Sounds of SAND
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.
Episodes
What Occupation Does to the Soul: Samah Jabr, Gabor Maté, Jennifer Mullan, Facilitated by Jess Ghannam
Global Reverberations of Palestinian Historical Trauma: A SAND Community Gathering with Dr. Samah Jabr, Dr. Gabor Maté & Dr. Jennifer Mullan, facilitated by Dr. Jess Ghannam
Join us for a conversation marking the book launch of Radiance and Pain in Resilience, a powerful collection of essays by Palestinian psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and internationally respected mental health advo
Animism, Activism & Ancestry: Daniel Foor
Daniel Foor returns to Sounds of SAND for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from his own winding spiritual path to the urgent question of why so many spiritual teachers stay silent in the face of injustice. A doctor of psychology, initiated priest in the Yoruba Ifá tradition, and practicing Muslim, Daniel makes the case that animism is the antidote to human supremacy, that Islam is f
Tending the Whole: Nkem Ndefo & Staci K. Haines, Facilitated by Rae Abileah
There is a “false wall” often placed between contemplative life and political action—a story implying that inner peace and outer justice are separate vocations. This imaginary divide exhausts us. In a world facing converging crises, how do those dedicated to healing move beyond the limits of individualized work to support systemic transformation?
Join somatics experts and social change pr
Sacred Remembering in Times of War: Dr. Jaiya John (Mshkiki Odeh Inini, Medicine Heart Man)
Recorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (April 2026)
Hard times are here, we hunger for voices that can see beyond the fear, beyond the noise, beyond the technologies consuming our attention. We need poets and visionaries. People who remember freedom.
Dr. Jaiya John (Mshkiki Odeh Inini, Medicine Heart Man), medicine poet, freedom worker, is one of those voices. He has spent his life g
Awakening in Times of Collapse: Stephan Bodian
Stephan offers webinars, retreats, videos, books, and spiritual counseling that make profound spiritual teachings and practices accessible to a global audience. He studied and practiced for many years with great masters in the nondual wisdom traditions of Zen, Dzogchen-Mahamudra, and Advaita Vedanta, and in 2001 he received Dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from Adyashanti.
In
Mysticism of Sound & Music: Michael Harrison (Encore)
We are resharing this episode in memory of Michael Harrison, who passed away on April 17, 2026. He was 67.
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 ( July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vin
The Great AI Unraveling, Part 2: Tiokasin Ghosthorse & Pooja Prema
This is the second gathering in SAND's ongoing series on AI and the human spirit — and it takes a deliberately different rhythm. Rather than asking "is AI safe?" or "will it take our jobs?", Tiokasin Ghosthorse and Pooja Prema invite us to slow down and ask the deeper questions: What cosmology is AI extending? What is intelligence, really? And what happens when the earth-based, organic, l
The Indigenous Paradigm: Pat McCabe & Lynn Murphy
Originally recorded at Science and Nonduality, 2021
Pat McCabe, also known as Woman Stands Shining, is a Diné elder, ceremonial prayer leader, and international speaker adopted into the Lakota spiritual way of life. In this conversation hosted by Lynn Murphy, Pat offers a profound invitation to examine the foundational assumptions of the modern world paradigm and consider what it might me
What Empire Cannot Erase: Fatemeh Keshavarz-Karamustafa, Omid Safi & Mays Imad
Persian Poetry, Radical Love, and the Soul of Iran“The path to God goes through that most difficult of beings, the human being.”
– Omid SafiRecorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (April 2026). Watch the full conversation on the SAND Website.
We are watching, once again, what empire does: not only to bodies, but to the long memory of a people; to the libraries and sacred sites;
The Great AI Unraveling: Tristan Harris
Recorded live at SAND Community Gathering (April 2026). Watch the full conversion on the SAND Website.
SAND has launched a special series on Artificial Intelligence.
