Sounds of SAND

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 occupation, Dr. Jabr moves past the “sanitized” versions of trauma to speak directly to the heart of colonial harm in Palestine.

Central to this dialogue is an exploration of the deep ontological differences between Western psychiatric models and Palestinian lived experience. While Western frameworks often pathologize the individual through the lens of PTSD, Dr. Jabr introduces the concept of iptila—viewing tribulations through a framework of agency, faith, and collective endurance. She challenges the frequent romanticization of sumud (steadfastness), reframing it not as a poetic trope, but as a grueling relational practice and an ethical refusal to disappear when everything conspires toward Palestinian erasure.

In a reality where the harm never ends, memory becomes a battlefield, grief a form of testimony, bearing witness an active refusal to normalize the unacceptable, and storytelling a vital survival infrastructure against the assassination of memory.

Join Dr. Samah Jabr · March 1, 8, 15 & 22, 2026 • 9:00 – 11:00am PST
Decolonial Mental Health Practice: Clinical and Ethical Insights from Palestine
A four-part webinar presented by SAND

Topics

00:00 Welcome & Why We Need a New Framework for Trauma and Justice

02:15 “If I Must Die”: Carrying Memory, Refusing Normalization

03:13 Introducing Dr. Samah Jabr’s Work: Pain, Power, and a Counter-Narrative

07:55 A Childhood Lesson in Naming: Robinson Crusoe and Colonial Language

10:10 Clinic Stories: When Political Reality Shapes Symptoms

14:14 Beyond Western Psychiatry: Language, Resilience, and Context as the ‘Pathology’

17:19 The ‘Fear of Dogs’ Case: History, Colonial Violence, and Clinical Meaning

20:40 When Systems Collapse: Gaza’s Crushed Mental-Health Response & Organic Community Care

25:04 Collective Healing & the Kite Intervention: Building Agency and Connection

29:31 From Mobilization to Organization: Global Solidarity and Liberation

34:31 How to Keep Working: Hope, Spirituality, and Protecting Health Workers

41:58 Meaning-Making in Crisis: The Palm Tree Story and Spiritual Grounding

45:22 Spirituality as Resilience: Listening for What Helps Each Person

47:13 Scaling Mental Health Support in Palestine: Training Community Helpers

49:00 Creating “Healing Spaces”: Group Support for Journalists, Youth & Displaced Women

53:22 Reporting Gaza From Afar: Citizen Journalism, Narrative Control & Ethical Witnessing

59:44 How to Support Palestine Sustainably: Remote Mental Health, Publishing & Advocacy

01:05:37 Colonialism, Patriarchy & Horizontal Violence: When Trauma Damages the Social Fabric

01:10:03 Meaning-Making Under Protracted Trauma: Tila, Agency & Shattered Belief Systems

01:15:16 Diaspora Palestinians: From Helping Family to Leading Global Political Solidarity

01:21:55 Closing Charge: Being Human After Mass Violence + Upcoming Webinars & Films

Resources



Dr. Samah Jabr’s book

Art by Fernando Martí and Jess X. Snow, inspired by Huda Suboh’s quote:

“In the heart of Gaza, where the echoes of war reverberate through the streets… each day, glimmers of hope that dance across the sky—kites.” — Rafah, 2024

Support this conversation by donating to Sumud Network for Mental Health and Healing for Gaza



Where Olive Trees Weep (Film by SAND on Palestine (2024) with more Resources and a course on Palestine)

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 First Voices Radio, master musician, and steward of relational ways of knowing. Rooted in the vibrational teachings of the old Lakota language, a language shaped by Earth and used to speak with, not about, Tiokasin invites us to unlearn the dominance of human-centered thought and listen again to Earth as consciousness.



First Voices Indigenous Radio



Butterfly Against the Wind



Topics



00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:48 Introducing Tiokasin Ghosthorse

01:28 Tiokasin's Background and Philosophy

04:36 The Concept of Land Acknowledgement

05:59 Relational Values and Indigenous Wisdom

08:02 Language and Consciousness

16:09 Mystery and Present Consciousness

27:54 Environmentalism and Connection to Earth

35:04 Understanding WIA and Innocence

36:34 The Role of Elders and Wisdom

37:58 Relational Intelligence vs. Western Education

39:14 Cultural Trauma and Language Suppression

45:41 Earth Consciousness and Modern Anxiety

50:04 The Illusion of Control and AI

58:38 Ceremony and Earth Cycles

01:03:32 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

Connect with more with Tiokasin and dozens of other speakers and elders in the SAND film Series The Eternal Song

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

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

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

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

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

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

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