Latest / Mindful You / From Desperation To Inspiration: A Journey Through Service, Evolution, And Overcoming Adversity With David Albin

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From Desperation To Inspiration: A Journey Through Service, Evolution, And Overcoming Adversity With David Albin · Mindful You

0:04
Alan Carroll: Hello, everybody. And welcome back to another
0:09
episode. Another story. Another story of mindfulness, and how
0:15
mindfulness comes in many, many different forms. And today's
0:21
guest David Albin. David Albin spent close to 20 years on the
0:31
road with a fella you may have heard about named Tony Robbins
0:36
and the firewalk experience. And he traveled the world. And he
0:43
became the captain of the fire team for Tony Robbins. And those
0:52
he said they had, they did him all over the world. And the
0:56
largest firewalking that's been recorded, was done in London.
1:03
Over 12,000, people went through the firewalk experience, and
1:09
eastern part of London, and Dave, Alvin was the chief of the
1:15
captains of the fire teams, and shares his own personal story,
1:21
the personal story of alcoholism, the purpose story of
1:27
drugs, the story of the moment that he had the gun to his head,
1:33
and was about to pull the trigger those kinds of moments,
1:37
which create a powerful transformation in his life. And
1:45
then he discovered mindfulness, he discovered meditation, he
1:51
discovered Alcoholics Anonymous. And he used the philosophy of
1:58
Alcoholics Anonymous, anonymous, and transformed his life and,
2:03
and then got connected with Tony Robbins, and then spent those 20
2:07
years on the road with Tony Robbins. And the firewalk
2:14
experience that he talks about, is transformational. I've done
2:21
the Tony Robbins firewalk books. And he, what he's teased, he has
2:26
a much more vivid experience, having seen it 1000s of times.
2:33
But I came out of the experience of the firewalk with the
2:36
thought, where else in my life do I say I can't do something
2:46
which limits me. And when you walk on the fire, you realize
2:52
that you always thought that you could never do something like
2:54
that. And you do it. And it's a it's a liberation, of
3:01
consciousness, it's a freedom of space and power. And to have the
3:06
captain of the fire teams with us today, talking about the
3:10
transformations that occur in people's lives through the
3:13
firewalking and his new project of taking the firewalking
3:19
transformational experience, and, and provide it to other
3:23
people who need it, who have tremendous agitation, and things
3:30
going on in their life, which create instability. He's
3:34
creating the first firewalking experience, he's calling it, do
3:37
no harm. And it's going to be held in Modesto in April of
3:43
2020. For the audience that he would like to have there. He
3:49
wants to have the firewalk experience available to single
3:53
mothers, because they do a lot of stuff. And boy, if we could
3:57
give them a boost, it'd be great. And why because he was
4:00
raised by a single mother. Veterans, he's a veteran, he's
4:06
talking about the suicide rates of veterans are high, we can
4:10
reduce that down with a breakthrough of consciousness,
4:13
which you can get during a firewalk experience. Talked
4:18
about first responders, those people who deal with that
4:21
traumatic accidents on the road kind of stuff, which is very
4:25
vivid. They need support and calming their agitation that
4:30
they constantly experience. And then we have people who have
4:36
experienced bullying and they get to go to the fire walking
4:40
experience. So that's just another project that he talks
4:42
about towards the end of the firewalk experience to talk
4:47
towards the end of our podcast today. Wow, in energy
4:52
enthusiasm, Dave is certainly a wonderful guest and I know that
4:58
you'll be carried away by His power and His enthusiasm and his
5:02
desire to give back to the to the community, and support the
5:07
well being of all of all people. So thank you very much. And
5:12
thank you very much, Dave for being here today. And please
5:16
welcome to the mindful you, audience. Dave Albin.
5:29
Welcome David Alvin to the mindful you podcast Boy, oh,
5:35
boy, you are a a season warrior on the transformation journey.
5:42
You were describing to me earlier, your opportunities to
5:48
interact with champions of mindfulness champions of people
5:53
who are committed to service, and anybody that has spent as
5:57
long as you have in the area of service to others. deserves a
6:03
deserves a tear, and an acknowledgement for the work
6:07
that that you have done. So what I like to do is, have you takes
6:13
take our audience on a journey of David into in the beginning,
6:18
and the rev level and evolution of consciousness, because we're
6:22
talking about an evolution of consciousness, which then
6:24
materializes in the physical plane as different events, but
6:28
it's a level of consciousness and ideas that create the events
6:32
that have gotten you to a place in which you are committed to
6:37
service of others. So take the microphone, Dave, and, and have
6:41
some fun with it.
