133 avsnitt • Längd: 60 min • Veckovis: Torsdag
Sounds of SAND invites listeners into a contemplative journey through the infinite cycles of existence – from its raw beauty to its deepest mysteries, from its intricate complexity to its profound wonder. Through intimate conversations, thought-provoking interviews, poetic readings, and carefully curated music, we weave together ancient wisdom with lived experience, creating a tapestry of sound that honors the great questions of being
The podcast Sounds of SAND is created by Science and Nonduality. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
This episode is a live recording from a recent SAND Community Gathering (April 2025) facilitated by Jungwon Kim.
Join Buddhist scholars and activists Rev. Duncan Ryūken Williams, Ph.D. and Funie Hsu/Chhî, Ph.D. for an illuminating dialogue exploring the intersection of Buddhist practice and social transformation. This conversation weaves together Buddhism, remembrance, healing, and liberation, examining how the dharma offers both a path to personal awakening and Social-Spiritual Liberation. Our guests shared how Buddhist teachings help transform grief into connection, particularly in response to racially motivated violence against Asian American communities. The conversation challenged conventional Western Buddhist approaches to Secularization and Individual Awakening.
Duncan Ryuken Williams is a Professor of Religion and the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California; previously, Chairman of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley, Director of Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies, and Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D. An ordained priest since 1993 in the Soto Zen tradition, he received Dharma transmission in 2024 at Kotakuji Temple, Japan. His latest book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War, an LA Times bestseller, won the 2022 Grawemeyer Religion Award. He also wrote The Other Side of Zen .
Funie Hsu/Chhî, Ph.D. is a transdisciplinary scholar from a working class, Taiwanese-American family, raised in a Taiwanese Humanistic Buddhist tradition. Her work melds American, Asian-American, Buddhist, and Taiwan Studies. Currently Associate Professor of American Studies at San Jose State University, she received a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality from UC Berkeley. Aspects of her work explore issues of language, education and colonialism. She is a co-organizer of May We Gather, a national Buddhist memorial ceremony for Asian American ancestors and a former Board Member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship where she advocated for the recognition of Asian American heritage Buddhist communities in the organization and beyond.
Jungwon Kim is an award-winning writer and cultural worker. She is also a communications leader, organizational strategy consultant, and journalist who has dedicated her professional life to human rights and environmental advocacy. As Head of Creative & Editorial at the Rainforest Alliance, she directed a multimedia team of writers, videographers, and graphic designers. Earlier in her career, she served as the editor of Amnesty International USA’s human rights quarterly that featured the work of award-winning journalists and documentary photographers (circulation 300,000). She began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and on-air correspondent for nationally syndicated public radio programs.
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:41 Introducing the Conversation Topic
01:36 Meet Jungwon Kim
03:20 Introducing the Guests: Funie Hsu/Chhî, and Duncan Ryuken Williams
06:30 Funie Hsu/Chhî’s Path to Buddhism
10:19 Duncan Ryuken Williams' Path to Buddhism
13:02 Buddhism as a Cultural Ecosystem
22:16 May We Gather: A Collective Healing Initiative
32:42 Decolonizing Buddhist Practice
37:07 Lessons from Japanese American Buddhists
44:48 Bridging the Gap in American Buddhism
58:02 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections
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Elizabeth Philipose, PhD has a lifelong passion for transformational arts and the expansion of consciousness. She has pursued this as an academic studying the causes and consequences of violence. Her focus is on healing relations between masculine and feminine, humans and nature, races, and nations. As a spiritual guide, she offers programs in decolonial wellness, spiritual principle, embodiment, meditation, and prayer. Elizabeth has been on her own journey to heal gender/racial traumas, old church wounds, and ancestral grief. She teaches from the experiential insights of this journey and the wisdom of her visionary teachers.
Links
Upcoming workshop with Elizabeth Philipose
Topics
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Understanding Decolonial Wellness
02:32 Impact of Colonialism on Personal Wellness
04:41 Embodiment and Structural Analysis
07:37 Holistic Approach to Wellness
14:27 Spirituality and Social Justice
19:11 Challenges in Spiritual and Social Justice Communities
32:39 Practical Applications and Offerings
39:59 Conclusion and Upcoming Events
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Today, we present a wild and flowering conversation between two poets, writers, philosophers, and theobiologians Bayo Akomalofe and Sophie Strand.
This conversation is from a 2022 SAND Community Gathering. To hear the full conversation with Q&A from the live webinar you can view it here (with SAND Membership).
In Greek Mythology, the Titan Kronos eats an indigestible stone and vomits up the new Olympic pantheon of gods. In our current time, people planted in stratigraphic layers of shared trauma find themselves uniquely ill – physically and mentally. We are unable to digest food and unable to digest violence. What if indigestion – practical and mythical – was a sign that a new world was threatening to be born? The very basis of our nucleated cells is an ancient botched bacterial cannibalism. What if our inability to digest certain injustices was an invitation to vomit up a new pantheon? And in an age when we are all threaded through with microplastics and blood pressure stabilizers, what does it mean to start to physically grow into new shapes around incursions we cannot properly assimilate or expel?
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. He sits on the Board of many organizations including Science and Non-Duality (US) and Ancient Futures (Australia). In July 2022, Dr. Akomolafe was appointed the inaugural Global Senior Fellow of University of California’s (Berkeley) Othering and Belonging Institute. He has also been appointed Senior Fellow for The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany. He is the recipient of the New Thought Leadership Award 2021 and the Excellence in Ethnocultural Psychotherapy Award by the African Mental Health Summit 2022.
Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Yet it would probably be more authentic to call her a neo-troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients.
She is the author of The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine and The Madonna Secret. She is also finishing a collection of essays about navigating an incurable genetic disease and early trauma through ecological storytelling.
You can subscribe to her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com, and follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.
Topics
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
From a recent SAND Community Gathering (March 2025)
At a time when our world can feel increasingly divided, and many are retreating into isolation, civil rights scholar john a. powell offers a transformative approach to building connections across differences. Drawing from his groundbreaking work with the Othering & Belonging Institute and his own journey, john shows how to stop perceiving differences as threats and instead use them as opportunities for deeper understanding and collective growth. Through rich personal stories and documented study, he explains how bridging practices can help us heal ruptures in our families, workplaces, and communities.
This conversation explores practical ways to overcome the ‘us versus them’ mindset that dominates our current discourse and create a world where everyone truly belongs. Whether we’re struggling with political divides, generational gaps, or cultural differences, powell’s insights offer concrete tools for building meaningful connections in an age of separation.
john a. powell is a renowned scholar and advocate in civil rights, structural racism, constitutional law, housing, and belonging. As Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, he holds the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion and is a Professor of Law, Ethnic Studies, and African American Studies.
The Power of Bridging: How To Build A World Where We All Belong by john a. powell
Topics
00:00 Introduction
00:41 Meeting john a. powell
02:24 john's Early Life and Spiritual Journey
08:02 The Concept of Belonging and Breaking
17:48 Navigating Fear and Anxiety in Activism
27:44 The Concept of Belonging vs. Inclusion
29:52 Personal Stories of Pain and Resilience
33:59 The Danger of a Single Story
39:24 Bridging Divides in the Middle East
43:44 The Power of Recognition and Dignity
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From a recent SAND Community Gathering (March 2025)
Join mental health clinician Linda Thai and writer Jungwon Kim for an in-depth conversation on intergenerational trauma, historical grief, and healing in community. Together, they explored psychological, spiritual, and communal reverberations of historical violence, framed within the context of U.S. wars in Korea and Vietnam, yet deeply relevant to other conflicts, past and present. They shared their experiences and observations of the complex dynamics of remembering and forgetting—and how they play out across families and communities fragmented by political and militarized violence. Further, they explore modes of restoration that are often overlooked by Western therapeutic approaches: somatic and communal transmutation, cultural ritual, and narrative justice. The pathways they shared honor the deep connections between personal, historical, and communal dimensions of trauma.
A vital conversation for anyone seeking to understand how the profound wisdom held within cultural memory can contribute to intergenerational healing.
Jungwon Kim is an award-winning writer and cultural worker. She is also a communications leader, organizational strategy consultant, and journalist who has dedicated her professional life to human rights and environmental advocacy. As Head of Creative & Editorial at the Rainforest Alliance, she directed a multimedia team of writers, videographers, and graphic designers. Earlier in her career, she served as the editor of Amnesty International USA’s human rights quarterly that featured the work of award-winning journalists and documentary photographers (circulation 300,000). She began her storytelling career as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor, and on-air correspondent for nationally syndicated public radio programs.
Linda Thai, LMSW ERYT-200 is a trauma therapist and educator who specializes in brain and body-based modalities for addressing complex developmental trauma. Linda has worked with thousands of people from all over the world to promote mindfulness, recover from trauma, and tend to grief as a means of self care. Linda’s work centers on healing with a special focus on the experiences of adult children of refugees and immigrants. Her teaching is infused with empathy, storytelling, humor, research, practical tools, applied knowledge, and experiential wisdom. She has assisted internationally renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, with his private small group psychotherapy workshops aimed at healing attachment trauma. She has a Master of Social Work with an emphasis on the neurobiology of attachment and trauma.
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:38 Setting the Context: War and Generational Trauma
01:18 Introducing the Guests: Linda Thai and Jungwon Kim
02:17 Linda Thai's Story: A Journey of Healing
06:48 Jungwon Kim's Story: Bridging Generations
11:12 The Impact of War on Generations
13:08 Collective Trauma and Healing
29:39 Ritualizing Healing: The Concept of Han
34:41 The Role of Community in Healing
49:03 Conclusion and Future Conversations
Resources
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
John J. Prendergast, PhD, is a spiritual teacher, author, retired psychotherapist, and retired adjunct professor of psychology who has taught at Esalen and Kripalu and online. He studied for many years with the sage Dr. Jean Klein as well as with the spiritual teacher Adyashanti. He is the author of the books In Touch, The Deep Heart and Your Deepest Ground: A Guide to Embodied Spirituality (SoundsTrue).
Topics:
00:00 Introduction
02:25 The Origin of 'Listening from Silence'
04:48 Exploring the Trilogy of Books
08:55 The Deep Heart and Ground of Being
27:48 Opening the Root Chakra: A Journey into Pure Potentiality
28:25 Tapping into the Current of Life: A Universal Connection
29:59 Addressing Suffering: A Creative Response
32:09 Embodied Non-Dual Approach: Engaging with Life
47:15 The Power of Community in Spiritual Practice
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From a recent SAND Community Gathering (Feb 2025) hosted by SAND co-founders, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Deep Medicine Circle (DMC), a collective of healers, farmers, artists, and storytellers, is challenging colonial structures by redefining health and wellbeing through practices that heal communities and restore connections to land. Led by Dr. Rupa Marya, Charlene Eigen-Vasquez, and Walter Riley, this visionary group is creating a holistic food and wellbeing model that nourishes both people and land, recognizing the profound interconnectedness of human health within social, environmental, and historical contexts.
Dr. Rupa Marya is a physician, activist, writer, mother, and a composer. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition. Her work sits at the nexus of climate, health and racial justice. She is the co-author with Raj Patel of the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. She works to decolonize food and medicine in partnership with communities in Lakhota territory at the Mni Wiconi Health Circle and in Ohlone Territory through the Deep Medicine Circle. She has toured twenty-nine countries with her band, Rupa and the April Fishes, whose music was described by the legend Gil Scott-Heron as “Liberation Music.”
Charlene Eigen-Vasquez, J.D. is of Ohlone descent, from the village of Chitactac. She is dedicated to land back initiatives, land preservation, land restoration, cultural revitalization and environmental justice because she feels that these initiatives have a direct impact on physical and mental health. As a mother and grandmother, she completed a law degree so that she might better serve Indigenous communities. Today her focus is on regenerative leadership strategies, leveraging her legal skills, and mediation skills to advocate for Indigenous interests, negotiate agreements and build relational bridges. She is an acknowledged peacemaker, trained by Tribal Supreme Court Justices. Charlene is the former CEO and Director of Self-Governance for the Healing and Reconciliation Institute. Charlene also serves as Chairwoman of the Confederation of Ohlone People, Co-Chair of the Pajaro Valley Ohlone Indian Council and Board Vice President for the Santa Clara Valley Indian Health Center. Charlene was recently brought into the Planet Women’s 100 Women Pathway, a cohort designed to increase the number of diverse women leaders at the helm of the environmental movement.
Walter Riley was born in 1944, number 9 of 11 children born to a farming family in Durham County, North Carolina. His family farmed until he was about 6 years old. He grew up in the Jim Crow south and in his early teens, Walter became active in the Civil Rights Movement organizing voter registration, sit-ins, jobs campaigns, and in his late teens became Field Secretary for CORE (Congress for Racial Equality), got married and became a father. He moved to the Bay Area in the 1960s where he became active in the political, social justice movements. Walter is a long-time community activist and civil rights attorney.
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:47 Introducing Dr. Rupa Marya
01:46 Deep Medicine Circle and Board Members
02:36 Charlene's Introduction and Ancestral Tribute
07:33 Walter Riley's Introduction and Civil Rights Work
23:48 Connecting Food Systems and Colonial History
26:40 Healing Through Music and Cultural Awareness
27:43 Addressing Hunger and Malnutrition During COVID
28:06 Farming as a Path to Justice and Resilience
30:26 The Role of Historical Trauma in Land Restoration
30:51 Holistic Problem Solving and Cultural Stewardship
36:13 Youth and Community Engagement in Healing
41:28 The Importance of Ethnic Studies and Solidarity
43:08 Reflections on Historical Movements and Future Change
52:29 Concluding Thoughts on Healing and Unity
Resources
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
Today we present an anthology episode with SAND speaker, Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris (1936-2024) who passed in December 2024.
Internationally known as a dynamic speaker, Dr. Sahtouris was an evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. She taught the relevance of biological systems to organisational design in business, government and society. She was a Fellow of the World Business Academy, an advisor to EthicalMarkets.com and the Masters in Business program at Schumacher College, also affiliated with the Bainbridge Graduate Institute's MBA program for sustainable business.
Dr. Sahtouris convened two International Symposia on the Foundations of Science and written about integral cosmologies. Her books include A Walk Through TIme: from Stardust to Us, Biology Revisioned, co-authored with Willis Harman, and EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution.
Topics
00:00 Introduction to Elisabet Sahtouris
01:11 Indigenous Science and Wisdom
04:02 The Living Universe Concept
07:04 Western vs. Vedic Science
09:16 The Evolution of Scientific Assumptions
11:47 Mechanism vs. Organism in Biology
12:45 Genetic Engineering and Its Pitfalls
15:56 The Role of Consciousness in Evolution
17:33 Dying to Live: Evolution through Recycling
28:22 The Metaphor of the Butterfly
33:58 Advice for Future Generations
39:29 Closing Thoughts and Reflections
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This is a recording from the 2022 Community Conversation between with guest Iya Affo and SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Very few people are aware of the impact of historical trauma. Historical trauma is trauma so deeply rooted in the subconscious we may not even know it is there. It can leave us feeling anxious, irritable, sad, and hopeless… and we have no idea why. But once we begin to see the larger context of our trauma, then a more holistic healing can begin.
Iya Affo is a Culturalist and Historical Trauma consultant. She earned Western certification as a Trauma Specialist and is a descendant of a long line of traditional healers from Bénin, West Africa. Iya serves as an Executive Board Member for the Arizona ACEs Consortium, is an Adjunct Faculty member at the Arizona Trauma Institute, and is the founder of Heal Historical Trauma Culture & Indigenous Wellness Academy. She has visited more than 30 countries; living in Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Native American, and Yoruba communities, embracing aspects from each culture for personal evolution. She strives to transcend tolerance through cultivating love and respect in hopes of facilitating the decolonization and subsequent healing of indigenous people from all over the world. Iya advocates for the harmonization of Traditional Medicine and Western Medicine for true holistic healing.
Iya's passion is to cultivate intergenerational healing by connecting intuitive ancestral practices with modern neurobiology. As we delve into leveraging our neurobiology to facilitate the healing process, we will also explore re-culturing and the creation of self-harmonizing communities.
Iya Affo’s Website
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:51 Introducing Iya Affo
02:31 Iya's Personal Journey
05:57 Understanding Historical Trauma
10:14 Resilience and Cultural Connections
11:57 The Role of Names and Identity
16:25 Tools for Healing and Resilience
19:12 The Importance of Cultural Practices
24:35 Epigenetics and Generational Trauma
26:34 Storytelling and Historical Context
26:54 Ancestral Vigilance and Survival Instincts
29:05 Epigenetics and Generational Trauma
30:50 Impact of Historical Trauma on Modern Behavior
34:52 Challenges of Western Medicine in Indigenous Communities
43:51 Traditional Healing Practices and Neurological Regulation
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In this episode, Isa Gucciardi discusses depth hypnosis, combining shamanic practices, Buddhist psychology, transpersonal psychology, and energy medicine to assist individuals in healing from issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and more.
Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. holds degrees in cultural and linguistic anthropology, comparative religion, and transpersonal psychology. She is the creator of Depth Hypnosis™, a groundbreaking therapeutic model that blends elements of ancient wisdom and contemporary psychological thought. It has won rave reviews from psychotherapeutic and spiritual counselors alike. She is also the author of three books, Coming to Peace, The New Return to the Great Mother, and Depth Hypnosis.
Topics
00:00 Introduction
02:13 Exploring Depth Hypnosis
02:42 Components of Depth Hypnosis
05:29 Case Studies and Applications
09:01 Acceptance of Alternative Healing Modalities
14:29 Integration and Plant Medicine
20:30 Applied Shamanism and Cultural Sensitivity
28:40 Ancestral Healing and Intergenerational Trauma
40:49 Learning and Practicing Depth Hypnosis
Resources
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
In this episode, our guest, Jeremy Lent, discusses the profound global upheaval in early 2025. We explore themes of hope and grief amid political, cultural, and environmental crises. Lent provides deep insights into systems thinking, emphasizing the importance of interconnectedness and unpredictability in complex systems. The conversation also holds space for the impact of reductionist thinking, the power of technology, and the potential for societal transformation through integrated intelligence. The episode concludes with discussions on individual and systemic change, indigenous wisdom, and the need for a life-affirming future.
Jeremy Lent is an author and speaker exploring the root causes of civilization’s crises and pathways to a sustainable future. Described by The Guardian’s George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” he is the author of The Patterning Instinct and The Web of Meaning, which integrate science and traditional wisdom to reimagine our place in the universe. He founded the Deep Transformation Network and Liology Institute to foster an ecological civilization and writes on cultural and political patterns at Patterns of Meaning.
Topics
00:00 Introduction
00:52 Introducing Jeremy Lent
01:50 Navigating Hope and Grief
03:18 Systems Thinking and Interconnectedness
10:08 Cultural Narratives and Political Polarization
17:37 Technology's Role in Connection
26:10 Blockchain and Decentralization
27:43 Integrative Intelligence and Human Flourishing
32:32 Indigenous Wisdom and Reciprocity
49:42 Conclusion and Future Engagements
Resources
Jeremy Lent’s Website
Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters by Brian Klaas
Sounds of SAND #108 Thrutopian Dreams: Manda Scott
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Today we explore the story of the Buddha’s awakening through a mythic lens with Buddhist writer and teacher, John Tarrant. We touch into topics like Zen koan, grief, death, art, and how this timeless parable of the Buddh’s story still resonants for thousands of years.
John Tarrant is a Zen teacher, writer, and poet who has studied koans for over forty years. He is director of the Pacific Zen Institute and teaches culture change in organizations. Tarrant holds degrees in human sciences and English literature and a PhD in psychology. For twenty years, he was a Jungian psychotherapist working on dream analysis. He is the author of several books, including The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life and Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life and his most recent book The Story of the Buddha. He lives among the vineyards near Santa Rosa, California.
