From the Brink to the Blaze: Dave Albin's Story of Resilience and Firewalking

I never knew that stepping across a bed of hot coals could illuminate the path to self-discovery until I met Dave Albin, America's top firewalk instructor.

Be sure to check out his website at http://www.firewalkadventures.com/

His story of transformation and his mission to help those who have walked through the fires of life—veterans, first responders, single mothers, and abused children—is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Join us as Dave takes us through his journey, revealing how he uses firewalking to ignite change and resilience in others. Through Operation Do No Harm, he's teaching people to walk through flames and carry their newfound strength into every aspect of their lives.

My tale intertwines with Dave's as I peel back the layers of my past, uncovering the roles of mentorship, identity struggles, and the battle with addiction. The path wasn't always clear; some moments could've led to different outcomes. 

We talk about those life-altering turnabouts, like the revelation of my adoption at age 11 and how it sent ripples through my sense of self. 

We also touch on the beacon of hope that shined through the darkness—the principles and practices I discovered along the way, including Tony Robbins's profound influence and the sanctity found within the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous.

What's your 2% solution? That small yet significant shift in your daily routine that could revolutionize your life? 

Discover the simple, cost-free habits that can transform your health and happiness as we share our morning and evening rituals for well-being. But it's not just about individual change—this episode is a call to action to contribute to a more compassionate and resilient society. 

Embrace the power of purpose, the vitality of daily wellness, and the sanctity of a good night's sleep as we learn from Dave's motivational insights and take the first step toward igniting profound change in our lives and the lives of those around us.

Transcript

Dai Manuel: 0:07

Welcome to another exhilarating 2% Solution podcast episode, where minor adjustments spark significant transformations. I'm your host, diamond Well, and today we're stepping into the fire with America's number one firewalk instructor, dave Albin. Albin has worked with high-profile clients such as NASA, heineken, google and the Tony Robbins, having literally walked across hot coals and set a world record with Tony Robbins for the most people firewalking. Dave's transformative influence has even reached organizations like the Entrepreneurs Organization, otherwise known as EO, re-max, and the YMCA. Yet Dave's journey to becoming a catalyst of change wasn't always ablaze. With success, he overcame a past overshadowed by addiction and despair, demonstrating the power of change and the resilience of the human spirit. Join us as we explore how confronting fear, similar to Dave's clients, including Wayne Dyer, t Harbecker and Nate Bailey, can lead us to extraordinary heights. Stay tuned, let's dive into the convo. I'm early, no rush.

Dai Manuel: 1:29

Dave, oh, no rush. I was going to say there's no rush, you can chill still for another five minutes. Maybe you just arrived early.

Dave Albin: 1:36

I grew up in a military household with an officer as a dad, so I used to say if you can be five minutes late, you can be five minutes early oh, man, reminds me my stepdad, larry, used to remind us that if we're you know, if we're not 15 minutes early, we're 15 minutes late and if you're on time, you're late exactly so uh, how you doing man I'm doing fantastic and let me get, is my camera on.

Dai Manuel: 2:04

Yeah, there we go, Looking good, my man. Thanks, bro, Dave. I'm stoked. I've been looking forward to this conversation Also. I just wanted to say thanks, man. I know that your schedule is quite full and we're looking at possibly June, but it was a real pleasant surprise to hear you had this opening today. So thank you.

Dave Albin: 2:22

We just got back from a death, though. We actually did our first firewalk experience for Operation Do no Harm, which is going to be well. It's a nonprofit, but it's going to be focused on four categories of people that I believe need a lot of help One veterans, two first responders, three single moms and four kids that have been abused and neglected, and so the good news is we did the event. It was two days, two firelocks, and we had a little bit of everybody, and so we invited a bunch of corporations to come check us out so that they could come and see if this is something they want to be part of, and, uh, we killed it. Um, you know that simple, so so they're in, and now we just now.

Dave Albin: 3:17

We just have to figure out, you know. The real key, I think, is you know what do we do on the backend?

Dai Manuel: 3:25

You know.

Dave Albin: 3:25

The real thing, I think, is you know what do we do on the back end? You know I was on a podcast. I don't know if I told you I was on a podcast a few months ago and after we recorded we were just talking sidebar and she, natalia, asked me if I'd ever done a firewalk for veterans Like you know specifically no, why. She said, well, we have 200 vets and she goes. And you know specifically no why. She said, well, we have 200 vets and she goes. And you know the suicide rate amongst vets is really high. I said, yeah, I heard a number of like 22 a day. She goes yeah, that's not true, that's bullshit. That's what they want you to think. That's only if they leave a note.

Dai Manuel: 3:57

Ugh.

Dave Albin: 3:58

Jeez.

Dai Manuel: 4:04

It's up closer to 40, over 40 to 50 a day like that's staggering.

Dave Albin: 4:08

I grew up in the Vietnam era. My dad was a highly decorated at World War II and I immediately said okay, I'm in. I need some time to mold this over in my head and get clear about this. So I literally went to bed that night and I woke up in the middle of the night. There was the answer Operation Do no Harm.

Dave Albin: 4:29

Corporate America has been really good to me. I've been hired by all the big boys. That's great. I'm very grateful to all. It's been awesome. But now I'm going to go to him and say hey, how'd you like to make your company look absolutely incredible? How'd you like to save 300 veterans or first responders or moms or kids' lives? And so if you do that, you make a donation to Operation Do no Harm. Operation Do no Harm will hire Firewalk Productions. Firewalk Productions will come in and do all the work. We'll do all the heavy lifting and then you'll walk away, you know, with your brain looking absolutely amazing, not not to mention what it'll do in the media. But it will also look good inside your company because your employees, if you want to bring them, will be part of it.

Dave Albin: 5:15

Yes, oh man, it's like, you know, all these years on the road and with tony robbins and all it was like, I used to ask myself a lot okay, what's going on here, what's really happening? What's the end game here? What do we? What do we do? And so you know, here we are. So pretty exciting, man, I'm pretty high. This you know. I had a seven-year-old kid who walked after we do the firewalk. I put everybody in a circle and tell them to look across the circle and make eye contact with somebody. Don't take your eyes off them once you make contact. Now go over to that person and stand two feet in front of them, and then what I have them do is close your eyes and get in the heart hug position.

Dave Albin: 5:58

In other words, put your heart on their heart yeah don't hug the way we normally do, hug the other way, close, keep your eyes closed, and I I give them you know they do three diaphragmic cleansing breaths. Well, that's what happens. On the second breath coming in out of it, their hearts calibrate and so I do like six times the next. No, I got everybody's heart at the same time. That's crazy shit. And right after I did, I say some stuff and I said not, you know, a bunch of people came up and said thank you normally do and I wanted, I want to be there in case you want to take pictures and and have a hug, that kind of stuff.

Dave Albin: 6:38

Well, this seven-year-old boy came up to me and grabbed me and um had an opportunity to say some things to him and, uh, they got it on both audio and video. So we're going. I mean, it was literally like one of those, one of those moments of my career that I'll never forget. Yeah, um, that little boy changed my life. He literally did. It was pretty, it was pretty transformative, and so I'm still high on that, if you will.

Dai Manuel: 7:16

I would imagine and I don't think that's something you ever really come down from. You know you come out of that changed right.

Dave Albin: 7:25

And I blocked them. I blocked thousands of kids, literally you know my daughter was.

Dave Albin: 7:30

My daughter was what she was ex. My son was nine and I blocked, you know, professional football players and you name it. I blocked a bunch of kids but this little boy, I don't know what it was. He wanted to come up to me and and say thank you, and I, just, you know, I locked on to him and and, uh, of course, we had three video companies. They're all videoing at the same time, wow. So I can't wait to see that.

Dai Manuel: 7:57

Oh don't worry, nothing to excuse about it's uh, you can say whatever you want. I don't want you to filter yourself at all, so don't worry about that. Listen, I oh gosh so many good things to talk about, and I know like I left our very first meet and greet call just feeling inspired. But also, you know I'm a big priority for me, dave, is longevity, but longevity with vitality. And when I met you I was like here's the guy that's got the secret. Okay. I was like here's a guy that's got the secret. Okay. I was like here's a guy that's got it figured out, or at least it's gotten to a place where the experiences are justifying the results you know from the standpoint, that you've created a real lifestyle around this and you support others with it.

Dai Manuel: 8:38

So, uh, you know, today I've been really looking forward to this conversation, but also just to really impart that I've. I've mentioned you to a number of people that I've already spoken to, so if you are open to introductions for other shows, I've got some people I'd love to introduce you to. But, of course, but more importantly is is just really highlighting what you're doing, but also what you're most excited about now. So I'll make sure that we have some space to really talk about that, because I know that's what's alive and real in your heart right now. It's what you're feeling driven to. But I know there's a story to how it's gotten to there and you know where.

Dai Manuel: 9:12

I was hoping that we could start today and we can just get right into it, because the intros and the outros I always do post-production anyways, and so today we're just going to dive right into it.