6:43
David Albin: Well, first of all, I want to thank you for having
6:44
me. And it's a it's an honor. And, you know, that was a pretty
6:47
heavy conversation that we had prior to coming into this. So
6:50
I'm pretty emotional myself. And you know, it really, it all
6:55
started for me now, in a couple of months. Before I was born, my
6:59
biological father had, we don't know what happened, he hurt
7:03
himself, he hit his head. And to save his life, they put a plate
7:06
in his head, and he complained to my mom all the time of how
7:09
painful it was. And sure enough, one day he said, I'm going to
7:14
the grocery store, and we never saw it heard from him again. So
7:18
when I was born, two months later, I was born to a single
7:20
mom. So she already had two boys, she had me that's three
7:24
she had a cousin that was living with us as well. And her mother,
7:26
my grandmother, and we were all living in a one bedroom
7:29
apartment in Hollywood, California. While I was working
7:32
up the street at the Roosevelt Hotel, very famous hotel in
7:35
Hollywood. And mom came out of the, what I would call the one
7:38
of the most kick butt generations that's ever walked
7:41
this planet, mom and her and her siblings, you know, were born
7:46
during the Great Depression. They they thrived and survived.
7:52
World War Two, right? Because what a lot of people don't
7:55
realize is that when the men were in Europe fighting the
7:59
Nazis, the rest of them were in the Pacific fighting the
8:03
Japanese. Well guess who was home taking care of everything,
8:07
the women. And so this idea that women need to be qualified to do
8:11
this or qualified to do that as a crock. Because without, right,
8:15
because without the women back in those days, this world would
8:19
be different. Hitler might have Hitler might have won, because
8:22
women were doing everything. They built tanks, they built
8:25
jeeps, my mother, my biological mother was known as Rosie the
8:29
Riveter. And what that was an affectionate name for a woman
8:32
who was out on a B 29. Airplane, you know, driving rivets into
8:37
the into the wing building them. So mom knew hard work, they knew
8:41
depravity, they knew that when something broke, you fixed it.
8:45
And so they knew how to do everything. And so she, you
8:50
know, she tried really hard out and she worked her butt off, but
8:53
it wasn't enough. She was a server. And so, when I was five,
8:59
she went to her older sister, Pat and said, Pat, will you and
9:03
your husband Bob, adopt David, I can't feed him anymore. And so
9:08
they did. And so now my aunt and uncle who I affectionately have
9:13
always referred to him as my mom and dad adopted me and they
9:16
moved me from Hollywood to Long Beach, California. Bob was a
9:19
highly decorated military officer, he was career military.
9:23
And so we had a nice lifestyle. We lived in a nice house, we
9:26
always had food, we were able to travel we went camping all the
9:30
time. And they treated me just like their own. No question that
9:35
in fact, they might have treated me even a little better. And
9:38
then on on the first day of summer 1960 For the very first
9:45
day. Ma I'm in the TV room up earliest the first day of
9:49
summer, like all kids, you're excited, you're out of your
9:51
mind. You don't want to sleep and you want to get outside with
9:54
all your buddies right. She said David come in the kitchen, we
9:59
need to speak with you So I don't think it's going to happen
10:01
if they're going to tell me where we're gonna go camping,
10:04
because that's what we did a lot. We're in Southern
10:06
California, right? We went to Yosemite and Big Bear in Lake
10:10
Arrowhead and Lake Havasu. And like, I mean, all up and down
10:14
the Southern California and Northern California coast. So I
10:18
sit down and my mom looks at me and she kind of puts her hand on
10:21
my hand, and she's got tears in her eyes. And she says, David,
10:23
we need to tell you something. And she went on to tell me that.
10:27
She said, we're not your parents. What? Of course, you're
10:33
my parents. What that's like taking somebody outside. And
10:36
there's the blue sky to go, well, the sky is not blue. Well,
10:38
looks pretty blue to me. Right? And they look like my parents to
10:42
me. Yep. And so that was a life changing moment for me. In fact,
10:48
she went on and she said, By the way, you're at Dean. Yeah, well,
10:52
she's actually your biological mother. And I remember thinking,
10:55
I don't even like her. What I meant by that was, every time
11:02
she was around me, she wanted to be around me. Right? She wanted
11:06
to touch me and hold me and kiss me and sit next to me. Well die.