Topics
00:00 Introduction
00:52 Introducing John Tarrant
02:07 Discussing 'The Story of the Buddha'
03:36 The Mythic Universe and Dreamlike Qualities
08:25 Illustrations and Artistic Choices
10:24 The Living Dharma and Personal Reflections
15:23 Modern Life and Spiritual Growth
18:26 Embracing Suffering and Death
22:19 Catholicism and Mysticism
27:57 The Light Inside the Dark
33:48 The Power of Noble Conversations
34:10 Craving and Contentment
34:44 Collective Grief and Environmental Collapse
36:05 The Enlightenment of a Samurai
38:07 The Buddha's Awakening and Interdependence
40:09 Dreams and Their Significance
42:59 Meditation and Connection with Animals
51:00 The Intimacy of Not Knowing
54:54 Returning to the Fire
56:13 Sharing the Dhamma
Resources
John Tarrant’s Website: Tarrant Works
The Story of the Buddha by John Tarrant: Shambhala Publications
Roberto Calasso: Explore Roberto Calasso’s Works
Sounds of SAND #113 Ancient Rhythms Podcast: Pat McCabe & Francis Weller
Sounds of SAND #98 Glissando of Consciousness: Andrew Holecek
Bring Me the Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life by John Tarrant
The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul, and the Spiritual Life by John Tarrant
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In this SAND Community Gathering (January 2025), journalist Naomi Klein and trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté explored the complex intersection of collective trauma, political power, and memory in a discussion moderated by Cecilie Surasky.
Drawing from Naomi’s recent analysis of how trauma has been weaponized in current conflicts, and Gabor’s deep understanding of trauma’s psychological impacts, their conversation examined how media narratives and political rhetoric weaponize fear and trauma to gain public support for military and political crimes. The discussion addressed the troubling speed at which the Oct 7 Jewish trauma is now converted into a spectacle through virtual reality experiences, museum exhibitions, and immersive memorials, while questioning who gets to control these narratives and to what end. Together, they explored alternatives for remembering that might lead toward healing rather than perpetuating cycles of violence.
We hear from several Community Gathering audience members with their questions in the second half of the episode.
Gabor Maté, M.D. is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. Gabor is also the creator of a psychotherapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by thousands of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others in over 80 countries.
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. She is a columnist with The Guardian. In 2018 she was named the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University and is now Honorary Professor of Media and Climate at Rutgers. In September 2021 she joined the University of British Columbia as UBC Professor of Climate Justice (tenured) and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice.
Cecilie Surasky is the Director of Communications and Narrative at the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI), where she leads an incredible team focused on integrating strategic communications and narrative strategies. With a background in Religious Studies and Semiotics, Cecilie views all narratives as sacred, and believes that leaders, for better or worse, often serve as modern-day high priests. As former deputy director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) she led impactful campaigns aimed at building a co-liberation movement and garnering support for Palestinian human rights.
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:45 Panel Introduction and Moderator
01:31 Exploring Trauma and Its Impact
02:44 Weaponizing Trauma in Conflict
06:14 Historical Context and Jewish Identity
10:54 Challenging Narratives and Identities
15:09 The Role of Trauma in Shaping Perspectives
30:35 The Impact of Trauma on Palestinians
32:17 Structures of Deliberate Traumatization
37:48 Healing and Moving Forward
41:50 Debunking Historical Myths
42:12 Instrumentalization of Trauma
43:24 Hollywood's Role in Shaping Trauma Narratives
46:30 Economic and Political Motives Behind the Holocaust
48:27 Comparing Historical and Modern Genocides
49:59 Imagining a State Focused on Healing Trauma
51:00 Reclaiming and Reinterpreting History
58:29 The Role of Compassion in Addressing Trauma
01:05:44 Palestinian Perspectives on Healing and Storytelling
01:13:21 Concluding Thoughts and Future Conversations
Resources
Naomi Klein’s Website
Gabor Maté’s Website
Naomi Klein’s Article on Israel Weaponizing Trauma: “How Israel has made trauma a weapon of war” (The Guardian)
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté
Watch SAND’s Where Olive Trees Weep
Purchase SAND’s full 23-video series Conversations on Palestine
Watch SAND’s The Wisdom of Trauma
Learn more about the SAND Community Gatherings
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
Rawan Roshni is in conversation to discuss the recent ceasefire announcement affecting Palestine and offers a poignant and emotional reflection on the situation. She shares stories from her displaced Palestinian heritage, detailing her family's survival and the ongoing trauma faced by Palestinians. We explore the healing modalities of sound, music, and the human voice and listen to two of her newest live pieces of music and poetry, “Al-Tuyoor: Messages from the Birds” and “Prophecy of Remembrance”.
Rawan Roshni is a Palestinian/Balkan, Global Citizen, Arab Woman, based in Jordan. She uses her voice as an Artivist through her singing/songwriting and facilitation of brave spaces focusing her work in the SWANA region. She has co-founded multiple interfaith and world music projects and most recently has been touring her solo tri-lingual live-looping Music & Poetry performance Al-Tuyoor: Messages from the Birds for 2 years across 7 countries and counting! Her facilitation work over the past decade has ranged from issues such as conflict transformation, collective liberation, catalyzing community, emotional processing tools, conscious relating, consent and more! She fuses Sound, Movement and Intuitive Rituals as tools in her work, bringing elements such as group singing, sound work through vocalization, whirling dance, and intentional nature-based practices.
Topics:
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:29 Emotional Reactions to Ceasefire
01:38 Mixed Feelings and Skepticism
04:01 Personal Connection to Palestine
05:17 Family History and Displacement
09:21 Art and Music as Healing
11:43 The Power of the Human Voice
12:38 Artivism and Activism
19:20 “Prophecy of Rememberance” (song)
38:07 Birds as Messengers
57:50 Future Projects and Closing Remarks
Resources:
“Conference of the Birds” by Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr
Sacred Activism Course at Tamera
Sacred Activism Course in Montenegro
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In this live SAND Community Gathering (January 2025), SAND co-founders Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo welcome Darcia Narvaez, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, to discuss her interdisciplinary research on evolved morality, child development, and human flourishing. Narvaez shares insights from her book, The Evolved Nest, and explores the impact of modern parenting practices, the benefits of communal child-rearing, and the neurological and emotional development of children. The discussion also holds space for the importance of nature immersion, indigenous practices, and the detrimental effects of trauma on development. The episode concludes with practical tips for parents and communities to foster a nurturing environment based on centuries-old wisdom.
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:46 Guest Introduction: Darcia Narvaez
02:14 Darcia's Journey and Early Influences
05:32 The Concept of the Evolved Nest
08:34 Modern Birth Practices and Their Impact
14:08 Parenting and Child Development in Indigenous Communities
16:36 The Role of Community in Child Rearing
19:52 Education and Learning: Western vs. Indigenous Approaches
27:54 The Impact of Trauma in Modern and Natural Worlds
28:42 The Impact of Early Trauma on Male Elephants
29:04 Developmental Needs of Young Males
29:52 The Role of Older Males in Elephant Social Structure
30:43 Human Development and Mentorship
31:16 The Importance of Multi-Aged Groups
32:01 Rites of Passage and Ceremonial Transitions
33:03 Vertical and Horizontal Connectedness
34:10 The Influence of Christianity and Patriarchy
35:08 Creation Spirituality and Indigenous Worldview
36:05 The Evolved Nest and Modern Parenting
37:15 The Role of Community in Child Development
39:39 The Importance of Nature and Healing Practices
46:17 Learning from Octopus Intelligence
48:04 Restoring the Kinship Worldview
51:05 Conclusion and Call to Action
Resources
The Evolved Nest (website)
The Evolved Nest: Nature's Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities (book)
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Recorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (December 2024) hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
In this intimate conversation with poet and philosopher David Whyte and his wife, cultural architect Gayle Karen Young, explore the tender territories of grief, belonging and rest.
Drawing from David’s new book Consolations II, this unique dialogue offers a glimpse into how two lives intertwine in both understanding and living these essential human experiences and how loss and heartbreak can become doorways to deeper belonging.
The conversation weaves together poetry, contemplative wisdom, and the authentic experience of two people who have walked the path of partnership through its many thresholds. It offers both practical insight and spiritual nourishment for anyone seeking to understand how we grow through love’s many faces—from its first tender beginnings to its most profound depths of kinship.
David Whyte, raised between his Irish mother’s imaginative influence and his father’s Yorkshire landscapes, now calls the Pacific Northwest home. He is the author of twelve books of poetry and five books of prose, holding a degree in Marine Zoology and bringing rich experience from his years as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leader of expeditions in the Andes, Amazon, and Himalaya.
Gayle Karen Young is a cultural architect and catalyst for human and organizational development who believes the world needs leaders who are “able for” what lies ahead. With over two decades in leadership development, she focuses on both the visible, practical aspects of leadership and the invisible work of creating spaces where others can thrive.
Topics:
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:37 Meet the Guests: Gayle Karen Young and David Whyte
02:41 The Power of Poetry and Reflection
03:37 Exploring Grief and Intimacy
09:02 Collective Grief and Global Suffering
27:20 The Role of Vulnerability in Leadership
30:14 Exploring Grief and Progressive Patriotism
30:52 The Everyday Invitation to Vulnerability
31:42 Understanding the Path of Care
35:34 The Seasonality of Care and Grief
39:19 The Overwhelming Nature of Modern Connectivity
41:53 The Essence of Loving Your Neighbor
43:32 The Bell and the Blackbird: An Irish Koan
52:04 The Importance of Silence and Relationship
54:33 Concluding Thoughts and Gratitude
Resources:
David’s new book Consolations II
Mary Frances O’Connor - The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss
Martin Prechtel - The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise
Dacher Keltner - Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
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Join us as we journey into the depths of winter’s sacred darkness with renowned wisdom keepers Pat McCabe (Woman Stands Shining) and Francis Weller. Recorded on December 21, 2024, at SAND’s Winter Solstice gathering, this episode invites you into a virtual ceremonial space that honors the winter solstice as a powerful moment of transition and transformation.
Through poetry, storytelling, and profound dialogue, McCabe and Weller guide us in exploring the sacred landscapes of loss and regeneration. Drawing from Indigenous wisdom and archetypal psychology, they illuminate how embracing grief and releasing what no longer serves can awaken the tender seeds of renewal within us. This is an invitation to witness and metabolize both personal and collective transitions, understanding death not as an end but as a sacred dreaming—a portal to transformation.
This episode offers a contemplative space to embrace life’s cyclical nature, reflecting on the solstice as a time for inner alchemy. Together, we honor the rhythms of descent and renewal, finding meaning and hope in the fertile darkness of winter. Whether you are seeking solace, inspiration, or deeper connection, this conversation is a profound offering for anyone navigating the thresholds of life.
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.
Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief; The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) and In the Absence of the Ordinary: Essays in a Time of Uncertainty, he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions.
Topics
Resources from Episode
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Today we are in conversation with Ayurvedic doctor Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh where we discuss longevity through the lens of intergenerational trauma, colonization, ecological collapse, and how the ancient practice of Ayurvedic medicine might contain remidies for what ails our modern health crises.
Avanti Kumar-Singh, MD, is an internationally recognized Ayurveda and integrative medicine practitioner, certified yoga therapist, and former ER doctor. Her approach blends Western medicine with the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda from her South Asian lineage. Dr. Avanti is the former co-lead facilitator at Northwestern Medicine's Osher Center for Integrative Health, hosts The Healing Catalyst podcast, and offers courses on integrative medicine. She is a sought-after speaker and advisor in the wellness community, sharing her expertise with Fortune 500 companies, top academic institutions, and leading industry and medical conferences. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Goop, mindbodygreen, and more.
Her new book is The Longevity Formula: Ayurvedic Principles to Reduce Inflammation, Increase Cellular Repair, and Live With Vitality (Sounds True, 2024).
Topics:
00:00 Introduction to Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh
01:33 Inspiration Behind 'The Longevity Formula'
03:54 Understanding Lifespan vs. Health Span
05:42 Ayurveda's Role in Longevity
06:55 Integrating Ancient Practices with Modern Medicine
09:58 The Concept of Balance in Ayurveda
15:39 Ayurveda in Modern India
20:25 Inflammation and Its Impact on Health
24:33 Nourishing the Tissues: Connecting Practices
25:00 Understanding Inflammation: Signs and Symptoms
26:08 Listening to Your Body: Symptoms as Information
28:59 Ayurveda and Circadian Rhythms
32:47 Seasonal Eating: Aligning with Nature
35:30 Energetic Medicine: The Blueprint of Health
43:31 Practical Tips for Longevity
47:09 The Importance of Connection
49:06 Final Thoughts and Reflections
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Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo host this captivating conversation into divine and personal love with two modern-day mystics, held dear by SAND from a SAND Community Gaterhing from July 2023.
Love, a powerful catalyst for transformation on the spiritual path, resonates at the core of our being. Through this dialogue, we will transcend the limitations of a narrow, individualized perception of love, immersing ourselves in the boundless realm of our true nature—a universal expression of pure love.
Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, Cynthia Bourgeault divides her time between solitude at her coastal home in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative path. She is the founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School.
Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), Founder of the Diamond Approach, was born in the Middle East, but at age 18 he moved to the USA to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics, where he was studying Einstein’s theory of general relativity and nuclear physics, when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him more and more into inquiring into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature. Hameed is the founder of the Diamond Approach®—a spiritual teaching that utilizes a unique kind of inquiry into realization.
Topics:
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In this important conversation examining the vital role of journalists and documentarians in conflict zones, Palestinian journalist, Mariam Barghouti and Jenin resident, Rawand Arqawi share their firsthand experiences with Palestinian trauma healer, Ashira Darwish, cutting through the fog of misinformation to reveal the human realities often obscured in Western mainstream narratives.
Our guests shared first-hand experiences on reporting from Jenin and the broader region, exploring both the crucial importance of ground-level documentation and the challenges faced by those who undertake this work. Documenting truth has become increasingly dangerous as we’ve seen more journalists killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon in the past 12 months than in any similar recorded period since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Mariam Barghouti is a Palestinian-American writer, researcher, and journalist based in Ramallah. She holds a BA in English from Birzeit University and an MSc in Sociology from the University of Edinburgh, where she focused on Israeli Ashkenazi-Mizrahi racial hierarchies. Barghouti is known for monitoring humanitarian aid in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine for various organizations. Her political commentary and research have featured prominently in CNN, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, BBC, The New York Times, and more. She has contributed to books like I Found Myself in Palestine and written profiles on Palestinian figures such as artist Khaled Hourani and politician Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.
Ashira Ali Darwish worked for 15 years as a TV & Radio journalist and researcher in Palestine for the BBC, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. She is the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project pioneering a type of Sufi active meditation which draws its roots from ancestral and Indigenous knowledge. Her personal healing journey from full body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012 has given her a deep insight into the process of recovery and healing. In 2021, she received the “ISABS Honours” from the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science for her contribution to positive societal transformation.
Rawand Arqawi is a producer and cultural manager who was born and grew up in Jenin. She worked as a production coordinator for nearly six years with the Freedom Theatre, working under theater artist Juliano Mer-Khamis. During her time with the Freedom Theatre, she coordinated dozens of performances, workshops, international tours, exchanges, as well as managing communications, international volunteers, fundraising, and logistics. Beyond her work with the Freedom Theatre, she has contributed to various local artistic projects and groups, including working as a production assistant for Al Jazeera Children. In 2013, she initiated Fragments theater, and has since then continued to produce several performances and workshops. She is passionate about using arts as a tool of resistance.
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Links:
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“We are not walking through the world; we are interwoven with it. In everything we do, we participate in complexity.”
–Neil Theise
Neil Theise is a professor of pathology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Through his scientific research, he has been a pioneer of adult stem cell plasticity and the anatomy of the human interstitium. Dr. Theise’s studies in complexity theory have led to interdisciplinary collaborations in fields such as integrative medicine, consciousness studies, and science-religion dialogue.
Neil’s new book, which we discuss on the episode, is Notes on Complexity
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Michael Meade is a renowned storyteller and scholar of mythology, anthropology, and psychology, who draws from his study of archetypal myths, ancestral wisdom and cross-cultural rituals to interpret our remarkable moment in human history. While many of us are attempting to recognize our own self-terminating patterns and inhabit new ways of being human, Michael helps us to see the stories we are living, and the new stories that are calling us.
He is the author of many books, including The Genius Myth, Fate and Destiny, Why the World Doesn’t End and The Water of Life. He is also the founder of Mosaic Multicultural Foundation, a nonprofit organization that initiates innovative projects and unifying events that support and educate at-risk youth, refugees, combat veterans, and communities in need.
Resources:
Topics:
00:00 Introduction
02:11 US Elections and Political Climate
02:48 Cultural and Environmental Unraveling
06:42 The Role of Uncertainty and Inner Self
08:09 Mythology and the Deeper Self
10:25 Rite of Passage and Personal Transformation
18:47 The Genius Myth vs. The Hero Myth
23:47 The Nature of the Soul and Family Expectations
28:26 Discovering Your Calling in Descent
29:30 The Whisper of Genius
31:01 Flattening of Modern Culture
31:53 The Role of Inspiration in the Arts
32:40 The Power of Practice
33:19 The Sound of Creation
37:02 "Holding the Thread of Life" (Excerpt) live at SAND 19 by Michael Meade
40:25 Quieting Down to Hear the Call
41:47 Expressing Emotions for Healing
46:32 The Importance of Grief and Compassion
48:57 The Magic of Words
53:27 Connecting with Mythological Ideas
54:50 Conclusion and Future Conversations
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Standing for Collective Liberation
“No one will be free if the others live under occupation. No one will be safe unless everyone is safe.”
In this live SAND Community Gathering (November 2024) Zaya and Maurizio were in discussion with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists Osama lliwat & Rotem Levin who share their personal stories, describe the reality on the ground, and explain their vision for a path toward collective liberation.
Osama lliwat was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Jericho, after his family was displaced in 1967. In the peace world for more than 15 years and the co-founder of Visit Palestine, he has dedicated his life to nonviolent resistance. He has worked with the Sulha Peace Project and Interfaith Encounter Association, appeared in several documentaries including Objector and The Other, and speaks regularly on peacebuilding at organizations and universities around the world.
Rotem Levin was born and raised in Ein Vered. After his military service, he participated in a transformational intensive dialogue program in Germany, where he got to know Palestinians on a personal and intimate level. This instigated a change in perspective on the story he was born and raised with. After this experience, he started organizing similar programs in Aqaba, Jordan, where he offered the experience to other post-military Israelis and to Palestinian and Israeli medical workers. He is a committed activist and doctor by profession.
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Links:
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Manda Scott is an award-winning novelist and host of the acclaimed Accidental Gods podcast. Best known for the Boudica: Dreaming series, her previous novels have been short-listed for the Orange Prize, the Edgar, Wilbur Smith and Saltire Awards and won the McIllvanney Prize. Her latest novel ANY HUMAN POWER is a Mytho-Political thriller which lays out a Thrutopian road map to a flourishing future we’d be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. With degrees in veterinary medicine and a Masters in Regenerative Economics, Manda’s life is oriented towards creating radical new narratives that will pave the way to the total systemic change our culture – and our world – needs.
ANY HUMAN POWER is available for sale on Amazon.
Connect with Manda Scott on Facebook, Bluesky, Goodreads, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Topics
Resources
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Disentangling Judaism from the Violence of Occupation
“The way to manifest your sacredness is to embody sacredness – to treat all life as sacred.”
– Rabbi Cat Zavis
In this live SAND Community Gathering (October 2024) Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo were in discussion with Rabbi Cat Zavis, a renowned Jewsish teacher, writer, and social justice activist.
They discussed the misuse of Judaism to justify the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Drawing on deep Jewish ethical traditions of justice and compassion, Rabbi Zavis showed how the occupation fundamentally contradicts core Jewish values. We explored the rich history of Jewish opposition to occupation and highlight contemporary movements working to honor Judaism’s ethical mandate, “Never Again” for anyone.
Rabbi Cat Zavis is a passionate shaper of Jewish rituals and services that inspire and draw connections between the spiritual, personal, and political. She is a spiritual social justice activist, attorney, and visionary leader with over 20 years experience in empathic and people-centered leadership and collaboration. A sought after facilitator and trainer in nonviolent communication, prophetic empathy, collaboration, and conflict resolution, she has over 25 years experience working with and helping people understand our shared needs and how to challenge manifestations of othering and build beloved communities of belonging. While co-editor of Tikkun magazine, she wrote articles and helped shape the magazine; as Executive Director of the Network of Spiritual Progressives she has trained over 1000 people in Prophetic Empathy and Revolutionary Love.
