What does “Satori” mean?

Satori (Japanese 悟り, pronounced sa-to-ri): a sudden or gradually-arrived state of understanding, where previously scattered knowledge, experience and observations resolve into a whole.

Originally a Zen Buddhist term, in modern use it also covers learning and professional growth. It differs from mere information: information already exists — satori is the moment when its meaning opens up.

Information is available everywhere. Finding it isn’t what’s valuable — connecting it to your own work is. Good training creates a space where you work out how the material applies to your own situation.

The difference is practical: information is forgotten fast, insight stays. It changes the way you look at your own work on Monday.

There’s no fixed script that I walk through slide by slide. The direction and the shape are clear, but room is left for questions, other angles and half-formed thoughts.

The pedagogy is Training from the Back of the Room and the 4C model — Connections, Concepts, Concrete Practice, Conclusions. In practice we do, reflect and draw conclusions together. I walk along as a guide.

That’s why we talk about a hike: the direction becomes clear step by step. Insight isn’t handed over ready-made — it forms through your own pause and experiment, as the fog lifts and you read the terrain yourself.