Dai Manuel: 9:21

And honestly, man, I know that according to the neuroscientists and I know this is also purported by a lot of other people that speak from the stages and write, like yourself and the Tony Robbins of the world is that mentorship and modeling are two of the most primary ways that we learn, but it doesn't always mean we learn positive things. You know, because modeling and mentorship can come from both sides of the fence. You know, whether it be positive things or negative things. And I was wondering if we could just go back to, to where we picked off our first conversation, where you talked about your childhood, but also you know what it was like growing up in a military family. You know what it was like growing up with certain expectations and certain traumas and and and how it's really guided you to where you are now. And I know this is probably a story you've had to hash through a number of times, but I know for my listeners it will be a new story. So, um, would it be okay if we go back there and start there?

Dave Albin: 10:18

Absolutely All right. Open book, bro. Whatever you want to talk about, this is your show with that value. That's all I care about.

Dai Manuel: 10:24

Well let's let's talk about that. Let's talk about mentorship and modeling, Cause I know the way you live your life now. I mean, just talk about the event that you just had. You know, like you've been walking a path now for many, many years, Okay, and and I got to say it's super committed path. I mean you can tell that it's a life's path, a life purpose path, you know, and but it wasn't always that way, and so if we can go back and just talk about maybe some of your earliest experiences of mentorship and modeling that maybe weren't necessarily in the same vein as it is today, Sure yeah, I'd love to.

Dai Manuel: 10:58

Go ahead, take us back there, man, wherever you feel is appropriate to start.

Dave Albin: 11:03

Well, you know, would I'd really need to start at the beginning? Um, and that, really, that you know, that was, uh, you know, a couple of months before I was born, um, my biological father. We don't really know what happened, we just know that he hurt his head this was in 1954 so they put a blade in his head to save his life. Well, I believe it took his life too, because he had a lot of pain associated with it. So he used to tell mom all the time you know, I don't know how much longer I can take the pain. So two months before I was born, he turned to mom and said hey, I'm going to the grocery store. We never saw or heard from him again. And that was it for my dad. I never saw him, I never heard him, I never saw a picture of him, nothing. I had his name on my birth certificate. That's all I had.

Dave Albin: 11:48

And so when I was born, I was born to a single mom and she already had two boys. She was working up the street at the Roosevelt hotel in Hollywood and, uh, we were all living in a one bedroom apartment. So we had another cousin and my grandmother, so there were six of us, and by the time I was five, she couldn't feed me. She was struggling big time. Now she worked her butt off. She came from, I believe, the greatest generation of all time, generation that went through the Great Depression. They went through World War II, during a time when all the men were fighting the war off, somewhere either in Europe or in the Pacific. You know, the women were home doing what Everything they built. Yeah Right, they hell. Yeah, exactly True Cause you know this idea. Oh, can women do this? Give me a fricking break. Shut up already. Don't even go there. They've already proved themselves beyond anything you could imagine.

Dave Albin: 12:41

My mom was known as Rosie the Riveter man. She worked for McDonnell Douglas. She was out on a plane on the wing, driving rivets, building airplanes, and they were resourceful. If you didn't have something or you had something and it broke, you fixed it. You didn't go buy a new one, and so if you wanted to eat, you better learn how to garden. If you want clothes, you better learn how to garden. If you want clothes, you better learn how to sew. And so, I think, the most resourceful generation of all time.

Dave Albin: 13:12

So that was mom. However, she could only do so many hours by the time I was five, they realized she realized she couldn't feed me. She went to her oldest sister, pat, and said I can't feed David, will you and Bob adopt him? And they said sure. And so they did. So they grabbed me from Hollywood, where I was living with my mom and the rest of the family. They took me to Long Beach, california, to a nice house.

Dave Albin: 13:37

My dad was military, he was an officer. We had money. I mean, we had things. We had a nice house, food, we went camping. You know, we had money to do things, and I was the only kid. So at Christmas time all those presents were mine, and so, you know, my life was spectacular.

Dave Albin: 13:55

And so on the first day of summer 1964, I'm 11 years old, so this is like six years later First day of summer 1964, mom comes and gets me out of the TV room. She goes David, come in the kitchen. I need to speak with you Now. What I think's going to happen is she's going to tell me where we're going to go camping. That particular summer we did a lot of camping, yeah, she sets me down and, with tears in her eyes, she puts her hand on my arm my dad's here, my mom's sitting there and she said David, what we need to tell you is we're not your parents. Okay, hold on a second. Oh, wow, what does that mean? You're 11 years old. They've been your parents. I even got compliments from my dad's coworkers. You know that you look a lot like your dad. You look just like your dad, and all of a sudden now he's not my dad. What the hell does that mean? Like walking somebody out and saying, yeah, the sky's not blue. Well, it looks pretty blue to me. So that was a very definitive moment in my life.

Dave Albin: 14:56

The shortly after they told me this, they both started drinking. Now they swore off alcohol when they adopted me at five. And now here they are, six years later. They both started at the same time. Now I don't know if it's because they told me that I don't. My dad was working at the Pentagon. He was an officer. You know Kennedy had just been assassinated in November of 63. Not all went down the Cubans and the missiles and all this. You know World War III is coming. It was pretty intense back then. So I guess my dad was under a lot of pressure.

Dave Albin: 15:31

Bottom line, as they both started drinking, it got ugly fast. My dad was not a nice guy when he was drinking, period, mom you know, she was more of a happy drunk. She'd pass out at the kitchen table. She wasn't mean, but Bob was. And so they went to the grocery store one day and I and I said to myself okay, what is this stuff? What are we doing with you? I don't know what this is, but I know this. When they drink it, shit changes. And so, um, they went to the store that day and I knew where the booze was. They were hiding it in plain sight. I went over, took a coffee, poured about a half cup and down it went at 11 years old. I never had a chance Ever. I was an alcoholic right on the spot at 11 years old Because I started thinking and acting out alcoholically, you know, I started stealing it and hiding it and doing all those alcoholic-type behaviors, and so, again, that was all going on at the age of 11.

Dave Albin: 16:40

And to move this forward, by the time I was a junior in high school, I was a pretty rowdy kid, I was volatile, I was dangerous. Basically said Alvin, out, you're done Out of high school. I went, which was okay with me, because I didn't think that anything I was learning in high school was going to make a difference in my life. I certainly didn't think they were going to show me how to make any money, because they never did Not one nickel.

Dave Albin: 17:10

Now I had an entrepreneur spirit from the very start, and I say that because when I was young, back 10, 11 years old I had a paper route. That was literally one of my first jobs. Well, hell, that's a seven day a week job. You had to go pick up your papers. You had to fold them, put them in the bags, put it on your bike, go ride deliver them seven days a week. You had to do it early in the morning, saturday and Sunday. So it was a job. You had to go collect the money. You had to go knock on doors when new people would moved in. So yeah, I had an entrepreneurial spirit. I lived across the street from a golf course and here's what I learned about golfers early on they suck, they're horrible, man Right. So I would get on my Stingray bike and I'd go ride the perimeter of the golf course and guess what? I would find Lots of them.

Dave Albin: 17:57

Oh man, those balls, huh, oh they're everywhere, man, and they're little pieces of money, man. And they're little pieces of money, man. I'd take them home and clean them up, wash them off. I'd go back to the golf course and in the trash can of the pro shop, the boxes that the new balls came in. They threw them out, there was no use for them. Well, I'd go get them, I'd clean those balls like I said, line them up like Max Fly, titleist, dunlop, wilson's, and I'd go back to the parking lot.

Dave Albin: 18:23

You probably got a pretty good idea what I was selling oh yeah, mama, mama drew beautiful flowers in the backyard and she came out of the Great Depression. Man, she could grow anything, and so thousands of flowers. She would cut them. And she did something really interesting, guys. She would cut them at an angle, not at the bottom right, but at an angle, and it opened up more surface area for the plant, for the flower, to get water, and then she had a beautiful eifer color. She would band them up, put them in the bucket, then she'd pour a little bit of seven up into that water why seven?

Dave Albin: 18:58

up good question. I guess it's the sugar.

Dave Albin: 19:02

Wow, I would never know that they'll outlast any flower. You could imagine three or four to one. So here's some kid selling flowers on the street corner that his flowers are outlasting the florist. Three to four to one. What Know that? So you know, I guess what I learned early on is there's money out there, go get it. Yes, period, that was my belief system and you know, good things come for those who hustle. And so that was my life. And right after I got kicked out of school I went and got a really good job. I got a job at a grocery store. Back then there was a retail clerk's union and we were part of the teamsters union. So to pay a certain amount and after a year apprenticeship I was making like eight dollars and 18 cents an hour in 19 minimum wage back then, just just for comparison sake, a dollar something so it's significant that's.

Dai Manuel: 19:57

That's pretty good for a young guy man yeah right.

Dave Albin: 20:00

I moved out, had a nice apartment in belmont shore, california, went and bought a new mach 1 mustang. Yeah, I needed money because I had a nice apartment in Belmont Shore, california, went and bought a new Mach 1 Mustang. Yeah, I needed money because I had a hell of a drug problem too, and so that carried on. That was the driving force of my life. I was always feeding the addiction. It was controlling everything. Got married a few times, moved around a few times and on June 8th 1988, I'm in my third marriage I married a bartender.

Dai Manuel: 20:30

Imagine that, no enabling mayor, no, no enabling mayor, that worked out really well.