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Resources
Topics
In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
You can watch this full conversation and 22 others at Where Olive Trees Weep: 23 Conversations on Palestine. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people
These Black activists and scholars came together to shed light on the intersection anti-Black racism, Israeli apartheid, patriarchal oppression, and predatory capitalism’s interconnected plunder. This panel discussed the coalitional power that blossoms when we recognize our kindred liberatory movements. Their dialogue illustrated how the subjugation of any community reverberates as a threat against the collective freedom and wellbeing of all humanity. Their truth disrupts manufactured divisions and nurtures the global, intergenerational solidarities indispensable for our mutual emancipation.
Faith Gay is an activist and incoming Master’s student at Princeton University with a background in anti-war organizing and congressional advocacy. Her work focuses on democratizing United States foreign policy so that it can be influenced by those most impacted by it, including those outside of Washington. She is a member of Black for Palestine, a collective organizing Black people in the U.S. to leverage their political, economic, and cultural power in support of Palestinian liberation and to end U.S. complicity in Israeli apartheid.
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart is a Black queer preacher, teacher, strategist, and justice advocate. She is an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and in the spring of 2024 completed a two year term as the Government Fellow for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. Rev. Naomi also serves as the first-ever Strategic Partnerships Director at Political Research Associates (PRA), a social justice research and strategy center that provides strategic insights and actionable research that identifies, disrupts, and competes with movements and institutions that undermine democracy, justice, and human rights. In 2021, Rev. Naomi founded Salt | Yeast | Light, an organization that develops spaces of spiritual education, disruption, reflection, transformation, and public action. Most recently, she joined the national leadership team of Christians for a Free Palestine.
Imam Adeyinka Mendes is a spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, rites of passage facilitator, author, and Muslim religious leader based in Houston, Texas. He has been a student of the mystical traditions of Islam as well as indigenous and West African spiritual traditions for over 30 years after a life changing journey to Jerusalem at the age of 16. His focus as a teacher is on conveying the wisdom of our ancestors in ways that address the challenges and opportunities of the modern world. He is the founding director of Marhama (Arabic for 'expressing mutual compassion') Village, a community focused on building sustainable institutions through empowering service, prophetic spirituality, traditional knowledge, indigenous wisdom, and the arts. He has studied Classical Arabic, Islamic Sciences, sacred meditation, and the science of peace-building with sages and scholars from the United States, Syria, Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, Egypt, Haiti, Senegal, and The Gambia. He imagines a world in which spiritual seekers from every tradition work together to establish a world of sacred service, compassion, and justice for every life.
(Scheduled, but not present in the recording because of illness)
Pastor Michael McBride is the executive director for LIVE FREE USA, a national organizing and social change network committed to ending the criminalization of people of color, reducing gun violence and transforming the policing and the criminal justice system. He was named by the Center for American Progress as a Top Clergy Leader in 2013 and served on President Obama’s Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Council to address Poverty and Inequality in 2016. He is one of the national leaders in the movement to implement public health gun violence prevention programs, recently featured as one of CNN’s Champions of Change. He is the co-founder of Black Church PAC and the Black Brown Peace Consortium. Pastor McBride serves as the Lead Pastor of The Way Church in Berkeley, CA. He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, the Huffington Post and many other media outlets.
Topics
SAND’s Helpful Resources on Palestine: https://whereolivetreesweep.com/resources/
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Ash Canty (he/him) is a trans masc, afro-indigenous, non-binary Psychic Medium & Death Guide. He support's and walks others in the threshold of their own unique death and dying process. He is led by spirit and his West African Benin, Eastern Band Cherokee, Northern Haudenosaunee and Blackfeet ancestors as well as the natural world in all that he does. In his mediumship gifts he offers powerful evidential mediumship readings & holds ongoing monthly live events, classes & courses for their community and supports them in remembering their own connection with spirit & the multidimensional realities or relation that surround us all.
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In this Community Gathering (October 2024) Zaya and Maurizio were in discussion with Pir Zia Inayat Khan, a renowned spiritual teacher in the Sufi tradition, and explored the practice of turning toward the heart — a fundamental concept in Sufism and many other spiritual paths.
Can we see the heart not just as a physical organ, but as a center of consciousness, wisdom, and divine connection? Will this inner orientation lead us to greater self-awareness, compassion, and spiritual growth?
Drawing from Sufi wisdom and his own experience, Pir Zia offered insights on cultivating a heart-centered approach to life in a modern world that uplifts comfort to ignore suffering, and developing the ability to see where there is pain and hardship in order to bring healing there.
Together, we will explore the question, “How can we harmonize the inward journey with the outward call to stand for justice?”
Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PH.D., is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice. He is author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. He is editor of Caravan of Souls: An Introduction to the Sufi Path of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France.
Watch the full video version of this event here: https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/turning-toward-the-heart/
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Resources:
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Dr. Kamilah Majied, MSW, PhD, is a contemplative inclusivity and equity consultant, mental health therapist, clinical educator, researcher, and internationally engaged consultant on building inclusivity and equity using meditative practices.
She is the author of Joyfully Just: Black Wisdom and Buddhist Insights for Liberated Living (Sounds True, 2024), and has authored many articles and chapters, including in the second edition of Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: “Contemplative Practices for Assessing and Eliminating Racism in Psychotherapy.”
Resources:
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In this SAND Community Gathering (September 2024) Zaya and Maurizio sat down with Jess Semaan, poet, psychotherapist and facilitator to explore the intersection of poetry and grief in the context of genocide. They drew from her research on genocide, as well as her personal and professional experiences, Jess tended to our psycho-spiritual profound sorrow and loss in this time.
By giving voice to the unspeakable and providing a means of bearing witness to the stories of those impacted by the trauma of large-scale atrocities, we are making space for individual and collective healing.
Poetry helps us navigate the complex terrain of grief, injustice, and human suffering. Come and honor the resilience of communities that have endured such immense trauma.
Jess Semaan is a queer Lebanese poet, psychotherapist, group facilitator and speaker. She researches, writes and speaks on subjects of healing from complex trauma, immigration, war and belonging. Her first poetry book Child of the Moon was published by Andrews McMeel and sold over 14,000 copies. Her second book Your Therapist is Depressed Too came out in December 2023. She immigrated to the United States from Beirut.
She has an MBA from Stanford and an M.A. in counseling Psychology from CIIS.
She identifies as SWANA (South West Asia and North Africa), with grandparents from Syria, Palestine and Mount Lebanon and resides on Ohlone land (Oakland, California), with her partner Berk and their two cats.
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In this episode, Michael Reiley engages in an insightful discussion with Michael Joshin Thiele, a honeybee conservationist and president of Apis Arborea. The conversation explores the intersections of cultural, spiritual, and ecological dimensions of natural honeybee life.
Michael Joshin Thiele is an apiculture consultant and founder and president of Apis Arborea, a nonprofit focused on honeybee conservation through deep ecology and ecosystem-based strategies. Originally from Germany, he studied philosophy and anthropology in Berlin before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area for Zen Buddhist training. With over a decade of experience, Michael has presented his innovative beekeeping practices at institutions like Harvard and NYU, and co-founded one of the first honeybee refuges in the U.S. His work has been featured in major media and films like Rewilding Honey Bees and Queen of the Sun.
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Welcome to our 100th episode of the Sounds of SAND podcast, marking two years since we launched on September 8, 2022.
As SAND grows and evolves with the changing times, we aim to integrate—not abandon—our foundational themes of spiritual awakening, embodiment, consciousness, and scientific wonder, while also confronting pressing global challenges such as environmental collapse, indigenous resilience, war, and societal upheaval.
In the past year, SAND released our latest film, Where Olive Trees Weep, which offers a powerful look into the lives and struggles of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. This film explores themes of loss, trauma, resilience, and the quest for justice. Alongside the film, we hosted Conversations on Palestine, a 23-part series of discussions diving deeper into the experiences and stories shared in the film.
Throughout the year, the podcast shifted focus to complex conversations around intergenerational trauma, colonialism, and spiritual activism, with episodes hosted by SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, and co-host and producer, Michael Reiley.
Today, we revisit some of the most powerful moments from the past year, with a special focus on the voices that have shaped our "Where Olive Trees Weep" film and series.
Thank you for being part of our journey over these two incredible years. Let’s continue to engage with the profound conversations that shape our collective understanding and growth.
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Dr. Vimalasara (Valerie) Mason-John M.A. (Hon.Doc), is a founding facilitator of Compassionate Inquiry, and is the author of 10 books, including the award winning book, “Eight Step Recovery: Using The Buddha’s Teachings to Overcome Addiction” and “Detox Your Heart: Meditations for Emotional Trauma”. There are 8 Step Recovery meetings held in several continents. And they are co-founder of the training program, Mindfulness Based Addiction Recovery (MBAR), which is delivered in both English and Spanish. They work as a public speaker in the field of Mindfulness for Addiction and Trauma. They work online and in person between Canada, USA, UK and Spain.
Their new book is “First Aid Kit for the Mind: Breaking the Cycle of Habitual Behaviors”
Links
Topics
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Andrew Holecek is a renowned author and humanitarian who teaches internationally on spirituality, meditation, lucid dreaming, and the art of dying. He has studied sleep yoga, bardo yoga, and other traditional practices with living masters in India and Nepal. Andrew’s books include Dreams of Light, Dream Yoga, and Reverse Meditation. His work has appeared in Psychology Today, Parabola, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle, Utne Reader, Buddhadharma, Light of Consciousness, and many other periodicals. He hosts the popular Edge of Mind podcast and is the founder of the Night Club community, a support platform for nocturnal meditations. Learn more at andrewholecek.com.
Andrew’s new book is I’m Mindful Now What: Moving Beyond Mindfulness to Meet the Modern World.
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Parvathy Baul is a practitioner, performer and teacher of the Baul tradition from Bengal, India.
She studied closely with two of the most respected Baul Gurus of the previous generation, Sri Sanatan Das Thakur Baul and Sri Shashanko Goshai.
According to her Guru's vision, Parvathy Maa has created Sanatan Siddhashram - as a place of learning, practicing and preserving the oral history of the Baul tradition.
The poetry of Chandidas
Song of the Great Soul by Parvathy Baul
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Gigi Azmy merges 28 years of spiritual insights with scientific psychological research to guide individuals toward a profound realization of love—far beyond cultural and spiritual misconceptions. A trailblazer in her field, she introduced trauma healing into spiritual awakening workshops, emphasizing the importance of not only awakening, but also healing and evolving. Gigi excels at something seemingly impossible: helping others remove the blocks that keep them from attracting their ideal conscious relationship. Her work, rooted in personal spiritual knowledge and empirical studies in relational psychology, demystifies the art of building genuine connections and self-awareness. Additionally, Gigi extends her expertise to working with intentional communities committed to sustaining enduring relational bonds. She is currently finalizing her book, Spiritual Guide: Awakening to Love, and leads the HeartSword Sangha, a free biweekly online community focused on deep relational and personal growth. Gigi holds a master's degree in business and majored in psychology and social sciences. She lives with her husband and baby twins in Hawaii.
Topics
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In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
You can watch this full conversation and 22 others. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people.
In this conversation, legendary activist and scholar Angela Davis and Dr. Gabor Maté, physician and author, explore the intersections between the Palestinian struggle for freedom and broader global movements for justice, equity, and human liberation.
Drawing parallels between the oppression faced by Palestinians and the systemic injustice confronting marginalized communities around the world, Angela and Gabor will shed light on the common roots of violence, occupation, and dehumanization. They will examine how trauma, both individual and collective, perpetuates cycles of conflict and how healing these wounds is integral to achieving genuine liberation.
Bios
Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies Departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is an internationally renowned activist, scholar, and writer who has dedicated her life to combating oppression in the U.S. and abroad. With a long-standing commitment to prisoners’ rights and a powerful critique of racism in the criminal justice system, Davis is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization working to dismantle the prison industrial complex. She is the author of nine books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? and Women, Race, and Class, and has lectured in all fifty states and across the globe. Despite facing persecution for her activism and membership in the Communist Party, USA, which led to her false imprisonment and a massive “Free Angela Davis” campaign, Davis remains a tireless advocate for social justice and prison abolition.
Gabor Maté, M.D. is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. Gabor is also the creator of a psychotherapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by thousands of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others in over 80 countries.
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Episode artwork: Wadsworth Jarrell, “Revolutionary” (1972)
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Federico Faggin is one of the greatest luminaries of high technology alive today. A physicist by education, he is the inventor of the microprocessor and the MOS silicon gate technology, both of which underlie the modern world's entire information technology. With the knowledge and experience of a lifetime in cutting-edge fields, Federico now turns his attention to consciousness and the nature of reality, sharing with us his profound insights on the classical and quantum worlds, artificial intelligence, life and the human mind. In “Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature" Federico's new book, discussed on Sounds of Sand, he elaborates on an monistic model of reality, produced after years of careful thought and direct experience, according to which nature's most fundamental level is that of consciousness as a quantum phenomenon, while the classical physical world consists merely of evocative symbols of a deeper reality.
Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature
Additional production support: Robert Neville
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Monica Gagliano is a research associate professor in evolutionary ecology and former fellow of the Australian Research Council. She is currently based at Southern Cross University, where she directs the Biological Intelligence Lab funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. She has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own “voices” and detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory) in plants. Her latest book is Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic Books, 2018).
In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
You can watch this full conversation and 22 others. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people.
In this powerful interfaith gathering, renowned spiritual leaders from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist traditions came together to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for freedom, equality, and human dignity.
These esteemed visionaries modeled the powerful unity that can blossom when we recognize our shared humanity and inherent dignity. Their clarion call for peace with justice in Palestine stands as an inspiration for us all to embody the highest ethical and moral principles of our diverse spiritual traditions.
Guests:
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, one of the first women to become a rabbi in Jewish history, is a pioneer Jewish feminist, human rights activist, writer, visual artist, ceremonialist, community educator and master storyteller. Lynn has been a congregational rabbi since the fall of 1973, and founded the Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, NM, in 1980. She engages in multifaith, intergenerational and multicultural organizing in solidarity with racial, indigenous, gender justice and Palestinian liberation struggles. Currently, Lynn sits on the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace and is board chair of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. Rabbi Lynn is the author of several books, including Peace Primer II, She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of Renewed Judaism, World Beyond Borders Passover Haggadah and Trail Guide to the Torah of Nonviolence. Rabbi Lynn is a Shomeret Shalom, a practitioner of the Torah of nonviolence.
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder of Ligmincha International, is a rare master of the Bön Dzogchen tradition in the West. After completing an 11-year course at Menri Monastery in India, where he earned his Geshe degree, he established Ligmincha in 1992 to preserve and introduce Tibetan Bön Buddhist teachings to the West. Fluent in English, Rinpoche is beloved for his clear, insightful teaching style that makes Tibetan practices accessible. He's highly respected across the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Asia, with centers in the Americas, Europe, and India. Author of 10 books, including "Wonders of the Natural Mind" and "The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep," Rinpoche shares the profound wisdom of Bön Dzogchen.
Rev. Deborah Lee, Executive Director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity since 2018, brings over 30 years of experience in faith-based social justice. Her expertise spans popular education, community organizing, and advocacy, focusing on issues like race, gender, economic justice, LGBTQ inclusion, and immigrant rights. Under her leadership, the organization has doubled in size and impact. They've closed detention centers, prevented deportations, supported immigrant youth, and established Sanctuary congregations. Notably, they're working to divest from carceral systems and invest in thriving communities. Rev. Lee envisions a world without harm, where every person is considered sacred across bars and borders.
Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Ph.D., is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice. He is author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. He is editor of Caravan of Souls: An Introduction to the Sufi Path of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France.
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In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) between Ashira Darwish & V as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
https://whereolivetreesweep.com/
You can watch this full conversation and 22 others. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people.
In this conversation, prepare to be moved and inspired by the stories of Palestinian women's sumud (steadfast perseverance) against the violence of occupation, patriarchy and dehumanization. Their narratives expose how colonial occupation is a gender-based crime inextricable from the repression of female self-determination. This conversation promises to be a tribute to the unbreakable spirit of Palestinian mothers who nurture profound love, clandestine schoolhouses, and revolutionary consciousness — even when all they have is the sanctity of their wombs.
Ashira Ali Darwish worked for 15 years as a TV & Radio journalist and researcher in Palestine for the BBC, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. She is the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project pioneering a type of Sufi active meditation which draws its roots from ancestral and Indigenous knowledge. Her personal healing journey from full body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012 has given her a deep insight into the process of recovery and healing. In 2021, she received the “ISABS Honours” from the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science for her contribution to positive societal transformation.
V (formerly Eve Ensler) is the Tony Award-winning playwright, activist, performer, and author of the Obie award-winning theatrical phenomenon The Vagina Monologues, published in over 48 languages, performed in over 140 countries, and heralded by The New York Times as one of the “best American plays” of the past 25 years and that “no recent hour of theater has had a greater impact worldwide.”
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In this episode we present excerpts from the recent conversation (June 2024) between Dr. Gabor Maté and Tara Brach as part of SAND’s “Conversations on Palestine” around the premiere of the film Where Olive Trees Weep hosted by the directors of the film and co-founders of SAND, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
You can watch this full conversation and 22 others. SAND has created a program with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets and performers to complement the themes explored in the film and provide a larger historical, cultural and social context to the plight of the Palestinian people.
Purchase Conversations on Palestine
In this conversation, Gabor Maté and Buddhist teacher Tara Brach explored the harrowing situation in Gaza through the Bodhisattva path. They discussed the meaning of spirituality in the face of injustice and suffering, questioning the silence of many spiritual leaders regarding the Gaza crisis. Drawing from the Bodhisattva commitment to alleviate all beings’ suffering, they emphasized the importance of compassion, solidarity, and engaged spirituality in addressing the oppression and trauma faced by the Palestinian people. Their conversation served as an invitation to reassess our spiritual practices and embody the Bodhisattva spirit today, encouraging active solidarity with the suffering.
We appologize for any audio distortions from this conversation. This episode was recorded live on Zoom with some bad connection sounds throughout.
Gabor Maté, M.D. is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. Gabor is also the creator of a psychotherapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by thousands of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others in over 80 countries.
Tara Brach is a meditation teacher, psychologist and author of several books including international bestselling Radical Acceptance, Radical Compassion and Trusting the Gold. Her teaching blends Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. Tara is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and, together with Jack Kornfield, has co-founded Banyan and the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program, which serves participants from 74 countries around the world.
Resources from the Episode
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Dr. Rupa Marya discusses her work at the intersection of medicine, health, land, and justice. She explains the concept of deep medicine, which looks at the health impacts of colonialism and colonial capitalism and emphasizes the need to address the root causes of illness.
Dr. Rupa Marya is a physician, activist, writer, and composer at UC, San Francisco. Her work intersects climate, health, and racial justice. As founder of the Deep Medicine Circle and co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, she's committed to healing colonialism's wounds and addressing disease through structural change. Recognized with the Women Leaders in Medicine Award, Dr. Marya was a reviewer for the AMA's plan to embed racial justice. Governor Newsom appointed her to the Healthy California for All Commission to advance universal healthcare. Also a musician, she's toured 29 countries with her band, creating what Gil Scott-Heron called "Liberation Music”. Together with Raj Patel, she co-authored the international bestseller, Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice.
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Muslim Spirituality Illuminating the Path to Freedom: An exploration of how the spiritual heart of the Islamic tradition can inspire and fuel contemporary struggles for liberation, justice and humanity.
Through their unique lens, this panel of visionaries modeled how spiritual life is not an escape from systemic injustice, but a revolutionary process which strengthens our collective capacity to transform unjust realities. They discuss Islam’s deepest essence and the spiritual fortitude to remain anchored in the commitment to truth, beauty and universal human flourishing.
