151 Salman Hatta: Taking a Leap of Faith After Ayahuasca & Cultivating Joy

[00:00:00] CK: My next guest is a former warden MBA who took a leap of faith to pursue his passion in transformational experiences. These days, he traveled around the world, California, Costa Rica, Colorado and Bali as a transformational artist. As a DJ, as a breathwork teacher and also as an integration coach to create experiences that brings more joy for people.

Welcome to noble warrior Salman. Thank you. yeah. Great. Awesome. Um, yeah. So let's bring back to the place where you went from being a, a banker working in finances into that transition, to this path of joy and purpose and, and healing in bringing us back to that place. And, and by the way, before you answer it, the reason why I ask that question is this we at a time after [00:01:00] COVID, and as they say, the great resignation period, right?

A lot of people are making changes and thinking about what are their priorities. They're making different choices. And I think your story is gonna illustrate what it takes to take that leap of faith from what's known to. What's a little bit scary.

[00:01:23] Salman: what's a little bit scary. What's a little bit risky.

What's edgy. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank, thank you for that prompt CK. Um, I've had many lives as I'm sure Mary, many of you who are watching due, um, and I'll take you back to a life in which I was, um, living, living, um, living in the mainstream, living, uh, a life of expectations, um, that were set upon me by my parents, by other family members, by society at large.

Um, and by myself from the programming that I received and I, I grew up, you know, in, in, in a, in an [00:02:00] environment that was heavily education focused, which was great. I, I went to good schools growing up, um, graduated with a degree in finance and ended up working in banking with high powered positions, investment banking, right out of university.

I went to USC, Southern California. And ended working and this make for three years and three years at the world bank, um, in Washington, DC and Dubai. So high powered finance positions ended up going and getting Wharton MBA, um, after that. And so I saw my career path going, going up and transitioned into another exciting role, uh, exciting field of, of technology and, and, and tech startups in the finance, finance world as well, and worked for two companies in, in the payment sector.

And throughout this time, I felt like my life was going in the right direction, but deep down, I felt unsatisfied. I had a, I had jobs that were, um, fulfilling in many ways, but [00:03:00] also unfulfilling in, in other ways, felt strain on my time. And, uh, I was in a, in a relationship at the time in San Francisco in 2017, that was also kind of just.

Okay. Just like my, my, my work, like fulfilling and satisfying in many ways, but there was a deep, deep unsatisfaction within me.

[00:03:22] CK: So was there a moment though? I mean, oh, was it just a slow burn over time? And finally you were, you had enough and you said that, that, yeah, that's it. So there was like a specific moment,

[00:03:35] Salman: two, two things.

I would say two, two moments that really led to my, my transformation and transition. The first was this, this, this unsettling feeling of the relationship and the job just kind of being middle of the road that led me to seek a different path to, to seek something new. And that's when I sat with my first I Waka ceremony in [00:04:00] 2017, um, in, in, in the bay area.

And. Propelled me in a different direction. I, I changed a lot of things in my life at the time, my diet, the people who I was hanging out with, um, my interests and over time, that relationship that I had eroded, and I found myself with a completely new community and, uh, different desires. And then in 2018, the thing,

[00:04:27] CK: oh, before you go yeah, I like how you just bro stroke over that.

I mean, that's a big experience, right? I was, I mean, even for me, if I think about, uh, my life I walk up for sure was a pivotal moment. So going to that, cuz you just said, Hey, I, you know, let go of some relationships, went into a new community. But what actually happened, you know, in your vision, what insights came to you going to that?

[00:04:56] Salman: Absolutely. Thanks. Um, so that first [00:05:00] ceremony, that first plant medicine, intentional plant medicine experience was so transformational for me. Um, I went into it, searching for answers around my relationships with my then girlfriend and with my parents. And, um, for, for those of you who have not sat with iowaska, it is a really powerful plant medicine.

Psychedelic that opens up the gateway to the spirit world for anyone who chooses to work with it, uh, who feels called to work with this medicine. And, uh, it allows, um, one to connect with their ancestors and spirits and guides and, um, get information and wisdom that isn't easily accessible in normal reality.

And from what that experience, that one experience for me, I experienced, um, a feeling and sense that love is the currency of the universe. And it's really the, the only thing that matters in, in, in our lives and to what drives us forward to [00:06:00] create, to live in, in completed alignment and integrity with ourselves.

And it's something that gets to be given and not expected, uh, to be receiv. Um, and so my relationship shifted with my girlfriend at the time, because I was struggling to feel like, um, to, to love her. And I was just given this, this information to, to just give without expectation, like unattached, um, uh, love.

And so that was one thing, but other parts of myself changed and shifted. Um, I found my love for myself. I discovered love for myself and what that looked like for me. Self love. Was to take care of myself, better to take care of what I put in my body better, um, to shift the way I ate to re you know, stop eating processed meats and, and dairy and all sorts of other things that were not serving me in my body.

