This bestselling author finds his greatest escape in solitude—and you can too

VPM | By Manoush Zomorodi, Harsha Nahata and Sanaz Meshkinpour

Published June 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM EDT

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Escaping the modern world and your noisy mind

Author Pico Iyer has traveled the world, but he finds his greatest escape in a monastery a few hours from his childhood home. He shares why he finds so much peace in silence and how you can too.

About Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is an author and essayist, best known for writing about his travels. He has written 17 books include The Open Road, The Art of Stillness and, most recently, Aflame: Learning from Silence, where he offers a glimpse into monastic life and what you can learn from solitude. For the past several decades, he has regularly spoken and traveled with the Dalai Lama and has made more than 100 retreats at a Benedictine monastery in California. He has given 5 TED Talks and written for over 250 periodicals worldwide, including Time, The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine and the Financial Times.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Harsha Nahata, with help from Rachel Faulkner White, and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. A special thanks to Pico Iyer for field recordings from the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHourand email us at [email protected].

Web Resources

Related TED Bio: Pico Iyer

Related TED Talk: The art of stillness

Related TED Talk: Where is home?

Related NPR Links

Fresh Air: Years ago, writer Pico Iyer lost everything in a wildfire. This is what he learned

TED Radio Hour: Amid conflict and difficulty, can we ever find paradise?

TED Radio Hour: How to travel more without going anywhere

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Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi is the host of TED Radio Hour. She is a journalist, podcaster and media entrepreneur, and her work reflects her passion for investigating how technology and business are transforming humanity.

Zomorodi is a co-founder of Stable Genius Productions and is the co-host and co-creator of ZigZag, the business podcast about being human. She also created, hosted, and was managing editor of the podcast Note to Self in partnership with WNYC Studios, which was named Best Tech Podcast of 2017 by The Academy of Podcasters.

Prior to her time at WNYC, Zomorodi reported and produced around the world for BBC News and Thomson Reuters, including a few years in Berlin.

She was named one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2018 and has received numerous awards for her work, including The Gracie for Best Radio Host in 2014 and 2018. Her book "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Creative Self" (2017, St. Martin's Press) and her TED Talk are guides to surviving information overload and the "Attention Economy."

Zomorodi received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in English and fine arts. She is half-Persian and half-Swiss but was born in New York City, where she lives with her family.

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