

Sounds of SAND
Science and Nonduality
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
Mentioned books

Nov 2, 2023 • 1h 3min
#59 Attuned: Thomas Hübl
Renowned teacher Thomas Hübl discusses his new book 'Attuned' focusing on practicing interdependence for healing personal and collective trauma. The podcast explores emotional attunement in relationships, presence, and collective healing, as well as the importance of listening, transparent communication, and syncing emotions in fostering meaningful connections.

Oct 19, 2023 • 1h 11min
#57 The Alchemy of Love: Cynthia Bourgeault and A.H. Almaas
Join Cynthia Bourgeault and A.H. Almaas in a captivating dialogue on the alchemy of love, delving into divine and personal love as catalysts for spiritual transformation. Explore Nonduo Love, the transformative power of love in creation, and the healing impact of love on emotional wounds and trust. Discover the boundless nature of love and its role in self-discovery, relationships, and global transformation.

Oct 12, 2023 • 54min
#56 Wounded Healers: Angel Acosta
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.
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
2:40 – Angel’s Background
10:54 – Spiritual Bypassing
17:06 – The Nuances of Race
21:42 – Wounded Healers
34:38 – The Power of the Voice
39:30 – A Unique Focus on the Teacher
44:41 – Reaction to the Wounded Healer Project
47:16 – Understanding “Systemic”
51:28 – What’s Coming Up for Angel

16 snips
Oct 5, 2023 • 1h 1min
#55 Cerebrospinal Fluid: Mauro Zappaterra
Join Mauro Zappaterra, MD and PhD from Harvard, as he unpacks the fascinating world of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and its critical role in brain development and function. He dives deep into how CSF connects to consciousness and even our ancestral roots in the sea. Mauro shares insights on the impact of CSF on pain management, including chronic pain and unique phenomena like phantom limb pain. This intriguing discussion blends scientific research with spiritual perspectives, revealing the profound implications of CSF for wellness and healing.

Sep 28, 2023 • 60min
#54 Nordic Animism: Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen
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:
Nordic Animism
YouTube
Instagram
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
2:39 – Christianity and Animism
5:13 – Heart of Nordic Animism
10:05 – Decolonization
12:39 – Animism in Academia
14:44 – Universal Animism
17:50 – Bio-ancestry
23:18 – Animism as a Spiritual Practice
41:50 – Animism and Societal Problems
48:00 – Animism and Trauma
55:24 – Getting Started with Animism

7 snips
Sep 21, 2023 • 47min
#53 Lines in the Sand: Tyson Yunkaporta
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.
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
4:54 – Walking in Two Worlds
13:07 – Identity
20:57 – Logical Fallacies
28:04 – Nonduality
33:59 – Lineage Based Identity

5 snips
Sep 14, 2023 • 48min
#52 Embodied Awakening: Judith Blackstone
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.
Topics:
0:00 – Introduction
2:11 – Spiritual Path
7:16 – Grounded or Groundless?
12:06 – Realization Process
18:16 – Ancestors and Collective Trauma
23:02 – Attunement Practice
29:22 – Balancing and Striving
30:42 – Gradual vs. Direct Path
31:54 – Illusion of Separateness
34:06 – Upcoming Events
35:15 – Nondual Realization
36:52 – Guided Meditation
Mentioned in the episode – #48 Ancestral Healing: Daniel Foor

Sep 7, 2023 • 60min
#51 After The Wisdom of Trauma: Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo
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:
0:00 – Introduction
3:09 – The Wisdom of Trauma
11:16 – Exploring at the Edge
14:34 – Genesis of the Next Film
19:06 – Expansion of Nonduality
22:04 – New Paradigms of Healing
25:54 – Expansion of Science
30:24 – Transformations
34:50 – Learning to Listen
44:28 – The Tree and the Whale
56:30 – What’s Next with the Film?

Aug 31, 2023 • 51min
#50 Reflections: Sounds of SAND's First Year
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.
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Thank you for listening and sharing the show.
Guest Clips
3:18 – Peter Russell from #8 Evolving with Consciousness
7:04 – Monica Gagliano from #23 The Songs of Gaia
12:18 – Donald Hoffman and Rupert Spira from #38 Weaving the Eternal Golden Braid
21:00 – Gabor Maté and Resma Menaken from #24 Somatic Abolitionism
26:42 – Eriel Tchekwie Deranger from #14 Healing Relationships in Community and Ourselves
29:00 – Neil Theise from #34 Conversations on Complexity
33:40 – Joan Tollifson from #30 Here. Now. Being.
37:10 – Bayo Akomolafe and Sophie Strand from #6 New Gods at the End of the World
41:54 – Parvathy Baul from #47 What Shines

Aug 24, 2023 • 1h 27min
#49 Resonance of Being: Mauro Bergonzi
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: bergma@libero.it
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
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:12:41 – The Story of Mauro
00:34:15 – Types of Awakening
00:47:20 – Vastness and Meeting Nisargadatta Maharaj
00:58:08 – Accessing the Felt Sense of Emptiness
01:09:55 – Awareness of Awareness
01:16:47 – The feeling of “I Am”