreach Officer for WhaleFest: Incredible Oceans.
You might remember his talk on Octopus a couple of years ago and if you haven’t seen him speak before, this is not a Sunday Assembly to miss! This time he’s coming to speak to us about Plankton.
Yup.
Plankton are the microscopic plants and animals that inhabit the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes. He says: ‘These amazing and often overlooked organisms not only act as the base for the ocean’s foodwebs but also produce a majority of our atmospheric oxygen. They also have the ability to regulate our climate and if harnessed, could be the panacea to climate change that we’ve been waiting for.’
This talk will introduce you to the wonderous world of plankton by showcasing all of their weird and wonderful shapes and abilities.
We are VERY excited about this.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Urban Exploration
- 2nd April
- Speaker: Daniel Raven-Ellison
We’re curling our toes in excitement for having National Geographic Emerging Explorer Daniel Raven-Ellison come and speak at Sunday Assembly London! He’s using films, books, websites, and walks to take geography far beyond memorizing dots on a map, challenging children and adults to experience every aspect of the world around them in a more meaningful way. For Daniel, the road to adventure is “guerrilla geography”: daring people to challenge preconceptions about places; engage in social and environmental justice; and form deeper, more active community connections.
Recently back from walking 1686km across all of the UK’s national parks and cities while wearing a mind reading device, Daniel will share stories and insights from his adventures. He’ll then go on to make the case for London being transformed into the world’s first National Park City.
Get ready to grab hold of your comfiest shoes and be inspired to head out into the amazing land of urban exploration!
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Overcoming Adversity
- 16th April
- Speaker: Aled Griffiths
Our speaker this week is going to show us how to celebrate life like never before. Aled Griffiths was born in 2003 with a rare medical condition called Vacterl Association. At the age of 8 he started doing presentations about his condition, mainly to medical staff and families affected by the same condition and then far and beyond.
Aled, now aged 13 is an ambassador for two national charities and in 2015 he received the Rotary Great Britain and Ireland Young Citizen Award, this was shortly followed by a Diana Champion Volunteer award, both awards recognised the work that he does with charities. In 2016 he won a place on a Virgin Atlantic scholarship trip to Rajasthan, India where he helped to build a school in a rural town despite his own disabilities.
Come and learn from 13 year old Aled about how to overcome adversity whilst helping often in the world, and in SUCH a short space of time!
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Perception Change
- 7th May
- Speaker: Sam Moyo
Sam Moyo, founder of Morning Gloryville and all round visionary is coming to speak to us about why she thinks perception change is the thing for us to master in the modern world. She says:
“It is no secret that we are living in a VUCA World – one that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Today’s next generation of leaders (all of us) are mirrored by global conditions! Perception change is a new art to master.”
This talk will explore leadership in a ‘VUCA world’ and discuss the tools that we could use to be more flexible and responsive to changes. Or in Sam’s words, “As much as we want to reimagine our world, we must reimagine our DNA. Challenging societal norms means also challenging my own personal norms.”
Sam works in social change on a grassroots level through Morning Gloryville, and on the macro-level with some of the worlds leading organisations.
After the Assembly we’re going to have a mini Morning Gloryville rave, so come dressed up in your partying gear, ready to celebrate life with any movement that feels good for you.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Carpe Diem Regained
- 21st May
- Speaker: Roman Krznaric
Carpe diem – seize the day – is one of the oldest pieces of life advice in Western history.
But what does it really mean?
And how can we use it to rethink the art of living?
We’re welcoming the popular philosopher Roman Krznaric to our gathering to talk about this big old life topic. He will base his talk on his new book ‘Carpe Diem Regained: The Vanishing Art of Seizing the Day’, which explores the life-changing potential of carpe diem. He says that he will “delve into its many interpretations, from the grasping of opportunities to wild hedonism and calm living in the moment, and examines its hijacking by consumer and digital culture.”
Drawing on everything from medieval carnival traditions to the neuropsychology of risk, Roman is going to look at how we might overcome the pervasive denial of death in modern society, confront the spectre of procrastination, and ultimately live a life without regret.
WOW.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Life On A Tight Rope
- 4th June
- Speaker: Laura Kriefman
Oh this is going to be a good’un, we can feel it in our bones.
We are being joined by the awesome Laura Kriefman who is going to tell her story about how an intention became a habit: and how learning to live life without fear led to choreographing industrial construction cranes.
It sounds like a pretty out there idea don’t you think. But just you wait!
Laura is an Architectural Choreographer. If that title alone doesn’t make you feel like she’s probably a cool cookie, she’s also a 2016 INK Fellow, 2015 WIRED Magazine/The Space Creative Fellow and a 2011-2012 Fellow of the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme. Her company Guerilla Dance Project have won multiple awards for digital innovation and specialise in Augmented Dance: the fusion between movement and technology. They create interactive installations and spectacles that have been commissioned worldwide including USA, Brazil, Ireland, Croatia, Europe, India, and Indonesia.
Phwoah.
We’re also being joined by poet, Desree and if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.
Losing Control
- 18th June
- Speaker: Jules Evans
Humans have always sought ecstatic experiences – moments where they go beyond their ordinary self and feel connected to something greater than them. Such moments are fundamental to human flourishing, but they can also be dangerous.
Beginning around the Enlightenment, western intellectual culture has written off ecstasy as ignorance or delusion. But philosopher Jules Evans argues that this diminishes our reality and denies us the healing, connection and meaning that ecstasy can bring.
Back by popular demand, Jules explores the different ways people find ecstasy in the modern west, from music to nature, from extreme sports to extremist politics. He asks how we can find the good stuff in ecstasy while avoiding the risks, particularly the risk of getting over-attached to life’s peak moments.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll be singing our hearts out, hearing stories from members of the community, drinking a vat of tea/coffee and eating a heck of a lot of biscuits afterwards too.
BSL interpretation will be provided.
We can’t wait to see you there and have fun celebrating life with you all!
Sunday Assembly London is free to attend and runs entirely on donations. Please support us if you can to keep it free for those who can’t.