Today’s episode is a live talk as part of the World People’s Premiere of 21 days of conversations on Palestine with the release of the film Where Olive Trees Weep by SAND. Today’s talk is entitled Dancing in the Fire: Muslim Spirituality Illuminating the Path to Freedom with Farah El-Sharif, Ayesha Kajee, Seemi Bushra Ghazi and hosted by Daniel Foor.
This talk is part of a package of talks that includes the 21 days of conversation with leading historians, spiritual teachers, trauma therapists, poets, artists, and more, plus extended interviews from the film, a live Q&A with Dr. Gabor Maté and Ashira Darwish from a live screening in Oakland, CA, a film discussion guide, and six community conversations on Palestine.
To find out more about purchasing this package and supporting the mission of SAND and the film, visit WhereOliveTreesWeep.com.
Dr. Farah El-Sharif is a writer, educator and research scholar. She received her PhD from Harvard University where she specialized in West African intellectual Islamic history. She earned degrees from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and served as Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University, where she is currently a Visiting Scholar. Her writings have appeared in CNN, Newlines, and Muftah. Read more of her work on her Substack [email protected]
Ayesha Kajee is a human rights and governance consultant based in Johannesburg, Ayesha Kajee has conducted research across much of sub-Saharan Africa, and has observed elections and peace processes in several countries. Her published research and opinion-analyses appear in various academic and news media, and she is often called upon by media houses for comment on topical issues. She was previously the founding director of the International Human Rights Exchange program at Wits University in Johannesburg, where she also lectured in Politics and International Relations. Ayesha briefly directed South Africa’s Freedom of Expression Institute before leaving full-time work to care for an invalid parent. She now works on a freelance basis. Her focus areas include transitional justice, media and media rights, African political economy, gender justice, migration and environmental rights.
Seemi Bushra Ghazi is lecturer in Classical Arabic at the University of British Columbia, specializes in Islamic literature, culture, and spirituality. A student in the Rifai Marufi lineage, she performs traditional Islamic arts, including Qur'anic recitation featured on BBC, CBC, NPR, and PBS. Her work appears in "Approaching Islam: the Early Revelations" and "A New Encyclopedia of Islam." Born in London and of South Asian origin, Ghazi studied at prestigious institutions in the U.S. and Middle East. Deeply involved in interfaith work, she hosts a monthly Unity Dhikr in Vancouver and is a founding board member of the Rumi Society and Vancouver Interspiritual Centre Society. Her expertise spans Islam, gender, and cross-cultural understanding
Daniel Foor is a doctor of psychology, experienced ritualist, and the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. He is a practicing Muslim and initiate in the Òrìṣà tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa who has also learned from Mahayan Buddhism and the older ways of his English and German ancestors. Daniel was a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Cairo, Egypt as a student of Arabic language, and he is passionate about generational healing and training leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and applied ritual arts. He lives with his wife and daughters near his adoptive home of Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Sumud: https://muftah.org/2024/05/16/sumud-as-a-key/
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Hadar Cohen shares her deep connection to her Middle Eastern Jewish ancestry and the intertwining of mysticism and activism in her work. She discusses the complexity of her Arab Jewish identity and the impact of colonialism on the narrative of Arab Jews. Hadar also delves into the weaponization of trauma and the need for a multi-religious, secular society in a free Palestine. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the concept of Zionism, the intersection of science and spirituality and her Jewish Mysticism School.
Hadar Cohen is an Arab Jewish scholar, mystic and artist whose work focuses on multi-religious spirituality, politics, social issues, and community building. She is the founder of Malchut, a spiritual skill-building school teaching Jewish mysticism and direct experience of God. She teaches and consults in a variety of settings and formats, from one-on-one coaching to online group classes and in-person retreats. Her podcast, Hadar’s Web, features community conversations on spirituality, healing, justice, and art. Hadar is a 10th-generation Jerusalemite with lineage roots also in Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq and Iran. Subscribe to her Substack for access to her latest writings, offerings, and media appearances. hadarcohen.me or malchut.one. // @hadarcohen32
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Today, June 6, 2024, we’re celebrating the release of SAND’s new film Where Olive Trees Weep. And to celebrate the launch of the film, we welcome you to Donate and Watch the film by visiting WhereOliveTreesWeep.com.
Donating to watch the film will also enroll you in a 21-day online event called “The World People’s Premiere” which happening online from June 6-27 with conversations, music, poetry, and . And you can donate to watch the film and sign up to watch all the conversations with speakers such as, Ashira Darwish (star of the film), Dr. Gabor Maté, Angela Davis, V, Daniel Foor, Dareer Tatour, Ilan Pappé, Michael McBride, Mona Haydar, Norman Finkelstein, Pir Zia Inyat Khan, Neta Golan, Tara Brach, and directors of the film, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo. Whom we also interview on episode #86 if you want to hear more of the story and vision on the film.
The film gives background to the current crisis in Israel/Palestine and brings to light the lives of people we met on our 2022 journey in the occupied West Bank. Their universally human stories speak of intergenerational pain, trauma and resilience. We hope they touch your heart, stir compassion and understanding, and give rise to a pursuit for justice. For without justice, peace remains an empty slogan.
Cinema can be a powerful force for change. Our aim is, beyond mere education, to truly move hearts and minds and inspire audiences to echo the calls for freedom, equality and dignity that have gone unanswered for far too long.
The film is our modest contribution towards our dream for an end to the occupation in Palestine, the attainment of equal rights and fair treatment for Palestinian people, and the spreading of healing for all intergenerational cycles of trauma in the region.
A recording of excerpts from a live SAND Community Gathering hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo from Apr 20, 2024.
Storyteller Haneen Sabbah, a Palestinian Falahi woman and mother from Gaza, guided us through an experience of the vibrant and thriving place Gaza once was, before it became a pile of rubble. She transports us to the rich history and culture of this region through her enchanting drumbeats, meditations, and songs.
In this episode, we explore the connections woven into the very name "Gaza" غزة, unveil layers of history, traditions, and symbolism that this ancient land carries, discover the deep ties between land and people, and are reminded of the resilience that has sustained them through decades of challenges.
We share a vision of a once-again thriving and free Gaza.
Haneen Sabbah, a Palestinian Falahi woman now based in southern Portugal, is a writer at We Are Not Numbers and Global Voices, and an organizer, singer and storyteller at heart. She also teaches Arabic online to Israeli Activists and Jews who want to connect to their Arabic roots.
Having left Gaza in 2018, she moved to a community where she learned peace work and non-violent communication, which helped her advocate for nonviolent resistance with the Palestinian people. Shining a light on Palestinian culture with songs, food and stories, she is part of a dream circle of Palestinian and Israeli women who work toward supporting peace and the protection of life. Believing in the importance of inner healing for collective liberation, she leads a guided movement meditative practice. Her work is rooted in love.
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Visit WhereOliveTreesWeep.com for more information about SAND’s new film on Palestine
Also mentioned in this episode is SAND’s Fundraise to help relocate a family from the genocide in Gaza. https://givebutter.com/THzYSN
Support the mission of SAND the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member.
In this episode with filmmakers, producers, and founders of Science & Nonduality (SAND) Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo discuss their new film, Where Olive Trees Weep, which explores the impact of colonialism and intergenerational trauma on indigenous cultures, particularly in the occupied West Bank and Palestine. The film serves as a call to action for spiritual activism and aims to amplify the voices of those affected by oppression and injustice. The 21-day release of the film is accompanied by conversations, music, and poetry to provide a more holistic experience for viewers entitled World People's Premiere June 6–27, 2024.
Their aim is, beyond mere education, to truly move hearts and minds and inspire audiences to echo the calls for freedom, equality and dignity that have gone unanswered for far too long. This film hopes to inspire a dream for an end to the occupation in Palestine, the attainment of equal rights and fair treatment for Palestinian people, and the spreading of healing for all intergenerational cycles of trauma in the region.
Visit WhereOliveTreesWeep.com for more information, to join the premiere, and to share in the vision.
Zaya Ralitza Benazzo is a producer and a film director born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. She is the co-founder of the nonprofit organization SAND. She has produced and directed several award-winning documentaries including The Wisdom of Trauma, The Art of Life, Rays of the Absolute, America's Chemical Angels, and Wings and Strings.
Maurizio Benazzo grew up in Genova, Italy. At an early age he began actively traveling the spiritual path, exploring the practices of Zen Buddhism, Transcendental Meditation, Yogic philosophy, Catholicism and Philosophy. He has experience in all aspects of production both in front of and behind the camera, including acting, directing, cinematography, and distribution.
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Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, International (WECAN). She works nationally and internationally with grassroots, Indigenous and business leaders, policy-makers and scientists to promote climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a clean energy future. Osprey is Co-chair of International Advocacy for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and the visionary behind the International Women's Earth and Climate Summit, which brought together 100 women leaders from around the world to draft and implement a Women's Climate Action Agenda. She teaches international climate trainings and directs WECAN’s advocacy work in areas such as Women for Forests, Rights of Nature and UN Forums. She has served on the board of the Praxis Peace Institute and on the Steering Committee for The UN Women’s Major Group for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. Awards include the National Women’s History Project Honoree, Taking The Lead To Save Our Planet, and the Woman Of The Year Outstanding Achievement Award from the California Federation Of Business And Professional Women. Osprey is the author of the award-winning book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature.
Her new book is The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis
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A recording of excerpts from a live SAND Community Gathering hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
In these times of unbearable anguish, as the already beleaguered Palestinian community is being massacred and starved before our astonished eyes, our own grieving flows into the sea of human suffering and we remember that we belong to each other.
Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Her latest book, WILD MERCY: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics, was named one of the “Best Books of 2019”. She lives with her extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Mona Haydar is a young Muslim Syrian-American poet, musician, workshop leader and speaker who gained global recognition through her “Ask A Muslim” project and the viral hip-hop music video “Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab).” Her debut EP “Barbarican” addresses global patriarchy, orientalism, immigration policy, white supremacy, and suicide. A Master’s graduate in Theology from Union Theological Seminary, Mona speaks at churches, synagogues, universities and international forums, engaging audiences on art, Islam, feminism, hip hop, theology, and interfaith dialogue.
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Also mentioned in this episode is SAND’s Fundraiser to help relocate a family from the Genocide in Gaza.
Mattias Daly is Taoist practitioner and a professional translator with a degree in acupuncture and a master’s in Chinese Literature. He was inducted into the Longmen lineage of Complete Reality Daoism by Abbess Liu of the Three Purities Monastery in Jilin province, China in 2013. He primarily translates for the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Chinese Taipei PEN quarterly.
His new translation of Taoist Inner Alchemy: Master Huang Yuanji's Guide to the Way of Meditation by Ge Guolong and Huang Yuanji is out now on Shambala Publications.
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A recording of excerpts from a SAND Community Gathering hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Trauma has a severe impact that extends far beyond the individual survivor. It ripples through families, communities, and generations in ways both seen and unseen. Yet there is a path forward — through courageously sharing our stories and tapping into the body’s innate wisdom.
In this episode, Peter openly shares his own courageous journey to resolve severe childhood trauma, by using the very techniques he developed. He shows a pathway whereby giving voice to our stories can help reclaim our dignity, wholeness, and ignite an inner spark of healing.
Peter A. Levine, Ph.D., is the renowned developer of Somatic Experiencing. He holds a doctorate in Medical and Biological Physics from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate in Psychology from International University. The recipient of four lifetime achievement awards, he is the author of several books, including Waking the Tiger, which has now been printed in 33 countries and has sold over a million copies.
His new book is An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey
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Also mentioned in this episode is SAND’s Fundraiser to help relocate a family from the genocide in Gaza.
Reem (DRĖĖĖMY) Abdou is a native Egyptian international interdisciplinary sound artist, embodiment and meditation guide, curator, cultural worker, and community building founder of the inclusive global impact agency for women+ & BIPOC holistic artists: The Collective BAE. As an intentional DJ and spoken word poet, her work harnesses music, movement, and meditation to activate real shifts at the intersection of transformational creativity, social and healing justice, and ecosystem consciousness.
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Upcoming projects:
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Rev Deborah L Johnson (Rev D) is a dynamic organizer, strategist, facilitator, public speaker, and
spoken word artist, known for her ability to bring clarity to complex and emotionally charged
issues with humor and compassion. As an organizational consultant specializing in cultural
diversity, she serves the public, private, non-profit, and military sectors. Her clients have
included, MCA Universal, ATT, Apple Inc, Hewlett Packard, Kaiser Permanente, US Coast Guard
Academy, Ford Foundation, SBC Communications, UCSF, Prudential, and Kodak. Rev Deborah is
a successful co-litigant in two landmark civil rights cases in California. The first resulted in the
inclusion of sexual orientation in the state’s Civil Rights Bill in 1984 setting a national precedent,while the second staved off repeal of the state’s Domestic Partnership in 2005. For her social justice work, she has been featured in numerous books and films including Showtime’s Jumpin’ The Broom and has received many lifetime achievement awards including induction into the Board of Preachers at the MLK Jr. Chapel of Morehouse College.
RevD's Upcoming Courses:
Yes to Oneness
The 6-session “YES to Oneness” workshop is preventative medicine for divisiveness. Guided by divine downloads from my books The Sacred YES and Your Deepest Intent, we’ll go on a spiritually transformative experience.
How to Depolarize
The 3-session “How to Depolarize” workshop provides diagnostic techniques and treatment plans for divisiveness. It is an interactive skills building practicum based on my 40+ years as a movement organizer, corporate DEI consultant, spiritual leader, and successful co-litigant in two landmark civil rights cases. This workshop expands upon the concepts I recently presented at Harvard Divinity School.
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A recording of excerpts from a SAND Community Gathering hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Trauma has a way of separating us from parts of ourselves. Painful experiences cause protective parts to take over, isolating our inner wounds in an effort to help us survive. Yet, avoiding our emotional injuries rarely leads to true healing.
In this conversation, Internal Family System (IFS) founder Richard Schwartz outlined how to transform our relationship with the wounded parts holding our unresolved injuries.
Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, evidence-based therapeutic model that de-pathologizes the multi-part personality. His IFS Institute offers training for professionals and the general public. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and has published five books, including No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model. Dick lives with his wife Jeanne near Chicago, close to his three daughters and his growing number of grandchildren.
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In this episode we bring you excerpts from an online SAND Community Gathering with Gabor and Daniel Maté hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo from February 2024. Also present in this episode is Betsy Polatin offering guided meditation and grounding exercises as everyone navigates these difficult conversations. Lastly SAND presenter Deran Young ends the episode with a question on Racialized Trauma.
You can watch the full video conversation here
No statement, no words can speak to the immense suffering, devastation and horrendous humanitarian crisis intensifying in the Middle East. The current tragedy awakens existential fear, acute grief and deep despair. It also creates a rift among friends and families. Many are in a state of deep shock and in need of support, and the obstacles to communicating with loved ones only intensify the anguish.
In this Q&A session, Dr. Gabor Maté and his son Daniel discussed ways to listen and communicate across different perspectives and narratives.
Gabor Maté, M.D. is a specialist on trauma, addiction, stress and childhood development. After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. Gabor is also the creator of a psychotherapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by thousands of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others in over 80 countries.
Daniel Maté is a composer, lyricist, and playwright for musical theatre based in BC and New York. He has been active since 2007, when he graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing. He also holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from McGill.
Daniel received the prestigious Edward Kleban Prize for Most Promising Lyricist in American Musical Theatre, a Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant, and the ASCAP Foundation’s Cole Porter Award for Excellence in Music and Lyrics (for his song cycle The Longing and the Short of It.) He has presented his work at the historic Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and New York’s Lincoln Center, and was an invited participant in the inaugural Johnny Mercer Writers Colony.
Betsy Polatin, MFA, SEP, an internationally recognized breathing/movement specialist and best- selling author, has been teaching for 45 years. Her unique and intuitive perspectives are greatly influenced by the study of movement, breath, and trauma, as well as the teachings of spiritual and meditation masters. She speaks at conferences around the world.
As a well-known educator, she’s had numerous articles published in the Huffington Post, and is the author of The Actor’s Secret and Humanual.
Deran Young is a licensed therapist specializing in racial trauma and legacy burdens. She is also a Co-Author of the New York Times Best Seller, You Are Your Best Thing, a retired military officer, & founder of Black Therapists Rock. Black Therapists Rock is a non profit organization with a network of over 30,000 mental health professionals committed to reducing the psychological impact of systemic oppression and intergenerational trauma. She obtained her social work degree from University of Texas, where she studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa for two semesters creating a high school counseling center for under-resourced students. Deran has visited over 37 different countries and her clinical experience spans across four different continents. Her passion for culture and people has led her to become a highly sought after diversity and inclusion consultant working with companies like BBERG, Facebook, Linked In, and YWCA. She resides in the Washington DC area with her 10 year old son.
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Mauro Zappaterra obtained his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD doing work with neuronal stem cells and the effects of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in brain development and in the adult. He is published in numerous scientific articles on the CSF and his work was chosen as the cover image for the prestigious Neuron Journal. He was also featured in the New England Journal of Medicine in teaching medical students about living with life threatening diseases and in Psychology Today on an article titled “Joy: The art of loving life."
Topics:
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"This is a spiritual test, this is a spiritual war, as much as it is a material one. People say, ‘As above, so below.’ How we are interfacing with the physical realities of this moment, the ways that we are leveraging our daily energy are either making us complicit with life's desecration or helping us to affirm life and the spirit of resistance. The battle that we are in is right now!"
— Layla K. Feghali on the violence in Gaza, Sounds of SAND, Ep. #76
We are now over four months into a worsening genocide in Gaza — with over 30,000 murdered and over 2 million now enduring military-enforced famine enacted by Israel, the US, and their global allies. There is no way a 90-minute teaching can impact the depth of sorrow, injustice, betrayal, and state-sponsored violence unfolding in Palestine. And yet, we share a moral obligation to resist the life-desecrating forces at work.
In this gathering, our three guests share of their personal attempts as Earth-honoring ritualists and educators to embody core values and take tangible action in a time of genocide.
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Guests:
Daniel Foor is a doctor of psychology, experienced ritualist, and the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. He is a practicing Muslim and initiate in the Òrìṣà tradition of Yoruba-speaking West Africa who has also learned from Mahayan Buddhism and the older ways of his English and German ancestors. Daniel was a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Cairo, Egypt as a student of Arabic language, and he is passionate about generational healing and training leaders and change makers in the intersections of cultural healing, animist ethics, and applied ritual arts. He lives with his wife and daughters near his adoptive home of Granada, Spain in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Taya Mâ Shere is a ritual artist embracing embodied, earth-honoring devotion as liberatory spiritual practice. She serves as a professor of Organic Multi-Religious Ritual at Starr King School for the Ministry and co-weaves Makam Shekhina, a Jewish and Sufi Muslim multi-religious community committed to counter-oppressive spiritual practice. Taya Mâ hosts the acclaimed podcast, Jewish Ancestral Healing and The Sarah & Hajar Series: Sacred Practice and Possibility at the Intersections of Judaism and Islam. She is currently tending Ceasefire movement chaplaincy and From the Deep, an emergent mystery school of earth-reverent ritual and counter-oppressive devotion. She co-founded the Kohenet movement and is co-author of The Hebrew Priestess: Ancient and New Visions of Jewish Women’s Spiritual Leadership. Her five albums of sacred chant have been heralded as “cutting-edge mystic medicine music.”
Layla K. Feghali is an ethnobotanist, cultural worker, and author who lives between her ancestral village in Lebanon and her diasporic home in California, where she was born and raised. Her dedication is the stewardship of our earth’s eco-cultural integrity and the many layers of relational restoration, systemic reckoning, and healing that entails. Feghali offers a line of plantcestral medicine and other culturally-rooted offerings, with an emphasis on Southwest Asia and its diasporas. Her recent book, The Land in Our Bones, documents cultural herbal and healing knowledge from Syria to the Sinai, while interrogating colonialism and its lingering wounds on the culture of our displaced world.
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This SAND Community Gathering was recorded live on February 10, 2024 with Omid Safi and SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurzio Benazzo.
