Sounds of SAND

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 subtle dynamics of spiritual bypass, and the kind of deep listening required when working with the unconscious—both personal and collective. Ellen speaks to the body as a threshold into the psyche’s wilderness, and to the necessity of staying in relationship with what is unresolved, uncomfortable, and unfinished.

Threaded throughout is a concern for the wider world: how collective trauma, ancestral memory, and the current socio-political moment ask to be included in spiritual and therapeutic work—not bypassed. This is a conversation about remembrance, embodiment, and the slow work of integration in times of upheaval.

Ellen offers meetings and retreats through The Awakening Body, an experiential exploration rooted in nondual inquiry, Authentic Movement, and direct listening to lived experience. She also maintains a private psychotherapy practice and facilitates Authentic Movement groups.

EllenEmmet.com

Topics

00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview

01:05 Reflecting on Past Conversations

01:41 Journey into Jungian Analysis

02:50 Exploring Carl Jung's Theories

05:31 The Process of Individuation

13:17 Decolonizing Therapy

16:40 Spiritual Bypassing and Social Issues

20:48 Facing the Darkness: Confronting Fear and Avoidance

22:17 The Deadly Silence: Censorship in Spiritual Spaces

23:19 Heartbreak as a Spiritual Connection

26:09 The Power of Collective Healing

28:03 Listening with Reverence and Reverie

36:09 The Wildness of the Body: Embracing Natural Movement

39:39 Concluding Thoughts and Future Connections

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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 are reclaimed not as weaknesses, but as profound sources of strength, orientation, and soul knowledge.



Rooted in the soulcraft teachings of his book In the Absence of the Ordinary, the dialogue unfolds in a spirit of reverence and remembrance. Together, they explore the unraveling of the familiar as an invitation into deeper belonging—grief as a living portal, and beauty as a practice of staying close to what is sacred, even in times of descent.



Topics



00:00 Introduction and Acknowledgements

01:09 Guest Introduction: Francis Weller

02:02 Opening Reflections on Soul and Rhythm

03:17 The Modern Frenzy vs. Soul's Rhythm

05:32 Therapy and the Soul's Healing Process

12:09 The Role of Wounds in Soul Work

16:35 Confession and Community Healing

23:17 Collective Psyche and Modern Challenges

28:39 Historical Roots of Disconnection

31:25 Grief and Ancestral Memory

33:47 Understanding Grief in a Shallow Culture

35:06 The Three Layers of Experience

35:18 The Role of Ritual in Processing Grief

36:00 Fear and Control in Grief Expression

36:22 The Importance of Containment Fields

36:48 Cultural Rituals and Their Significance

40:21 Creating Personal Rituals

50:32 The Long Dark: Embracing Uncertainty

56:13 The Sacred in Everyday Life

59:13 The Role of Elders in a Fragmented World

01:03:12 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections

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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 thought centers singularity and fixed answers, Blackfoot ways embrace flux, transformation, and "all my relations."

Dr. Leroy Little Bear is a Blackfoot legal scholar, professor emeritus, and prominent Indigenous rights advocate from the Blood Tribe. He is a founding member of the Native American Studies Department at the University of Lethbridge, served as the director of the Harvard University Native American Program, and played a crucial role in shaping Canadian constitutional law to recognize Indigenous rights, including contributing to Section 35 of the Constitution Act. His work extends to international advocacy, advising the United Nations on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and he has received numerous honors, such as the Order of Canada and the Alberta Order of Excellence.

Topics


00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:45 Guest Introduction: Dr. Leroy Little Bear

01:42 Blackfoot Tradition and Identity

02:59 Western vs. Blackfoot Worldview

10:15 Energy Forces and Relationships

27:39 Impact of Colonization

34:26 Language and Interpretive Templates

54:38 Closing Remarks and Gratitude

Explore more in Indigenous Worldviews in the SAND film Series The Eternal Song

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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 wellness. The conversation reveals how Indigenous wisdom can address modern societal woes and highlights the importance of respecting and maintaining a deep relationship with the natural world.

Topics

00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview

00:47 Meet Uncle Paul Gordon

01:59 Language and Cultural Connections

03:01 Introducing Joe Williams

16:26 Joe Williams' Journey and Spiritual Awakening

22:07 Aboriginal Perspectives on Wellbeing and Grief

26:23 Understanding Time and Connection to Country

29:40 Ancient Knowledge and Star Stories

30:50 Connection to Country and Ancestral Wisdom

44:25 The Role of Ceremony and Responsibility

52:22 Healing Through Connection to Nature

57:55 Final Thoughts and Resources

Resources

In the Circle of Life

The Living Country Community

Recorded live at The Eternal Song Seven Day Film Premiere summit with Indigenous voices

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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. Together. Eid and Darwish hold the line inside the unbearable: the grief of ongoing genocide and the insistence on liberation; the impossibility of hope and the necessity of imagining otherwise.



Their conversation refuses erasure, insists on dignity, and carries the clarity of those living under siege with purpose and memory intact.



This conversation carries the vibration of Gaza’s resistance outward, inviting listeners not just to witness, but to respond.

Topics

00:00 Introduction and Opening Remarks

00:58 Context of the Gaza Genocide

02:23 Introducing Haidar Eid and Ashira Darwish

02:32 Haidar Eid's Background and Experience

03:19 Ashira Darwish's Introduction and Role

05:42 Haidar Eid's Personal Account of the Genocide

07:17 The Impact of the Genocide on Haidar's Life

09:51 Tribute to Fallen Colleagues and Students

11:55 The Importance of Palestinian Narratives

14:57 Historical Context and Ongoing Genocide

27:34 The Human Cost and Personal Stories

29:00 Protecting Stories and Dignity

29:40 Understanding Israeli Society and Zionism

32:33 The Role of International Support

34:08 The BDS Movement and Palestinian Civil Society

35:47 The Call for Global Solidarity

43:18 Banging on the Walls of the Tank

53:12 A Shift in the Global Narrative

58:17 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Resources

Project Hope Palestine

Catharsis Holistic Healing Palestine

BDS Movement

Ashira Darwish’s Website



Where Olive Trees Weep



Support the mission of SAND and the production of this podcast by becoming a SAND Member