Sounds of SAND

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

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

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?

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 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

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”

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: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:41 – Daniel’s Lineage and Ancestry 00:05:03 – Genesis of Ancestral Medicine 00:07:42 – Ancestor Work Along the Spiritual Path 00:11:36 – Trauma and Ancestors 00:18:00 – Animism 00:24:36 –  Descendants, Ancestors, and Captain Kirk 00:26:10 – How to Begin Ancestor Work 00:35:25 – Special and Not-so-special Ancestors 00:40:58 – The Role of Ritual 00:44:12 – Ancestor Work and Children 00:48:34 – Ancestors Living Through Us and Addictions 00:54:04 – Expanding Ancestry 01:00:33 – Epigenentics 01:05:14 – Connecting to Our Ancestral Lands 01:09:50 – How to Connect

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: 00:00 – Introduction 02:27 – The Poet Chandidas 19:50 – Vibrational Transmissions 21:58 – Instruments of the Baul 30:02 – Surrender and Devotion 37:46 – Lineage of Baul Music 46:04 – Sacred Music in a Concert Setting 54:50 – One of Parvathy’s First Songs

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 Sati-AI Article on Sati-AI in Lion’s Roar Topics: 00:00 – Introduction 03:58 – Meditation Background 07:52 – Dance and Meditation 13:34 – The Importance of Practice 17:06 – The Sacred 25:40 – ”Mind-full-ness” and Practice 32:34 – Remembering to Remember 36:42 – Sati-AI 50:07 – Large Language Models 54:04 – AI and Art 57:48 – Dangers of AI 64:56 – Conclusions 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. sophiestrand.com 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 Topics: 0:00 –  Introduction 2:52 – Background and interest in sacred sites 7:26 – Energetic experiences 15:30 – Pilgrimages 17:18 – Power places 24:42 – Map of sacred sites 29:54 – Tips for Western travelers at sacred sites 35:28 – Cumulative energy of sacred sites 37:24 – Sound at sacred sites 41:55 – Schewedegon pagoda soundscape 51:08 – Shortcut to nirvana 54:40 – Martin’s most personal sacred sacred sites