For the full video version of this conversation, please visit: https://scienceandnonduality.com/event/love-with-justice/
Omid Safi is a scholar of the Islamic mystical tradition of Radical Love and serves as a professor of Islamic studies at Duke University. Ten times nominated for professor of the year awards, Omid has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. He has authored Memories of Muhammad and Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition. He has offered the annual Martin Luther King lecture and appeared as an expert on Islam in the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Al-Jazeera, PBS, NPR, NBC, BBC and CNN.
Omid teaches online courses on Muslim mysticism and has his own podcast Sufi Heart. He also offers spiritually oriented contemplative journeys and retreats for the general public. Information about the books, podcast, courses, and tours can be found at illuminatedcourses.com.
SAND’s Helpful Resources on Israel/Palestine
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Topics:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:03:37 – Sufi Prayer and Omid’s Bio
00:06:44 – Setting a Context for the Discussion
00:22:32 – ”Whataboutism”
00:34:56 – Teachings from the Heart
00:46:38 – Balancing Love, Fear, and Righteous
00:59:19 – Responses from Spiritual Teachers on Gaza
01:10:36 – Remembering Mother Earth
01:14:42 – Letting Go of “You and I” / Nonduality
01:16:58 – Celebrating Life
Lama Tsomo is a spiritual teacher, author, and co-founder of Namchak Foundation and Namchak Retreat Ranch, which preserves and shares Tibetan Buddhist practice in accessible, contemporary ways. Under the tutelage of Tulku Sangak Rinpoche, international holder of the Namchak lineage, Lama Tsomo has done extensive spiritual retreats in the U.S. and abroad and is fluent in Tibetan. Today, she is dedicated to sharing the teachings of the Namchak lineage with Western students, bringing greater happiness and meaning to life through meditation practice, community, and retreat. She is passionate about reaching young people and supporting those working for positive social change.
Lama Tsomo holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and is the author of Ancient Wisdom for Our Times: Tibetan Buddhist Practice Series and coauthor of The Lotus & the Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity and the Taking a Breath meditation journal.
Links:
Music from Today's episode:
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
2:58 – Lama Intro Story and Path to Buddhism
8:13 – Major Schools of Buddhism in the U.S.
10:35 – Balancing Mindfulness & Compassion
16:45 – The Predictions of Guru Rinpoche
24:45 – The Importance of Mantra
25:53 – The One Ocean
32:13 – Sharing in Sangha in Mantra
37:49 – Chenrezig / Avalokiteśvara chanting practice
50:53 – Working Skillfully With Equanimity
54:19 – The Importance of Sangha
58:57 – Aspirational and Engaged Boddhicitta
From a SAND Community Gathering in January 2024.
You can watch the full video of this Community Gathering here: scienceandnonduality.com/event/bloodlines/
As many of us grapple with feelings of disillusionment, outrage, impotence and grief at the horrendous tragedy unfolding in Gaza, we gathered as a SAND community for an intimate conversation with meital yaniv, an ex-israeli soldier / ex-zionist fighter and Sulaiman Khatib, Palestinian co-founder of Combatants for Peace.
With meital and Souli reflecting on their personal journeys of loss and transformation, we uncovered ancestral legacies of trauma and coping, belonging and indoctrination, individual and collective grief, awakening, and resilience. Their dialog was facilitated by Rae Abileah, a Jewish faith leader, social change strategist, and writer. Through sharing our stories, and engaging in open and compassionate conversation, may we find collective healing.
Sulaiman Khatib is the Co-Founder of Combatants for Peace. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, he has been recognized internationally for his contributions to promoting peace, social justice and equality for all. In 2006, he co-founded Al-Qud’s Association for Democracy and Dialogue, a program which works with youth in order to create effective and sustainable projects focusing on the promotion of peace, democracy and civic participation in the Palestinian Territories. For the last twenty years, he has been a committed advocate for peace in the Middle East and an active member of various programs aiming to promote a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He is the author of In this Place Together.
meital yaniv was born into a sephardic and ashkenazi lineage of in/famous war heroes and pillars for the state of israel, meital is the author of bloodlines, an epic and intimate dive into the israeli apartheid regime from the perspective of an ex-israeli/ex-zionist soldier. In the book, meital yaniv traces their paternal family narrative from surviving the Holocaust of the second world war to migrating to Palestine and their subsequent indoctrination as zionist colonizers and defenders of the state of israel. yaniv directs our attention to the cycles of history and how genocide not only repeats but grows monstrously in the crevices of state belonging. They see themselves as “a death laborer tending to a prayer for the liberation of the land of Palestine and the lands of our bodies.”
Rae Abileah (she/her) is a Jewish faith leader, social change strategist, writer, and facilitator. For the past two decades, she has worked with nonprofits and social movements, from volunteer to executive director.
Topics:
SAND's Helpful Resources on Israel/Palestine
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Vuyi Qubeka is a seer, artist, multidimensional storyteller, & a transformative healing practitioner whose work is anchored by the wisdoms of indigenous knowledge systems and unconditional love.
Vuyi considers herself a SoulSongSage and creates a container for individuals to remember the song of their soul through identifying the blockages keeping them from expressing their true nature by re-patterning childhood conditioning and trauma. Vuyi weaves together sound, ceremony, movement, visual art, and prose to conjure memory, activate healing and inspire truth seekers, creatives & pioneering leaders from all walks of life. Her work explores both feminine wisdom & the Mother Mind while confronting individual, familial & collective traumas, with a focus on sexual trauma, for our shared restoration.
Vuyi offers one-on-one soul healing sessions, storytelling & speaking immersions, rites of passage ceremonies, retreat facilitation, workshops and explorative collaborations. Vuyi's long term intention is to create a rehabilitation oasis for child trafficking survivors, a home within nature where small people can restore their innocence, joy, dignity and reclaim their essence.
Website: www.vuyiqubeka.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/vuyiqubeka/
Email: [email protected]
Topics:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:11:54 – Shamanism
00:17:39 – Ancestors
00:20:52 – Healing with Sound
00:22:11 – Connection with Nature
00:24:46 – The Authentic Self
00:30:14 – South Africa and Gaza
00:34:14 – Vuyi’s Message to Gaza
00:39:39 – ”Don’t Die with Your Music Still Inside You”
00:42:21 – TED Talk Excerpt
00:50:44 – We Are the Song
00:53:42 – ”Ancient Dreams” (AxisZulu Natural Mix) by Vuyi Qubeka
01:01:16 – Coming Up for Vuyi
01:13:12 – ”Moon Chant” by Vuyi Qubeka
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Join us for a conversation with Edward Frenkel, mathematician, Berkeley professor and author of the international bestseller Love and Math, as we explore the nature of reality and the fallacy of the naive ideas of determinism and computationalism. Drawing on the landmark achievements of modern mathematics and quantum physics, Frenkel makes the case that consciousness is not computational, that intuition and imagination cannot be captured by algorithms.
A regular presenter at the SAND conferences, Frenkel has long argued that the debate about the capabilities and dangers of artificial intelligence can be traced to the question “Who am I?” Hence it creates an opportunity for us to go deeper on the path of self-inquiry. To facilitate this process, it is essential to let go of the misconceptions of the science of the 19th century and to update our worldview with the paradigms of the science of the 21st century. A mind-expanding dialogue about the Infinite nature of consciousness, limits of knowledge, and the alchemy of transformation.
Edward Frenkel is a professor of mathematics at University of California, Berkeley, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and winner of the Weyl Prize in Mathematical Physics. He is the author of the international bestseller Love and Math which has been published in 19 languages.
Links
Topics:
Without form, without figure, without resemblance am I;
Vitality of all senses, in everything I am;
Neither attached, nor released am I;
I am Consciousness, I am Bliss, I am Shiva, I am Shiva.
—Adi Shankara, Nirvana Shatakam, Hymns 3–6
Timothy Owen Desmond, aka Tod, is a philosopher and author. He majored in Philosophy and Political Science at Boston College University. Dedicated to a life of study, his unconventional path led to a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religion from CIIS. Desmond explores the intersections of holographic string theory and Jungian psychology, detailed in his 2018 book, Psyche and Singularity. In 2023, he launched an online course, "Immortality and the Unreality of Death," integrating insights from Joseph Campbell and Ernest Becker.
Tod’s Course: Immortality and the Unreality of Death: A Hero’s Journey Through Philosophy, Psychology, and Physics
Takeaways:
Topics:
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While Attachment Theory has offered many valuable insights, its foundations reflect certain limiting assumptions. Originally formulated based on white, Western nuclear family structures, Attachment Theory is rooted in White cis-het settler-colonizer patriarchal paradigms that hyper-emphasise dyadic relationships within a nuclear family. Yet we humans participate in relationships far beyond just our early caretakers.
Many of us feel profound connections across generations – to ancestors, spiritual traditions, and cultural lineages. We also bond deeply with the living world around us, from animals and plants to rivers and forests. And in today’s complex global society, our close relational circles extend to friends, chosen families, and communities near and far.
When we experience trauma, secure attachment with a handful of early caregivers alone cannot suffice to heal our deep relational wounds. We need a more expansive vision – one that engages the full web of relationships anchoring our lives. The connections we share run far deeper than any one theory can capture.
What would it mean to reconceptualize secure attachment more holistically? How might embracing the relational richness of our multi-layered lives help transform isolation into belonging?
These are some of the questions we will explore with Linda Thai, mental health clinician, storyteller, and educator.
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"If we knew how important it is to listen, to listen to our hearts, to listen to our loved ones, to birds, to animals… it’s the ability to listen that reconnects us to the all, the great spirit”
—Katie Gray
Katie Gray is an author, singer, counselor, and elder caregiver devoted to helping people connect with feeling, presence and Self awareness. Inspired and compelled by her own self-recovery from a 17 year addiction to food and bulimia, Katie utilizes the gift of her voice and wisdom to help others unravel from shame, insecurity and suffering. Her work, The Empowered Heart, is a methodological approach that helps assist people through the process of identifying and healing emotional wounds and is the basis of understanding that infuses her work as an author, counselor, and facilitator.
Her new book is The Empowered Heart Guidebook
Topics:
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Join SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo in conversation with Aboriginal elders and authors Uncle Paul Callaghan and Uncle Paul Gordon for a colorful community conversation, “On the Dreaming Path,” where we’ll explore some of the profound teachings shared in their latest book.
"Uncle" Paul Callaghan is an award-winning author and accomplished speaker. He has qualifications in a very diverse range of disciplines and a PhD in creative practice. He is also an Aboriginal story teller from the land of the Worimi people who has spent many years “out bush” listening and learning. He has life experience in many industries, Aboriginal culture and heritage and Aboriginal community services.
"Uncle" Paul Gordon is a Ngemba man. Born in Brewarrina, he grew up on the Barwon River in Northwestern New South Wales, Australia. Since 1983 he has spent most of his time with the Old Men learning about country and lore. Uncle Paul has dedicated his life to teaching and working with communities throughout Australia to support learning through lore and culture. For the past 15 years, he has been leading camps and workshops for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to reconnect to culture. As a traditional knowledge holder and custodian of Aboriginal lore, he continues to share as part of his obligation to thousands of years of Aboriginal culture.
The underpinning foundation of the book is his journey through depression and the role Aboriginal culture, spirituality and philosophy had in not only enabling him to recover, but also empowering him to live life by his truth rather than everybody else’s expectations. The book has a number of exercises and models based on his experience aimed at assisting people from all walks of life to build the courage and skills to live a life of purpose, choice and wellbeing. You will find it is a combination of styles including textbook, self help, Aboriginal history, Aboriginal philosophy, Aboriginal spirituality and an autobiography of his journey through depression.
The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Thinking to Change Your Life
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Welcome to the Sounds of SAND podcast and our final episode of the year. Today we present an Anthology episode culling poetry, song, talks and conversations from this podcast as well as Science and Nonduality conferences and events from the past decade.
As the world around us quiets down and a blanket of stillness descends, we find ourselves at the heart of an ancient cultural and spiritual celebration – the winter solstice. People through out time have revered this moment of deep winter for its mystical powers of regrowth, healing, and hope that it’s always darkest before the light returns.
Indeed many ancient civilizations noticed that the days were getting longer in the days just after the Winter Solstice. They celebrated the coming of longer days, the return of the sun in ancient Greece and Rome, Pagan religions and even the birth of Jesus in the Christian Religion all occurring in late December.
These days with the polycrises of environmental collapse, cultural fragmentation, economic inequality and the brutal violence of wars in places like Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan we are all entangled in the dark blanket of shared grief.
We’ll hear from SAND speakers like Maya Luna, Lama Rod Owens, Gabor Mate, Adyashanti, Mirabai Star, and Michael Meade who touch into themes of the dark night of the soul, silence, and a prayer for light to return to our collective consciousness.
You can find the full list of speakers with timestamps in the Topics section.
Please join us and settling in as we take a sonic journey as the season of silence is upon us. If you’re listening in the Southern part of the world, where the long days of summer are now expanding, I hope this episode finds you when deep winter arrives in June.
Thank you for listening and being the shared light of awareness.
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TOPICS:
A live recording from a recent SAND Community Gathers (Sept. 2023) hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo (co-founders of SAND). Along with their guest, Francis Weller, they explore themes of emptiness, individualism, self-help, separation, religion, belonging, relationality, and Francis's deep work with grief.
Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, writer and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, indigenous cultures and poetic traditions. Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief; The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation, (with Rashani Réa) and In the Absence of the Ordinary: Essays in a Time of Uncertainty, he has introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. He founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from western poetic, psychological and spiritual traditions.
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Episode Topics:
Peter Russell is on the faculty of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a fellow of The World Business Academy and The Findhorn Foundation, and an Honorary Member of The Club of Budapest, and President of Science and NonDuality.
In 1982 he coined the term "global brain" with his 1980s bestseller of the same name in which he predicted the Internet and the impact it would have.
Peter Russell Interviews his AI Clone
Peter’s new book, Forgiving Humanity: How the Most Innovative Species Became the Most Dangerous
Peter’s Course on SAND, Enjoying Meditation
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SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo join Euphrasia “Efu” Nyaki for a community conversation on holistic healing from trauma. Efu has developed a method that integrates ancestral wisdom from her Snail Clan in Tanzania, somatic therapy, and family constellations. Her approach helps resolve PTSD, depression, addiction, chronic illness, and more by releasing trauma at the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.
Euphrasia (Efu) Nyaki was born and raised on the slopes of mountain Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, where she gained the essence and vital healing energy from her ancestors. The strength of her ancestors lead her to earn a Bachelor of Science degree, train as a science teacher, and later to train as a healer using holistic methods. Efu enjoys helping others and for this reason joined an International Catholic Missionary community called Maryknoll sisters of Saint Dominick. Having arrived in Brazil as a missionary in 1993, Efu worked for 5 years with women who suffered from violence using mental health programs in the periphery of the city of João Pessoa, Brazil. In the year 2000 she co- founded two NGOs, and in the past 20 years, Efu has offered bodyworker and herbal medicine trainings for community leaders. For the past 10 years Efu has been teaching Family Constellation (trans-generational trauma healing) and Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) for trauma resolution in Brazil and other parts of the world. Efu was also asked by Dr. Peter A Levine, the developer of SE™, to join his Legacy Faculty to assist him and teach his Master Classes.
Efu’s new book:
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Without either diploma or culture, Éric Baret has no special competence. Touched by the non-dual tradition through Jean Klein's teaching, he suggests that one turn towards listening, free of any notion of gain. Nothing taught, no teacher. Meetings for the joy of being nothing.
Let the Moon Be Free: Conversations on Conversations on Kashmiri Tantra
Articles and writings from Éric on SAND’s Website
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No statement, no words can speak to the immense human suffering, the devastation and the horrendous humanitarian crisis intensifying in the Middle East. The current tragedy is awakening existential fear, acute grief and deep despair. Unspeakable atrocities have left many in a state of deep shock and in need of support.
Gabor Maté, M.D. is a renowned speaker, and bestselling author who is is highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress and childhood development. Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr. Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.
Roots Run Deep Resources for Palestine / Israel
Full Video Recording of this Episode
Part two of this Roots Run Deep series live online with Dr. Gabor Maté, Dec 15, 9am PT
Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors and Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself.
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In this live SAND Community Gathering SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo discuss Thomas’ new book Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma.
Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has been leading large-scale events and courses that focus on the healing and integration of trauma, with a special focus on the shared history of Israelis and Germans. Over the last decade, he has facilitated dialogue with thousands of people around healing the collective traumas of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides in the U.S., Israel, Germany, Spain, and Argentina.
Learn more about Thomas’ new book is Attuned: Practicing Interdependence to Heal Our Trauma—and Our World.
Alixa García is a Colombian born, globally-raised, multi-disciplinary artist, activist, and cultural activator whose work is imbued in ritual, spirit, and deep reverence for our Great Mother, Great Lover, our Earth. She is an award-winning activist, poet, and filmmaker. She is also a professional writer, visual artist, musician, and facilitator. Her work has been published by Whit Press, AK Press, Hatchett, & Daraja Press.
Instagram and Linktree
Alixa’s upcoming course on A Course on the Imaginal: Cultivating the Visionary Self
Mentioned in the Episode the late artist and performer Tigre Bailando
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Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo host this captivating conversation into divine and personal love with two modern-day mystics, held dear by SAND.
Love, a powerful catalyst for transformation on the spiritual path, resonates at the core of our being. Through this dialogue, we will transcend the limitations of a narrow, individualized perception of love, immersing ourselves in the boundless realm of our true nature—a universal expression of pure love.
Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, Cynthia Bourgeault divides her time between solitude at her coastal home in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative path. She is the founding Director of both The Contemplative Society and the Aspen Wisdom School.
Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), Founder of the Diamond Approach, was born in the Middle East, but at age 18 he moved to the USA to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics, where he was studying Einstein’s theory of general relativity and nuclear physics, when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him more and more into inquiring into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature. Hameed is the founder of the Diamond Approach®—a spiritual teaching that utilizes a unique kind of inquiry into realization.
Dr. Angel Acosta works to bridge the fields of leadership, social justice & mindfulness. He completed his Ed.D. in the Curriculum and Teaching Department at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research explored healing-centered education as a promising framework for educational leadership development and community care.
Angel is the director of the Wounded Healer Project. This portrait series captures the profiles of nine educators, community leaders and practitioners, all of whom have dedicated their lives to — in some shape or form — creating spaces for others to thrive, flourish and heal.
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Mauro Zappaterra obtained his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School. He completed his PhD doing work with neuronal stem cells and the effects of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in brain development and in the adult. He is published in numerous scientific articles on the CSF and his work was chosen as the cover image for the prestigious Neuron Journal. He was also featured in the New England Journal of Medicine in teaching medical students about living with life threatening diseases and in Psychology Today on an article titled “Joy: The art of loving life.”
You can view the video version of this talk on SAND’s website:
An upcoming course with Mauro presented by SAND: The Wisdom of Pain: an online course live with Mauro Zappaterra.
In this course we will:
Mauro Zappaterra’s website: HoldingSpace.com
Episode Topics:
Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen is a Historian of Religion, Ph.d from Uppsala University in Sweden. His research into Afro-diasporic strategies for maintaining animist reality in the modern world has lead him towards reading North European cultural history from the perspective of rejected animist knowledge and practice. The objective is to recover Euro-traditioanl forms of landconnectedness ecological knowledge and kinship with the greater community of beings. Rune has lived in a number of countries in Europe, Africa North- and South America and presently runs the platform “Nordic Animism”.
Links:
Topics:
Recorded live at a Science and Nonduality Community Conversation hosted by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo on July 12, 2023.
Tyson Yunkaporta is an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledge at Deakin University in Melbourne. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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Judith Blackstone, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist and innovative teacher in contemporary spirituality. She developed the Realization Process®, an embodied approach to personal and relational healing and nondual realization. She is the author of Trauma and the Unbound Body, Belonging Here, The Intimate Life, The Enlightenment Process, and The Empathic Ground. For more, see realizationprocess.org.
The Fullness of the Ground is a guide to embodied nondual realization and its profound effect on our senses, our ability to love, our experience of our own authentic existence, and our connection with other living beings. It distills Dr. Judith Blackstone’s decades of teaching into the essentials of the nondual spiritual path.
