Salva Alva: Singer/Songwriter,Music Producer and Founder of Light Frequency Productions

Salva is a singer/songwriter, music producer and founder of Light Frequency Productions. Born in the Dominican Republic, his music journey started at 13 when he picked up the bass guitar for the first time and indulged in playing solid grooves for experimental rock bands in his hometown’s scene, including TKR and Perro Macho. 

Years later, listening to a calling from within, Salva connects with medicine music and takes the steps into creating what is his current solo project, Salva y La Salve, devoting his music to be at service of others, opening their hearts to heal and expand into a cosmic awareness. 

He is currently located in Miami, Fl where he is constantly producing new music for himself and other artists of the medicine music scene. 

Links:

www.salvaalba.rocks

IG: @salva_alba

Music: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0WHgvzIMDxC4FmLtZGajbQ?si=43f39ef154ed432f

Watch Interview on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/qmDBbAwcQ74

Chapters

• 1:15 Salva's Journey
• 12:05 From Dog Walking to Music
• 27:42 Exploring Spirituality and Plant Medicines
• 35:04 Exploring Spirituality, Questioning Beliefs

Transcript

Speaker 2: 1:16

Hi Salva, welcome to the Quantum Alchemist Master Podcast. It's a pleasure to have you here today. How are you?

Speaker 1: 1:22

I'm really good. Thank you for Salia for having me, for inviting me. I always get excited when I get to talk one-on-one with people Awesome, I'm really happy about this.

Speaker 2: 1:33

So I'm just going to tell the listeners and the viewers a little bit about, first of all, how you got invited into the podcast today. So Salva is he's many things, as you're going to hear pretty soon, but he's working. Him and I were working on a project together. He's doing all the music, production and everything else. He'll explain more of what he does, because I'll probably say it all wrong, but we're working on a beautiful project together and we were talking and I'm like Salva. So tell me a little bit about your story. How'd you get involved into music, into production, all of this? And his story literally blew me away and I said people really need to hear this story. I felt inspired. I identified myself with the story personally. I was like more people need to hear this. So it's a great honor to have you here.

Speaker 1: 2:25

My pleasure.

Speaker 2: 2:26

And hear more about this exciting, very brave story that you're going to share with us today.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Really, really happy to be here. I'm really glad to be able to share it and that we connected in the way that we did in such a random opportunity not random at all- Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:46

So tell me a little bit about you, your childhood, anything you want to share, a little bit about your background story.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Okay, well, I am from the Dominican Republic. I was born and raised there. I lived there most of my life. I would say I had a very happy childhood. I think I was a. There's always things that I could say that I wish my parents had done differently and this and that, but in general, I feel that they did a really good job in raising us. I have two sisters, both older than me, and I think they did the best that they could and I think it was really really good. Yeah, again, we can always say like, oh, I wish they had done this better, I wish they hadn't done that. But they are what they are. They're humans figuring life out at the same time. They're being parents for the first time as they're raising us while doing everything else that they got going on. So I'm really grateful for the childhood I got and for everything that they did and gave me all the opportunities.

Speaker 2: 3:55

Hey man Nice. So how'd you come?

Speaker 1: 3:57

into music. My mom is a. I grew up with music. My mom studied piano and the National Conservatory in the DR for like 14 years. She graduated Then. She didn't pursue a career in music as such, just thought music to children for a little bit and then kind of like put it aside. But I grew up listening to her playing a grand piano almost every day in her house. So I really got to live music like firsthand like that. My dad was a big music enthusiast so he would be playing vinyl records and cassettes all the time and I really enjoyed that. And by the time I was like I would say 12, my friends in school and I none of us had picked up an instrument at that point but we started listening to music that we liked, that we were discovering ourselves and we were like let's make a band, let's play like these guys do. I was listening. We were listening to punk rock, to hardcore metal and all that kind of stuff and we were like, yeah, let's do that, let's all buy instruments and let's start playing.

Speaker 2: 5:10

So what was your first instrument?