Dave Albin: 20:36

She had three beautiful kids, and so they became my stepkids. Well, I loved them. But when I woke up on June 8th, 88, i's it, we're done, I'm out, I'm not doing this anymore. I'm in a lot of pain, physical and emotional, and so the only thing I thought to do in that particular moment was if you're alive, so as. So, as I'm preparing to do that, it dawns on me hey, if you put that pistol in your mouth and pull the trigger, guess what's going to happen? Who's going to clean it up? Your kids, you're going to kill them too. If you do that, if you pull that trigger, yeah, maybe your problems are over, but their problems are just starting.

Dave Albin: 21:16

And we didn't even know what PTSD was back then. But you can imagine if I'd have done that right. Here comes the morgue, here comes the cops, here comes the newspaper, the cops, here comes the newspaper. The whole neighborhood's going to know, the school's going to know, the kids are going to have to deal with that. I remember thinking, dude, you can't do that, that's bullshit, you're going to ruin their life. Man, you can't do that. And so then I said, okay, well, what are you going to do? And then the next thought I had was well, why don't you call Alcoholics Anonymous? And you know what's interesting about that? I don't even know who the hell AA was. Well, how'd you find him?

Dai Manuel: 21:50

How'd you hear about him? Did you even?

Dave Albin: 21:51

hear about him.

Dave Albin: 21:53

I'd never been to AA I didn't know anybody in AA, but there it was, and so I called him, Called Intergroup, and that's their job to interview. I've got this wonderful human being on the other line and over the years I've affectionately named her Matt, and the reason I did is because she talked like this she was probably smoking two packs of Paul Malden on filters a day. Bro, she was a gatekeeper man. It's her job to interview you and if you do a good job in that interview, she'll call somebody to come get you. And that's what they, it's what she did. A guy by the name of Lauren came and picked me up and I went to my first AA meeting on June 8th of 88. I went to three, uh four meetings that day. I went to a 1230, a 430, a 630, and a 30.

Dave Albin: 22:39

And when I was there, they took a big book. They heard I was talking suicide and all that. So they knew I was a pretty sick boy. And they took a big book of Alcoholics Anonymous and the group signed it. They put their what they did. They opened up the cover and it said before you take that first drink, call one of us and their first name and their phone number and they sent me home Powerful. And then, of course, they gave me a medallion, said 24 hours and on the cassette had the serenity prayer. And then on the front of it it said to the I own self be true. And so that started well.

Dave Albin: 23:12

The next morning, at eight o'clock in the morning, my phone rings and it's john from aa and he's like hey, dave, good morning, how you feeling this morning? And I'm like what do you think I'm feeling? Are you kidding me? I want to kill somebody and I might start with you for calling me at eight o'clock in the morning. He's a really cool guy. He's like yeah, I hear you, man. He said hey, I know where you live. You told me last night you live right around the corner from me. Let me do this, let me come over, let me pick you up, let me take you to breakfast and then let me take you to another AA meeting. And that was one of those moments in my life where here's a guy I'm threatening him and he's there to help me. He's pulling stops, man, he's doing whatever it takes because he knows I'm suicidal, he knows I'm probably homicidal. And that was one of those moments that I went wow, here's another human being, man, that's coming to my rescue and here to help me. And so that's how it started. That's how AA started with me. They gave me a big book. I like these guys, you know.

Dave Albin: 24:19

I've said that I've only really felt at home in two places in my life. One is a shitty little grungy bar somewhere where you know, if you walked in the door, if you didn't have a weapon, they issued you one. Or a grungy, you know, or you know some grungy little bar somewhere. Or an AA meeting. I felt at home at both of those places and so I just took to it like a duck to water man. I loved it, I fell in love with it. I just took to it like a duck to water man. I loved it, I fell in love with it. I just I was an all men's group. You know, again, I just I did what those men told me to do and it worked. And you know that was on June 8th of 88. So here in June coming up, it'll be 36 years.

Dai Manuel: 24:57

Congratulations. That is huge, Dave being someone that's I'm in my you know 16th year now. So, I'm never going to catch you, but you know what that's all good man.

Dave Albin: 25:10

You're right. You're right 16 years is a long time and, as my sponsor would say, 16 years is a great start.

Dai Manuel: 25:21

Yeah right, that's the way I look at it too.

Dave Albin: 25:25

Get another day, as we say right yeah, so what happened there was the personal development industry. A collided in my life at the same time. So what I mean by that is I was up late one night because three o'clock in the morning, right, who can sleep? My sleep patterns were all over the place. I had insomnia as a train wreck, and so, um, there he is. You know, three o'clock in the morning All those remnant ads.

Dai Manuel: 25:56

He was the guy buying remnant ads before you at. Remnant ads were.

Dave Albin: 25:59

Exactly Him and Gunthy Ranker man they're they're doing their infomercials. Some people thought he had his Exactly Him and Gunthy Ranker man, they're doing their infomercials. Some people thought he had his own show. He was on so often.

Dave Albin: 26:09

But you know, there he was a young, vibrant Tony Robbins doing his thing, man, and when I first saw him I didn't like him. I thought he was a pompous ass. To be honest with you, he's all motivated, encouraging, right, and I'm not. I'm miserable as hell.

Dave Albin: 26:23

But he said a couple things, man, that got me. The first thing he said was we'll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. What are you? Are you're talking to me, robbins? You gotta be, because I mean, that's why I was drinking and drugging. I was either chasing pleasure or running from pain, yeah and so. So it really resonated with me when he said that. But the other thing that really got me he was he said let me tell you how every human makes decisions in this world. I'm like, okay, I want to hear this. He said they make them one of two ways. They make them out of inspiration or desperation. And I went, you got me, I got it. So the program he was selling was called personal power. It came on a program and they would mail it to you and you did it at home and it came on these little white things that they're called cassette that's dude.

Dai Manuel: 27:20

I still got them in my storage unit your, your audience is gonna go go.

Dave Albin: 27:26

What are cassette tapes? I know, go to the Smithsonian. They're right next to eight-track tapes and reel-to-reel and the old phones that used to be this big long.

Dai Manuel: 27:35

You know the big bricks.

Dave Albin: 27:37

And you had to dial it. You know it's a big rotary and you'd pick it up sometimes and hear another conversation because other neighbors were using that same GE number, if you will. So anyway, I bought it, they sent it to me, I plugged it in, I did what the man taught me to do and it worked Well. One of my buddies in LA is watching me. He's like dude, what's going on with you? Man, you are really motivated, you're saying some really cool stuff. Well, basically, I'm a parent, I'm saying what I'm learning from tony. So it's not I'm not coming up with anything new. It's you know, it's robbins, right. And so he's like really interested. And I said, look, man, I've been listening to this guy named tony robbins and my buddy goes. I know tony robbins is. I bought his book, his book, but I never read it.

Dave Albin: 28:27

I'm like how often does that show up in your life? I said look, man, I'll loan you my program if you promise me that you'll go through it. He goes dude, I promise you. And so I said, okay, here you go. Well, he did. And nine years later seven years later, I should say that was 88 when that was happening 95, ben calls me on the phone. Hey, did you know that Tony Robbins is coming to town? I'm like, no, had no clue. He goes dude, come on, I want to go. You got me into this, you got to go with me. Okay, sure, I'll go. I'd love to see Tony. He's like great, I'll call you back. Well, he calls me back like an hour later. Right, he goes. Done, we pick up the tickets at will call. Here's what they told us to do. Number one drink a lot of water. You've got to stay hydrated. Okay, bring snacks. You're gonna spend a lot of time in the ring. Anybody that's ever been to a tony robbins? Oh yeah.

Dai Manuel: 29:24

Seminar knows how ridiculous.

Dave Albin: 29:25

that is, Bring a good attitude and be ready to play full out. Dan said Dan, how much was the ticket? $695 in 1995.

Dai Manuel: 29:38

What is today Significant investment? It's like five grand. I'm thinking 1.2, 1.3 million, let's priceless, quite frankly, as far as the results it gives you.

Dave Albin: 29:48

but there you go Right.

Dave Albin: 29:50

Well buy Bitcoin, Okay, so anyway, yeah. Then he's getting ready to get off the phone. He goes oh wait, wait, wait, wait, Don't go anywhere. I got to tell you here's the best part we're going to be doing a fire walk. Oh yeah, I don't know what that means. I don't know what a fire walk is. I have no references for that. But the word fire and walk in the same sentence. I'm like no, my brain's going oh hell, no, we're not doing that. That ain't going to happen. No, no, no, no, no. I want to see Tony, but we're not doing this firewalk thing. But I'm not letting Dan know that, I'm just kind of going along with it. Yeah, sure, Dan, firewalk, no problem. All right, dude, see you.

Dave Albin: 30:33

Then the day comes, we get there. Tony takes the stage at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm in a room with 3,500 people. Next thing I know, two o'clock, it's after midnight. We've been in a room for 10 hours with Robin. We never bring snacks or you'll starve to death, it's true. And all of a sudden, Tony goes take your shoes off. All I know, all I know, I'm not falling for that crap. I ain't doing that man. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not falling for that crap. I ain't doing that, man. Well, I got a problem. I got 3,500 people around me and my buddy doing what they're all going.

Dai Manuel: 31:15

They're all taking their shoes off.