11:11
I'm her son. But you know what? I didn't know that. Right. I
11:15
just thought she was my weird aunt that was, you know, very
11:19
affectionate. Now she, by the way, I want to be really clear
11:21
about so she never ever touched me inappropriately. It was
11:24
always you know, with love and kindness and, and that kind of
11:27
thing. Good. And so shortly after they told me, they both
11:33
started drinking. And they swore off alcohol at five years old
11:38
when they adopted me. So for six years, they didn't drink at all.
11:42
And then all of a sudden, boom, they both started. Now, there
11:44
was a lot going on in the world. Back then. Kennedy had just been
11:47
assassinated in November of 63. This is a summer of 664. My
11:53
dad's military, he's an officer. He's working in the Pentagon
11:57
going back and forth from Southern Cal to DC. The Bay of
12:01
Pigs was going on the missiles were in Cuba, we were on the
12:04
brink of nuclear war. And my dad, you know, again, I don't
12:08
know if it was that it was a combination of Kennedy being
12:11
assassinated. If it was him telling me that they weren't my
12:14
parents. I don't know. All I know is they both started
12:17
drinking. And elminate got real, ugly, real fast. Pat, my mom,
12:22
right. She was a happy drunk, if you will. She never got violent,
12:26
but Bob did. Bob turned into a not a nice guy when he was
12:29
drinking. He was a wonderful human when he was sober. But man
12:32
when he was drinking, get back away from this guy. And that
12:35
might have been because of you know, the PTSD and stuff during
12:38
the war. World War Two. I don't know. You didn't we didn't know
12:41
what PTSD was back then. They didn't even treat them back
12:44
then. Right? That's right. So anyway, they went to the grocery
12:48
store one day, both of them. And they did that a lot. Right. You
12:52
go together, right? You didn't leave your kids home. It's like,
12:56
no big deal. This is the 60s For God's sakes, right. All you did
13:00
was call the neighbor across the street and say, Hey, Joanne, Bob
13:03
and I are going to the grocery store. David's gonna be home
13:06
alone. Hey, if he needs anything, can he come knock on
13:09
the door? Well, yeah, sure. Tell him to come over now. Well, I'll
13:13
feed him a fried bologna sandwich, man, if you've never
13:16
had a sandwich of the 60s, man. So when they left I knew where
13:22
the booze was. They were hiding it in plain sight. And I wanted
13:24
to know what this stuff was. And so curiosity, I went over and
13:28
grabbed it out of the out of the cabinet. I set it on, I remember
13:32
looking at this big giant half gallon of brandy. And I took a
13:37
coffee cup and I filled it about halfway and I doubted Alan. And
13:41
you know what? I never had a chance at Burger. I was an
13:45
alcoholic right on the spot, rarely started. And I started
13:48
thinking alcoholic Lee acting alcoholic Lee. Oh, yeah, I was
13:52
done. Stick a fork in me. Now alcoholism is running through my
13:55
family anyway. So it's no secret. You know, it's not like
13:58
I was immune from it. I boom, I was done. And I'm, you know, I'm
14:03
11 years old. For God's sakes. Well, it just got that got
14:06
worse. Because you don't know the drinking in the house. I
14:09
didn't want to be anywhere around it. Right. So I was
14:11
always outside down the street. I could get on my bicycle and
14:14
ride miles away. I could ride all the way to the beach and
14:16
nobody would know the difference. And so as I got
14:20
through school is getting through school that's not
14:22
working. I'm not doing well. By the time I was a junior, Tom was
14:27
a junior in high school, they pulled me into the principal's
14:29
office and said, Alvin, you're out. If we're done with you,
14:33
you're a threat to our school. Now the good news, whether that
14:36
was I was good with it. I'm like good. I don't want to go to
14:39
school. You're not teaching me anything that's gonna make me a
14:41
living anyway. Or at least that was my belief at the moment. I
14:44
was already an entrepreneur. And I was an entrepreneur because
14:48
when I was young, you know, back when I was 11. The other
14:51
flipside was my mom grew flowers in the backyard. She had this
14:54
giant planter. It was L shaped and she had 1000s of flowers. I
15:00
was growing up there. Now understand mom, she was the
15:02
oldest of the kids, right? She could do everything during the
15:05
Depression. She sold clothes, she made clothes. She She farm
15:08
she, she did it. All right, so she knew how to grow flowers.
15:12
And so she went out, she'd cut those bad boys. And she taken
15:15
she cut it at an angle, she wouldn't cut it at the bottom,
15:17
she cut at an angle to open up more surface areas. So more
15:20
water would get into the, into the flower, right. And she could
15:24
arrange them she had a beautiful eye for color. And she would
15:26
arrange them and she put a rubber band around them. And
15:29
then she put them in a bucket and she put water in the bucket.