To premiere this series, we spoke with tech ethicist Tristan Harris—co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. In this conversation, we explored his warnings about the impending age of AI. According to Harris, the
Mongolian Dharma Poetry: Simon Wickhamsmith
Simon Wickhamsmith is a Buddhist monk turned scholar, computer musician, and one of the only translators of Mongolian literature into English. He teaches in the Writing Program at Rutgers University and has been traveling back and forth to Mongolia since 2006. In this conversation he traces his spiritual path from Catholicism through Tibetan Buddhism and back to medieval Christian mystic
Ancient Minoan Wisdom: Chiara Baldini
Researcher, author, and PhD candidate Chiara Baldini has spent two decades tracing the roots of ecstatic culture in Europe — from the rituals of Dionysus all the way back to Bronze Age Crete and the ancient Minoans, a civilization that thrived for over a thousand years before classical Greece. In this conversation, Chiara makes a compelling case that the Minoans may have been the only adv
The Architecture of Silence in Spiritual Culture: Gabor Maté, Bayo Akomolafe, Pat McCabe, Tara Brach, V & Matthew Remski
Recorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (March 2026).
Something is cracking open in the spiritual and wellness world; and it has been for a while. Have wisdom traditions containing genuine gifts been composted into a product that only serves the very forces those traditions were born to resist?
It is no news that some powerful spiritual leaders with devoted followers have, for a long
Transforming Colonization, Extractivism & Socio-Ecological Injustice: Casey Camp-Horinek, Osprey Orielle Lake, Abby Reyes & Rae Abileah
Recorded live at SAND's Wisdom of the Ancestors event for the launch of the film series The Eternal Song, four powerful voices converge to address colonization, extractivism, and ecological injustice — and what it takes to move toward healing. Moderated by Rae Abileah, social change strategist, Jewish faith leader, and co-creator of the global Climate Ribbon art ritual.
Abby Reyes, author
Reading As Resistance: Patty Krawec
Patty Krawec is Ojibwe Anishinaabe, a retired social worker, and author of Becoming Kin and her new book Bad Indians Book Club. In this conversation she explores kinship beyond blood, land as ancestor, and why reading together — slowly, in community — might be one of the most quietly radical things we can do right now.
Topics
00:00 Introduction
00:56 Meeting Patty Krawec
02:00 Land Linea
Block by Block, Heart by Heart: Dr. Lyla June, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg & Rae Abileah
Recorded from a live SAND Gathering (February 2026). From Los Angeles to Minneapolis, communities are turning toward one another in a time of uncertainty, remembering that care begins close to home. Beyond public action, quieter networks of support are taking root: block-by-block relationships grounded in land, lineage, and love.
This gathering explores how spiritual practice, trauma-awar
Medicine in Our Wounds: Liza Rankow
Dr. Liza J. Rankow, author of Soul Medicine for a Fractured World, explores healing justice in a time of social and ecological upheaval. She names oppositional dualism and domination as the root fracture of our world and invites a shift toward lived non-duality as the ground of lasting transformation. The conversation touches the “crucible of the in-between,” apocalypse as death and renew
"If I Must Die": Samah Jabr & Mays Imad
Recorded live at a SAND Community Gathering (Feb 2026)
Dr. Samah Jabr, a Palestinian psychiatrist and author of Radiance in Pain and Resilience, joins Dr. Mays Imad (with questions from the audience chat) for a conversation about what it means to stay human when the structures meant to protect people are the ones doing the harm. Drawing on decades of clinical work inside the occupati
Consciousness: Tiokasin Ghosthorse
What if language was not a tool for naming things, but a vibration of relationship?
What if intelligence wasn’t a human asset, but an ecological rhythm?
What if consciousness is not what happens in our heads—but what happens between us, through us, with the land, with water, with wind?
Come gather for a conversation with Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Cheyenne River Lakota elder, host of Fir
Listening in Reverie: Ellen Emmet
In this conversation, Ellen Emmet reflects on her path into Jungian analysis and how the teachings of Carl Jung continue to shape her inner life, clinical work, and spiritual inquiry. Together, we explore what it means to hold depth psychology and nondual realization in the same field—without collapsing one into the other.