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Mentioned in the episode – #48 Ancestral Healing: Daniel Foor
Today on the podcast, we welcome two special guests, Science and Nonduality co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Zaya and Maurizio are both filmmakers and activists. They merged their lifelong passions for science and mysticism when they met in 2007, and their first project together was filming the documentary Rays of the Absolute on the life and teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
This project sparked their next level of creation and collaboration: SAND, a global community inspired by timeless wisdom traditions, informed by modern science, and grounded in direct experience.
In 2021 they released the acclaimed documentary The Wisdom of Trauma featuring Dr. Gabor Maté. And for the past year they have been traveling the globe working on their next documentary about indigenous cultures, resilience, and an expansion of what is meant by Nonduality and Science, all today on the Sounds of SAND Podcast.
Topics:
We wanted to create this episode highlighting some shimmering jewels from the first 50 episodes of the podcast. We know that getting into a podcast can be daunting when there are dozens of episodes to choose from. So we wanted to distill some of the varied guests from our previous episodes with some clips from the show.
Consider becoming a member of SAND to support the production costs of this podcast.
Thank you for listening and sharing the show.
Guest Clips
Mauro Bergonzi taught ‘Indian Religion and Philosophy’ from 1985 to 2017 at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”. About twenty years ago - after 25 years of meditative practices - a spontaneous fading out of his spiritual seeking just happened unexpectedly and only a radical non-dualism prevailed. From then on, he has been invited to hold regular meetings of ‘sharing of being’ (satsang). A survey of Mauro's non-dual communication is available in his book Il sorriso segreto dell’essere (Mondadori) and in his website.
E-mail: [email protected]
Some video talks from Mauro’s Appearances at SAND Italy:
The Bottomless Pit Behind the Word "Consciousness"
The Utter Simplicity of What Is
Rays of the Absolute a film by SAND
Topics
Dr. Daniel Foor is a ritualist and educator focused on helping others to reclaim their innate capacity to relate with their ancestors and with the greater web of other-than-human kin.
He is the author of Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing and an internationally respected teacher of ancestor reverence and ritual. Since 2004 Daniel has guided over one hundred multi-day ancestor-focused healing rituals in eight countries, reached thousands of participants through personal sessions and online courses, and mentored over 150 practitioners to facilitate the work of ancestral healing.
Topics:
Parvathy Baul is a practitioner, performer and teacher of the Baul tradition from Bengal, India.
She studied closely with two of the most respected Baul Gurus of the previous generation, Sri Sanatan Das Thakur Baul and Sri Shashanko Goshai.
According to her Guru's vision, Parvathy Maa has created Sanatan Siddhashram - as a place of learning, practicing and preserving the oral history of the Baul tradition.
The poetry of Chandidas
Song of the Great Soul by Parvathy Baul
Topics:
Marlon Barrios Solano is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary artist and researcher specializing in software engineering, generative AI, dance improvisation, and mindfulness. His diverse work, ranging from AI-driven apps to digital therapeutics, manifests in web applications, interactive installations, multimedia performances, education, and consulting. His notable work with Sati-AI demonstrates the innovative integration of AI in mindfulness practices.
Marlon lends his expertise to a variety of domains, guiding both individuals and organizations in leveraging AI technology. He is a researcher in residency at Lake Studios Berlin and Wisdom Labs (San Francisco), and has held research residencies and fellowships in Germany, Amsterdam, Switzerland, and the UK.
He holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and graduated from the General Assembly Software Engineering Program in 2021. A Kernel Fellow Block5 2022, he also teaches Vipassana meditation to artists and technologists. His previous positions include a research associate role at the Inter-University of Dance/University of The Arts in Berlin from 2012-2016.
A certified Vipassana/Mindfulness Meditation Teacher from Spirit Rock Meditation Center and lived at Insight meditation Society in Barre, MA from 20016 to 20121. Marlon continues to study and practice under Stephen Batchelor and is an Embodyoga® 200 Hour Certified Teacher. He has taught and developed projects worldwide. He is a fellow for the Mind and Life EUROPEAN SUMMER RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ESRI) 2023.
Marlon’s Linktree
Article on Sati-AI in Lion’s Roar
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Special thanks to Lake Studios Berlin for hosting us and the equipment to record this conversation.
Two recent appearances of Sophie Strand at SAND. One was her Community Conversation with Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo the second a story she read called “Healing: A Ghost Story” with Bayo Akomolafe.
Sophie’s course The Body is a Doorway at SAND
Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. But it would probably be more authentic to call her a neo-troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. In every neighborhood she’s ever lived in she has been known as “the walker”. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients.
Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Lunar Kings, Lichenized Lovers, Transpecies Magicians, and Rhizomatic Harpists Heal the Masculine is available now from Inner Traditions. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions. Her books of poetry include Love Song to a Blue God (Oread Press) and Those Other Flowers to Come (Dancing Girl Press) and The Approach (The Swan). Her poems and essays have been published by Art PAPERS, The Dark Mountain Project, Poetry.org, Unearthed, Braided Way, Creatrix, Your Impossible Voice, The Doris, Persephone’s Daughters, and Entropy. She has recently finished a work of historical fiction, The Madonna Secret, that offers an eco-feminist revision of the gospels. She is currently researching her next epic, a mythopoetic exploration of ecology and queerness in the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde.
Follow her on Facebook or on Instagram @cosmogyny.
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
4:30 – We Must Risk New Shapes
14:24 – Disability and Sickness
26:50 – Collective Story Telling and Trance
39:16 – A Rescue Promise
44:20 – Healing: A Ghost Story
Martin Gray is a seasoned explorer, photographer and travel writer renowned for his profound insights into pilgrimage to sacred sites around the world. He created the World Pilgrimage Guide website in 1996, which has received more than 100 million visitors and shares lists of places, writings and photos of sacred sites in over 160 countries around the planet. In 2004 National Geographic published “The Geography of Religion” of his photos. In 2007 Sterling published Sacred Earth, a collection of 200 of photographs.
Sacred Sites / World Pilgrimage Guide
Shortcut to Nirvana by Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day
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The full title of today’s episode is: “They thought they buried me; They did not know I am a seed”
In this community conversation from June 2023, SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo host Bayo Akomolafe and Chief Oluwo Fayemi peeling back the layers of history and tap into the wellspring of resilience that resides within us all. Weaving Bayo's wisdom and Chief Oluwo Obafemi's ancestral knowledge, they enture into this mystical landscape, navigating the intricacies of existence, embracing the profound beauty of the unfolding journey.
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. He sits on the Board of many organizations including Science and Non-Duality (US) and Ancient Futures (Australia). In July 2022, Dr. Akomolafe was appointed the inaugural Global Senior Fellow of University of California’s (Berkeley) Othering and Belonging Institute. He has also been appointed Senior Fellow for The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany. He is the recipient of the New Thought Leadership Award 2021 and the Excellence in Ethnocultural Psychotherapy Award by the African Mental Health Summit 2022.
Chief Oluwo Obafemi Fayemi Epega is a world-renowned Babalawo and the founder of O.I.D.S.I. (Obafemi Institute for the Divine & Universal Study of Ifa). He was initiated as a priest of Obatala in 2004, and received his Tefa in 2005. He strongly believes that the restoration and preservation of African divine sciences and traditions can restore psychological balance and personal empowerment to all people. A lecturer, teacher and healer and the author of Who is Sambo?, Baba Femi has facilitated Ifa workshops all over the world. He has been invited to share his knowledge and insight on countless radio shows, major universities and colleges. In addition to overseeing more than 400 ceremonies and rituals, Baba Femi has either directly facilitated, or served as the principal liaison for the initiations of more than 50 Ifa and Olorisha priests.
With the blessings of Olodumare, his ancestors, and Ifa, this life has allowed him to fully embrace and experience that which his heart has chosen. He is proud to be an African American man, native Houstonian, descendant of slaves, priest of Ifa, teacher, author, mentor, son, a friend to many, a loving husband, and most importantly, an honorable father.
We invite you to connect further with Bayo Akomolafe in an immersive recording from the SAND co-presentation Three Black Men Trauma, Ritual & the Promise of the Monstrous live in Los Angeles from June 2023 with your guides: Bayo Akomolafe, Orland Bishop, and Resmaa Menakem for nearly six hours of talks, video, and explorations.
“The past is history. The future is mystery. The present moment is a gift”
— Lama Lhanang Rinpoche
Today’s guest are the authors of a new book out on Sounds True, The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying. In this episode we go into Tibetan Book of the Dead’s cultural significance in the West, the West’s death phobic culture, the connections to Dream Yoga, what is meant by the Bardo, the history of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, karma and rebirth, and how their new book can support the living and the dead on our lives.
Venerable Lama Lhanang Rinpoche is a teacher of Vajrayana Buddhism of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Tibet, he currently directs the Jigme Lingpa Center in San Diego and teaches throughout the United States and internationally. For more, visit.
Mordy Levine is president of the Jigme Lingpa Center and creator of the Meditation Pro Series that has taught meditation to more than 250,000 people. For more, visit
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
03:10 – Genesis of the Book
06:12 – TBD in the West
13:24 – Tibetean Dream Yoga
22:50 – Death Phobic Culture
36:26 – Present Moment Gift
39:18 – Role of Hearing and Listening
50:58 – Karma and Rebirth
Hosted by SAND Co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo
Deran Young is a licensed therapist specializing in racial trauma and legacy burdens. She is also a Co-Author of the New York Times Best Seller, You Are Your Best Thing, a retired military officer, & founder of Black Therapists Rock. Black Therapists Rock is a non profit organization with a network of over 30,000 mental health professionals committed to reducing the psychological impact of systemic oppression and intergenerational trauma. She obtained her social work degree from University of Texas, where she studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa for two semesters creating a high school counseling center for under-resourced students. Deran has visited over 37 different countries and her clinical experience spans across four different continents. Her passion for culture and people has led her to become a highly sought after diversity and inclusion consultant working with companies like BBERG, Facebook, Linked In, and YWCA. She resides in the Washington DC area with her 10 year old son.
Topics
00:00 – Introduction
04:12 – Deran’s Journey
12:54 – Joining the Military
20:42 – Ghana
31:50 – Intergenerational Trauma
34:28 – Black Therapists Rock
42:24 – Racialized Trauma
Spiritual guide and author, Shakti is known internationally as one of the most authentic and profound voices in contemporary spirituality. Presenting the message of Advaita and non-dual Tantra within a contemporary framework, Shakti offers, with compassion and great clarity, an inner technology for dissolving the contraction of suffering that traditionally accompanies each of our lives. Her invitation is to come to the space of inner peace and unconditional love which resides at the heart of us all.
Her key teachings are the love for transcendence, or spiritual awakening, followed by its deep integration, into everyday living, so that each moment can be met as a precious opportunity for spiritual growth. Her students are left with the joy of an open heart and an authentic sense of freedom within the recognition of our being as one with everything.
Shakti's Course on SAND Dwelling in the Heart
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
02:20 – Awakening to Our True Nature
05:21 – Letting Go Language
08:04 – Emptiness
13:08 – Authenticity
15:07 – Experiencing with the Heart
20:26 – Staying with the Paradox of Seperation
29:52 – Seeing into our Listening
37:16 – Nondual Tantra
40:20 – Compassion and Suffering
50:45 – Coming Up for Shakti
Lyla June in this illuminating community conversation with Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo shares ways in which indigenous food systems of the past and present teach us how to relate to our inner and outer world. These highly successful systems have been proven to operate based on respect, reverence, responsibility, and reciprocity.
She explores, among others topics: How can we manifest these qualities within ourselves and into the world? How can ancient wisdom help with modern ills? How does inner life reflect in outer behavior?
Stick around towards the end of the episode for an original song by Lyla.
Dr. Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous public speaker, artist, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages from Taos, New Mexico.
Her messages focus on Indigenous rights, supporting youth, traditional land stewardship practices and healing inter-generational and inter-cultural trauma.
She blends undergraduate studies in human ecology at Stanford University, graduate work in Native American Pedagogy at the University of New Mexico, and the indigenous worldview she grew up with to inform her perspectives and solutions. Her internationally acclaimed presentations are conveyed through the medium of poetry, music and/or speech. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in Indigenous Studies with a focus on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization.
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
04:02 – Outer Landscapes / Indigenous Food Systems
16:30 – Hunting and Fishing
24:40 – Water
46:40 – Bamboo
56:02 – Inner Landscapes
“For now, what is important is not finding the answer, but looking for it.”
― Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Donald Hoffman is a cognitive scientist and author of more than 100 scientific papers and three books, including Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See (W.W. Norton, 2000). He received his BA from UCLA in Quantitative Psychology and his Ph.D. from MIT in Computational Psychology. He joined the faculty of UC Irvine in 1983, where he is now a full professor in the departments of cognitive science, computer science and philosophy. He received a Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association for early career research into visual perception, the Rustum Roy Award of the Chopra Foundation, and the Troland Research Award of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was chosen by students at UC Irvine to receive a campus-wide teaching award, and to be included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
Hoffman studies visual perception, visual attention and consciousness using mathematical models, computer simulations, and psychological experiments. His empirical research has led to new insights into how we perceive objects, colors and motion. His theoretical research has led to a “user interface” theory of perception, which proposes that natural selection shapes our perceptions not to report truth but simply to guide adaptive behavior; this is the subject of his TED Talk entitled “ Do we see reality as it is ?” and of an article in The Atlantic entitled “ The case against reality .” It has also led to a “ conscious realism ” theory of consciousness—which proposes a formal model of consciousness and a new solution to the mind-body problem.
Rupert Spira lives in the UK and holds regular meetings and retreats in Europe and the U.S. In these meetings he explores the perennial non-dual understanding that lies at the heart of all the great religious and spiritual traditions, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Hinduism, Buddhism, mystical Christianity, Sufism and Zen, and which is also the direct, ever-present reality of our own experience. It is a contemporary, experiential approach involving silent meditation, guided meditation and conversation, and it requires no affiliation to any particular religious or spiritual tradition. All that is needed is an interest in the essential nature of experience, and in the longing for love, peace and happiness around which most of our lives revolve.
Rupert is author of The Transparency of Things – Contemplating the Nature of Experience (2008); Presence, in two volumes: The Art of Peace and Happiness and The Intimacy of All Experience (2012); The Light of Pure Knowing – Thirty Meditations on the Essence of Non-Duality (2014); The Ashes of Love (2016); and Transparent Body, Luminous World – The Tantric Yoga of Sensation and Perception (2017). Forthcoming titles include The Nature of Consciousness – Essays on the Unity of Mind and Matter (2017) and The Essence of Meditation – Being Aware of Being Aware (2017).
Topics:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:03:30 – What’s at the Your Current Edge?
00:10:35 – Is the Mind the Right Instrument for Exploring Consciousness?
00:18:52 – Resting in the Unknown and What Is Understanding, The Ultimate Science?
00:26:44 – What Does the Ego Want?
00:37:00 – Why Does the One Let Itself Go Unconscious?
00:52:00 – What Are The Limits of Language and Thoughts to Express Consciousness?
00:56:56 – The Amplitudhedron and Beyond
01:02:00 – How Can We Perceive Outside of Spacetime?
01:16:39 – Spiritual Bypassing: Awakening and Transcending
–
Previous Episode with Donald Hoffman and Rupert Spira hosted by Simon Mundie: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality | Donald Hoffman & Rupert Spira
Orland Bishop is the founder and director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, where he has pioneered approaches to urban truces and mentoring at-risk youth that combine new ideas with traditional ways of knowledge. ShadeTree serves as an intentional community of mentors, elders, teachers, artists, healers, and advocates for the healthy development of children and youth. Orland’s work in healing and human development is framed by an extensive study of medicine, naturopathy, psychology, and Indigenous cosmologies, primarily those of South and West Africa.
Find more about the Three Black Men: A Journey Into the Magical Otherwise series with Orland Bishop, Resmaa Menakem, and Bayo Akomolafe.
Purchase tickets to watch the North American live web stream and download the recording of this event
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
03:17 – Part 1, Are We a Part of the Same Reality?
05:12 – ”I Give You My Word”
10:00 – Know Thyself
13:00 – Shared Inner Freedom & Trust
16:13 – Shared States of Consciousness
23:40 – Part 2, What Gives Form to Consciousness
30:44 – Light of Consciousness
37:35 – Collective and Racialized Trauma Questions from the Group
46:10 – Where Does History Go?
Mukti’s name originates in Sanskrit and is most often translated as “liberation,” a term used in Vedanta and Buddhism much the way the term “salvation” is used in Christianity. Mukti has been the Associate Teacher of Open Gate Sangha since 2004 and has been a student of her husband, Adyashanti, since he began teaching in 1996, when they founded Open Gate Sangha together.
Previously, Mukti was raised and schooled in the Catholic tradition and also studied the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda for over 20 years—two paths that have greatly informed her journeys into meditation, introspection, and prayer. She holds a master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine, a license in acupuncture, and a Hatha Yoga teaching certification. These backgrounds in body awareness and the healing arts, as well as her years of study with Adyashanti, largely inform her presentation style, her recommended inquiry methods, and her interest in the energetic unfolding of realization and embodiment.
Links:
Open Gate Sangha
The Energetics of Awakening Course
The Center for Humane Technology
The One of Us: Living from the Heart of Illumined Relationship (Sounds True)
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
04:41 – Energetics of Awakening
11:45 – Spiritual Bypassing / Shadow / Integration
18:08 – Evolution / Deepening of Mukti’s Teaching
21:29 – Sacredness of Attention in the Attention Economy
30:07 – Importance of Spiritual Community
33:08 – The Spiritual Path of Paradox and the Shared Field of Awareness
50:11 – Holographic Being
55:36 – The Importance of the Fundamentals of Practice
57:59 – Being in a Dharmic Romantic Relationship
Dr. Rupa Marya illuminates the hidden connections between our biological systems and the profound injustices of our political and economic systems. What is deep medicine? How can re-establishing our relationships with the Earth and one another help us to heal? The first part of the episode is taken from a live SAND Community Conversation hosted by SAND Co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
The book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya and Raj Patel is available now.
In the second part of this episode, Rupa is part of a panel hosted by Dr. Gabor Maté as part of The Wisdom of Trauma film launch 'Talks on Trauma' series. This panel discussion is called: “How Trauma Literacy Can Transform Medicine” with MDs: Pamela Wible, Will Van Derveer, Jeffrey Rediger, Dr. Gabor Maté, and Rupa Marya.
You can listen to this entire panel and 32 other talks as part of The Wisdom of Trauma All Access Pass.
Dr. Rupa Marya is a physician, activist, writer, mother, and a composer. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where she practices and teaches internal medicine. Her work sits at the nexus of climate, health and racial justice. Dr Marya founded and directs the Deep Medicine Circle, a women of color-led organization committed to healing the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, story, restoration and learning. She is also a co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, a collective of health workers committed to addressing disease through structural change. Dr Marya was recognized in 2021 with the Women Leaders in Medicine Award by the American Medical Student Association. She was a reviewer of the American Medical Association's Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity. Because of her work in health equity, Dr. Marya was appointed by Governor Newsom to the Healthy California for All Commission, to advance a model for universal healthcare in California. She has toured twenty-nine countries with her band, Rupa and the April Fishes, whose music was described by the legend Gil Scott-Heron as “Liberation Music.” Together with Raj Patel, she co-authored the international bestselling book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice.
Topics:
01:00:00 – Introduction
01:03:16 – Part 1, SAND Community Conversation
01:04:28 – Rupa’s Personal Story and Childhood
01:07:58 – Patterns in Traditional vs. Western Medicine and the Writing of ‘Inflamed’
01:11:10 – Influence of Collective and Individual Trauma of Health
01:12:49 – Colonial Power Structures in Medicine
01:15:39 – Climate Collapse and Global Health
01:17:27 – Indigenous Wisdom of the Interconnected Web of Life
01:21:11 – How Do We Heal in a Balanced Way?
01:31:33 – Part 2, How Trauma Literacy Can Transform Medicine with Gabor Maté
01:35:59 – Pamela Wilbe Introduction
01:38:37 – Jeffery Rediger Introduction
01:41:55 – Will Van Derveer Introduction
01:46:35 – Rupa Marya Introduction
01:51:15 – Jeffrey Rediger Introduction
01:54:17 – Overcoming Incurable Diseases
02:03:45 – The Science of How Society Gets Into Our Cells
02:36:39 – Conclusions
“We are not walking through the world; we are interwoven with it. In everything we do, we participate in complexity."