15:31
And then here's what she did. Here was the magic. The genius
15:35
was she put a little bit of setup in up in that water. And
15:39
something about that seven up would get up into those flowers
15:41
and they would outlast every florist in town.
15:46
Unknown: So I'm on the street corner selling flowers. That was
15:49
last two weeks easily. And so there I am, I'm learning
15:53
negotiate with, you know, with people. I got a paper route
15:56
shortly thereafter. That's a full blown full blown job you
16:00
are you are an entrepreneur, you're running your own
16:02
business. Seven days a week, you got to go get your papers after
16:06
school. You got to get up early in the morning on Saturday and
16:09
Sunday. Because if people want that early morning paper, you
16:12
gonna fold them, deliver them collect the money, turn it into
16:15
your den, mother, all of that. It's you're a full blown
16:18
entrepreneur, and I grew up across the street from a golf
16:21
course. Well, this is you know, and guess what I learned about
16:25
golfers? They suck. Right? Those guys would hit the balls over
16:30
the fence and I'd go take my Stingray bicycle. I'd ride
16:33
around the perimeter and guess what I'd find golf golf balls
16:37
everywhere. So I'd take them home clean them. And I went back
16:40
to the golf course and they throw the boxes. They came in,
16:43
in the trash. Well, I've taken and then I'd come back and I'd
16:47
arrange them. I put no title is max fly Dunlop Wilson's. And I
16:52
go back into the parking lot of the golf course and sell them
16:55
back to the golfers. So my belief system when I got kicked
17:00
out of high school, there's money out there, go get it. Yep,
17:02
it's out there, man. It's everywhere. And so I got a job
17:05
and in the biggest grocery store in the state of California. And
17:09
I got into an apprentice program, I became a retail
17:12
clerks, which was a subsidiary of the teamsters union. And the
17:17
next thing I know after a year, I'm making eight bucks an hour
17:20
in 1972. So that's like 50 bucks an hour now, right? I went out
17:26
and bought a new muscle of new Mach one Mustang. I got my own
17:29
apartment in Belmont Shore California. And as a good thing,
17:33
I was making money because I had a hell of a drug habit. I was
17:36
taken in Fetta means because I was working night crew. I was
17:39
doing coke. I was doing heroin. I was drinking alcohol. I mean,
17:42
as a as a train wreck man as a plane crash and a five car
17:46
collision all rolled into one. And but I went out and and you
17:49
know, who do you hang out with when you're got that kind of a
17:52
lifestyle you're hanging out with drug addicts you're hanging
17:54
out with, with drug dealers and pimps and prostitutes. And I
17:57
mean, you know, gangs and the whole nine yards. Well, to
18:01
further this, three and three marriages later, I'm I woke up
18:07
on June 8 of 1988. And I got up that morning, and I said, This
18:11
is it. I'm done. I'm out that I can't do the pain anymore.
18:15
Probably be somewhere with my dad. And I'm like, so I'm going
18:19
to in my life. I'm going to load my pistol. I'm going to put a
18:21
bullet in my head and the pains going away and I'll be done with
18:23
it. Yep, well, I'm married to a woman who's got three kids, and
18:26
they're my stepkids. They're living upstairs. I'm living in
18:29
the basement because they wanted nothing to do with me at that
18:32
point. So as I'm contemplating and getting ready to put a
18:37
bullet in my head, it dawns on me, when you pull that trigger,
18:41
yeah, your troubles go away. Right, but those three kids,
18:44
you're killing them, you're going to ruin their life. It's
18:48
not fair. You can't do that to them. Figure out another plan,
18:52
pow. And this is the conversation I'm having with
18:56
myself. And so now I'm like, No, you can't do that. You can't
18:59
ruin their life. And so the next thought I had was okay, well,
19:03
you got to do something. And the next thought I had Ellen is call
19:07
Alcoholics Anonymous. Well, you know what's weird about that?