The dialogue moves through questions of decolonizing therapy, the
Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty: Francis Weller
From a SAND Community Gathering (December 2025), Francis Weller joins SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo for a wide-ranging conversation on grief, initiation, and the sacred thresholds of a changing world.
They speak of rough passages and necessary descents—of what must burn away, and what endures. With Francis’s steady guidance, sorrow, longing, beauty, and vulnerability a
Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Dr. Leroy Little Bear
Blackfoot scholar Dr. Leroy Little Bear shares foundational Indigenous ways of knowing—revealing a worldview built on energy, motion, and relationship rather than matter, time, and separation.In this conversation, Little Bear illuminates how Blackfoot philosophy understands reality through "interpretive templates"—cultural lenses shaped by language, land, and cosmology. Where Western thou
Healing with Songlines: Joe Williams & Dr. (Uncle) Paul Gordon
This episode was recorded live at The Eternal Song Film Gathering in 2025. Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo welcome Dr. (Uncle) Paul Gordon and Joe Williams, featured in the upcoming SAND Film In the Circle of Life premiering January 20, 2026. In this conversation they discuss the profound importance of connection to the land, cultural heritage, and traditional practices in achieving welln
Dispatches Through the Rubble: Haidar Eid & Ashira Darwish
From a recent SAND Community Gathering (December 2025). This urgent conversation, facilitated by Ashira Darwish and rooted in Haidar Eid’s new book Banging on the Walls of the Tank, moves through the fractured present of Gaza, bringing forth a chorus of resistance, mourning, refusal, and clarity.
This is a dispatch from within the rubble, the classroom, the lull between airstrikes.
Threshold Voices: Sounds of SAND 2025
This final episode of 2025 reflects on a year of transitions and healing, focusing on themes of intergenerational trauma, collective grief, and social justice, especially in the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Through diverse voices including Dr. Gabor Maté, Naomi Klein, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Ashira Darwish, Omid Safi, Kazu Haga, and others, the episode delves into personal and co
Engaged Contemplation: Father Adam Bucko
In this episode of The Sounds of SAND podcast, host Michael Reiley speaks with Father Adam Bucko about his journey and the integration of Christian contemplative spirituality with social justice activism. Father Adam shares his formative experiences growing up in Poland during the resistance against totalitarian government, his work with marginalized youth in the United States and India,
Therapy Is Not Neutral: Dr. Jennifer Mullan & Iya Affo
A Decolonial Invitation to Remember, Relearn, and Resist
From a live SAND Community Gathering (November 2025) a live conversation with Dr. Jennifer Mullan & Iya Affo.
Their discussion emphasizes the importance of ancestral wisdom, collective healing, and the decolonization of therapeutic practices. Dr. Mullan shares her personal journey of reconciling traditional healing method
Trauma Healing: Gabor Maté, Judy Atkinson, Patricia June Vickers, Diana Kopua, Del Laverdure
This episode, recorded live at The Eternal Song live gathering (June 2025), brings together a distinguished panel featuring Patricia June Vickers, Judy Atkinson, Dr. Diana Kopua, and Donald “Del” Lavedure, moderated by Dr. Gabor Maté. The discussion explores the integration of ancestral wisdom and modern therapeutic methods to address and heal trauma within Indigenous communities. The gro
Radical Symbiosis: Cara Judea Alhadeff
Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff discusses her work and the profound ideas in her book Zazu Dreams: Between the Scarab and the Dung Beetle, A Cautionary Fable for the Anthropocene Era. She explores themes of dream consciousness, cultural and ecological extinction, radical symbiosis, and the concept of apocalyptic parenting as a strategy for social justice and ecological ethics, an antidote t
Trauma in a Time of Collapse: Kazu Haga
What does it mean to stay tender in times of unraveling?
In this live SAND Community Gathering (November 2025), SAND co-founders, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo spend the hour with activist and author Kazu Haga. This conversation invites us into a collective inquiry about healing, justice, and the radical courage of vulnerability. Drawing from his work on restorative justice and Kingian nonvio
Tending the Threshold: Bayo Akomolafe
Recorded live at The Eternal Song Seven Day Film Premiere Gathering.