So I became a vegan. I quit drinking [00:07:00] alcohol completely. Um, I quit drinking coffee. I was addicted to coffee at the time, um, in the morning. So I, I shifted my relationship to myself and how I treated myself and that shifted how I treated others as well. So that was a big, big transformation for me. That last was it.

[00:07:19] CK: Was it, um, flip on a switch from drinking alcohol to no alcohol, to meat, to no meat, to coffee, to no coffee like that, or was a, a slow gradual process.

[00:07:34] Salman: So before one works with ayahuasca, um, it is highly highly recommended to do what's called a dieta, which is a preparation preparational diet in which, um, you remove certain aspects, um, from your life.

And that includes certain foods like red meats, alcohol, caffeine, spicy sweet salty foods. Um, and, and so for me, [00:08:00] I, I honored that very well and decided to cut all these things prior to that journey, that ceremony. And I just, and I realized how good it was for me to feel that in my body. And I continued that going forward.

And so it was pretty much a shift because of that. Mm. And then continuing on just felt right for me to do that. Mm. And then that, you know, the, the, like the shifting of those habits and practices also created new habits and practices for me. As a person that I continue to hold.

[00:08:36] CK: That's beautiful. So you never had any kind of relapse, any kind of,

[00:08:41] Salman: oh, I mean, or backs.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I I'm no longer, so like militant about not eating certain things. I'm no longer vegan. I was vegan for a year after that first experience. Um, now I'm much more open and flexible about what I, what I choose to consume, but it, it, what it did was it invited a level [00:09:00] of conscious awareness into my being about what I was doing with myself, because I was doing a lot of things.

So unconsciously, and that has my life. I mean, it affected my, you know, my, my relationships and my work, and I was just doing the thing. I was just, you know, like, Performing at my job because, and working for companies that I thought were gonna be successful and not really thinking through what is the intention behind this, I'm doing this to make the money, um, and to have the, the nice, you know, the nice objects, because that's what I thought everyone was supposed to do.

I didn't really internalize what is it that I want and how does it make me feel and what, what feeling do I wanna embody at all times? Mm. So there was a lot of unconscious, um, you know, a conscious unconscious PR practices that, that suddenly I was able to turn a light on and become aware of that. And I got the change.

Yeah.

[00:09:57] CK: Beautiful. So for those who, [00:10:00] let me ask this question, I'll contextualize a little bit. So I went on similar journeys as well. Mm-hmm and, uh, and it was life changing for me as well. I can get into them specific details, uh, if you're curious, but. uh, similar lessons. That's this is for me anyway. It's not a silver bullet.

Mm-hmm I drink this brew, this tea, this medicine, like life would just magically turn out. And if anything was a temporary, um, clarity of, or awareness of what's working in my life and what isn't working in my life mm-hmm . And then more specifically about the, the area of where I was blind, about things that I was doing, but unconscious of mm-hmm or, or not paying so much attention to.

So this allows me to bring more awareness to going forth. What do I want to, um, pay more attention to [00:11:00] surround myself with consume more off or, and then what are some of the, the things I wanna stay away from? Yeah. And do less off and then distance myself accordingly. So. Um, so for those people who are curious, who's never taken the medicine, uh, as you said, like, oh man, I don't want to just blow up my life, blow my career, blow up my family, blow up my relationships, change what I eat, change, you know, uh, how I consume alcohol or caffeine.

Those are things that I enjoy. I have some level of comfort there. What, what would you say to those people who is like, yeah, but I'm really scared of blowing up my.

[00:11:43] Salman: Yeah, well, first of all, my experience is by no means reflective of the broader population. And, and, uh, and that was just, that's my own personal experience that I, I, I chose, I chose for myself and found that worked for me.

Um, so. [00:12:00] If anyone is interested in exploring, um, what ayahuasca or any other kind of sacred plant medicine, intentional psychedelic use could do for them. Um, you know, the, the, the, the wholesale changes that are possible are not necessarily going to happen. Um, and with that said, with that said, what, what I would say is, um, is, is that if there's any curiosity and any curiosity to explore deeper within one's self, like why things are the way they are for yourself, like why you're continuing to experience certain patterns, certain things of ways of living that might cause you some suffering might cause you to question, what, why is this happening to me?

Um, then that is a very good, very good indicator. Um, and invitation to con perhaps consider, um, deeper down on a subconscious level, what could be happening, uh, why this all is happening. For you. [00:13:00] Um, and so it's, it's, it certainly, it certainly can be scary. And I think it's, you know, entering into these spaces, um, is it's very normal to feel, to feel the bit of apprehension and anxiety around it because we don't know what we don't know, and there's a level of uncertainty and, um, and, uh, yeah, and probably some trepidation there.