–Neil Theise
Neil Theise is a professor of pathology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Through his scientific research, he has been a pioneer of adult stem cell plasticity and the anatomy of the human interstitium. Dr. Theise’s studies in complexity theory have led to interdisciplinary collaborations in fields such as integrative medicine, consciousness studies, and science-religion dialogue.
Neil’s new book, which we discuss on the episode, is Notes on Complexity
The book is “An electrifying introduction to complexity theory, the science of how complex systems behave—from cells to human beings, ecosystems, the known universe, and beyond—that profoundly reframes our understanding and illuminates our interconnectedness.”
Mentioned in the episode:
The Source by James A. Michener
Everything Only Looks Like a Thing with Neil Theise at the Science and Nonduality Conference
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick
Introduction to John Conway’s “Game of Life”
Some examples of emergent patterns in the “Game of Life”
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
Topics:
00:00 – Introduction
02:15 – Neil’s Scientific and Spiritual Background
08:29 – Complexity and the Merging of Science and Spirituality
15:48 – Complex vs Complicated
22:14 – Chaos, Fractals, and Emergence
29:48 – Biological Emergence
36:44 – Incompleteness Theorem, Quantum Physics, and Consciousness
47:02 – Complexity and Resiliency
Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations
of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New
Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice
and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Her latest book, WILD MERCY: Living the Fierce & Tender
Wisdom of the Women Mystics, was named one of the “Best Books of 2019”. She lives with her
extended family in the mountains of northern New Mexico.
Mirabai’s Online Greif Community: Holy Lament
Topics:
02:31 – Inter-spirituality Practice and Mirabai’s Path
10:30 – What is Mysticism?
16:23 – Nondual Spirituality: Devotion and Surrender
21:33 – Tikkun Olam (“to repair of the world”) and Being with the pain in the world
29:14 – St. John of the Cross and the Dark Night of the Soul
38:20 – Mirabai’s Dark Night of the Soul in Losing Her Daughter Jenny
41:59 – The Portal into Grief
47:23 – The Importance of Grieving in Community
49:44 – Mirabai’s Online Grief Community
Cornelius Boots is a woodwinding pioneer, composer and root philosopher. He is a nanotheist and elemental-nature lover.
After a 30-year career of high-caliber jazz, classical, rock and experimental music activities (on multiple woodwinds with a focus on the bass clarinet), Boots has now positioned himself at the crossroads of personal expression and divine revelation, exclusively playing bamboo shakuhachi (jinashi/hotchiku) and its baritone brother, Taimu. He is the founder of Black Earth Shakuhachi School, and composes music for The Heavy Roots Shakuhachi Ensemble, the world’s first bass shakuhachi group. (For bass clarinet and Edmund Welles-related information, go here.)
In 2018, he was a World Shakuhachi Competition finalist and featured at Sony PlayStation’s E3 (LA). Also in 2018, he performed at the World Bamboo Congress (Xalapa, Mexico) and the World Shakuhachi Festival (London). In 2019, Boots founded the Heavy Roots Shakuhachi Ensemble, debuting at SF Music Day. In 2020, the Boots received a Musical Grant Program Award from InterMusic SF to compose four movements of Wood Prophecy, a woodwind chamber saga for the Heavy Roots. The music video for his composition “Green Swampy Water” won Best Music Video in the Tokyo International Short Film Festival in January 2021.
Cornelius is a sought-after composer, performer, and teacher. He is reshaping the landscape of modern shakuhachi performance and teaching through introducing a robust body of new compositions and a set of expressive signature techniques.
Music from Today’s episode by Cornelius Boots
“Black Earth” from Sacred Root: Kung Fu Flute & Buddhist Blues (Shakuhachi Unleashed Vol. III)
“IV. Dark Hallow” and “V. Wood Prophecy” from Wood Prophecy
From the SAND Archives we present a conversation between SAND co-founder Maurizio Benazzo and biologist and writer Merlin Sheldrake from SAND’s Wisdom in Times of Crisis Series (2020).
In this talk they discuss Merlin’s book Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures.
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam, works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), and sits on the advisory board of the Fungi Foundation.
Merlin’s research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion.
Joan Tollifson is a writer and lifelong explorer of what is. Her background includes Buddhism, Advaita, nontraditional meditative inquiry, radical nonduality, martial arts, somatic work, addiction recovery, political activism, visual arts, and a devotion to both boundless presence and the beauty of the ordinary. Joan has held public and private meetings as well as occasional workshops and retreats since 1996. Her bare-bones approach is open, direct, down-to-earth, and rooted in the ever-fresh aliveness here and now. She encourages people to question the stories, beliefs and misunderstandings that create so much of our human suffering and confusion, especially our tendency to mistake conceptual maps for the living actuality. Rather than relying on outside authorities, traditional ideas, acquired knowledge or beliefs, this is about the immediacy of present experiencing, just as it is. Joan has been with many different teachers and non-teachers and was especially close with Toni Packer, a former Zen teacher who left that tradition behind to work in a simpler and more open way, but Joan does not identify with or represent any particular tradition or way of working. Joan describes her writings and meetings with people as explorations, "like a child exploring its toes or a lover exploring the beloved," and she adds, "There is no end to such explorations, all of which are forms of play." Joan is the author of Bare-Bones Meditation: Waking Up from the Story of My Life (1996), Awake in the Heartland: The Ecstasy of What Is (2003), Painting the Sidewalk with Water: Talks and Dialogs about Nonduality (2010), Nothing to Grasp (2012), and Death: The End of Self-Improvement (2019). Joan has lived in northern California, rural New York state, and Chicago, and currently resides in southern Oregon.
Links:
SAND Talks with Joan:
Death the End of Self Improvement
Kabir Helminski is co-director, with his wife, Camille Helminski, of the Threshold Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge and practice of Sufism. He is the author of Living Presence and the translator of four volumes of Rumi’s poetry, including Love Is a Stranger and Rumi: Daylight. His new book which we discuss on the podcast is The Mysterion: Rumi and the Secret of Becoming Fully Human.
Kabir's website: sufism.org
Mentioned in the episode: Can a Computer Become Conscious by Federico Faggin from the SAND18 Conference.
From the SAND Archives we present two talks from Christian Mystic, Richard Rohr from two SAND Conferences recorded before live audiences. The two talks are entitled “Christianity and Unknowing” from SAND16 and “The Christian Meaning Of Enlightenment” from SAND11.
Richard Rohr, as a Catholic priest and Franciscan Friar, offers a concise history of how Western Christianity once had, soon lost, tried to retrieve, and now is roundly rediscovering its own traditional understanding of unitive consciousness (which was our word for non-dual thinking). The Christian contemplative mind was usually a subtext, and yet it was always clearly there too, and much closer to the surface, but only for those exposed to the mystical base that was revealed in the Gospel of John, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, the Celtic and monastic traditions, and what was generally referred to as the apophatic or wisdom stream of Christianity. These were our many saints and mystics. This possibility was brought to the fore by Thomas Merton in the middle of the last century, and is now flowing in many positive directions. It is now our task to rediscover the pre-Enlightenment Christianity that reveled in "the cloud of unknowing", what some called "learned ignorance", and the very notion of Mystery itself. Only when we got into competition with rationalism and secularism, did we adopt this rather recent mania for certitude and a very limited kind of scientific knowing. Almost the entire history of Protestantism emerged in this period, and thus the contemplative mind is an utterly new revelation for them, and frankly for all of us, as we again learn to be comfortable living on the edge of both the knowable and the unknown.
Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard’s teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy—practices of contemplation and self-emptying, expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized. Fr. Richard is the author of numerous books, including Everything Belongs, Adam’s Return, The Naked Now, Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward, Immortal Diamond, and Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi.
https://cac.org/
By training, Gail Brenner is a licensed Ph.D. psychologist and trauma specialist with almost 30 years of experience offering individual sessions and group workshops. Her work as a therapist and teacher invites people to shed attachment to false identities, return to their essential wholeness, and realize the truth of who they are. In primarily group courses, she holds safe space for people to investigate patterns of early trauma that live in the mind, body, and heart—and are carried through family generations. And she welcomes celebration of the freedom that’s discovered when the attachment to these patterns falls away and there’s space for awakened living in everyday life. Her teaching is practical and accessible to all. She loves meeting with people who have tried everything and are still searching for an end to suffering.
Gail received her B.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and Ph.D. from Temple University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Florida and a clinical internship at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. She has special expertise working with older adults and their families, bringing clear seeing and compassion to the transitions of aging, death, and dying. As a member of the clinical faculty at University of California, San Francisco, she helped physicians develop communication skills and learn to address psychosocial issues with their patients. She has authored numerous published articles on coping with stress and chronic medical illness. And, for 15 years, she consulted with staff of assisted living and skilled nursing facilities about aging, dementia, and caregiving and gave presentations to the community at large on these topics.
Gail is the author of three books: The End of Self-Help: Discovering Peace and Happiness Right at the Heart of Your Messy, Scary, Brilliant Life, At the Core of Every Heart: Reflections, Insights, and Practices for Waking Up and Living Free, and Suffering Is Optional: A Spiritual Guide to Freedom from Self-Judgment and Feelings of Inadequacy.
As a blogger, she has been featured on CNN, Huffington Post, Zen Habits, MindBodyGreen, Tiny Buddha, Inspire Me Today, and the Undivided Journal. She is on the board of Science and Nonduality (SAND).
After a PhD thesis on non separability and non locality in Quantum theory, Dr Vandana Shiva studied non separation between forests, soil and water, the Green revolution in Punjab and the relationship between violence against nature by chemical agriculture and emergence of violence in society. Since then, she has kept working on the link between seeds, plants, soil, climate, and biodiversity. This talk is hosted by Alnoor Ladha and Maurizio & Zaya Benazzo. This talk was recorded from the SAND series Wisdom of Time of Crisis from 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Please excuse the audio quality of this recording. We hope you can listen past the audio glitches and low fidelity to the power of Dr. Shiva’s message.
Ash Canty (they/he) is a Death Walker & Psychic Medium. Their ancestors are Indigenous peoples of West Africa, Cherokee, Iroquois, Blackfeet and Northern European. They support and walk others in the threshold and ritual of their own unique death and dying process. They are led by spirit, ancestors, and nature in all that they do. They teach many programs that support others in the liberation of their soul and coming back to their spirit.
Ash creates deep spaciousness for others to be able to step into a non-linear time space to hold conversations around being with the grief & praise of being alive. They provide virtual death care services to families and loved ones who are in the active stages of dying. They are regenerated by the earth and the land of the Kalapuya Peoples on which they live on through gardening, listening, canning, hand crafting, and indigenous practices of their ancestors.
This conversation is from the Wisdom of Trauma Talks on Trauma Series (2021).
Somatic Abolitionism is living, embodied anti-racist practice and cultural building —a way of being in the world. It is a return to the age-old wisdom of human bodies respecting, honoring, and resonating with other human bodies. It is not a exclusively a goal, an attitude, a belief, an idea, a strategy, a movement, a plan, a system, a political position, or a step forward.
Resmaa Menakem is an American author and psychotherapist specialising in the effects of trauma on the human body and the relationship between trauma, white body supremacy, and racism in America. He is the author of “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies,” published in September 2017, which appeared on the New York Times bestseller list in May 2021 and "The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating our Nation's Upheaval and Racial Reckoning," published in 2022.He is also the founder of the Cultural Somatics Institute.
Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr. Gabor Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.
After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in over thirty languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction; When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; and (with Dr. Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. His next book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture is due out on September 13, 2022. His second next book, Hello Again: A Fresh Start for Parents and Their Adult Children is expected in 2023. Gabor is also co-developer of a therapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by hundreds of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others internationally. More on his books and programs can be found here.
Monica Gagliano is a research associate professor in evolutionary ecology and former fellow of the Australian Research Council. She is currently based at Southern Cross University, where she directs the Biological Intelligence Lab funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. She has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own “voices” and detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory) in plants. Her latest book is Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic Books, 2018). / monicagagliano.com / Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness
“…In our daily lives, the body is seldom tasted as it is. We rarely listen to its language or allow it to simply unfold and blossom in its natural original intelligence.”
—Ellen Emmet
Ellen Emmet offers meetings and retreats in The Awakening Body, a direct exploration of experience sourced in the non-dual tradition of Kashmir Shivaism, Authentic Movement, and self-inquiry. In addition, she has a private practice as a Psychotherapist with a Jungian orientation.
More info about Ellen and her weekly sessions and private sessions – https://www.ellenemmet.com/
Ellen’s upcoming retreat in March – https://www.ellenemmet.com/retreat-at-the-eden-rise
Shadow and Nonduality: A Cry of the Heart By Ellen Emmet – https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/shadow-and-nonduality-a-cry-of-the-heart
Ellen’s video at SAND – The Awakening Body – https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/video/the-awakening-body
This is a recording from the 2022 Community Conversation between with guest Iya Affo and SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
Very few people are aware of the impact of historical trauma. Historical trauma is trauma so deeply rooted in the subconscious we may not even know it is there. It can leave us feeling anxious, irritable, sad, and hopeless… and we have no idea why. But once we begin to see the larger context of our trauma, then a more holistic healing can begin.
Iya Affo is a Culturalist and Historical Trauma consultant. She earned Western certification as a Trauma Specialist and is a descendant of a long line of traditional healers from Bénin, West Africa. Iya serves as an Executive Board Member for the Arizona ACEs Consortium, is an Adjunct Faculty member at the Arizona Trauma Institute, and is the founder of Heal Historical Trauma Culture & Indigenous Wellness Academy. She has visited more than 30 countries; living in Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Native American, and Yoruba communities, embracing aspects from each culture for personal evolution. She strives to transcend tolerance through cultivating love and respect in hopes of facilitating the decolonization and subsequent healing of indigenous people from all over the world. Iya advocates for the harmonization of Traditional Medicine and Western Medicine for true holistic healing.
Iya's passion is to cultivate intergenerational healing by connecting intuitive ancestral practices with modern neurobiology. As we delve into leveraging our neurobiology to facilitate the healing process, we will also explore re-culturing and the creation of self-harmonizing communities.
Iya Affo’s Website
Topics
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:51 Introducing Iya Affo
02:31 Iya's Personal Journey
05:57 Understanding Historical Trauma
10:14 Resilience and Cultural Connections
11:57 The Role of Names and Identity
16:25 Tools for Healing and Resilience
19:12 The Importance of Cultural Practices
24:35 Epigenetics and Generational Trauma
26:34 Storytelling and Historical Context
26:54 Ancestral Vigilance and Survival Instincts
29:05 Epigenetics and Generational Trauma
30:50 Impact of Historical Trauma on Modern Behavior
34:52 Challenges of Western Medicine in Indigenous Communities
43:51 Traditional Healing Practices and Neurological Regulation
Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member
"The essence of the Universe is vibration,
quenchless energy in motion, e-motion.
My work is about experiencing the Source and its manifestation
through sound, emotions, and body awareness." ~ Laura Inserra
Laura Inserra is a sound alchemist, a technician of the sacred, and a multimedia producer. She lives and creates at the confluence of music, wisdom schools, and cutting edge technology.
She grew up on the volcanic island of Sicily and has been exploring the powerful world of sound since her youngest years. Both a self-taught and classically trained musician, her career has many facets — multi- instrumentalist, composer, sound healer, teacher, artistic director, and producer.
Laura plays acoustic instruments from around the globe and combines them with wisdom practices to facilitate self-exploration, transformation, and healing. After 30+ years of studies and initiations in ancient traditions and modern schools of wisdoms, she has developed a unique practice called MetaMusic Healing, a blend of sound healing, spiritual guidance, and vibrational work.
She keeps exploring and evolving her skills to fulfill the purpose of her life-path. Both with individuals and groups, Laura creates opportunities for people to connect to the pulse of life, to experience various states of consciousness, and to learn tools for a regenerative living and healing.
https://www.laurainserra.com/
Music from Episode by Laura Inserra:
Excerpts from “Discovering the Wisdom of Trauma with Gabor Maté” – https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/webinar/discovering-the-wisdom-of-trauma
“Hang Upright” from Hang Tales Vol. 1 - live recording
“Unknown Path” from Attitude
Purchase & download Laura’s music: https://laurainserra.bandcamp.com/
“The mind creates the abyss, and the heart crosses it.” — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
A deep and insightful dialog between A.H. Almaas, founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-realization and Thomas Hübl, founder of the Academy of Inner Science.
This conversation was recorded from a 2022 SAND Community Gathering facilitated by SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo.
In this meeting between two leading contemporary spiritual teachers they explored:
In today’s world of fast-food spirituality, we can get caught in the illusion of finding a spiritual ‘fix’ for the challenges of life. In this conversation, we will look at the notion of integrated spirituality, and how effective spiritual practice needs time and space to be deeply nourishing, healing and sustainable. Join us to explore what it means to commit to a spiritual path and to live with an awakened heart.
Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), Founder of the Diamond Approach, was born in the Middle East, but at age 18 he moved to the USA to study at the University of California in Berkeley. Hameed was working on his Ph.D. in physics, where he was studying Einstein's theory of general relativity and nuclear physics, when he reached a turning point in his life and destiny that led him more and more into inquiring into the psychological and spiritual aspects of human nature. Hameed is the founder of the Diamond Approach®—a spiritual teaching that utilizes a unique kind of inquiry into realization, where the practice is the expression of realization. Freedom is living our realization, a dynamic enlightenment where our transcendent nondual truth lives personally in the world. This inquiry opens up the infinite creativity of our Being, transforming our lives into a runaway realization, moving from realization to further realization. Almaas' books include: Love Unveiled, Unfolding Now, and The Keys to the Enneagram.
Thomas Hübl is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator whose lifelong work integrates the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has been leading large-scale events and courses that focus on the healing and integration of trauma, with a special focus on the shared history of Israelis and Germans. Over the last decade, he has facilitated dialogue with thousands of people around healing the collective traumas of racism, oppression, colonialism, genocides in the U.S., Israel, Germany, Spain, and Argentina. He has been teaching workshops and presenting trainings for Harvard Medical School since 2019. His non-profit organization, the Pocket Project, works to support the healing of collective trauma throughout the world. He is the author of the book, Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, which outlines his methodology called the “Collective Trauma Integration Process” as a safe framework for guiding groups through collective trauma.
In this episode, we discuss the life and work of musician and Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan with composer/pianist and Inayat Khan scholar Michael Harrison.
Hazrat Inayat Khan (Urdu: عنایت خان رحمت خان) (5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorization at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani (d. 1907) of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism (the Sufi Order) in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published.
Michael Harrison (called "an American maverick" by Philip Glass) forges a new approach to composition through just intonation (the system of tuning based on pure harmonic proportions). His works blend classical music traditions of Europe and North India. He is a Guggenheim Fellowship and NYFA Artist Fellowship recipient.
Michael creates dedicated tuning systems for many of his works. He pioneered a structural approach to composition in which the proportions of harmonic relationships organically determine other musical elements such as pitch, duration, and dynamics. He also invented the "harmonic piano," a grand piano that plays 24 notes per octave, documented in the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Harrison seeks expressions of universality via the physics of sound – music that brings one into a state of concentrated listening as a meditative and even mind-altering experience.
Links
Music for today’s Episode
In this moving and powerful conversation with Pat McCabe hosted by SAND friend and presenter Lynn Murphy from SAND’s Wisdom in Times of Crisis series.
At this time we are collective examining our human generated systems, worldview, purpose, or our paradigm. What if paradigm was a choice? Indigenous peoples the world over share the same planet, the same water, soil, sky, sun, moon, but how they place themselves relative to these elements is entirely different from how modern world interprets their own humanity. By exploring some of the differences between these two ways of looking at ourselves, what possibilities are revealed for us to move forward in new relationship to ourselves, to each other and to larger than human community?
Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honor of being human.