Speaker 1: 5:13

My sisters had an acoustic guitar in the house. So when we my friends and I decided like okay, we're going to make a band, we're going to you know everybody raise their hands and pick that instrument. And I was the last one to pick and the bass guitar was the only one left and I was like I'll take the bass whatever. So I didn't want to be left out, not knowing that I would later fall in love with the instrument. But what I had at home was an acoustic guitar and I started picking it up. There was like an old guitar method that my sisters never went through and I started kind of like doing things there and learning stuff by ear, just listening to music and trying to like pick it up and figure it out myself. And then when my parents saw like okay, he's really into it, for my birthday they got me a bass guitar and that started, you know, getting me into like oh well, yeah, no, this instrument is really cool.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Nice, yeah. So how did that band go? After all, do you guys had a lot of. You know that it go on for a couple of years. Was it just like a, you know, a one off thing, a summer thing, that you guys keep it going for a while? How was?

Speaker 1: 6:25

that we really did. We kept it going. There were many iterations of the band because some of the original members didn't keep playing, but at least two of us remained till for a long time. So, yeah, a couple of transmutations along the way, but we kept playing. We recorded music.

Speaker 1: 6:49

The first thing we started doing was like, okay, we started, you know, getting together jamming, creating songs out of nowhere. We didn't. We picked up the instruments and we were learning the things by ear, but we never really took music lessons. So we didn't know the notes on the fretboard, we didn't know the name of the chorus. We were like, okay, you're doing this on that fret, I'll do this and I can throw. Oh, this note goes well with that. And we put songs together.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Like that, we started going into talent shows back in schools, around the ER and we were there playing with all these other bands. We started meeting all these other people around that were doing the same thing. And then we started, like you know, following that that vibe, getting to know more musicians and we got to record music. We got to be on the national radio, on TV. We got a nominated for an award ceremony back in 2006,. I think they were called the Premios Cassandra back in the day. We got nominated for that with one of our albums and, yeah, we were. We kept it going.

Speaker 1: 7:51

I would say that we started playing when I was about 13. And that core of that band stayed together until 2006, I would say 2007,. After I left off to, the band was already kind of like not going as well at that point Internal things, everybody you know, coming out of school, going into college, having different plans and different things. So we all started pulling our way and, yeah, around 2007, we stopped playing. That band was called TKR the Kidnap Rodents was the meaning of that and yeah, like a couple of months ago they did like a little special on the radio there, like celebrating, like I don't know, the 20th anniversary or whatever it was, from one of our releases and yeah, it was a really cool experience with it.

Speaker 2: 8:42

It's pretty cool, so I'm curious to know which way did you pull after that band and if everybody went their way?

Speaker 1: 8:51

I at them a little bit. Before the band broke off I had gone into studying mechanical engineering because I didn't think I could pursue music as a career as good as the band was doing. It was not profitable, we were doing it for fun, we were doing all these great things, but we're playing rock music in a land of merengue, bachata and all those things, so there wasn't really like a mass audience for us to appeal to. Back then the internet was, you know, just starting to break out. There wasn't Instagram, there wasn't Facebook yet, or maybe there was Facebook. It was just starting, I don't know. But you know, becoming an international success didn't seem like something that would happen for a band like all the way from the Dominican Republic.

Speaker 1: 9:39

So I went on and studied mechanical engineering and after three years into that I was like, no, I really do want to study music. I started taking lessons and saw what my teachers were doing, which was totally different from what I played, and that's when I decided to move to Argentina to really study music there, really go into formal school and get a real tuition on it. So that opened me up from coming from a rock background to jazz and funk and other styles, other rhythms that kind of opened my mind to like, oh, there's other possibilities out there. If I approach this different, there's all the kind of opportunities.

Speaker 2: 10:23

Nice yeah. So how did music production get in there?

Speaker 1: 10:30

When I was in Buenos Aires I got to school and the first two semesters there were only like two classes a week. Okay, man, I came all the way here to really dive into this. I'm not just gonna go to school for you know. Two classes a week, two lessons, two hours a week, and I was like no, let me see what else I can do. And then I looked into what they had to offer at the school and they had music production as an opportunity. I'm like, up to then my experience in the studio was only as a musician. I had never been on the other side, I'd never been on the mixer or any of that. But it seemed something really cool to do and I decided to give that a shot.

Speaker 2: 11:15

Nice. Yeah, I'm glad you did, cause we're sitting here today.

Speaker 1: 11:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm really glad I did too. It opened a completely new universe for me.

Speaker 2: 11:24

So there's something really cool aside from all the cool stuff you already mentioned. You worked with dogs.

Speaker 1: 11:30

I worked with dogs.