Um, but my belief is that, is that the learning and the growth for anyone, any individual in, in their, in their life journey, in their self development journey goes, you know, it happens in those spaces, um, that are scary. And if you stay in the comfort, if you stay in the comfort zone, like how much, how much really can you grow from that?

Mm-hmm , you know, um, it's like, it's like, oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll, I'll make an analogy with, uh, with like, Working out exercising. If you, you know, if, if you're, if you're just lifting [00:14:00] five pound weights, you're comfortable doing that. You're not really gonna grow your muscles. If you get to a place where you're really exhausting yourself and you're breaking down muscle tissue and it's hard, um, that's when you actually see the gains, right?

Mm-hmm, see results. And it's the same thing when it comes to your own life, your own ways of thinking your mind and your, your self development it's like in those edgy places is when you really see what you're made of and what, what insights will really be revealed to you. Mm.

[00:14:33] CK: I love it. You know, as you're speaking, the visuals comes to mind is, think about, uh, a pie, right?

As a circle there's area of, of life that's full of life. That's fully illuminated. Those are areas that, you know, that, you know yes. In there areas of life that you know, that you don't know, right. That's also illuminated. But there's a huge aspect of our life. That's what we don't know. And that we don't know.

Mm-hmm, what we call [00:15:00] 'em blind spots. Mm-hmm . And for me, drinking ayahuasca or having these type of conversations or having reflections serious contemplation times allow us to explore, illuminate our blind spots. And it may be scary to think about, but at the same time for me and you we're the seekers, right?

We want to grow in more, uh, intentional way when we illuminate these blind spots and we can see like, Hey look, oh, now I know why I'm not particularly excited about this area of my life, my relationships, my diet, my body, my business, my career, my finances, whatever the thing is. Yeah. And that does allow us more opportunities to drive our meat suit in a particular direction.

That's the way I think about it. Mm-hmm

[00:15:51] Salman: yeah. Yeah, I fully agree with that. I fully agree with that. I love, I love that, that, uh, you know, the reference you made of like what we don't know, we don't [00:16:00] know. Yeah. Um, a lot of life is like that and, and I think there's, there's, uh, our, our, our egos, our minds often want to be in control and really do what we know about.

And, uh, and that's just a, such a limited part of, of, of life and our own awareness and our own consciousness. It's just such a small sliver. There's so much of what we don't know that we don't know. And, and in these, in these experiences, those parts do get illuminated and, um, And it's, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I can just say, I can just kind of close with, with saying, with saying that, like, I've, I've gotten so much from exploring the depths of the unknown.

Um, and I, I'm so grateful for all of that, because I feel like I've grown so much as a person because of it.

[00:16:54] CK: Do you feel that, um, how many times do you sit in this [00:17:00] plant medicine ceremonies correlates with how quickly you grow mm-hmm or that's just a proxy

[00:17:11] Salman: so I'd say I'd answer that in a couple ways. And, um, actually, yeah, quite a number of ways for me personally, my, a lot of my growth in development have come as a result of the work. I do my personal work with, uh, with plant medicine and. The first part was what I just shared, uh, about my own personal, my own personal growth.

So that first ceremony led me to make changes in my life, led me to shift my, my, my surroundings. Um, you know, my habits, my practices, the people I surround myself with what I do and my life, and open me up to a range of experiences, uh, that I had not been, [00:18:00] um, focusing on before. Mm, uh, more artistic experiences per creative experiences that I now am living and embodying.

Mm. And

[00:18:11] CK: what are those by the way?

[00:18:13] Salman: Sure. Um, music mm-hmm definitly music and, uh, and, and, and, and art design, um, designing products, jewelry, that sort of thing, and, and creating experiences and being, and actually being in, uh, in, in. In facilitation roles that in the past I shied away from. So there's a lot of expansion for me and it's not, it's not a li it wasn't a linear journey for me.

Um,

[00:18:47] CK: it, wasn't a goal setting process in five years. I'll be a DJ and

[00:18:53] Salman: facilitator. No, absolutely not. And that's, and that's, that's a good segue to what I'd like to share, which is there's, there's an [00:19:00] element of, of, uh, of trust and, and surrender when it comes to working, working, and diving deep into, into these spaces.

Because this isn't, this, isn't the linear world that we're. Talking about, it's very much a non-linear world and maybe we can even go so far as to say the quantum, but, um, but it was a non-linear path for me. It wasn't like I'm gonna do this because this is the next step in my evolution. Uh, it's not like climbing the corporate ladder where I'm, you know, I'm making manager and director and VP and whatnot.

Um, where that was what I came from. It was more from like, oh, I feel comp completely different in my body and I'm going to go explore what I, what feels joyful and, and fun for me. And that I, I feel like this, this desire to just explore because of the, the love of it. Um, and so my, my ayahuasca journeys led me to doing more, going on more [00:20:00] ceremonies and finding myself, uh, working with an organization that was doing this for other people like me.