Dave Albin: 31:17

It's like no people, you're falling for it, don't go towards the light, right? And so now, what am I going to do? So my dilemma is what am I going to do? Not take my shoes off and walk out there and have 35, 100 people pointing their finger at me because I'm a loser or I'm a coward. So I'm like so what are you going to do? You're going to have to negotiate something, aaron. That's what I'm doing. I'm negotiating with myself, and so I'm like okay, it's cool, calm down, just take your shoes off. And when you go out there, ditch your buddy and go hide in the back. No one's going to know. So how do you do a firewalk for 3,500 people? Well, they take you out into this big parking lot. And, by the way, it gets worse because when Robbins gets you all going out there 3,500 people he's got everybody clapping and chanting.

Dai Manuel: 32:02

He's got everybody clapping and chanting yes, yes, and everyone just literally fired up, ready to go.

Dave Albin: 32:08

I mean, they're doing it and I'm walking out there going. No, ain't going to happen. It gets worse. Tony's got African drummers. When you get out there, I got everybody screaming and yelling and chanting. I mean, what a dog and pony show. This thing is right. A huge production, huge. Oh, it's huge.

Dave Albin: 32:30

And over in the corner there's a giant fire been burning all day. It's probably 35 feet wide, 70 feet long, and they put you know what, I don't know 15 cords of wood on this thing all day, and so it burns all day. So at the end of the night, what does it do? It renders. So you've got this big, giant pile of coal. So how do you walk? 3,500 people.

Dave Albin: 32:51

Well, you take a bunch of wheelbarrows over to that pit, you take those coals, you put them into a wheelbarrow, then you bring a wheelbarrow in between two lanes of sod, of grass. So it's a fire lane is what we call it. It's about three feet wide and it's 15 to 18 feet long. And they just take a flathead shovel from that wheelbarrow and they sprinkle them on that grass, pat it down, and that's what you walk on. Well, I'm having none of it. So I lost my buddy really easily because 3,500 people. He's gone. He's out there somewhere. I go to the bat. Well, here's what and where it gets interesting. Tony robbins knows that this is probably one of the most life-changing experiences any human will go through. He researched it. That's why he brought the firewalk into his events. He knows firewalk has been around a thousand years. It's been used by cultures all over the planet and he knows it. He studied it in tesla. He also knows that if you don't do it, you're gonna miss the paradigm shift.

Dave Albin: 33:51

I'm gonna get it sure he also knows there's people like me, and he knows where we are exactly hanging out in the back with you.

Dave Albin: 34:02

We're hanging out in the back. So what's he do? He trains a bunch of his people To come find us. I'm back there, got it all figured out right? No, I don't. Here comes this guy out of nowhere and he gets probably 20 feet from me and he looks at me really funny, like a dog that hears a funny noise, right Tilted his head, and all of a sudden he says hey man, are you okay? And when we're not okay, if somebody asks us what do we say I'm fine, nothing to see here. Maybe some you know immediately this guy goes for the kill shot, he goes. He goes hey man, you're going to walk tonight and I'm like absolutely not. Ah, idiot, why do you think I'm hiding in the back? You fool.

Dave Albin: 34:49

And he says and I said it, you know, I answered him with a lot of intensity and he's like hey man, it's cool, no problem, we don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. Oh cool, got it. This guy's going gonna get me out of here. No, he's not, he's setting me up. Because the next question he asked me is and you know what, I don't know who this guy is to this day, and without this stranger I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be with you right now. None of this thousand, hundreds of thousands of people that I facilitated firewalks for, that guy hadn't asked me this question, it wouldn't have happened. Because the question was wouldn't you at least like to watch? And I thought well, sure, that'd be interesting, let's watch these people burn their feet off. It'll be entertaining. And he goes hey man, you're not going to be able to see anything from way back here. We're 100 yards away. Here we go. He said look, just get in line and eventually you'll get up there where you can actually physically see it. Now he's telling the truth. So I took the bait, I got in line and after I'm there for a while, another stranger comes up to me and he whispers in my ear and he goes. He knows when you're ready. When he says, go you go, this guy disappears into the night, right, and I'm like what, what? What are you talking about? What do you mean? He knows when you're ready. When he says, go you go. What does that mean? It's oh, now I'm walking along and they're clapping and they're chanting and the drums are going, people are firewalking and when they get to the celebration, and after they've done it, they're jumping up and down, like kids at Christmas, they're screaming with exhilaration and excitement. So it gets, you know, it just keeps building and building and building the intensity.

Dave Albin: 36:40

And the next thing, I know I can't really see in front of me, but I can see at an angle. And they're doing it. I'm looking at them, I'm seeing every race, every creed, every color, every height, every. I mean they're all. They're firewalking. And so now my brain's going why? What's wrong with these people? We're mammals, we're supposed to run from fire, not walk on it.

Dave Albin: 37:02

And so now I'm mesmerized. It's like the car wreck. You say you're not going to watch, but you can't stop staring at it. Well, that's what's going on, and I'm staring at it, and staring at it, and staring at it and I'm walking along. Boom, the next thing, I know. Guess where I am. I'm at the front of the line, yeah, right. And now I'm like how the hell did you get here? So I'm staring at the coals Fire lane, three feet wide, 18 feet long. The coals are on there. They're glowing bright, there's no question about it. My heart's beating so hard it's going to jump out of my chest any moment. And the wheelbararrows there, so you can feel the heat coming off. So this, it got real, real fast.

Dave Albin: 37:45

Well, there's a trainer standing right there and all of a sudden the trainer goes eyes up. He like screams at me, right? Well, duh, I'm in a room with Tony for 10 hours. Guess what he teaches you to do? Keep your eyes up. Don't stare at what you fear. Interesting distinction, ladies and gentlemen. Let me say that again a little louder for the people in the back Don't stare at what you fear. Look to the outcome, look to what's going to happen if you firewalk. Right, because everything we've ever wanted is sitting right over there on the other side of my comfort zone. Yes, right. Next thing, I know the trainer goes eyes up. Oh, all right, got it. Next thing you know he goes squeeze your fist and say yes, yes, he went stronger. Yes, Well, he could tell he's a trainer. He knows I'm not in a peak state. He knows I'm leaving a lot on the table. So he screamed at me.

Dai Manuel: 38:44

Strand.

Dave Albin: 38:46

I was spider flight, I screamed yes as loud as I could. And he goes, go, go go. I took off.

Dave Albin: 38:56

Remember the guy, the guy came up, right, he said he knows when you're ready, when he says, go, you go, I did, I went. Well, tony positions, two people at the end who lock in and they catch you and and it's a good thing, because I walked all the way to albuquerque and so they're like stop, wipe your feet and celebrate. Yeah, I'm wiping my feet. For a second I thought I burnt myself. I didn't my feet filthy, dirty, I did not burn myself either foot, and so I'm jumping up and I'm screaming. It's exhilarating. I've never felt anything like it in my life to this day. I'm looking back and I'm like what happened? How in the hell did I do this? I just walked on coals that were a thousand degrees. I don't have a clue how I did it. I did it, I was successful. I didn't burn myself, but I don't have a clue. Right, you ever done something like that? You do something really cool. You do it and you don't really know how you did it, but you did it and you take credit for it. I'm like that's right it. I'm like that's right, that's this guy. Well, at that moment it's exhilarating. You're with 3,500 people and we're all pretty much feeling the same exhilaration, and it's collective because we did it together as a group. So your self-belief, your self-confidence and your self-worth go. I'm like where's the bus? People, let's go climb Everest, literally, because in that moment you think you can do anything literally. Well, I'll tell you where.

Dave Albin: 40:27

It gets interesting the next day, right? So this is a four-day event. That was day one that night. Now we're on day two, that next morning we're all standing in the foyer, 3,500 people ready to go into the venue, and to this day I've never seen, felt or heard anything like ever. People were getting along like you've never seen in your life. They are talking, they're hugging, they're laughing, they're crying, they're talking about firewalk, they're talking about their fears. I'm just sit back going. You've got to be kidding me. I mean, did we drink the Kool-Aid last night? You better believe we did. And so there's that. That's why Tony uses it, because he's got you. We did something together extraordinary, and that's why, when you bring in a group of people to do a firewalk, that's why you know, that's why they get along so well the following day or the next week or the next month, because it's that powerful.

Dave Albin: 41:28

Well, later, in the event, I met one of Tony's trainers, a guy by the name of Ted Macy, sweet guy In fact. Him and his wife Mary were both trainers. And so I talking to Ted and I said so, ted, what's it like to be in this environment on a regular basis? He goes oh dude, are you kidding me? You won't do anything. You try to get yourself in the environment.

Dave Albin: 41:49

Let me tell you a little secret. He said you see those people standing over there with the black shirts and the pink writing on the back. He goes dude, they're volunteers, they're just like you. They came, they went to the firewalk and they come back because they want to be part of this. He says so when you go home, call Robbins Research, ask them for a volunteer crew application. They'll send you one. So they'll now send it back and, who knows, might get lucky. You might end up, you know, being in the environment, I did exactly that. Like nine weeks later I got a letter and it said Dave Albin, congratulations, you've been selected a crew with the Anthony Robbins companies. Well, color my ass happy. I mean. Now when you fill out the, they're pretty, it's pretty intense. They look for a lot of information and because I had a military background and a security background, they I was a shoo-in to be on the security detail to help take care of Tony's celebrity, which I could do a whole podcast on that alone with all the celebrities that I've been with.