Speaker 2: 11:31

Tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 1: 11:33

Yeah. So I get to Buenos Aires, I'm studying music, but I kind of need a side hustle to have some money on the side and back in that day, in the Dominican Republic, people would never take their dogs out. I had dogs all my life and up to that point I never took my dogs out for a walk. They were in the backyard. We loved them, we fed them, we spent time with them, but nothing more than that. I get to Buenos Aires and my next door neighbor, she had a colleague and she would go on rollerblades on the street. Her dog would go on the sidewalk without a leash and she would get to the corners, to the intersections, and she would tell the dog to stop and he would stop and wait for him to tell her. Like you know, and I was like I thought you would only see this in the movies, like I never knew you could have that real relationship, connection, understanding with a dog. So I was like what's happening here? Why am I missing out? And I started reading about it and looking for stuff online and I decided to OK, let me start walking dogs here and seeing that that's a business and that's a possibility. And I did that while I was there. And when I come back to Dominican Republic and I start trying to pick up this musical project from off the ground and only to find out that months later someone decides to leave the band and we have to start over again, put a new repertoire together, new singer, new music, and I was like I can't. I'm doing this for a living. I can't be relying on other people to be able to earn the bread, to make the bread. So I was like, you know, let's give the dog walking playing a chance here in the ER and see what happens. And yeah, one thing led to another and I decided to put music on the side, just dedicate my time completely to dog walking. And that became then dog training.

Speaker 1: 13:43

Because you know, again, most people didn't take their dogs out for walks. They somehow. So Sarmilang was becoming popular. It was this you know, everybody becoming aware of, like, oh, dogs need more than just food. And I get to be called by people that want something for their dogs, like a better life.

Speaker 1: 14:08

But these dogs have never been out of the backyards so they don't know what's out there, and one in particular was a German shepherd who was four years old, never left his backyard in those four years was a beautiful, working line, very nice looking dog and even the vets would go, you know, see him at his house and everything. So this dog doesn't know what's beyond the fence. And because he was a very energetic dog and not getting enough exercise, he was turning into compulsive behaviors. He was chasing his tail, he was biting it and to the point where it would bleed, and the owners were afraid of him because they would go outside and he would growl at them. He wouldn't attack them but he would attack himself. But still they were like we're afraid of our dog.

Speaker 1: 14:58

And so I come in and I, you know, sit down and like, ok, let me figure this out. How do I get this dog to trust me, to get him on a leash, to take him out the door? And it was weeks of me just sitting there with a bag of hot dogs and be like Rocky, look Rocky, and every time throwing the hot dog closer and closer and closer. So he was like eating from my knee, then from my hand, then like me, like you know, like having a collar here and having him put his head through the collar, put the collar like, yeah, step by step, little steps until I could actually take him out. And then I'm like, ok, if I'm really doing this, I need to learn.

Speaker 1: 15:36

And I start looking for stuff online. I find I start following this go from Australia on Instagram and that was training dogs, and out of nowhere I'm like, oh, she, oh, she pulls something that she was going to Highland Canine it's a dog training institute here in North Carolina and she says that she's going there for the summer. I'm like, oh, that's really cool that you're going there. I've always wanted to go there but you know, don't have the budget for it, but can't wait to see your, you know your experience there. And she responds and it's like, oh, there's a contest, you should try to enter it and see what happens.

Speaker 1: 16:18

And I look at the contest and I see, like it was called Everybody, every Dog, that Serves a Second Chance. And it was, you know, pretty much talking about I don't know if you know this, people listening to this know this but a lot, millions of dogs get put to sleep every year in the United States just because of behavior problems. That could be solved if people really looked for help, if they looked for a professional trainer who could help. You know, understand what's going on with their dog and find a way to get them out of there. So they had this campaign going on and they did this contest and I was working with Rocky, I was working with other dogs that had similar cases and I just like flood the hashtag with it. I go into the contest, I go and every day I'm like posting something about it. I ended up winning and coming to North Carolina, spending six weeks there learning from an amazing couple of trainers and then going back to the IR, the IR, and just like going full on on my dog training business.

Speaker 2: 17:22

Wow, how long did you do dog training for?

Speaker 1: 17:25

About 10 years, a little bit over 10 years. I went to Highland to see 2015. Also not 10 years, about eight years.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Yeah, 2015,.

Speaker 1: 17:39

I did it till about 2022, when I decided to take music back into my life.

Speaker 2: 17:48

I was going to go into that. How did music fall back into your life? How was that transition?

Speaker 1: 17:55

Is it?