Um, people who are highly accomplished, uh, high achievement oriented type a business people, um, And that led me on this whole longer journey, um, of discovering myself and my gifts and my creative talents. Um, that's kind of led me to where, where I am now. Mm,

[00:20:25] CK: okay. So let's double click on that.

Okay. For the overachiever younger version of Salman right. The, the Wharton MBA is thinking like, man, I don't understand the language CK and Salman are speaking the trust and surrender and listen the body joy, no idea what that means. How would you translate what you just set said to the younger, uh, Salman who is all about achievement, achievement, achievement, showing the most efficient, [00:21:00] effective step to take. And I will take it no matter what the cost is.

[00:21:05] Salman: Yeah. Uh, sure. I I'm sure the younger version of me that the younger Salman would have a lot of skepticism and disbelief about what this, what this version is saying. Um, definitely was looking at life as just this, this path of like climbing, climbing, climbing instead going up, you know, more and more steps.

Um, there is what I ended up doing and I think there's, I would love to, to just like name drop an amazing book that I, that I read, which I think would probably resonate here. And it's called the surrender experiment. And it's a book written by a man named Michael singer who wrote another book, um, soul beautiful book.

But the surrender experiment was a book that I was encouraged to read before a particular retreat that I did, um, a few years ago. And it, it, it, it told about. [00:22:00] Um, it was, it was basically the biography of, of, of Michael singer, who was this man who grew up in, in Florida, you know, with a couple economics degrees and found himself deep into, I believe it was, um, Zen meditation and decided to buy a piece of land because he found himself able to, to quiet his, his thinking mind, which many of us have analytical, rational, very logical thinking mind, always trying to make sense of everything.

And he decided that if he didn't wanna make sense of things so much anymore and decided to devote his life to meditation and surrendering to whatever wanted to happen around him. And there's, there's an element of just kind of allowing things to happen. There's also element of not resisting. And I think the story for me is not resisting and, and not trying to push forward to create something against all odds because there's beauty in allowing [00:23:00] and surrendering. And the long, the long story short, he ended up having a, a series of beautiful things occurring, um, in his life that led to him becoming the CEO of a publicly traded company.

And, and that was not because he pushed and pushed and pushed and tried to create that experience. Um, it was because that's what just wanted to happen through his own way of surrendering to the universe. And it may sound like some magical spiritual speak. Um, but I can, I can test and would say to my younger self that by following what, what, what I really truly wanted in my life which I didn't give space to before, because I thought that I had to push and push and achieve. Um, I'm actually a much happier person because I'm doing the things in my life now that I love to do where my work and my, my, my play, my free time. Everything feels very [00:24:00] much in alignment. I'm not creating this dissonance, this separation, uh, this duality between my, my work and my play, or, you know, my professional and my personal it's all molded into one because I've decided to, um, to surrender to all the things that I love.

And, and by doing that and focusing on service, which is another thing I wanna talk about. Things have really come into, come into more clarity and, uh, cohesion for my, from, for myself.

[00:24:36] CK: I love that. Thanks for articulating it. Someone who is on that path as well. I definitely relate. Uh mm-hmm. Hmm. I, I, I do still wanted to address a little bit to the younger Salman and CKS cause I, I, I, I sense the skeptical voice very strongly. I kind of hear it in my mind. Right. This all sounds [00:25:00] awesome. Yeah. But, um, but, um, but, but what about achievement? Right? I don't wanna, I want, I don't wanna not achieve anymore.

Mm-hmm because achievement's important for me, but you know, is I don't want to just sit and meditate all day. Yeah. And, and, and, and, and not, uh, waste the, give, you know, God-given talent and gifts and blessings that it has been given to me. So what, what do you say to that voice?

[00:25:33] Salman: Yeah, I, I would say, uh, I would say to consider what achievement, like how, how do you define achievement and is the achieve like I'm, I'm not like I'm no stranger to, I would, I would, I would, I'm not saying to, to downplay or to, um, discount that aspect of [00:26:00] anyone in their life.

I'm still very much achievement oriented. I wanna be successful. Um, I am successful already in my life in a number of ways. And my, my approach now, as opposed to before is to, to, to, to find the things in my life that, um, that truly mean something to me that truly give me purpose and meaning, um, from, from a from a completely aligned place. And so achievement to me now is still very much important, but whereas before there was an achievement of doing something that didn't feel right to me. And like, that's why I mentioned the disconnect between the personal and the professional. Um, and for me now, achievement is continuing to become successful and do the things that are, um, that allow me to receive, [00:27:00] you know, financial gifts and, and become better in myself um, but for things that I personally find much more fulfilling. Mm. And maybe I can relate this to a story. The second, the second kind of transformational experience that I, that I had after iowaska was my experience at, at, at burning man. Mm. In 18. In which I, there was, there was a, there was a clear sign. I was working a job.