In this episode, hosts Maurizio and Zaya engage in deep conversation with Yoruba philosopher and post-humanist thinker Bayo Akomolafe. In this episode, Bayo shares a Yoruba creation myth involving the Orishas, highlighting the importance of flow and memory. He reflects on his journey as a psychologist in Nigeria an
The Medicine Story: Jungwon Kim & Linda Thai
Hosted by SAND’s Lisa Breschi Almond, this poignant discussion entitled 'War's Long Shadow Part Two: The Medicine of Story' was recorded live as a recent SAND Gathering. The show features two heartfelt stories of their first-hand accounts of post-war trauma shared by Linda Thai and Jungwon Kim. The conversation explores personal narratives of war trauma and generational grief, focusing on
Decolonial Healing & Liberation: Dr. Thema Bryant
In this episode, SAND co-founders and hosts Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo welcome Dr. Thema Bryant, a tenured professor of psychology and former President of the American Psychological Association, to discuss holistic healing, ancestral wisdom, and collective liberation. Dr. Bryant emphasizes the importance of recognizing both individual and collective trauma, the power of storytelling, and t
Rongoā Māori: Donna Kerridge
Recorded live at The Eternal Song Seven Day Film Premiere summit with Indigenous voices.
Donna Kerridge, a Rongoā Māori practitioner from Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand, shares insights into her journey bridging Māori traditional medicine and the Western healthcare system. Kerridge discusses the challenges and beauty of indigenous healing practices, emphasizing the significance of co
Reindigenizing Our Ways of Being: Tina Ngata, Diana and Mark Kopua
In this panel from the The Eternal Song 7-Day Global Gathering Schedule, Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo speak with Dr. Diana Kopua, a Māori psychiatrist, Mark Kopua, a cultural leader and master carver, and Tina Ngata, an advocate for indigenous and environmental rights. The conversation explores the significance of revitalizing indigenous knowledge, ancestral connections, and reindigeni
ALTÆR: Iya Affo
Ancestral Bone Mapping & Healing: Reweaving the Soul Through Bone, Beauty, and Ancestral Nourishment with Iya AffoThrough rhythms of beauty, grief, and intergenerational wisdom, this presentation and conversation explored healing through the languages of somatic ritual, trauma-informed neurobiology, and ancestral remembering.
Iya Affo is a Culturalist and Historical Trauma consultant.
We Will Not Look Away: Vigil for Gaza
Please join us along with Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Ashira Darwish, Rae Abileah, Shahd Abusalama, Omid Safi, Reverend Michael Yoshii, and Iyas Sartawari for a reckoning.
A collective refusal. A gathering of those who cannot stay silent while genocide is livestreamed.
We do not come together to be informed. We come because we already know.
We come because we refuse to normalize atrocity.
We com
The Sacred Work of Grief: Francis Weller & Orland Bishop
In this live recording from The Eternal Song Seven Day Premier broadcast, hosts Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo engage in a deep discussion with guests Francis Weller, a psychotherapist and soul activist, and Orland Bishop, a spiritual teacher and founder of ShadeTree Foundation. Exploring themes such as indigenous wisdom, the impact of colonialism, communal grieving, and the necessity of recon
#60 Spiritual Warriors: Lama Rod Owens
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 Radic
#94 One Human Family: Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Rev. Deborah Lee & Pir Zia Inayat Khan
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,
#58 On Extinction & Enchantment: Alixa García
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,
#130 Spiritual Shadows: Scott Kiloby & Toshi Matsunaga
Today on the show, we welcome Scott Kiloby and Toshi Matsunaga, authors of Awake But Sick, to explore the hidden emotional pain that can persist even after profound spiritual awakening. Their work challenges the common myths of nonduality and mindfulness, offering a deeper path through emotional repression, physical illness, and the illusion of immediate freedom. In this conversation
#54 Nordic Animism: Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen (Encore)
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 ecologi
#129 Embodying Anti-Zionism: Wendy Elisheva Somerson
Wendy Elisheva Somerson (wes) is a non-binary Jewish somatic healer, writer, visual artist, and activist who helped found the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. They facilitate Ruach, body-based Jewish healing groups held in an anti-Zionist, anti-racist, and feminist framework. As part of a movement of anti-Zionist Jews, they support Jewish healing from historical trauma and promo
#67 The Dreaming Path Podcast: Uncle Paul Callaghan & Uncle Paul Gordon (Encore)
Join SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo in conversation with Aboriginal elders and authors Uncle Paul Callaghan and Uncle Paul Gordon for a powerful SAND Community Gathering (2023), “The Dreaming Path,” where they explored some of the profound Aboriginal teachings.