Speaker 2: 17:55

calling up the soul, calling you back to music? Is it something that was always just kind of there building up and it just couldn't?

Speaker 1: 18:04

control it anymore. Pretty much, pretty much, I did put my base away. I put it in the closet. I didn't play for a long time, but I did still really love music. I enjoyed it a lot. I saw my friends playing and every time, every now and then, I would jam with them, but never really take it on as I had before. So I was full on working, dog training and COVID, and everything was like some apocalypse just started. What are we going to do now? The world is ending? What have I done with my life? What have I done that? I really love All those crazy questions that we started asking ourselves when that happened and I was like I have a voice, I have a message, I have things to say and at least one person out there has to resonate with what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 19:06

There has to be someone out there that needs to listen to this and that will connect with what I'm saying. So I started taking music lessons. I made a couple of agreements with myself.

Speaker 1: 19:18

The first one was that the music that I was doing was not for me, that I had to forget about me liking it or not because it was not for me. I had to get that out of my mind that I couldn't judge it whatsoever, Like the songs are coming out and whatever they're for someone else, just write them. And then the second that it wasn't for my musicians friends either, because I was used to playing with all these people that you know like really talented musicians that did all kinds of things, and I was like the music's not for them, Cause then I would also be like what are they gonna think about this songs, Cause we've been playing totally different things. So I was like what are they gonna say about this when they hear it? And I'm like, no, it's not for them, Forget about them, Just write, let the songs come to you and put them out there.

Speaker 2: 20:11

So I want to take up parentheses here, because I haven't spoken much but, I've been observing a lot and she hates my wife is here in the background, by the way. She hates when I do that. Every time she always calls me out for doing that. I just wanted to point that out. I'm still gonna probably do it a lot of times. First of all, because you always did whatever you could in that moment with the resources that you had, from childhood up until the present moment and you've been, I'm sure, through a lot ups, downs cycles in your life everything and you still alchemized each opportunity, it didn't matter what, even Doug training.

Speaker 2: 21:00

Maybe that was not the calling of your soul, but it was part of your sole plan for you to learn whatever it was at that moment and you used, you went full in, you went full into it wholeheartedly. And how long did it take you to sit there to get Rocky to eat a hot dog? Right, and you patiently did it anyway. So that being present in what you're doing, fully invested, and being okay with the mystery of maybe not knowing what's there tomorrow, right, and just trusting that it is for your highest good, just kind of following your intuition, your inner compass, right.

Speaker 1: 21:43

It's not an easy thing.

Speaker 2: 21:44

It's not. It's not easy to do. It can be very scary, yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:47

when you don't know what's coming next, there's not a path laid out of, like you know.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Yeah, it's that faith, that trust.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:55

Another thing I noticed from what you're saying is you weren't doing it now for external approval.

Speaker 1: 22:02

No.

Speaker 2: 22:03

Right, yeah, so it's whatever was coming from your heart, just putting it out there out of love for whatever you were doing at that moment, letting consciousness source, whatever it is, flow through you and sharing it with the world. So that view is completely different from our ego standpoint where it's like so, in trying to compare ourselves I've done it as well, of course many times like, oh, what kind of content is this person putting out? I mean, maybe I should do the same, or maybe I should do the same kind of music or the same kind of you know, and just honoring your authenticity and getting to that point where you're like this is it whatever flows through me? You know Totally.

Speaker 2: 22:49

I think every time, especially now that there's more social media, more you know, when you do decide to step out there and expose yourself, you're always gonna have that 50-50, right? 50% people are probably gonna agree with you and like your stuff. The other 50 are probably not, and that's great because everybody's in their own journey. We can't do it for them. We just have to focus on our journey and sharing from our stand, from our ever-changing perspective, which we're also learning together and changing all the time. So very brave. All those changes that you did, especially coming from a Latino background, like it really relate right. A lot of the times they want you to be a doctor or a lawyer. You know all these things, engineer right.

Speaker 2: 23:33

Not new decisions, kind of on the back burner there.

Speaker 1: 23:37

Yeah yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:38

So tell me a little bit about what kind of projects either you're currently doing or you've done that you wanna share with people. Maybe you know they're not really sure what is it that you do or cause. I know you do quite a bit of stuff, so if you wanna share a little bit about pretty cool stuff that you've done.