Her primary work at the moment is:
Lynn Murphy is a strategic advisor for foundations and NGOs working in the geopolitical South. She was a senior fellow and program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where she focused on international education and global development. She resigned as a “conscientious objector” to neocolonial philanthropy. She holds an MA and PhD in international comparative education from Stanford University. She is also a certified Laban/Bartenieff movement analyst.
An excerpt from the four day webinar The Wandering, Winding Way of the Wound with Bayo Akomolafe and Sophie Strand exploring the Politics of Cure, the Shadows of Harm Reduction, and Transgressive Networks of Care at World End.
You can enroll in the Course here: https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/webinar/wandering-winding-way
Also coming up a Community Gathering with Sophie Strand is happening next week at SAND.
We Must Risk New Shapes with Sophie Strand
Wednesday, December 28, 2022 10–11:30am PST
A live online conversation facilitated by Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo
Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine will be published by Inner Traditions in Fall 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe for her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com. Follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. He sits on the Board of many organizations including Science and Non-Duality (US) and Ancient Futures (Australia). In July 2022, Dr. Akomolafe was appointed the inaugural Global Senior Fellow of University of California’s (Berkeley) Othering and Belonging Institute. He has also been appointed Senior Fellow for The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany. He is the recipient of the New Thought Leadership Award 2021 and the Excellence in Ethnocultural Psychotherapy Award by the African Mental Health Summit 2022. www.bayoakomolafe.net
Science and Nonduality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in direct experience. We come together in an open-hearted exploration while celebrating our humanity.
In this entertaining talk from SAND18, James Fadiman, "America's wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use," describes the citizen science of his recent investigations into the effects of microdosing, and shares some fascinating stories from the hundreds he has gathered in his ongoing research. jamesfadiman.com
Ayelet Waldman is the author of several novels, and A Really Good Day, a book that documents a month microdosing LSD as a radical solution to a life of suicidal depression. With humor and candor she introduces us to this story and describes the outcome. As a woman who has taught the legal implications of the War on Drugs at the UC Berkeley law school, Ayelet Waldman does not neglect the legal ramifications of the therapeutic use of psychedelics. ayeletwaldman.com
Science and Nonduality co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo host this Community Gathering with Dënesųłiné indigenous rights activist and climate activist Eriel Tchekwie Deranger.
This talk touches into such topics as intergenerational trauma, decolonizing spirituality, climte crisis, ransom economy, and our collective joy and pain.
Some links from the episode:
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger is a Dënesųłiné mother from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Executive Director and co-founder of Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), an Indigenous-led climate justice organization in so-called Canada. Deranger is a member of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, and sits on various boards including Bioneers, It Takes Roots Leadership Council, Climate Justice Resiliency Fund Council of Advisors, the UK Tar Sands Network and WWF Canada; and a founding member of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus.
Deranger’s work focuses on Indigenous rights and building intersectional dialogue between Indigenous rights, climate justice and other social justice movements. She is recognized for her role in the international Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign and developing the Tar Sands Healing Walk. This includes developing one of the first Indigenous rights-based divest movements; lobbying government officials in Canada, the US, the UK and the EU; supporting and leading mass mobilizations against the fossil fuel industry & climate change; and bringing international recognition to issues in her territory with celebrities and politicians alike.
Deranger has written for the Guardian, Yellowhead Institute, The National Observer, Red Pepper Magazine; has been featured in documentary films; and is regularly interviewed for national and international media outlets.
Science and Nonduality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in direct experience. We come together in an open-hearted exploration while celebrating our humanity.
In this conversation from the “Talks on Trauma” series Gabor investigates the paths of personal Trauma woven into the Buddhist and personal psychology fields for which Jack and Tara are so well known.
Find out more about this series “Talks on Trauma” as part of the “All Access Pass” from the film The Wisdom of Trauma: https://thewisdomoftrauma.com/store/
Tara Brach is an American psychologist, author, and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is a guiding teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. (IMCW). Brach also teaches about Buddhist meditation at centers for meditation and yoga in the United States and Europe, including Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California; the Kripalu Center, and the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.
Brach is an Engaged Buddhist, specializing in the application of Buddhist teachings and mindfulness meditation to emotional healing. She has authored several books on these subjects, including Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, and Radical Compassion.
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. After graduating from Dartmouth College in Asian Studies in 1967 he joined the Peace Corps and worked on tropical medicine teams in the Mekong River valley. He met and studied as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. Returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings, and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a father, husband and activist.
His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. They include, A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace, Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are, and his most recent book, No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are.
Dr. Gabor Maté
Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr. Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.
After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in over thirty languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction; When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; and (with Dr. Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. His next book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture is due out on September 13, 2022. His second next book, Hello Again: A Fresh Start for Parents and Their Adult Children is expected in 2023. Gabor is also co-developer of a therapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by hundreds of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others internationally. More on his books and programs can be found here.
Science and Nonduality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in direct experience. We come together in an open-hearted exploration while celebrating our humanity.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse is a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota and has a long history with Indigenous activism and advocacy. Tiokasin is the Founder, Host and Executive Producer of “First Voices Radio” (formerly “First Voices Indigenous Radio”) for the last 28 years in New York City and Seattle/Olympia, Washington. In 2016, he received a Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize from the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. Other recent recognitions include: Native Arts and Cultures Foundation National Fellowship in Music (2016), National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Nominee (2017), Indigenous Music Award Nominee for Best Instrumental Album (2019) and National Native American Hall of Fame Nominee (2018, 2019). He also was recently nominated for “Nominee for the 2020 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities”. He was also awarded New York City’s Peacemaker of the Year in 2013. Tiokasin is a “perfectly flawed human being.”
Alnoor Ladha is an activist, journalist, political strategist and community organiser. From 2012 to 2019 he was the co-founder and executive director of the global activist collective The Rules. He is currently the Council Chair for Culture Hack Labs. He holds an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics.
A conversation from the Dying and Living Summit (October 21-25 2020) with Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Alnoor Ladha, Zaya, and Maurizio Benazzo.
scienceandnonduality.com/podcast
Reach out to us at [email protected]
In episode #11 IONE is in conversation with Sounds of SAND Producer Michael Reiley McDermott
IONE is a noted author, playwright/director and poet whose works include the critically acclaimed memoir, Pride of Family Four Generations of American Women of Color, Listening in Dreams and This is a Dream!. Other works include; The Night Train to Aswan and Nile Night: Remembered Texts from the Deep and Spell Breaking; Remembered Ways of Being, and Anthology of Women’s Mysteries.
Links
Music from the Episode
Join Lynn Murphy and Alnoor Ladha in conversation with Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo about their new book, Post Capitalist Philanthropy: Healing Wealth in the Time of Collapse, as they explore the history of wealth accumulation to the current logic of late-stage capitalism — and ultimately to the lived possibilities of other ways of knowing, sensing and being that can usher in life-centric models. This ontological shift into new possibilities is at the heart of their work. Creating new-ancient-emerging realities is not simply about how we redistribute wealth or “fight power”, but rather, how we non-dualistically perceive and embody our actions in relationship to a dynamic, animistic world and cosmos.
The book is a result of decades of deep personal inquiry and practice, as well as hundreds of interviews with activists, philanthropists, philosophers, social scientists, cosmologists and wisdom keepers.
Order Post Capitalist Philanthropy here
Website: https://www.postcapitalistphilanthropy.org
Lynn and Alnoor's work: https://www.transitionresourcecircle.org/
Post Capitalist Philanthropy - Webinar Series starting Nov 11, 2022 transitionresourcecircle.org/events
In this live SAND Conference talk she offers some beautiful sacred wisdom from her Islamic tradition with that special Science and Nonduality flavor weaving her talk through the ancient and the modern, the light and dark in this talk.
In this talk she leads the live audience in some breathwork, chanting, and singing, so we invite you to tone along wherever you’re listening. She touches into:
And after the talk we have a special musical treat. Mona is a renowned recording artist and performer. And we’ll be featuring her song, “Hijabi (Wrap my Hijab)” after the talk so stick around for that!
Mona Hayder is a rapper, poet, activist, meditator, and speaker. She practices a life of sacred activist, contemplating and advocacy for living gently upon the Earth. She offers concerts, workshops, and leads retreats and gives lectures at universities all over the world.
In this episode we look back on a decade of talks by Peter with a conversation hosted by Sounds of SAND producer Michael Reiley McDermott. We touch into such concepts as
Peter Russell Originally studying mathematics and theoretical physics, became increasingly interested in the nature of consciousness, and in the late sixties traveled to India, to study meditation and Eastern philosophy. On his return he established a meditation center in Cambridge, England, and went on to pioneer the introduction of personal growth programs to corporations. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Global Brain, Waking Up In Time, and From Science to God, Seeds of Awakening and Letting Go of Nothing. At SAND conferences he has led morning meditation sessions that people have found very helpful. For more information on Peter visit: peterrussell.com
Peter’s Course with SAND – The Art of Letting Go
In this talk from the Talks on Trauma series from the Wisdom of Trauma All Access Pass Course. Dr. Gabor Maté hosts this expert panel of Indigenous teachers.
With Jesse Thistle, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Ruby Gibson, Patricia Vickers & Gabor Maté
Bios
Patricia Vickers, Ph.D., is currently an independent consultant. She is deeply committed to founding mental health services and research on ancestral teachings and principles. In 2019-2020, she completed a nurofeedback study on Haida Gwaii with highly positive results. Her areas of inquiry include trauma from a somatic and neurobiological perspective, teachings on soul loss and soul retrieval and expressive responses to life such as song, painting and dance. She is mother of four and grandmother of nine. Her Indigenous ancestry is rooted in Heiltsuk, Tsimshian and Haida Nations through her father and British through her mother. patriciajunevickers.com
Jesse Thistle
Assistant Professor, Author
Jesse Thistle’s award-winning memoir, From the Ashes, was a #1 national bestseller, and the bestselling Canadian book in 2020 and has remained atop bestseller lists since it was published. From the Ashes was a CBC Canada Reads finalist, an Indigo Best Book of 2019, and the winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Nonfiction, an Indigenous Voices Award, and High Plains Book Award. Jesse Thistle is Métis-Cree and an Assistant Professor at York University in Toronto. He is a PhD candidate in the History program at York where he is working on theories of intergenerational and historic trauma of the Métis people. Jesse has won the P.E. Trudeau and Vanier doctoral scholarships, and he is a Governor General medalist. Jesse is the author of the Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada published through the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and his historical research has been published in numerous academic journals, book chapters, and featured on CBC Ideas, CBC Campus, and Unreserved. A frequent keynote speaker, Jesse lives in Hamilton with his wife Lucie and is at work on multiple projects including his next book. jessethistle.com
Tiokasin Ghosthorse
Founder & Host "First Voices Radio", Speaker on Peace & Indigenous Wisdom
Tiokasin Ghosthorse is a member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota and has a long history with Indigenous activism and advocacy. Tiokasin is the Founder, Host and Executive Producer of “First Voices Radio” (formerly “First Voices Indigenous Radio”) for the last 28 years in New York City and Seattle/Olympia, Washington. In 2016, he received a Nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize from the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy. Other recent recognitions include: Native Arts and Cultures Foundation National Fellowship in Music (2016), National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Nominee (2017), Indigenous Music Award Nominee for Best Instrumental Album (2019) and National Native American Hall of Fame Nominee (2018, 2019). He also was recently nominated for “Nominee for the 2020 Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities”. He was also awarded New York City’s Peacemaker of the Year in 2013. Tiokasin is a “perfectly flawed human being.”
Dr. Ruby Gibson
Executive Director of Freedom Lodge, Author, Historical Trauma Specialist
A mixed-blood woman of Native and Mediterranean descent, Dr. Ruby Gibson lives on both the Flathead Reservation in MT, and in Rapid City, SD near Pine Ridge Agency. For 30+ years, Dr. Gibson has been dedicated to the craft and science of Historical Trauma reconciliation, cultural healing, and generational well-being among Native and Indigenous Peoples. She developed the intergenerational trauma recovery models - Somatic Archaeology© and Generational Brainspotting™. Dr. Gibson is the author of two books, My Body, My Earth, The Practice of Somatic Archaeology, and My Body, My Breath, A Tool for Transformation, which are both available in English and Spanish. Using our Body and Mother Earth as benevolent sources of biological, emotional and ancestral memory, her techniques were field tested on clients and students, and researched in her Doctoral studies with amazing effectiveness. Dr. Gibson developed and teaches the Historical Trauma Master Class, and builds leadership skills in Native Wellness amongst the graduates. She is honored to witness the courage and amazing capacity that each person has to reconcile suffering. As the mother of three beautiful children, one granddaughter, and one grandson. Dr. Ruby has a heart full of hope for the next seven generations! freedomlodge.org
Dr. Gabor Maté, M.D. is a physician and best-selling author whose books have been published in twenty languages. His interests include child development, the mind-body unity in health and illness, and the treatment of addictions. Gabor has worked in palliative care and as a family physician, and for fourteen years practiced addiction medicine in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. As a speaker he regularly addresses professional and lay audiences throughout North America. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including a Simon Fraser University Outstanding Alumnus Award and an honorary degree from the University of Northern British Columbia. His most recent book is The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture. gabormate.com
Today, we present wild and flowering conversation between two poets, writers, philosophers, and theobiologians Bayo Akomalofe and Sophie Strand.
This conversation is from a 2022 SAND Community Gathering. To hear the full conversation with Q&A from the live webinar you can view it here.
In Greek Mythology, the Titan Kronos eats an indigestible stone and vomits up the new Olympic pantheon of gods. In our current time, people planted in stratigraphic layers of shared trauma find themselves uniquely ill – physically and mentally. We are unable to digest food and unable to digest violence. What if indigestion – practical and mythical – was a sign that a new world was threatening to be born? The very basis of our nucleated cells is an ancient botched bacterial cannibalism. What if our inability to digest certain injustices was an invitation to vomit up a new pantheon? And in an age when we are all threaded through with microplastics and blood pressure stabilizers, what does it mean to start to physically grow into new shapes around incursions we cannot properly assimilate or expel?
Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life-partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. He sits on the Board of many organizations including Science and Non-Duality (US) and Ancient Futures (Australia). In July 2022, Dr. Akomolafe was appointed the inaugural Global Senior Fellow of University of California’s (Berkeley) Othering and Belonging Institute. He has also been appointed Senior Fellow for The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany. He is the recipient of the New Thought Leadership Award 2021 and the Excellence in Ethnocultural Psychotherapy Award by the African Mental Health Summit 2022.
Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Yet it would probably be more authentic to call her a neo-troubadour animist with a propensity to spin yarns that inevitably turn into love stories. Give her a salamander and a stone and she’ll write you a love story. Sophie was raised by house cats, puff balls, possums, raccoons, and an opinionated, crippled goose. She believes strongly that all thinking happens interstitially – between beings, ideas, differences, mythical gradients.
She is the author of The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine and The Madonna Secret. She is also finishing a collection of essays about navigating an incurable genetic disease and early trauma through ecological storytelling.
You can subscribe to her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com, and follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.
Topics
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From SAND 18 with Peter Levine, the father of trauma therapy work, and Thomas Huebl, a spiritual teacher known for his work integrating healing of collective trauma, discussing the relationship between healing trauma and spiritual growth. One theme that repeats throughout the discussion is that we are all connected through the traumatization of the world and that the healing of trauma is a way of returning to the wholeness and fullness of living.
This talk was hosted by SAND co-founder Zaya Benazzo.
In the episode they discuss
Apologies for a few audio issues with this live recording. Hopefully, you can listen past that to the content of what they are offering!
And you’ll hear there’s QA from the audience at the end.
Peter Levine, Ph. D. is the founder and pioneer of Somatic Experiencing® (SE®)and has made it his life-time's work to continue developing it. He holds doctorates in both Medical Biophysics and Psychology. Peter's work led him to become a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle.
Thomas Hübl is a contemporary mystic, international spiritual teacher, and author of Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds (2020), whose work seeks to integrate the core insights of the great wisdom traditions with the discoveries of modern science.
And Zaya Benazzo is a filmmaker, producer, activist, and co-founder of SAND.
Science and Nonduality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in direct experience. We come together in an open-hearted exploration while celebrating our humanity.
Today on the podcast a profound yet light and sometimes funny conversation with Tibetan meditation master and teacher Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. This conversation is from SAND's Dying and Living online summit.
In the conversation, Tenzin and SAND's founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo delve into such topics as
Grief, Parenting, and the wisdom of Dzogchen and the Sutras.
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International. He is a respected and beloved teacher and meditation master in the Bön Buddhist tradition of Tibet. He has students in more than 25 countries, teaches around the world, and reaches thousands of students through his online programs.
Trained as a Bön monk, Rinpoche now lives as a householder, allowing him to more fully relate to the needs and concerns of his students. Known for the depth of his wisdom and his unshakeable commitment to helping students recognize their true nature, he is the author of many books and online courses.
Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo who conduct this conversation are the co-founders of Science and Nonduality, filmmakers, activists, and facilitators of conversations at the frontiers of consciousness.
Science and Nonduality is a community inspired by timeless wisdom, informed by cutting-edge science, and grounded in direct experience. We come together in an open-hearted exploration while celebrating our humanity.
scienceandnonduality.com/podcast
Reach out to us at [email protected]
In this magnificent talk from the SAND 2018 Radiant Intimacy gathering,Esther Perel offers fresh insights into
She concludes with answers to a series of questions from the audience, which confirm her reputation as one of the most brilliant and original authorities in the natural history of relationships.
So we hope you enjoy this foray into an important and ever-evolving topic we explore at Science and Nonduality – the nature of love and relationships.
Psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author Esther Perel is recognized as one of today’s most insightful and original voices on modern relationships. Learn more at EstherPerel.com or by following @EstherPerelOfficial on Instagram.
scienceandnonduality.com/podcast
Reach out to us at [email protected]
Sounds of SAND presents an in-depth and provocative conversation from Science and Nonduality’s “Death and Dying” online summit. A long-time friend of SAND Stephen Jenkinson offers a frank dialog with SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo. This conversation took place during the first months of COVID which you’ll hear Stephen talk about as “the plague” they also touch upon:
Stephen Jenkinson is an activist, teacher, author, and farmer. He's the founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Tramore, Canada, and the author of four books, including Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, the award-winning book about grief and dying and the great love of life. And stick around until the end of the podcast to hear a spoken word musical collaboration from Stephen and Gregory Hoskins from their Nights of Grief and Mystery project.
Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo are the co-founders and directors of SAND and their many offerings, events, and films. Their latest film is The Wisdom of Trauma which has been viewed by over six million people in 230 countries around the world.
In a rare meeting of minds, Gabor Mate asks Adyashanti explore whether there is a predilection for spirituality and expand on passages from Adyashanti’s recent book My Secret Is Silence.
Discussion topics in this episode:
In a rare meeting of minds, Dr. Gabor Maté asks Adyashanti explore whether there is a predilection for spirituality and expand on passages from Adyashanti’s recent book My Secret Is Silence
Discussion topics in this episode:
Dr. Gabor Maté
Rather than offering quick-fix solutions to these complex issues, Dr. Maté weaves together scientific research, case histories, and his own insights and experience to present a broad perspective that enlightens and empowers people to promote their own healing and that of those around them.
After 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, Dr. Maté worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in over thirty languages, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction; When the Body Says No; The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder; and (with Dr. Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers. His next book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture is due out on September 13, 2022. His second next book, Hello Again: A Fresh Start for Parents and Their Adult Children is expected in 2023. Gabor is also co-developer of a therapeutic approach, Compassionate Inquiry, now studied by hundreds of therapists, physicians, counselors, and others internationally. More on his books and programs can be found here. https://drgabormate.com
Dr. Gabor Maté
Adyashanti (whose name means “primordial peace”) is an American-born spiritual teacher who has been teaching for 26 years. His teachings include evening meetings, weekend intensives, silent retreats, live internet broadcasts, and online courses. He has taught throughout the US and also in Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and Australia. More than 30,000 people in 120 countries are connected to his website through free email subscription. He is the author of eleven books. https://www.adyashanti.org.
Find out more at scienceandnonduality.com/podcast
Reach out to us at [email protected]
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.