19:11
Bizarre, if you will, I don't know who he is. I don't know
19:15
anybody in AAA. I've never been to AAA and yeah, there's the
19:18
thought call Alcoholics Anonymous. And I did. And I got
19:22
a wonderful human being on the phone to this day. I've
19:26
affectionately nicknamed her match. And the reason I
19:31
nicknamed her mad in a playful loving way is because she talked
19:34
like this. She probably smoked two packs a Powerball nine
19:39
filters a day. And man, she was a badass. She was a gatekeeper
19:43
man, that was her job. Her job is to interview you. And if she
19:47
thinks it's warranted, she will call somebody in AAA to come get
19:51
you. And she did. She called Lauren and Lauren came and
19:55
picked me up and he took me to my first AAA meeting. And while
20:01
I was there, they took a big book of Alcoholics Anonymous,
20:04
the fourth edition, I believe it was, and they sign it. It was
20:07
all men's group, by the way. And they, they they wrote on the
20:10
inside cover before you take that first drink, call one of
20:13
us, they put their first name, and their telephone number. They
20:15
sent me home with that. And so my AAA career started next day,
20:20
you know, I got two days, and then I got a week and then I got
20:23
a month. And when I that first day, they also gave me one of
20:26
these a chip. And then a 30 days, they gave me another one.
20:30
Well, I got a sponsor. And here's what my sponsor told me.
20:32
He said, Tell you what, put this in your put this on your tongue.
20:37
And if it dissolves, it's made of metal. He said, when when it
20:42
dissolves, you can have a drink. Which meant you're never going
20:46
to drink again. Pow, right. So you know, I got two months, they
20:50
gave me another chip, and then three months, six months, nine
20:52
months, one year. And then of course, since last June
20:55
8 19 2023. I picked up one for 35 years. In fact, I was on a
21:02
podcast here. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, and I
21:06
it's hard to it's hard. It's hard for me there because it's
21:08
like, look, oh, I get to stop trying to kill myself. That's
21:11
all I really did. I was on a podcast here recently, she was a
21:15
clinical psychologist. And she said, Do you have any you? Were
21:17
you addicted to heroin and cocaine too? Yeah, you were
21:21
doing all hard drugs? Yeah. And alcohol. Yeah, she goes, Do you
21:24
have any idea what the odds are of you making it out? And I'm
21:28
like, No, and I don't want to know, all I know is I'm here.
21:32
And that's, that's all I care about. And because of that, I
21:37
came to I came to an awakening that I had a divine purpose. And
21:41
it was to do the greater good and serve other human beings.
21:45
Because in a in the preamble, and you know, you got the 12
21:49
steps and 12 traditions. But in the middle there, Alan, they got
21:52
the preamble. And the preamble says, when anyone anywhere
21:55
reaches out, I want the hand of a to be there. And for that. I'm
22:00
responsible. Well, I took that to heart. That's what they
22:03
showed me. So talk about duplication right there I was.
22:08
Well, at the same time, I'm getting sober. I'm up late one
22:12
night, 1988, three o'clock in the morning who gets queued
22:15
Guess who's the only person on television at three o'clock in
22:19
the morning? In 1988? You're laughing because you know,
22:24
right. There he is, you know, Mr. Enthusiasm, you know, a
22:30
young Tony Robbins of vibrant, Tony Robbins being promoted by
22:34
gmefi rancor showing his personal power program, a 30 day
22:40
program for total success. And so I did not like him. I'm gonna
22:45
tell you right now, I thought he was pompous. Like, these aren't
22:48
motivated, and I'm not motivated, I'm miserable. But he
22:53
said a couple things that got me. So I kept listening to him.
22:56
The first thing he said was, we'll do more to avoid pain. And
22:59
we will again, pleasure. And I went, Wow, oh, let's,
23:04
Alan Carroll: let's share that with the audience a little
23:05
slower when we, when we get them golden nuggets, Dave. Let's go
23:11
real slow, real
23:12
Unknown: slow and find that. He said we'll do more to avoid
23:17
pain, then we will to gain pleasure. Well, that resonated
23:22
with me, because I was using alcohol and drugs for those two
23:25
purposes. I was either trying to avoid pain with the drugs and
23:29
alcohol, or I was trying to chase some type of pleasure. So
23:35
that resonated with me, right? But I still don't like the guy.
23:39
But then here's what God. He said the driving force in our
23:44
lives as human beings. How we make decisions are, we're in
23:51
we're either we're either influenced by inspiration, or
23:56
desperation. And when he said that, I went, Oh my gosh, Man,
24:02
am I desperate? Maybe I should listen to this dude. And I did.
24:06
So I bought his program. They sent it to me came in a big box.
24:11
And the program came on these little white things called
24:14
cassette tapes said, because that what's that? Talking about?
24:21
They're, well, they're in the Smithsonian. You'll see them
24:23
they're right next to eight track tapes and reel to reel and
24:27
Alan Carroll: 35 millimeter slides. You can add that to the
24:29
file.