Speaker 1: 23:54

Yeah, yeah, of course, before I get into that, I do wanna say that part about the being authentic. It's also, you know, it's a constant work, cause there's always the back. You know, the thought in the back of your mind or oh, like, oh like. Are people really gonna like this? Are people really gonna connect with this? Am I being, you know, by embracing my authenticity? Am I being so different that no one's gonna be able to relate to me? Or you know, um, but it's also, you know, a part of that of just listening to your heart, listening to what really wants to come out, and do that.

Speaker 1: 24:39

Nowadays, I'm working in many things. I got my own musical project as a singer-songwriter. It's called Salva y la Salve. I've been releasing music with that project since 2021-22. There's music on all streaming platforms. There's that.

Speaker 1: 25:06

Since I moved here in Miami, I've been working with this band called Birdsong Emilia Gart and Birdsong.

Speaker 1: 25:15

It's medicine music.

Speaker 1: 25:16

There are people from all different parts of the world, so there's like a little bit of everything a little bit of Dominican Republic, columbia, hawaii, peru, so there's a lot of blends that come together in there, and also producing music for a lot of artists here in Miami, mostly in the conscious medicine music vibe, but all kinds of music and that melting pot that happens here from all the cultures that combine here in Florida, and also projects like the one I'm working with you recording here in the studio and social and studios recording from podcasts to guided meditations, sound healings all kinds of experiences.

Speaker 1: 26:08

I get people here with singing bowls, with gongs, with harmoniums, and we do all kind of really cool stuff here. My intention is always to work with people that aren't doing this just for themselves, that are doing this to share their message, to share their medicine, to share their story, to do things that can help other people in any kind of way, so mostly focused with that. That doesn't mean that you can't dance to the music that I do and that I work on, because the rhythm is there, but it's more about the message behind those rhythms, too that really matters to me.

Speaker 2: 26:54

Thank you for sharing that. He's super awesome to work with, super chill. It's above and beyond. I highly recommend them, not just because he's here. Another thing do you mind if we get a little deep in the conversation?

Speaker 1: 27:09

No, please, let's go.

Speaker 2: 27:11

So you talked a little bit about people here in Miami, kind of like in the medicine space, just to call it something to label it.

Speaker 1: 27:22

I hate labels, but spirituality and the medicine, space.

Speaker 2: 27:27

Is there anything you could share with us, a little bit about your spiritual journey, your awakening process or anything like that that you feel called to share today?

Speaker 1: 27:36

Yeah, sure, I was raised in a Catholic family. Being from a Hispanic country, that's pretty much what we get, went to a Jesuit school. In a way I do like that it was from all the options. It was a Jesuit school because I'm very science inclined In all of religion. I think that in the Catholic system they're more science inclined too. We had an astronomy club, we had all kinds of things in school, so that was kind of cool to be able to get that.

Speaker 1: 28:19

With all respect to religions aside and all that, the story that I was being told didn't got it for me. My dad was buying me dinosaur kits and stuff and I was really into paleontology and archaeology growing up. So I'm like I'm here looking for dinosaur bones and you're telling me that it was animatnive and that was it. Nothing else happened before mankind. So I was like I'm not having that. That didn't take with me.

Speaker 1: 28:49

There was this one particular book that really opened my mind up and it's crazy that there was a book that was assigned in school El Mundo de Sofia, sofia's World, and it's a book about this girl teenager that somehow gets into this philosophy course like true male and she started receiving these letters and all this like teaching her about philosophy and that, you know, reading about all these different points of view and ways to experience life really opened my mind off to like, okay, you know, yeah, there is something besides this sacred book that they're teaching me here in school, because that started getting me curious.

Speaker 1: 29:30

I started reading about Buddhism. Then I, for a while, I got into Wicca, witchcraft and that all that, and it was a crazy experience for me to learn like something completely different. Later on I was able to tie it and I'm like, oh, I have, you know, nordic ancestors. So in a way, that was already, like you know, calling out from in me. Like you know, there's other ways to relate with spirituality. And then for years, you know, when I really started like getting into music, I kind of like put spirituality aside. I always had like a calling there, but I never really, you know, went deep into anything until years later when I started practicing yoga and I got really into Hinduism and really, you know, learning all about that and plant medicines had always been like a topic that I heard about, but I hadn't had a lot of experiences with it.

Speaker 2: 30:34

And we have a visitor.

Speaker 1: 30:36

You're good, you need something. You need something, it's okay.

