Sounds of SAND

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 manifestationthrough 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: Healing the gap between the mind and the heart The path from fragmentation to integration Tapping into our sensing/body intelligence Our potential for healing/realization  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. www.diamondapproach.org 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. www.collectivetraumabook.com and thomashuebl.com

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 Inayat Khan 78rpm Recordings 1909 of 16 Indian Songs 1 with text by SufiLab – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7jeQEUmryY https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/158312.The_Mysticism_of_Sound_and_Music https://www.michaelharrison.com https://michaelharrison.bandcamp.com/album/seven-sacred-names   Music for today’s Episode Michael Harrison –  Mureed from Seven Sacred Names (2021, Cantaloupe Music) Michael Harrison –  Alim: Polyphonic Raga Malkauns from Seven Sacred Names (2021, Cantaloupe Music) Michael Harrison –  Qadr: Etude in Raga Bhimpalasi from Seven Sacred Names (2021, Cantaloupe Music) Hazrat Inyat Kahn – Purvi Khal – Kamli Wale Tope Sabkuchhvare (2022, Primitiv)

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: The reconciliation between the masculine and feminine, Men's Nation and Women's Nation Remembering, recreating or creating anew a narrative for the Sacred Masculine Addressing the Archetypal Wounding that occurred in our misunderstanding and abuse of technology in prayer, ceremony and science 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.

Sophie Strand, a writer focused on spirituality and ecology, and Bayo Akomolafe, a renowned thinker and posthumanist, explore the complex interplay of trauma, healing, and identity. They dissect the ethics of wellness, emphasizing the historical exploitation of marginalized communities. Personal anecdotes illuminate the struggles of navigating personal history while seeking connection. The discussion also touches on sensitivity as a pathway to collective healing, highlighting the interconnectedness of community, care, and the haunting presence of our past.

James Fadiman, top psychedelic authority & Ayelet Waldman, author, discuss microdosing benefits. They explore healing potential, history of LSD, personal experiences, and mental health enhancement. Fascinating stories and need for double-blind studies highlighted.

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: Resmaa Menakem | Embodied Anti-Racist Education Native Land.ca Indigenous Climate Action  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. http://scienceandnonduality.com