24:30
Unknown: Look. Yeah, exactly. So I plugged them in and I did what
24:35
the man taught me to do. I went You bet. Right. So that's all
24:38
that all went down in Ada. Well, one of my buddies, I started to
24:41
make the changes. I started working out I started losing
24:44
weight. I started I started a chauffeur business back in those
24:47
days started doing really well. You know, my attitudes good. I'm
24:50
changing them. I'm Suzy asterik. I'm up I'm, I'm grateful. You
24:54
know, I'm grateful for life and my the second chance and so AAA
24:59
in the personal development industry collided in my life at
25:03
the same time early on. And that was that rarely happens to
25:08
people in a head. So that was really it, man. So. So my buddy
25:15
in a one day is talking to me. He's got about two years on,
25:19
he's like, dude, what's going on with you? Why are you so
25:22
motivated? You're all encouraging, and I hear you in
25:24
the meetings and you're very uplifting. He goes, Man, what's
25:27
going on? And I said, Well, I've been listening to this guy named
25:30
Tony Robbins. Because I know Tony Robbins is I bought his
25:34
book, but I never read it. Well, how often does that show up?
25:41
Right. We want to make a change when we buy a book or buy a
25:44
program, and then we don't do it. Yeah, I knew who you are.
25:47
You're out there listening. Right? We do it. Well, anyway, I
25:51
said, Look, I bought his program. I'll loan it to you. If
25:54
you promise me to go through it. He said, I promise. So I gave it
25:58
to you did, you went through it. Seven years later. This is all
26:02
going on in 1988 1989. To 919 95 My phone rings. It's dan. He
26:09
goes, dude. Hey, man, did you know that Tony Robbins is coming
26:13
to town? And I'm like, No, man. I had no clue. He goes, dude,
26:17
come on. You got me into this. You gotta go with me. Come on.
26:20
Let's go. Yep. And I said, Well, what's the date? I said, so he's
26:24
I said, Yeah, I'll go. He said, Great. Listen, I'm gonna call
26:27
you back. Let me go make the arrangements. Let me call you
26:29
back. calls me back an hour later, he goes done. Here's what
26:33
they told us to do. Number one, drink a lot of water. Stay
26:36
hydrated throughout the event. Number two, bring snacks. You're
26:41
gonna laugh at this one. They said bring snacks, you're gonna
26:43
have a lot of room. What an understatement. That is I was
26:48
laughing because he knows. And so. And then he said, be ready
26:53
to play full out and bring your good attitude. And I said, Well,
26:56
how much was the ticket? Dan? He said $695 What? $695.90 95?
27:02
Right. what's that worth today? Yeah, 1.3 million. I don't buy
27:11
Bitcoin for God's sakes. Hey, that's literally Bitcoins. Yeah,
27:16
absolutely. So just as he's getting ready to get off the
27:21
phone, he goes, Oh, by the way, I left out almost left after the
27:23
most important part. Because we're going to be doing a fire
27:27
watch. No, I'm like, Oh, hell no. No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm
27:37
not saying anything. But my brain is going no fire walk
27:40
together. No. You know what's funny. I don't know what a
27:42
firewall is. I don't know what that meant. I have no recipe for
27:45
references for that. I have no idea what he just told me. But I
27:48
said, No, I'm not saying anything to Dan. I'm making
27:52
these decisions quietly. Right. And I'm like, going along with
27:55
I'm like, you know, I'm being subservient. I'm like, Yeah,
27:57
sure. You know, firewall. Yeah, sounds good. Dan. Okay, man. See
28:01
you then. Well, the big day comes. And we get there. And you
28:05
know, this. Tony took the stage at two o'clock in the afternoon.
28:10
Next thing I know, it's after midnight. Right. You've been in?
28:16
I've been in a room. We've all been in a room. There's 3500 of
28:19
us, by the way at this event. And you I've been in a room with
28:23
Tony for 10 hours. You know, remember the part bring snacks?
28:26
Yeah. If you don't just starve to death. And the next thing you
28:29
know, and I'm not doing it, I made a decision. This is a hard
28:33
no for me. I'm not going to do this firewalk and all sudden,
28:36
Tony goes take your shoes off. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no,
28:42
no, no. I see where you're going with that. Wow. I fallen for
28:48
that. Well, here's the dilemma. I'm in a room with 3500 people.
28:53
Guess what they're doing? They're taking their damn shoes
28:56
off. That's right. And we're going on taking no people don't
28:59
go towards the light. It's like, Oh, you gotta be kidding me. So
29:03
now my dilemma is what am I going to do? What am I going to
29:06
take my shoes off and walk out there into this parking lot?