Speaker 2: 30:56

We can cut it. Just put a cancel or whatever it says there. What is it? I think the memory is full on that one. Well, that's okay, because that one we're going to use for shorts, okay, well, let's wait, I think, because she's going to use la la audidora. It's probably going to sound pretty, let's see Pretty.

Speaker 1: 31:23

A veces no se oye aquí Si fuera, y tal vez no tenemos problema.

Speaker 2: 31:26

Okay, cool. Yeah, you can then re-record here on this one.

Speaker 1: 31:31

Ya.

Speaker 2: 31:31

Se que cambiarlo. That's fine. Okay, you can record it. Do you have your phone that I can finish recording on, or no?

Speaker 1: 31:40

We can. Let's see how it goes.

Speaker 2: 31:43

Despacio, it shouldn't be too much longer anyway. It should be like maybe 10 more minutes. I don't think we're going to get too deep.

Speaker 1: 31:54

Si tengo 20 gigas, bueno, okay, solo por aquel.

Speaker 2: 32:03

Best la candelo hay ponte por allante, because kind of hard to get it from the back. No, botancito, amigo laughs必ase fan. Ok, is it recording? Okay, you go, convection alright. So, we were just getting into spirituality and there are no coincidences, so we just got interrupted.

Speaker 1: 33:04

By Lola.

Speaker 2: 33:05

By Lola, so she is really the executive producer here.

Speaker 1: 33:10

She is. She comes here, she does her rounds, she comes to everybody what we're doing, and then she's like let me out again.

Speaker 2: 33:16

She's a beautiful puppy. What breed is she?

Speaker 1: 33:19

She's a chitsu. Okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:22

So she's really the real boss around here.

Speaker 1: 33:24

She's the boss. She's the boss, yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:27

So tell me a little bit. You were telling us a little bit about kind of plant medicine and how that was always on the background for you.

Speaker 1: 33:35

Yeah, you know, growing up and being young and exploring around, you know I used to smoke weed back then with my friends. That came up and other substance lips came. We're in the air. I never dabbled into a lot but I did have experiences with psychedelics then because I had read about them, from from Huxley, from from all these guys that were reading about the experiences. You know the mind altering capabilities and the understanding of the world that came with psilocybin, with all this. You know those things.

Speaker 1: 34:11

So I had experienced a little bit with that on a very recreative realm. And it wasn't until years later that I learned about plant medicines and the ceremony aspect of it and really taking those plans as a sacrament and using them as a tool to really get to understand what's, you know, troubling your heart, your spirit, your emotions. But it wasn't about until two years ago where I had my first experience with ayahuasca, and since I've had a couple of experiences also with Ninos Santos. We started 7. And I'll say that they were a fundamental part of me understanding my path, understanding what it was that I was doing and being able to do that. What we were mentioning before about trusting the unknown, like just taking the steps towards some calling that you feel without being able to see the whole road in front of you. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:19

That's beautiful Thank you for sharing that You're welcome.

Speaker 2: 35:22

Now that, first of all, thank you for the vulnerability because, just first of all, speaking about religion, you know religion and politics is something you should never talk about.

Speaker 1: 35:33

Yes, yes, that's right, but we definitely talk about all the stuff that you're not supposed to talk about.

Speaker 2: 35:38

So I want to touch on that. I think it's wonderful the more questions that we ask about ourselves, about lives, about what we've been told, about the programming, about what we say here, what you read, the music you listen to, everything, the food you eat just question everything.

Speaker 1: 36:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:01

Yeah, find what, use your own discernment, what resonates with you, and that's probably going to be changing all the time as well. So really diving into as many religions opens up a whole another world. It's like it's crazy and Catholicism we're never exposed to anything else other than the Bible.

Speaker 1: 36:21

No, never. They don't even mention anything else to be as an option, so it's beautiful.

Speaker 2: 36:28

It's beautiful that we get to explore and we get to the side and we have our free will and we have choice. We have choice to see what else is out there, see what resonates with our soul. It's truth, yeah, and also the vulnerability about using certain substances recreationally. That's really powerful to share that, because a lot of people they speak a lot about spirituality and being non-dualistic and love and light. I mean, that's not just it. We're not exempt from any life experience per se.

Speaker 2: 37:05

That's just part of our path part of the medicine itself, recognizing whatever it is you use. It doesn't matter what book you read, what podcast. What you come across is, I believe it's designed to help us look within get to know ourselves a little bit better.

Speaker 1: 37:20

Totally.