Connect with Uncle Paul Gordon and dozens of other Indigenous speakers at the 7-Day The Eternal Song Gathering hosted
#128 Portals of Connection: Abigail Rose Clarke
Abigail Rose Clarke is a somatic educator, writer, and creator of The Embodied Life Method. Her new book, Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World, challenges the dominant narratives that treat our bodies as machines. Instead, she invites readers into a deeper relationship with the body as part of the living world. In this conversation, w
#127 Buddhism Beyond the Cushion: Duncan Ryuken Williams & Funie Hsu/Chhî
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 libera
#126 Decolonial Wellness: Elizabeth Philipose
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 principl
#6 New Gods at the End of the World: Bayo Akomolafe & Sophie Strand (Encore)
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 a
#125 Building Bridges: john a. powell
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 perce
#124 War’s Long Shadow: Jungwon Kim & Linda Thai
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
#123 Listening from Silence: John J. Prendergast
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 Spirituali
#122 Deep Medicine Circle: Dr. Rupa Marya, Charlene Eigen-Vasquez & Walter Riley
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 Wal
#121 From Science to Spirit: Elisabet Sahtouris
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 wa
#21 A Hunger for Wholeness: Iya Affo (Encore)
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
#120 Depth Hypnosis: Isa Gucciardi
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 creato
#119 Fractal Flourishing: Jeremy Lent
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 th
#118 Mythic Dharma: John Tarrant
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 Pacifi
#117 Minds Under Siege: Gabor Maté, Naomi Klein & Cecilie Surasky
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 impact
#116 Echoes of Resilience: Rawan Roshni
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
#115 Remembering Nature’s Ways: Darcia Narvaez
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 parentin
#114 On Grief, Belonging & Intimacy: David Whyte & Gayle Karen Young
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 intertwin
#113 Ancient Rhythms: Pat McCabe & Francis Weller
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, storytel
#112 Ayurvedic Longevity: Dr. Avanti Kumar-Singh
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 prac
#57 The Alchemy of Love: Cynthia Bourgeault and A.H. Almaas (Encore)
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 lo
#111 When Truth Becomes the Enemy: Mariam Barghouti, Ashira Darwish & Rawand Arqawi
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
#34 Conversations on Complexity Podcast: Neil Theise (Encore)
“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 t
#110 Mosaics of Myth: Michael Meade
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
#109 Salt of the Earth: Osama lliwat & Rotem Levin
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 the
#108 Thrutopian Dreams: Manda Scott
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 flourishin
#107 Not In Our Name: Rabbi Cat Zavis
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 ju
#106 Black Palestinian Solidarity: Faith Gay, Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart & Imam Adeyinka Mendes
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 create
#105 From Grief to Liberation: Ash Canty
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
#104 Turning Toward the Heart: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
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 co
#103 Justice & Joy: Dr. Kamilah Majied
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
#102 Poetry and Grief in Times of Genocide: Jess Semaan
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 vo
#101 Apian Wisdom: Michael Joshin Thiele
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 h
#100 Sacred Solidarity with Palestine: Sounds of SAND Second Year
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, indigenou
#99 Addiction & Trauma: Dr. Vimalasara (Valerie) Mason-John
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
#98 Glissando of Consciousness: Andrew Holecek
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, Lio
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