29:10
With 3500 people and wear my shoes are all going to be
29:13
pointing to me. They're gonna know I'm a coward. Now we can't
29:16
have that. So I'm like, calm down. Just chill. Take your
29:19
shoes off. And when you get out there, just go hide in the back.
29:23
No one is going to know period. Of course right? So there's my
29:28
now it gets worse as you know when he gets everybody going out
29:31
there once you get everybody to start doing clapping and
29:35
chanting. Right so they're walking out there going? Yes,
29:39
yes. Yes. And I'm walking out there going? No, I don't think
29:43
so. Not tonight boys and girls. And But it gets worse. You know
29:49
this to you get out there. He's got African drummers.
29:53
Alan Carroll: Oh, yeah. Dunton feels good in the body. Oh,
29:57
yeah. Boom.
30:00
Unknown: But you know what a dog and pony show, right? And then
30:03
you get out there, of course. And he's got this giant fire
30:06
built over here in the corner, right? And it's huge. It's 35
30:11
feet wide. It's 70 feet long. It's been burning all day. And
30:16
it renders after 10 hours. And so they just keep throwing wood
30:20
on it all day. And at the end of the night, this big giant pile
30:24
of coals, some blue, woohoo, blue flame. It's gorgeous.
30:28
Right? So how do you how do you firewalk 3500 people? Well, what
30:32
you do is you take wheelbarrows over to that big pile coals, you
30:36
load the coals in a wheelbarrow, you bring a wheelbarrow in and
30:40
you run two lanes of side, grass on the side. And that lanes, you
30:46
know, three feet wide, 18 feet long. And then you just take a
30:49
flathead shovel, and you sprinkle those coals on top of
30:53
that grass. And that's what you walk on. Well, I'm having none
30:57
of it. Where am I? I'm in the back. I'm Heidi. Well, here's
31:00
what Tony Robbins knows. He did his research. He didn't bring
31:04
the firewalk to his events because he thought he was going
31:07
to hurt people. Right? He knows he did his research firewalking
31:12
is literally one of the most life changing experiences any
31:16
human will ever go through. Period. firewalk has been around
31:20
for 1000 years. It's not new. It may be new to the west, but it's
31:23
not new to the rest of the world. Just go ask the
31:26
Phoenicians or the people of India. Oh my gosh, they've been
31:29
doing it. It's incredible. The fireworks they do in India, the
31:33
Polynesians, the Hawaiians, the people of Spain and Portugal and
31:38
the Indo Europeans, the Native American Indians, it's been
31:41
around for 1000 years used as a rite of passage, a graduation.
31:45
So Tony knows that this is, you know, he wants to get you across
31:49
that fire. And the reason is, because he knows the paradigm
31:52
shift is there. He knows it's going to be one of the most life
31:55
changing experiences you'll ever endure. And so he wants to make
31:59
sure you get through that experience. What's he do? He
32:02
knows there's people like me, he knows where we are. He knows
32:05
we're hiding in the back. He's not. He's very experienced at
32:09
this. So what's he do? He trains people to come find you. So here
32:13
I'm thinking I got it all figured out hiding in the back.
32:16
Next thing, you know, here comes this guy. You know, it's coming
32:23
right on back there. And all of a sudden, he makes eye contact.
32:28
And Tony trains them. Once you make eye contact, don't take
32:31
your eyes off. And so I'm out there and he makes eye contact
32:35
with me and it gets to you know, I don't know 20 feet from any
32:38
kind of looks at me really funny. Like a dog that hears a
32:41
strange sound right? twisted his head. And he's looking at me
32:44
goes Hey, man, are you okay? And when we're not okay, what do we
32:48
say? What do we do? I'm fine. Rely we're fine. Yeah. Oh, good.
32:52
Here, move along. Nothing to see here. Smile. And he says so.
32:55
Hey, man, are you going to walk tonight? I'm like, Absolutely
32:59
not. What do you think I'm hiding in the back full? And he
33:05
goes, Hey, man, that's cool. No problem. He said, We don't want
33:09
you to do anything you don't want to do. And I went, Oh,
33:14
okay. Well, this guy is gonna get me out of here. Not so much.
33:18
And you know, what's interesting about this man, now is, I don't
33:22
know who it is to this day. This one guy that I don't know, ask
33:26
me one question. It completely changed my life. That's those
33:30
kinds of things happen in our lives all the time, but we don't
33:33
recognize it in the moment. And so here's this perfect stranger.