I was working as a director at a tech company during the day. And my nights and weekends were spent building an art project that I was gonna take to burning man that year with my friends and just, and just knowing, just feeling in my body that I was kind of just not happy at work. And I was so lit up creating this pro project that wasn't, that [00:28:00] wasn't gonna make me any money, but still felt like once we created this, that was like the feeling of achievement that really lit up my soul.

And it did, once we completed it, brought it to burning man. It was a vegan ramen noodle bar that we served people. Oh, nice.

[00:28:17] CK: That's great. That's awesome.

[00:28:19] Salman: All night long during the play. Um, and, um, And it just lit it, my soul that led me to realize that that's what I wanted to do in my, my life. Um,

[00:28:33] CK: what's that, what's that?

Would you say, that's what I want do in, in my life. What's that

[00:28:39] Salman: to create, mm, create art to facilitate experiences of connection, of wonder of joy, um, of community. And that was an element that was an experience that really led to like the furthering of my transformation and in my [00:29:00] journey. But I, I wanna just kind of relate that back to achievement because, um, there's achievement in many areas of life.

And, and for me creating that, the culmination of that was an achievement in itself and the, like the, the, the juice or the, you know, the, the jewel of that was the realization that. If I, I didn't need the, the, the, the, you know, the, the, the corporate achievement for myself, it helped. It was great. And I knew that if I put my heart into something that I really cared about and loved that I can still achieve, and I can still be successful, it's just in, it's just in a different way.

And I might receive, I might recognize how I would receive, um, benefit from that at a different time and in a different way. Mm-hmm .

[00:29:59] CK: [00:30:00] Yeah. One of my biggest, uh, ahas doing, um, plant medicine ceremonies is, comes down to this phrase. What's it all for, if not for joy mm-hmm . I have lived my life for many decades in a pursuit of achievement and at the cost of personal health relationships fun friends, just everything I could to achieve. And then what ended up happening for me is, you know, that the, the, the half life of that satisfying moment, right? The, the enjoyment of achievement yeah. Went from days to hours to minutes to seconds to nanoseconds. it? It was so well home. My ego would just would just say, okay, that's done.

What's next. Literally I had no time to even enjoy what took me sometimes [00:31:00] years of effort to achieve a thing. So, uh, so that was a, definitely a recipe for a miserable, a boring, uh, dry life. And, uh, yeah. So for me, I, I love what you said about now. You are aligned right internally and externally. Yeah. Uh, I, and I will say this to anyone listening, the younger CKS, the SALs of the world.

Who's worried that this will, um, lessen their drive their ambition. You know, just take this on for size, who you are as someone who loves to achieve things. So what we are talking about is mostly internal alignment. It won't take away the horsepower that you already have, that's who you are. So I don't think you need to concern that you're gonna become less ambitious or less achievement [00:32:00] oriented, but rather you are focus this horsepower that you have to something that you truly, that makes you come alive.

That's what I'll say to the younger CK.

[00:32:09] Salman: I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Yeah, it is. It's no, it's, it's, there's, there's not a, a sense of, of losing ambition or motivation. It's just directed in, uh, in, in a different way in, in a, that leads to a more fulfilling, satisfying, joyful life. And that's, and that's, that's, that's what I've, that's what I've personally experienced.

So, so

[00:32:35] CK: speaking of joy, I'm curious. Um, yeah, there, there's a lot of different directions, like we can go into about transformational modalities, but I'm curious, right? Let's say the younger CKS listening to this says, oh, that sounds interesting. Right? I now live a miserable life without any joy whatsoever.

Yeah. How do I bring more joy back in my life? What are some step by step tactical [00:33:00] way to do that?

[00:33:01] Salman: Great, great question. Um,

Everyone likes something. Everyone finds joy in something, and there are different ways. There are different things. Everyone finds joy. And for me, for me, there was, you know, I, I, I love music. I love art. I love experiences. I love, you know, festival culture. I love, I love those, those, those places and spaces that, um, that bring people together for the spirit of joy.

And so it was pretty easy for me to be able to, to find myself in those spaces, um, for everyone it's different. And I think finding, finding an outlet for your joy and, and, and, and taking further steps into that outlet is, is, is important to find out how you can be most contributive to, to, um, you know, to fulfilling your [00:34:00] own journey of joy.

And I would say. I would say whatever that is for anyone, um, for you listeners, whether, you know, it's in art or music or whatever, it may be cooking, um, step into it. And I mentioned this earlier, but I'd like to, I'd like to re reflect back on it, which is service be step into. Um, even if it's a small step step into a level of service where you're not just consuming and participating in whatever it is that you love to do, um, but find ways to support and give back mm-hmm and offer to others, the things that you love.