Dave Albin: 42:51

It's pretty phenomenal. And then, because I lived on a farm, you know, I knew how to use a log splitter, I know how to split wood, I know the difference between oak and locusts and how to use a log splitter. I know how to split wood, I know the difference between oak and locusts and I know what kindling is. And so they put me on the fire building team and that's, and really that's where I wanted to be in the first place, Just. And then after a while, by the way, when I was first doing it was all I was a volunteer. So you had to pay your way your airfare, you got to pay your hotel, you got to pay all your expenses. So I'm dropping 1500 bucks or more every event.

Dave Albin: 43:24

Well, my, my wife wasn't too thrilled about it. She's like this is Tony Robbins guy. She's not grooving with cause. She didn't know her defense man. She didn't know Tony Robbins was, she didn't know anything. That what I went through. Well, how long did it take you to get her to an event? Well, that's the beauty, right? So I'm about four or five events and as a volunteer, and they offered me a subcontractor position Nice, they paid my way, they paid airfare, they paid my hotel, they gave me a per diem and they gave me a little salary and they do something really cool.

Dave Albin: 43:57

Give me a free ticket for your spouse. Oh yeah, there you go, there you go, all right, so I brought her. I brought her in on day four after she graduated. We're walking on the beach talking about it and she goes. Okay, I, I drank the Kool-Aid. You want to follow this guy? As long as I pay your way? We put a little money in the bank of these events. You want to run with Tony Robbins? Go ahead, I get it, so that all launched out in 95, 96, 97. Yeah, 2003,. My life went, took another turn. Robbins offered the captain's position, which meant that I would take over all of Tony's firewalks globally.

Dai Manuel: 44:39

That's a huge responsibility, it was it was a little spooky I ain't got to lie. How did you feel when you were asked how did that come about? Hey, Dave, do you want to do this? What happened there?

Dave Albin: 44:53

We were doing another called Day with Destiny. We were in the Bahamas at the Atlantis Hotel and I just got there and I was in a security role. We didn't do a fire walk at Gateway Destiny, we only did it at UPW at least the power within the fire walk experience. My phone rang. Hey, dave, you here. Vice President of Operations, mary Glorfy. Hey, come to the logistics office. We want to speak with you. Okay, she said no, here, dave, we'd like to offer you the captain's position.

Dave Albin: 45:25

The beginning I was like well, listen, man, I homeschool. I can't be gone for my kids that long. I'm one of their teachers. And so then Robin stepped right up. He said well, what if we pay to have your kids go on the road and your wife comes, we'll pay to have all of them come and your wife can do their curriculum on the road. How cool is that? Okay, I guess we can do that. So my kids' very first event was Sydney, australia. My poor kids Pray for them. Education, fantastic. So there we were. Calvin was on the road to Tony Robbins and, pretty crazy, from there that was in 03-05 we went to London. We set the world record. That's where we firewalked 12,300 people.

Dave Albin: 46:18

and, by the way, I want your audience London. We set the world record. That's where we firewalked 12,300 people. And, by the way, I want your audience full disclosure Guinness Book was not there, so it's not recorded.

Dai Manuel: 46:28

Really. You have to pay them, don't you? You have to pay Guinness to be there.

Dave Albin: 46:33

I don't think expensive, I heard I don't know the whole logistical side of that, I just know they weren't there. But here's what I know. That was a world record oh yeah, there's never been any firewalk close to 12 300, in fact, the only thing that comes close is another robin's of 9 000 or 10 000. So that happened? What old 5 14 2014. I'm here we go again. My life. My phone rings. It's a. It's a company called Google. I think I've heard of them. Have you guys heard of?

Dai Manuel: 47:05

them? Yeah, I think so.

Dave Albin: 47:09

Out of San Francisco. So they're like hey, are you the Dave Albin does the firewalk for Tony Robbins? Yeah, what can I do for you? Well, if you're not under any contractual obligation or non-compete, we'd like to talk to you about hiring you. Okay, well, homeboy's, a free agent, what you got? Oh, they ended up hiring me. We did a glass walk instead of the firewalk. They wanted to do it in the middle of the day and 148 executives that were graduating from a very intense curriculum, and Google wanted to create the paradigm shift experience. Imagine that.

Dave Albin: 47:46

What did Google know that other companies don't know? They know that what doesn't challenge you doesn't change you, and if you create a Navy SEAL kind of experience, if you will guess what? Now you move as a unit. Yes, and they knew that. So that's why they got a hold of me. In fact, we ended up doing two gigs for Google. In fact, when I was there, one of the executives sent me down and she said hey, dave, I'm not here to tell you what to do, but you're at the top of your game. You are at the top of the sandbox. You may want to consider starting your own business, because corporate America will eat you a lot Because you've got the perfect event for somebody. So you know, if Google tells you you ought to start your own company, yeah, I think it's pretty good advice, something to listen to.

Dai Manuel: 48:39

You should listen to them.

Dave Albin: 48:41

So Firewalk Productions was born in 2014 and they were right. Shortly after that, I was at NASA and I went to Notre Dame, virginia Tech, microsoft, heineken, remax, chick-fil-a, ymca, you know the EO organization and, uh, you know the next thing? I know I'm with you on your pod. So you know, you just don't know. Oh, what is it?

Dai Manuel: 49:15

about firewalking, though. What is it about it? Like, what is it that? That? That that just captures people. You know, like I, I realize it's this paradigm shift, but I mean it's just. It's incredible to see the impact it's made in people's lives. Like I still have friends that talk about it, you know, and and it's just, and they, they talk about it being this pivotal moment in their lives where they just have this shift like but but. What's happening psychologically, like what's going on with?

Dave Albin: 49:42

that situation. You're going against your humanistic instinct. Look, we're mammals. We're taught to run from fire. Now, walk on so, and when it's your time, and you walk up and you look down, you see those coals are glowing red hot. You push through your fear and you look down, you see those coals are glowing red hot. You push through your fear and you go anyway. It's profound man, and it's not like anything else. It's not like jumping out of an airplane, it's not like bungee jumping or hang gliding or some of these other things. It's a very, very powerful paradigm shift experience. It's a rite of passage.

Dave Albin: 50:23

You know, tony made it famous in the West, but if you go back a thousand years, look at the Tahitians, look at the people of India. People of India, you've got to be kidding me, you know, because when a boy becomes a man, they firewalk. When a girl becomes a woman, they firewalk. When you have a child, the woman firewalks and they bring the whole family and they dress up in these beautiful pastel colors and they just don't sprinkle some coals on top of grass, they dig a pit that's this thick and you walk on those. So it's. You know. There's this whole other level. You know the Polynesians, the Hawaiians, the Native American Indians, the people of Spain, the people of Portugal, literally all these different cultures around the world have been using firewalking to create that. You know, incredible experience. It's tribal, yes, it's a very spiritual connection is all I can tell you. And you know it's like.

Dave Albin: 51:20

I get asked all the time so, dave, how can people walk on coals that are a thousand degrees and not burn themselves? My answer is I don't have a clue. I don't, I just don't. All I know is you can do it. It's the bottom line and I've seen tens of thousands of people's lives change that quick. Four seconds. You're standing there, you're scared to death. All this apprehension and the next thing you know, boom, you go across. Then you look at their face four seconds later. It's phenomenal. You know I was talking to you. By the way, I didn't tell you this part. I don't think my daughter was six years old the first time she firewalked. My son was nine.

Dai Manuel: 52:02

I get asked all the time.

Dave Albin: 52:04

I get asked all the time Can kids walk? Yeah, absolutely. They don't have the limiting beliefs that adults do. Adults are a pain in the ass. Kids are a piece of cake.

Dave Albin: 52:13

I just did this firewalk for Operation Do no Harm, which is a firewalk experience for veterans, first responders, kids that have been abused and single moms, and we had a little bit of everybody there. We did it. It was two days it was the 12th and 13th here a couple of days ago and they brought a seven-year-old to me and they're like you know, can you give him to me? And the other thing, too is that they do the board break. So there's a martial arts thing where they boom, they break a board and I have them write some things on the board, something they want to move towards, something they need to move away from. I have them write anybody's name on the board that they're in conflict with right. So forgiveness or reconciliation is part of that relationship. It ends tonight. You're going to give it to the fire and then to create the rite of passage, I have them write anybody's name on the board that they've lost. So they break the board, we take them out there, they firewalk and then they circle back and they put that board on the fire and it's all on video. They got pictures of it.