33:37
And the question he asked me was, wouldn't you at least like
33:39
to watch? And I thought, Well, sure. Oh, watch. That'd be fine.
33:45
Let's go watch these people burn their feet off. Yeah, let's do
33:47
that. And he said, well, listen, man, you can't see anything from
33:50
where you are. He's right. And he's telling the truth. I'm 100
33:53
yards away. I got 3500 People standing for it. I can't see
33:56
anything. I can hear it. I could see the big fire over here. I
34:01
can hear the drums I can feel the drums I can hear the
34:03
chanting and the clapping. People are already firewalking
34:07
and they're in the celebration and and they're jumping up like
34:09
crazy screaming with exhilaration. That's all
34:13
happening, but I can't see anything. And he said, well just
34:16
get in line and eventually you'll get up there you'll be
34:18
able to see it. You got me, right, he got me in line. That's
34:25
all that he needed to do. And he was congruent. Because I
34:28
couldn't see anything and I wouldn't have been able to see
34:30
anything and I've not gotten a lot. So I'm in line I'm kind of
34:34
trudging along and you know, again, it's it's it's it's a dog
34:37
and pony show unlike anything you've ever seen, felt or
34:40
experienced. And all sudden this guy comes up to me he whispers
34:44
in my ear. And he says he knows when you're ready. When he says
34:48
go you go and pew. This guy just disappeared into the night. And
34:54
I'm like, what was that? Who was that? What does that mean? He
34:59
knows when you You're ready. And so I'm just walking along and
35:03
I'm walking along and all sudden I get to a point I still can't
35:05
see in front of me. I got 1000 people in front of me, but I can
35:10
see at an angle. And Alan, you know, they're doing it. every
35:14
race, every creed, every color. And they're Firewalker their
35:19
walk walking on hot coals and I'm mesmerized. I can't take my
35:23
eyes off it. You know, it's like a it's like a car accident,
35:27
right? You Oh, I'm not supposed to look at it. But what do we do
35:29
we stare at? Yeah, well, that's kind of what's going on here. I
35:31
can't take my eyes off it. And I'm and again, I'm just going to
35:35
trance and I'm walking along and boom. Next thing I know, guess
35:39
where I am. Right. I missed the front of the line. And now I'm
35:46
looking down at that fire lane, right? It's three feet wide.
35:49
It's 18 feet long. The calls have been sprinkled on top.
35:52
They're glowing. Alright, growing calls. Yeah. Oh, cheese,
35:56
and the wheelbarrows right there so I can feel the heat coming
35:59
off. So this is real. Yep. And I'm staring into the abyss.
36:02
Yeah, my heart is pounding so hard. I know. It's gonna jump
36:05
out of my chest any moment. Yep. Well, there's a trainer standing
36:08
right there. Yep, I'll send the trainer goes up. And I bring my
36:14
like, you know, you startled right, my eyes. Well, well done.
36:17
I'm in a room for 10 hours with Tony Robbins. And guess what he
36:19
teaches you to do, as you well know. Keep your eyes up. Don't
36:22
stare at what you fear. interesting metaphor. Keep your
36:26
eyes up look to the celebration and because that's where the
36:29
reward is. And so because basically, fear is nothing more
36:33
than exhilaration without the breath. Let me say that again.
36:39
Fear, in most cases is nothing more than exhilaration without
36:43
the breath, because it's like going on a roller coaster. You
36:46
get scared? What do you do? You hold your breath. You're not
36:50
breathing, just like we did when we started your podcast. We took
36:53
a nice big deep cleansing breath, get oxygen into your
36:56
body get get your mind moving. And so the trainer goes, squeeze
37:02
your fist and say yes. And I'm like, Yes. And you want
37:06
stronger. No, yes. Well, he could tell. He's been doing
37:10
this. He knew I wasn't in a peak state. He knew I was leaving a
37:13
lot on the table. So what did he do? You got in my face and
37:16
screamed at me stronger. screamed at me. Well, that's
37:20
fighter flight. So I threw my hands in the air and I screamed
37:24
Yes, as loud as I could any goes, go go go. I took off.
37:29
Right? Remember the guy he knows when you're ready. When he says
37:32
go you go. I went? Well, here's the first thing I learned about
37:36
firewalking and I'll bet you learned something similar. And
37:39
that is when you take that first step. Oh, you'll take the
37:43
second, third fourth. You're not gonna stop on that fire lane.
37:48
Ain't gonna happen. Well, as you might also know, they put two
37:51
guys at the end two people at the end and they lock arms to
37:54
stop you and they catch you. Right it's like stop like your
37:57
feet.