Um, and I think that will create more opportunities, uh, possibilities for you to discover how that. Joy [00:35:00] gets to be further manifested for you in your life. An example for me is I, you know, I, I mentioned with, with, with this plant medicine work, I found so much healing in it and transformation in myself that, you know, it changed my life in, in many different ways.

And I found myself at a retreat where I was re I was just, again, blown away. My life changed so much. I experienced and received so many beautiful experiences that I offered myself to come back and support and help them with, with different things with marketing. With outreach with, on the ground help and just like led with an open heart of service.

And I think that led me to find more opportunities to really, um, re you know, to, to, to feel more joy because of the work I'm doing is now part of the things that I loved to, to experience, um, and just opened up a lot of [00:36:00] doors for me. And I've done that with many different things, with music, with art, um, and so service leading with service and finding ways, just say, Hey, uh, I wanna help mm-hmm , uh, I love this and I wanna help.

And, um, how can I help to whoever it is is, you know, you're, you're connecting with. So that's, that's what I would say. I

[00:36:20] CK: wanna double click on that because a lot of times people ask me. . How did you become, for example, the head of culture or the chief culture officer for the startup? How did you become a coach or how did you become a podcaster?

How did you get so, and so, uh, on your podcast, it's very much in the spirit of what you just said, you know, in the spirit of service, I, I like this thing. I'm gonna see what I could do to help mm-hmm it could be in the form of being a guardian, right. It could be in the form of being an evangelist by bringing people to it.

It could be in the form of operational help, as you [00:37:00] said, right? The marketing and the other operational help, which you have some super powers with. Right? Mm-hmm so those are all points of leaning into the unknown and to see how can I add value to this entity, this organization, or this ecosystem, ultimately in my mind, that's what.

Life is all about, it's not transactional per se, but it's the flow of karma mm-hmm . So if we can add more value any way possible, if you become that person just adds value everywhere you go. I deeply believe that what goes around comes around. So,

[00:37:41] Salman: absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. That's, that's, that's a really beautiful way of, of putting it, um, adding value service, you know, two ways, two ways of saying just another way of saying it is for me, like leaving, leaving something better than I found it.

Mm. Um, [00:38:00] you know, uh, experiencing something that, that, that gave me, um, you know, gave me some, some, you know, beautiful reflection or joy or experience mm-hmm and giving back. So this is, this is how life goes, you know, we, we, we, we, we receive and we give, we give. Um, and there is this reciprocity and it's important to just know like how, how best to give back in, in every situation.

And yeah, often times I find the most joy, um, not in just like doing things, but in, in giving, in, offering, in helping in supporting. And, um, and that's why that's, that's where I find the most. Yeah. The most happiness. So

[00:38:49] CK: I have a question specifically around making a transition from someone who is a consumer, as you said earlier to someone who's a contributor to someone who's a professional contributor, [00:39:00] right.

Cause there's amateur, you know, volunteer contributor and then professional contributor. Yeah. I'm curious to know, as you add more value, you need to also take a leap of faith from someone who is an amateur to someone who say, all right, I now do this on the professional way. I can give you. A high standard of delivery or experience.

Yeah. What went from, I'm just gonna play music very quietly, right to myself and to others to now play music, right. With your full heart, full expression to now charging people and to hear your music. Can you share a little bit about that transition?

[00:39:41] Salman: Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Um, Yeah. And, and we'll use, we'll use example of, of, of DJing.

Um, as I now consider myself a professional DJ mm-hmm two years ago, I hadn't, and it was, I loved music for [00:40:00] years. I've been going to clubs. I've been going to festivals. I love, um, ecstatic dance. And, and so I've been, and at the time in Bali, I was living in Bali in 2020 during the pandemic. And I was, um, exposed to a lot of great, um, dance events and DJs.

We were still, we were still, uh, dancing at the time throughout the entire thing. Um, and I decided that I received so much. I wanted to get back. I wanna learn, I wanna just, just play. And so I got myself a couple of controllers and practiced, and one day my friend was looking for a DJ for a, a house party.

And I said, oh, I can do it. I'll try mm-hmm . That was, that was me being the, you know, the kind of like the shy, like, oh, I'm not sure about this. I'm gonna give it a try. And it ended up being, you know, I, I put some energy into it practice and, and trying to be a good, a good, you know, a good, a good showing.

And from then on it's, it, it kind of be, you know, it, it, it didn't balloon, [00:41:00] but it was a gradual like, oh, cool. Like I did that pretty well. I'm gonna put myself out there and take a risk and just offer myself in service and not expecting much afterwards, but just, just again in service, because I loved doing it.

And little by little, the opportunities kept coming. And, um, and the, I think the, the, I guess the, the, the practical application of, of like how I did it, Was to find something that I, I loved and to, to offer myself in the spirit of that. So for me, it was offering music, DJing, dancing, um, and to not just, not just surrender.