Speaker 2: 37:21

And kind of just grow with the different cycles. So thank you so much for sharing that.

Speaker 1: 37:28

And thank you for putting the question out there.

Speaker 2: 37:31

Oh yes, I love putting in questions, that's for sure, and plant medicine has been a big catalyst in my path as well. I have big respect. I personally haven't done it recreationally, but I think you have to start somewhere, and it doesn't matter where. Question everything, it doesn't matter, just explore.

Speaker 1: 37:53

Yeah, yeah, because then you really get to understand what resonates with you. I think it's more important to be able to have a deep connection with your spirituality that not having one because just what was told to you doesn't resonate with you and you'd rather not look or ask questions or check anybody else. So like you're raising a Catholic home and you, for some reason, you just don't like it, you don't know, it doesn't resonate with you and you're like, no, I want nothing to do with spirituality because this doesn't resonate with me, instead of asking what else is out there and finding somewhere where you like, wow, wait, okay, I really resonate with whatever it is Catholic, taoism, hinduism, muslim, whatever religious path you connect with but that gets you to at least have in that connection with that big part of ourselves, because it's undeniable that there's something greater that moves this flesh and bones inside.

Speaker 2: 38:56

Absolutely so. Yeah, I think there's always something for us to learn everywhere. Yeah, the conversation and the setting in a moment, standing at a line.

Speaker 1: 39:07

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:09

Everywhere. It's a moment, an opportunity for growth, for learning, for alchemy, so it's kind of looking at yourself as the co-creator, right?

Speaker 1: 39:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:18

Rather than the victim. All the stuff, the trauma, everything else, all the limiting beliefs, anything that's there, it's opportunity.

Speaker 1: 39:28

It's opportunity.

Speaker 2: 39:30

And it's all perspective and perception. Even that is always changing, I feel, at least for me.

Speaker 1: 39:36

It is, it is for sure. I mean difficult experiences are I'm not going to lie they are difficult, they can be painful, they can be very challenging and put a big weight on our shoulders, but we get the chance to let that bring us down or use that as a strength, as a rock to build ourselves on top of. We can either use that story to inspire other people or we can just let that story just sink us down and don't let us carry us anywhere else in life. So I think it's important when we're able to like yes, let's recognize the pain, let's recognize that this is hard, this is not easy to go through, but this is happening. There's something that I can learn from this. There's something this I'm not just being a victim of this, but I'm going to use whatever happens to me to go on in the world, and I really admire my wife for that, because she's been able to. She's a very big example of someone that owned her story and used it to support other people.

Speaker 2: 40:53

I think we have our next guest. Totally, she would love to be here.

Speaker 1: 40:57

She would love it. Barbara, get ready.

Speaker 1: 40:59

This is the former invitation You're coming soon, yeah, but yeah, it's important to be able to do that, because once we own our stories and we're able to share them, then other people that are in a similar situation, that don't think that they can make it out of there, get the chance to hear us and be like, wow, that person made it out, yeah. And then they move into something like me or worse than me, so I am, or similar, and I can relate to them. And you know, let me follow that as a guiding light.

Speaker 2: 41:36

Thank you for pointing that out. One of the hardest things for me has been to stop, pause, go within and listen.

Speaker 1: 41:46

It's really hard. For me too, it was.

Speaker 2: 41:49

I always wanted to look outside and partners and courses and religion everywhere, but inside of me that was a big, no, no. So I always say I went through an extended dark night of the soul. It's like over five years. That was a really rough process for me and it was all about looking within, stopping all the outside distractions, everything, all the programming.

Speaker 2: 42:19

pause. Let's go that cocoon state looking looking within. So I invite everybody that's listening to us find some space to go within. It doesn't matter, you don't have to meditate for two hours, you don't have to do two to three hours of breathwork. It's awesome if you do. I've done it, it's really really great. But start with five minutes, 10 minutes, journal a little bit and have some alone time, walk in nature, question everything.

Speaker 2: 42:48

question question question question yourself, your thoughts, your mind. A lot of stuff is operating in our subconscious mind. That's like 90% of it. So what's in there? What is it that animates our body? Just wear a source for you, and respecting everybody's perception and interpretation of what that is is beautiful. It's like making a food you think a Latino plate or like a it's going to be like it's only salt. What about the rest of the you know? All the season, all the season you have to have good variety.

Speaker 1: 43:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:31

Yeah, that's what makes life beautiful, part of it.