Dave Albin: 53:12

Well, at the very end, when I say goodnight, I put everybody in a circle and I have them, and I say, all right, look across the circle and find somebody that you don't know, make eye contact with them and don't take your eyes off. I'll go now, go to that person and stand two feet away, and so then I put them in what I call the heart hug. Instead of hugging we normally do, I do it the opposite way Close your eyes and we're going to take three deep, diaphragmic, cleansing breaths. Well, when you bring all that oxygen deep into your lungs, typically when you come into or exhale on the second breath, your hearts calibrate, which is okay. Then I do that. I do that a couple of times and the next thing I know I've got the entire group heart beating at the same time, really powerful. And so then I say I say some cool stuff and say goodnight, and then I stay out there in case anybody wants to take any pictures or they want to talk to me, whatever, and so people were coming up to me. Well, next thing I know I feel, feel this somebody hugging me around my legs and I look down, it's a seven-year-old oh man and I went down and gave him a big hug and I said some empowering things to him, some incantations for him, and we got it on video. So it was, yeah, it was literally one of the most magical moments of my entire firewalking career. I mean, don't get me wrong, when my daughter was six and she walked the first time, that was it. My son was nine. Yeah, that was definitely the most powerful. When I walked my grandson, he was about a year and a half and I carried him across the fire in a ceremonial rite of passage. So, yeah, man, it's an experience and there's nothing like it.

Dave Albin: 55:02

It works, it changes your life and, again, if you do it in a group, it changes everybody collectively. So if they're not getting along like, let's look at March of 2020. What happened? Everybody got shredded. Yeah, everybody started arguing about masks and vaccines. I love Donald Trump, I hate Donald Trump. Oh, shut up already. Because if that starts permeating through your company and everybody's hating everybody and they create this demonization of other human beings, it's going to rip your company apart. Your production is going to go in the toilet. It's going in it. You're a CEO and you don't fix. That's on you. That's right, cause at the end of the day, the shareholders are looking at you, man, and so that's why people hire me. You know, I'm the fix it.

Dai Manuel: 55:52

They hire me.

Dave Albin: 55:54

I come in and I put them back to treating each other humanistically, with love and kindness and joy, and work together as a unit. And again that's exactly what that. That firewalk puts them back. You know where they're supposed to be and you know again. It's just why it's such a beautiful, powerful experience.

Dai Manuel: 56:13

Dave, I have to say thank you for just one your openness and, two, your vulnerability. I know sometimes speaking about some of these events in our past can be traumatic or triggering, but I also know you've done. You spend a lot of time working on this, you know, and reconciling that and reframing, but also recognize it's just part of your own journey, you know, and it's nothing to regret, it's just simply things to understand and but it's the things that we do consistently. After we've had some of these big experiences, like because, as much as you know, we have a wonderful event and have a firewalk experience, what do we do after that? Right, and I look at you and some of the conversations that we've had before today.

Dai Manuel: 56:55

Uh, you know, it's incredible the lifestyle that you lead, but I know it's a decision every day and I'm wondering, like, could you speak to that? Because I hear this often from people. You know I just I don't have the motivation and I'm like well, what do you mean? You don't have the motivation, You're lying, You're kicking it, Don't you want to have the best life that you possibly can have? You know, like and I guess I'm just curious about this you know like what in your experience, because I mean literally, you've helped hundreds of thousands of people have these life changing experiences. But what happens after you know you have that experience?

Dave Albin: 57:33

How do we solidify that to really continue to move that direction? Well, I ask at my seminars, you know I ask people. So why don't people get what they want in life and be honest? And I hear all kinds of different answers I don't have the time, I don't have the money, I don't have the education, I don't have the background, I'm too young, I'm too old, I'm a poor white boy from the Bronx, I'm a poor Hispanic boy from the Bronx, I'm a poor black boy from the Bronx.

Dave Albin: 57:55

I mean, there's a story. That's the bottom line. You have a story Everything that's ever happened in your life. If it's good or bad, I don't care. You made up a story about it. You want to change your life, change your damn story. It's that simple.

Dave Albin: 58:10

You know, when I was speaking in Modesto both days, I put a picture of a guy that's standing on a mountain. His name's Eric, and so I speak for 20 minutes and then I'll finally ask the audience. I'll say who here can tell me where my buddy Eric is? I never believe somebody goes Mount Everest and I'm like that's correct. And here's what I want you to know about Eric. That man has climbed the seven highest mountains on earth and he got to the summit of every seven, all seven. Put him on a mountain bike he's coming down that mountain. Put him in a kayak he's coming down that river. Here's what you need to know about Eric. He's blind, so I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear your crap, your bullshit. No, if a man can climb the seven highest mountains on earth, what can you do? Because you know what. Here's what I believe the two most important times in any person's life is the moment they're born and the moment they figure out why and sometimes the why can take a while. It may not happen overnight. You know that seven-year-old kid did that change his life Breaking a board and firewalking. Are you kidding me? Of course it did. It's going to influence him. You know, I think Viktor Frankl left us the greatest in mindset that any human can adapt to, and that is and you know, he wrote the book man search for meaning.

Dave Albin: 59:44

You don't know his story. He was in Auschwitz. You know they. They assassinated his family. They took everything from him. They took everything from you. They took everything from you. Every single moment You're alive, you don't know if it's your turn to go to the chambers and you're hearing the screams and the pain and the suffering. You're naked, it's cold, you haven't been fed in a week. But here's what Victor figured out. There's one thing you can't take from me. I have to give it to you, I have to relinquish it, and that's my attitude. And so what did he do?

Dave Albin: 1:00:21

I'm talking to the vets and first responders and the moms and the kids about one very important point of that, and that is what Purpose. It's all around your purpose. Because Victor said you know what, someone's got to get out of here and someone has to tell this story. We can't let this be told. And why does a vet take their life?

Dave Albin: 1:00:46

Well, they go to training, get deployed, they're over there in Afghanistan or somewhere in the world and they're keeping each other alive and without each other, which is a high purpose they can get killed and you know you may see something. Really, you may see one of your best friends, you know, get vaporized. And so you live with all that every single day. And then the big day comes that scares you to death and that is the day you have to come home. And now you get fragmented. You were over there moving as a unit, purpose really high. Now you come home, and now your best friend, you're in North Carolina and he's in Kentucky, and so guess what happens? The purpose drop because you're not there, you know, to keep each other alive anymore depression sets in, and then they reach for a drug or alcohol and the next thing you know we lose them. So that's what operation do no harm is all about. We reinstall the purpose.

Dave Albin: 1:01:48

What we just did in modesta um, because I had every single one of them raise their hand and take an oath. You want to do this firewalk tonight? You want to participate in this thousand year old ritual? Great, you're gonna have to stand, put your right hand in the air, promise me to do no harm to yourself or anyone else. Well, when I, when somebody in the military takes an oath, guess what? They keep it. They keep it. That's right. And so we give some stuff. I went to my good friends at the Zippo lighter company. You've got to light a fire, you've got to use something right.

Dai Manuel: 1:02:28

Yeah, that's right.

Dave Albin: 1:02:30

I've got Zippo.

Dai Manuel: 1:02:32

It's a Zippo lighto. This is.

Dave Albin: 1:02:33

I see that and they made this is that's a 1941 replica.

Dai Manuel: 1:02:37

I don't know if you can see oh yeah, there it is, there it is.

Dave Albin: 1:02:40

Yeah, oh 1941 this is the lighter that they gave gi's during world war ii. How do I know my dad?

Dai Manuel: 1:02:47

had, dad had one, right yeah so we powder coated them black. Yeah.

Dave Albin: 1:02:57

And we wrote on there. We put the logo, we put Operation Do no Harm. On the back, we put the rotary, the Modesto Sunshine Rotary, who sponsored this event. Great organization, love these guys. They took such great care of us. And then we put the date on it April 12th and April 13th. So so all the bets, everybody that attended firewalk, uh, got one of those. So we're super happy about that. And, um, yeah, man, so it really comes down to you.

Dave Albin: 1:03:25

Know, something else I'll share with your audience, and that is and my mentor said this to me and I never forgot it he said Dave, never. I'm going to tell you something, man, never forget this for the rest of your life. Every human being has two lives and the second one starts when you realize you have only one. You're not here by accident. You want to try to pull that on me in one of my seminars. Good luck with that, cause it's. It's BS, right? It's back to that story. You're making up a story, man. It's not true. You know the chances of being born. I think the number I heard is one in 400 trillion. Anyway, if you go back 12 generations, let's say you go back in your heritage, you go back 12 generations. Guess how many people that is. You start off with your parents, your grandparents, your great-great-grandparents, all the way back 12 generations, which covers about 400 years. That's 4,094 people.

Dai Manuel: 1:04:29

Really, if one of those people goes left instead of going right.

Dave Albin: 1:04:31

You're not here, that's right, yeah. So yeah, you're here for a reason, and if you don't know, that's okay, just be open-minded to that, build it and they will come eventually you'll figure it out, and so I always love that, that nichi you know what was this thing?

Dai Manuel: 1:04:47

because that frankl talks about this man search for meaning as well, you know, when he talks about logo therapy. But he talks a bit about nichi and that idea that there's a strong enough why we can endure anyhow. Right, like we can, we can just get through the stuff if we have a big enough purpose, vision, mission and uh, I have to say, you know, I I see how lit up you get with this new venture. You know, especially giving back and I can imagine, based on those familial bonds and you know, just going back to your childhood and some of those earliest providers for you. You know there's that sense of wanting to get back and also just, I mean, it's beautiful, but do you mind sharing the vision? Because I know you just had an amazing event. I can tell you're. Yeah, of course you're coming off of that just like flying man A little high, a little high, a little high on that.

Dave Albin: 1:05:34

Yeah, what's?