So, as I mentioned before, like a big part of this is, is, is in the, like the, the surrender portion of just letting things happen. Um, but also taking inspired action to [00:42:00] mm-hmm to create opportunities for myself mm-hmm and that involved me putting myself out there. So there were risks taken for me. Like there's reputational risk.

What if I sucked? You know, what if I, you know, definitely felt imposter syndrome at, at a lot of times, I'm like, who am I? I'm this finance guy. And how did you

[00:42:20] CK: overcome that? Actually speaking on that. Yeah. How did you overcome that?

[00:42:24] Salman: How did I overcome that? Um, well, There was definitely still that feeling for me.

Um, a lot of times, uh, but I, I, I took the steps to, to prepare myself and I think this is where the, you know, all the, all the things I learned in my life, um, to just be a resourceful person came in handy. Um, not just, you know, not just going out there without any plan of action, but being strategic about it, practicing, knowing exactly what I was gonna do.

And maybe I wasn't, you know, technically as skilled [00:43:00] as I am now or other people are, but just going out there and like reducing the, the, the possibilities for me to, to, to, to screw up. Um, and I, and I think it's, uh, there's yeah, so there's, there's, there was, there was that structured part of, of my way of being and thinking that allowed me to, to become successful in what I did.

And, uh, it's um, You know, I'm around the spiritual world a lot. And the there's in, in the spiritual world, we, anybody in, in a particular body, whether it be a male body or, or a female body has both masculine and feminine within them. Mm we are, we're both masculine and feminine. We're the union of the two.

Um, but we just have different physical features externally. And, and for me, it was a beautiful interplay of the masculine and feminine, where there was, um, you know, the, the, the, the allowing of just kinda like [00:44:00] seeking the, the beauty, the art, the, the creative element of me stepping out of the corporate world into something that was completely new.

Um, the, you know, the, the music aspect, but also, uh, but also being very, very left brain and masculine and structured about it and preparing and like being practiced in order to. To direct myself in a direction that would lead to my success. So,

[00:44:28] CK: so actually, okay. So we do use that masculine, feminine energy on noble worry, quite a lot.

Great. Cause we used the, the ying yang sign to illustrate certain points, the polarity of our life a lot. Right? Yeah. So inside of that, do you, did you follow a, a certain number of hours of practice per day, a certain time that you practice? How did you maximize or optimize the way you learn this new craft?

[00:44:57] Salman: um, I'd say, I'd say that [00:45:00] part was a little more feminine for me because I didn't, I didn't have like, you know, I didn't, I didn't structure my time of the day of like, oh four hours a day, you know, every, every week or anything, it was, it was more along the lines of, oh, when I knew I had something like a gig, a.

Set up for me at some point, I'm gonna be putting the hours in beforehand. Mm, got

[00:45:23] CK: it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. It's really cool. So every time I was speaking to a legendary drummer the other day, his name is Kenny Arnoff. Mm-hmm and he played with just, you know, he has like, I think like platinum records all over the place, you know, his zoom background and just a legendary guy.

We're talking about, um, his practicing rituals and how he prepare himself to go into gigs. And, um, but that's a whole other conversation. I'll I'll have him well, I'll have that conversation with Kenny's on the podcast. Yeah. Next time for sure. He's [00:46:00] a,

[00:46:01] Salman: I will, I will, I will say a little bit like a little bit, uh, of, um, of an insight into, into my, into my process.

And just, and just so like maybe the, the, the listeners know, two, two years ago, I hadn't, I didn't, hadn't done this any of this before, and I got into it and I opened myself up to, to playing. And for example, now I didn't consider myself a musician before and, or an artist at all. I was just straight finance banker tech guy, uh, for, for, for multiple years.

And now I consider myself an artist, a musician, a creative, a coach, an entrepreneur, all of these things that were labels that I never associated myself with. And it was because of stepping in and surrendering to the things that I loved and opening myself to, to that, and also putting practice in. And so, you know, for me as a DJ now, um, I, I like I was on tour this last week, up and down, California.

I'm playing [00:47:00] ecstatic dances and I've played like the biggest festival in Bali in may. And I'll be playing at burning man. I'll be playing a festival in Colorado afterwards. Now my festival DJ, which is something I never thought I'd be, but it's beauty. It's beautiful that I surrender to what the universe like has given to me has, has opened the doors for me to do.

Um, and part of the, the insight of my, my process was I was grow. I was growing in that, in that, in that, in that journey was to be very specific about how I would craft. Every set that I did and having like very detailed notes about it. Um, because now I'm much more seasoned and experienced and I can just flow and, and, and DJ on the fly before I had to be like, make very detailed line by line.