Speaker 1: 43:34

Exactly, exactly, and I think it's a very important, especially nowadays, to understand that, the beauty and the differences. You know that how much we can learn from each other just because we're from a different background, and that, even as different as our background is, we got things in common, something, because we're humans, at least at the very minimum, we got our bodies, the functionality of our bodies, in common. Beyond that, I'm sure there's a point in our stories that we can say like, oh, I've been through something like that. Or oh, I understand that, because life isn't that different in the end. I mean, the story is different, but life in itself.

Speaker 1: 44:19

Like we're born from a woman, we are in the womb for nine months, we are babies, we got like like everything that goes like, you know, like something in there. We can sit down and like, oh, yeah, like we can relate on that. So I think that it's it's it's crucial to to be curious about stories and people and where they come from and their culture and and and, and you know, see everything as like with that wonder, you know like being like a child and like, like you know, like the joy, joy is wonder, just like taking everything and like, wow, interesting.

Speaker 2: 44:59

I love that. You said that Interesting right. Maybe five years ago it would have been quick to judge instead of say interesting. So that's really really beautiful. Stepping back, observing before you speak kind of take it in wait until the end. Maybe there's something there for you to learn from that right from. We're all students and teachers of each other, so it's really beautiful to kind of look at life. Oh, there, I did it again.

Speaker 1: 45:30

Well, it started to bleep every time. You did it, yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:35

I don't even know, I lost track of what I was going to say, but it's really important. I invite everybody to look within whatever that is, art being one of the big ones for me, meditation, breathwork, of course, plant medicine, at least from my perspective, in a ceremonial aspect, with the right guidance, is so vital. Because everything you do has risk, because you have to really use your discernment for that for everything you do.

Speaker 1: 46:02

And like also what you pointed out earlier, like whatever going within and being with yourself is walk in nature, just go and walk through a park, or just go camping, spend a weekend on your own, or you know writing, you know a lot comes down when you sit in journal, so all those kind of little things, yeah, like give, just just give yourself that time to be with yourself in any way that it is.

Speaker 2: 46:30

Yeah, yeah, thank you so much. I think that's pretty good. How do you feel? How do you feel about the podcast?

Speaker 1: 46:37

I feel good. I'm surprised to hear that you're just starting this because you got it like sold down.

Speaker 2: 46:42

Yeah, like you like so I started like a year ago and then I got busy with life. That happens and then I had some health issues and after those health issues it taught me a lot it taught me a lot and I was like, okay, what's really important for me, it is to spread the message of love that's. To me, love is the underlying source of everything.

Speaker 1: 47:11

It is.

Speaker 2: 47:11

And we're all one source in my opinion. Really, I believe duality and our experience here, first of all, everything is like everything is impermanent and transient, ever changing, ever evolving. So, yeah, it changed all my perspective and I was like what's my message? You know, if I go tomorrow, what is my message? And let me just kind of rush into that and make sure I get it out there.

Speaker 1: 47:39

Make sure I share it. Let me just make sure that it's out there.

Speaker 2: 47:43

Yeah, you know, I didn't want to kind of leave per se, without that, at least part of unfinished business. I wanted to really just put the message out there and it's going to find whoever it's got to find.

Speaker 1: 47:56

You know you don't have to worry about it. You don't have to worry about it, like I was saying earlier, if one person out there resonated with it. That's it. My mission is accomplished.

Speaker 2: 48:06

I'm done, I'm paid for it with that, thank you. I love that. Any last messages or words, anything else, when can people find you? Do you have any website? Instagram anything you want to share?

Speaker 1: 48:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm on again. An all streaming platforms as salva y la salve, and an easy way to find all of my things Just go to salva salvaalvarox. So salva alba rocks, and that's it. That's my website. You can find my contact information, my upcoming events, my Instagram, my platforms where my music's at everything, salvaalbarox.

Speaker 2: 48:46

If you didn't get that, don't worry, we'll add it to the description. Click here salvaalbarox.

Speaker 1: 48:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:52

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure, can we?

Speaker 1: 48:55

hug, of course. Come on. Thank you so much, so grateful for this.

Speaker 2: 49:02

Same here, thank you.

Speaker 1: 49:04

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 49:05

All right, that's it. That was really cool, that was really cool yeah. I really liked it. I sweat a lot yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:16

Sorry, getting hot. Yeah, let me go some water.

Speaker 2: 49:18

Let me go some water.