Dai Manuel: 1:05:35

the mission. Where's it?

Dave Albin: 1:05:36

going from here. Well, a lot of this came from AA back in the day, right, and so it's helped me by a lot. And so what personal development it collided. You know there's you have the 12 steps that help you put your life back together. You have the 12 traditions that teach you how to operate within the group. Well, in the middle there it's called the preamble, and the preamble says when anyone anywhere reaches out, I want the hand of AA to be there, and for that I'm responsible. Those men saved my life. So that just carried over until the personal development industry.

Dave Albin: 1:06:14

I know I've been given this. I don't get to save these women's lives, I want to save these and I get to at the same time. Yes, I have to go to work. No, you get to go to work, that's right. Just change one word in your language patterns and it can change everything. I'm to go to work. No, you get to go to work. Just change one word in your language patterns and it can change everything.

Dave Albin: 1:06:35

I'm the same way here. I'm the guy that gets to go work with these men and women. I'm the guy that's, you know, has been trusted. You know this, this event and this, this mindset of how it, how to do this. Um, you, this, tony's got his thing and I've got mine, and we work together very closely. And so now, along with a lot of other men and women because we had a bunch of people that showed up there was a company called C3 Insurance they're out of San Diego, jamie Reed, the CEO oh my gosh, this guy found out what we were doing and he showed up with his production guy. In fact, both Jamie and Jay, his videographer, stayed with me in my Airbnb. American Weed Company they came.

Dave Albin: 1:07:30

They're literally growing pectoc consistently for PTSD and depression and sleeping and all that. Yeah, I love these guys. They're an incredible company and they are very, very focused on consistency with the gummies and the plants and all that, yes, so that you know you don't take a gummy one time and get a different effect. Correct, like I said during you know, on stage one day, I'm like so what would you rather have? Would you rather have somebody taking consuming cannabis or fentanyl?

Dai Manuel: 1:08:10

I'll just sit here and wait for your answer. Yeah, right.

Dave Albin: 1:08:13

And until you're a vet or you're a first responder and you've been burnt really bad, or you go through the separation anxiety of what those men and women go through. Same thing with firefighters right, look what they do every day. What do they do every day? Well, when there's a bad car accident, who goes and cleans it up? That's right. The fire department does right, and the paramedics and all that. And then one day they retire and again, it's all about the purpose. They got a really high purpose because they work together and they save lives. And then one day they retire and they go.

Dave Albin: 1:08:43

Now what that's russian seeps in. And so again, cannabis can help with period and some, you know people are going to go. Well, you know it's dangerous and I go. Really, show me proof where somebody smoked cannabis and they die. Don't even talk to me about alcohol. Don't even go down that road with me. You'll get annihilated. You know I will. You know slice and dice. You. You know how many people die every year from taking Tylenol. You know how many people die every year from taking aspirlenol. You know how many people die every year from taking aspirin.

Dai Manuel: 1:09:16

You know, so let's not even go there. Oh, I agree with you good, fantastic I I use it to manage my autoimmune condition, but also my anxiety, you know. So it's uh, I'm a big but, but it's so funny my hematologist and the traditional medicine people.

Dave Albin: 1:09:29

They just want to give me more pharmaceuticals of course it's like, oh, to do that, dude, it's so funny my hematologist and the traditional medicine people they just want to give me more pharmaceuticals. Of course it's like oh, to do that, dude, it's crazy, it drives me nuts. It drives me nuts and I'm like no, I guess, and I'm 70. Guess how many, guess how many pharmaceuticals? I'm all zero, zero, okay, do let's talk about that?

Dai Manuel: 1:09:48

real quick because I know we're running out of time and I want I just think you are my aspirations. So you know, dave, as I told you before, die is a Welsh name for Dave, so I'm a Dave too, but beyond just being a Dave because all the cool people are Dave's uh, I I loved it when you shared with me some of your lifestyle habits, your rituals, without you start your day and I think this is so critical because the way we start our day, but also the way we end our day are so important. Yeah, and would you mind just sharing what your rituals are, with how you start your day and how you end your day?

Dave Albin: 1:10:22

Sure. Well, first of all, let me credit the person that I listened to, who got me on this stat, and that's Gary Brecka, b-r-e-c-k-a. So Gary is a human biologist. He's also a mortality expert. He worked for the insurance companies, and so what he did was is that when the insurance company would write a policy for $50 million, they would get the blood, give it to Gary. Gary would come back and tell the insurance company when that person was going to die to the month. Oh wow, right, think that would be of some value to the insurance company.

Dave Albin: 1:10:56

The problem is Gary wasn't allowed to talk to him. He wasn't allowed to go. Hey, die. If you just do this, this and this, I can add seven years to your life. So I just want to make sure that Gary gets credit for this.

Dave Albin: 1:11:10

So the first thing I do in the morning is I go out and I expose my upper torso to morning sunlight. First 45 minutes when that sun comes up, get it on your body. There's no ultraviolet rays, you won't get sunburned, but you'll fill your body with vitamin D. And here's what we know. That happened during COVID. If you had low doses of vitamin D in your system, you probably got. If you had high volumes of vitamin D in your system, you lived. So it's a beautiful thing to do.

Dave Albin: 1:11:41

So while I'm doing that exposing my upper torso to that sunlight I'm doing deep diaphragmic breathing. I do three sets of 30. And I mean it's really intense, so it looks like this, and so I'm forcing oxygen. Well, even those three breaths started to make me dizzy. It's how much oxygen you're pulling into your lungs. And so you're forcing all that oxygen deep into your diaphragm and so that fills your body with oxygen. And so I do 30 of those. And when you get to the end of that 30, you take a nice deep cleansing breath and then you take another breath and hold it, and then you do that three times. So you take a total of 90 breaths and you're going to hold your breath three times.

Dave Albin: 1:12:31

Here's what Gary's going to tell you. Disease is not present where oxygen is present. In other words, disease does not exist where oxygen is present. We already know that cancer can't survive in an oxygenated environment, nor can it even get started when you've got a high oxygen environment. So here's what I'll tell you.

Dave Albin: 1:12:53

If you don't do any of the other things that I'm going to say here in a minute, do the flipping breeze. It's magnificent, I'm going to tell you. It doesn't feel that good, it hurts. It's like you know what I mean it does. And then I do it out on my front porch. My cabin's at 3, 3500 feet up here in the Appalachian mountains, so I have to literally go on my front porch and I have to hold on to the deck because I get dizzy and that's really just your body saying thank you. And then I go over to the other side of my cabin and I put my bare feet on mother earth, grounding, earthing. Go research it, it works. Yes, our, our ancestries all were barefooted. They put their feet on the planet every day, and now we don't do it because we wear rubber sold shoes. Well, I got news for you. If you want your body to function at a high level, go put your feet on the grass for at least nine minutes minimum. I even have sheets oh yeah, I've got those.

Dave Albin: 1:13:53

Yeah, so then I come in, I do. I read 10 pages in a good book every day. You want to change your life? Read 10 pages in a good book every day. How many? How many pages is that? A year, 365 days time, and that's 3650. That's 10 good books every year. Are you going to tell me50. That's 10 good books every year. Are you going to tell me that if you read 10 good books every year, that's not going to change your life or influence your life? Of course, it is.

Dave Albin: 1:14:19

It will. And then I do some sound therapy and then I go you probably see this coming I go do a really hot shower and then, after I do the hot shower, here it comes, here it goes. So I've got mountain spring water coming into my cabin. The temperature right now is about 57 degrees. So I do a three-minute cold shower Nice, and I turn it on and I have it hit me right here in the face Guess what it does?

Dave Albin: 1:14:50

Wakes you up, takes your breath away. You breathe, I do that for three minutes and I soak myself and I move myself. You can go do the research. It's there. We know professional athletes do it. We know Olympians do it. When they pull a muscle, guess what they do? They get in an ice bath. You know it corrects and removes all the inflammation and your body goes into survival mode. Right, because it's so. The capillaries and the veins and the arteries push all that blood inside to keep you alive because it thinks you're going to die and it protects all your internal organs and your brain. And so, yeah, I do my cold showers every morning, three minutes, every single time. So, by the way, all of that that I shared with you, was all free.

Dai Manuel: 1:15:40

Exactly that's what I love about it.

Dave Albin: 1:15:41

I love that day so yeah, now, if you want to go digging gary brekka, go ahead. He's got some infrared light and saunas and he's done a lot of other things that you have to invest money. But if you just go expose yourself to the sunlight, breathe diaphragmically like I just explained, go ground yourself for nine minutes a day and go take a cold shower, it will radically change your life, certainly. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Dai Manuel: 1:16:11

Dave, I so love that and I love the fact that they're all accessible and it's not a money thing, it's not like you have to buy this thing, and that's the way I live too, like I really try. I mean, I used to run a really successful equipment fitness equipment company but my partner and I sort of had a falling out because I used to tell people you know, you just need a good pair of running shoes, you don't need a treadmill, you know, and uh, anyways, imagine yeah, I live up here in the mountains, I can go that way or I can go.

Dave Albin: 1:16:41

I'm going to go up or downhill eventually.

Dai Manuel: 1:16:44

That is nature's stair master. I'm all for that. How do you end your day? I'm just curious about that. Do you have any like sort of sleep habits? Cause I know sleep, honestly, it's one of those things next to hydration. People could just get that piece working for them a bit more effectively. I know it's a game changer and, and I'm curious, do you have any anything that you do to sort of end your day Three, two, one.

Dave Albin: 1:17:17

I don't. I don't eat anything three hours before. I don't drink anything two hours before, Turn my cell phone off one hour before. I love it. I do take liquid melatonin from a company called Isagenix. They've got a really good brand. I love it. Been been using it since 17 16 I think and so I take a couple sprays so when I sleep I sleep, sleep so you're right, sleep is really, really important, so get a lot of good sleep oh, dave, I, I love everything we've talked about.

Dai Manuel: 1:17:48

I know it's I feel like I've just scratched the surface of of that iceberg and we're we're still above the water, you know, but I, I just think it's such a impactful story, but also it just shows what's possible.

Dai Manuel: 1:18:01

You know, and and, and I think you know we all have these stories, these opportunities and these individuals that we meet, like the gentleman that just happened, to reframe you a little bit or invite you to get a little bit closer so you can watch people doing the firewalk, right, that one little thing, you know.

Dai Manuel: 1:18:18

And here we are today talking about this global organization and how you're making further impact with the new initiative. You know, do no harm, and I just think it's very inspiring. But also, I'm, I'm so grateful for you and you doing this for others, okay, because I do realize that it comes to a point where, you know, this is selfless. This is about a bigger mission, a bigger purpose, you know, and and and it pulls us and I just thank you for for being willing to share your story today. You know, it's just uh, I got to ask you, dave, before we go. You know, like just uh, I gotta ask you, dave, before we go, you know like, is there anything that I should have asked, that I didn't ask, that you wish I would have asked?

Dave Albin: 1:18:56

I don't think so, man, you nailed it. You're, you're, you're a trained professor, you're good, you are a great host, you're phenomenal. Um, you know, I've done 160 uh podcasts in the last year or so, and um, and so you are definitely in the last year or so, and um and so you are definitely in the top 2% of all of those.

Dave Albin: 1:19:14

That's a beautiful thing, Um, you know other than you know we doing what I do feels so good. Yeah, I do a lot. I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and here's the mistake I see them make they achieve at a high level level, but but fulfillment doesn't rise with the achievement at the same time, and tony told me a long time ago, achievement without fulfillment is failure, and so it feels really good to be in the position that I'm doing. This whole modesto thing was my whole life coming down to that moment. And when you see those, and they took their oath and they walked in the first responders and in fact the guy that works with me, that worked at Tony, that builds the firewall I'm inside, you know, running my mouth is Justin.

Dave Albin: 1:20:07

Justin Wise is we nicknamed? He's nicknamed Wise because of the fire department. He's a retired captain in the Dade County Fire Department. He's a paramedic instructor. He's also international search and rescue, so when something bad goes down in the world, he used to get deployed and so he's that guy. When everybody else is running out of the building, he's running in the building and so he's my guy out there taking care of the fire, and so between him and I man, it's a beautiful relationship. It's like so perfect and so magical, so we're excited. We've got a lot of lives to change, and with 40 to 50 men and women taking their own life a day just as best I'm not even counting the first responders that number gets too high. It gets scary If you throw in single moms and kids. Yeah, we got a lot of work to do, so you want to create some?

Dai Manuel: 1:21:01

purpose come into our world, come hang out with us and come help us. Hell, yes. And for everyone listening or watching, you know, that's more than an invitation, it's a call to arms. Okay, Like we need to work together to really elevate and change the situation in this world. And and so, Dave, thank you for leading by example, walking the talk, Um, and, and also just choosing to do this every day. You know, as you said earlier, you get to do this but it's still a choice right and bro, I get to do it, you do.

Dave Albin: 1:21:29

You do, you totally get to do. I love this yeah.

Dai Manuel: 1:21:31

Yeah, and, and I can see it, I can see the passion, um, you know, before we close, and don't worry, uh, everyone remember, in the show notes I've got all the links to Dave's businesses, also to some of these new ventures, the social part of this even if it's just to share it out to somebody that you know that could use this, could, could benefit from this, because that's all it takes is one little limitation, like, like Dave had an experience. One person just asked him one question and look at what happened. Same happened to me in my own life. One person didn't expect it, but it completely pivoted the way I look at my life. And, dave, I'd like to give you last words, please. And, and you know, for the listeners that might be facing their own challenges right now, and maybe they were listening and they were like gosh, that sounds great, but not me. I couldn't do that because I know those are one of the biggest excuses is that limiting belief that we just aren't enough I'm not well, you know.

Dave Albin: 1:22:30

You can tell yourself that all you want, but it's not going to fly with me. Eric climbed the seven highest mountains on earth and he's blind. So stop, stop lying to yourself, stop negotiating with yourself. You know, every single person I've ever met in my entire life has a superpower. There is something you're really, really good at, and so bring that to the table. You know, maybe you're good at Instagram or Facebook or whatever. You know again, so come help. Maybe it's just, you know, to sponsor. I don't even know yet. Maybe we'll create a program where you can sponsor a vet or a first responder or a kid or a mom for $10 a month.

Dave Albin: 1:23:14

I don't know. I stay in my zone of genius. I know where I belong. Us. There's a molecule of magnificence.

Dave Albin: 1:23:34

Go listen to that and you know we need a lot of help. These men and women have given their lives. The least we can do is go show them that we love them, we care about them and that we're here to support them and do everything we possibly can to get them to believe in themselves and create that purpose. So you never, ever, ever know what you're going to say to somebody and do to somebody that's going to change their life, save their life. Sometimes it just takes one little word of encouragement, that's it. That's it. It takes somebody in a completely different direction.

Dave Albin: 1:24:11

So you know, come to our website, come, check us out, get ahold of me. And I don't know, maybe you've got somebody in your life, you've got a vet, maybe you've got a first responder, a mom or a kid that needs help. Okay, come, I'm accessible, get me on the phone, let me see what I can do to help you, so that you can help. So that's the way AA works right. And again it comes back to that preamble when anyone anywhere reaches out, I want the hand of AA to be there, and for that I'm responsible. Well, if you've ever been influenced by a vet or a first responder excuse me, a single mom or a child, then you're responsible too. So come help us, man, we need you.

Dai Manuel: 1:24:51

Powerful. Thank you, dave, honestly thanks for everything you do. I'm excited to get this out there to everyone, but also to be there to support where I can and this is just the first step of many I plan to take and I'm excited to have you back for future seasons to get further updates on how the program's rolling out and also how we can continue to support this initiative. And again, uh again, dave, thank you so much for all you do and thanks for being here today, man.

Dave Albin: 1:25:15

This is great. Thanks for playing hard. I love it, I love it. Rock and roll.

Dai Manuel: 1:25:22

Yeah, no worries, and and and there's no expectation on that front. I'm just excited to get this out to and listen, man, I come across some pretty impressive shows and I love what you're doing, honestly, and just also the fact that you're just so inviting. It never feels like there's any judgment or shame or blame. It's very inviting but at the same time, it's not condescending.

Dave Albin: 1:25:44

Do you know what I mean? You know there was a time I'd have killed you for a Klondike bar. So I was a pretty horrible human being. And you know, on that day John called me and said hey, man, come on, let me take you to breakfast. And it was moments like that that went dude, there's some beautiful people in this world and you need to be one of them. Success leaves clues. So does failure. Yes, it does, and I got news for you. Man, doing great things and wonderful things for people is very addictive. Yes, it is. It feels that plane ride home was phenomenal coming back from Modesto. So you know, it feels good and I'm going to keep doing it. And that's my story. I'm sticking with it.

Dai Manuel: 1:26:33

I love itesto. So you know it feels good and I'm going to keep doing it. And that's my story. I'm sticking with it. I love it, dave man. Thank you again, dude. This has been just a blast and I really appreciate your time and listen. Have a great rest of your day and week, and if there's anything I can ever do, I don't know, but hey, it never hurts to ask. So I'm here in your corner. Thank you again, dave, really appreciate it man.

Dave Albin: 1:26:51

Much love brother. Bye-bye, Much love, Ciao. Bye-bye.

Dai Manuel: 1:26:59

I don't know about you, but, man, what a journey we've just taken with Dave, from the darkest moments to setting world records and empowering thousands to conquer their fears through firewalking. His story reminds us of the capacity for resilience and transformation. Thank you for joining us on this fiery path to discovery. Remember, every step you can take can lead to monumental change, no matter how small the step may seem. To learn more about Dave and his thrilling firewalk experiences, make sure to check out firewalkadventurescom. I've included the link as well as all the links to Dave's social channels, which I highly recommend you go check out.

Dai Manuel: 1:27:45

Honestly, he's got inspiring content abounding. I mean, it's just overflowing with positivity, optimism, but also some great insights that can just check our perspective ever so slightly and we all know it's a subtle, little small shifts right that make the biggest changes over time. So remember, push your limits and embrace the heat and maybe, just like Dave, you'll find that 2% shift that changes everything for you. Until next time, keep igniting change and seeking those powerful moments in the 2% of your daily life. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you in the next episode of the 2% Solution Podcast.