This is what I'm gonna do. This is the next track. When is it gonna be, you know, uh, moved to this track, et cetera. So I [00:48:00] started off with like this very masculine, structured way of doing it, um, in order to prepare myself for, for my success. And then once I got that practice in and I was able to dial it in and know, um, and kind of like, I, you know, embody the way I would, I would craft any kind of musical journey, then it's become more innate in me.

And now I'm able to flow and use my feminine more. Mm. And just like weave things in through intuition. So

[00:48:33] CK: speaking on intuition, I know you did intuitive body work. You wanna talk about how you hone your calibration to your own intuition a bit

and, and by then, why you think, let me actually contextualize this a little bit. The masculine approach to decision making is gimme all the data there is [00:49:00] possible. Let me look at the trend line, let me look at best practices and based on data, then I'll make decisions accordingly. That's a very masculine way of decision making.

Yeah. On a higher level. So to speak, uh, way to make decisions very intuitive, right? You, you, you connect the dots based on everything that, you know, beyond the data that you see, everything that, you know, as a human. And, uh, I consider that to be, well, I wanna do both not to say, I just wanna use my intuition alone.

I wanna look at all the data and then make a decision based on my intuition. So I actively cultivate my own intuitive thought process. And then a huge part of it is medicine work a huge part of it is I'm now learning music. I'm learning the jambe I wanna play. Yeah, I wanna, I wanna be able to play jambe it sing ceremony songs during ceremony, something that I'm actively taking on.

So everything that you said [00:50:00] about your journey as a DJ, I resonate, I resonate. And certainly there is a leap of faith and one needs to take and often, so I'll share a story. This is, uh, is a humbling story, but , but I think it's in instructive for anyone who is maybe, maybe not about taking that leap of. So I've been learning djembe for the last 60 days, right?

Every day, 15 plus minutes, you know, however time. So I'm, I'm getting the rhythm. I'm like, I'm getting this. So I play in ceremony a couple day, uh, a co you know, a couple weeks ago. And then the owner of the house came, came to me and say, Hey, sit closer to the guitar. I'm like, why I'm good, where I'm at? He said like, no, you're off beat.

And you're playing really loud. I'm like, oh my gosh, the shame. . But I shared that with, with Kenny Arnoff legendary, he said, well, everyone needs to go through that. So [00:51:00] congratulations for, for experiencing that, the important things to get back on the mat and continue to practice mm-hmm so that's the way I bring myself back to like, let me just continue to practice.

So with all that set, um, what. What are some of your way to cultivate this elevation of your intuition? Hmm.

[00:51:29] Salman: I will say that all my work, all my work with, uh, with, with plant medicine has helped a lot, a lot with that. Um, and not only that, um, but sitting with myself, um, meditation alone and being out in nature has helped a lot with that too. Um, really tuning in with myself. And, you know, I, I mentioned plant medicine because in an [00:52:00] ayahuasca ceremony, you are not interacting with anyone.

You are kind of tuning into yourself and the visions and what the medicine wants to share with you. Um, and, and it's looks like your, your awareness, your conscious awareness is, is much more heightened. And that happens also with, with being in a meditative practice where there's no external, you know, it's all internal you're tuning in with yourself.

And when I'm out in nature, you know, I'm, I'm just tuning into myself as part of this grander, uh, universe. We are not different from nature or apart from nature. We are nature. We are part of nature. We are nature. And, and so in these spaces, as, as examples, um, I'm. I'm shutting off my, my mind, my brain, my thinking brain, my logical analytical left brain that has so much to say, and it's all noise.

99% of it is just noise. [00:53:00] And it's just the ego wanting to just like be heard. And, and when I'm in that, that state, you know, um, the, what is it? I think the, the, the, like the be, you know, when we talk about brainwaves, there's the alpha beta gamma Delta, the beta waves, right? Like the very, like just high F frequency, um, just talking state.

I'm not able to tune in myself and my intuition gets. Push down. Mm. It, it gets SI silenced by all the clutter, the mental blah. Um, and so I, I find myself able to tune into myself when I wanna make some decisions, um, by giving myself the mental space and the clarity and, and just like removing myself from places of distraction, getting away from my computer, getting away from my phone, getting away from conversations.

Maybe I'll like, I'll use that as, um, all that as, as, as fodder, you know, as kind of like the, the raw materials for, for, for myself to then [00:54:00] take the space and process it on my own by myself and let my intuition guide me with, with my own internal wisdom. What about

[00:54:09] CK: the body? Can you say anything about intuition in the body?

Oh yeah,

[00:54:13] Salman: yeah, absolutely. Um, Yeah. Uh, you know, I, I, that what I spoke about now is in reference to the mind and how to kind of get a, get a clear mind, but the body body says so much, the body says so much. And, and I want to, I think it's, uh, um, it's, it's a good segue way to talk about the work I do with, with breath work, because I, I, I perform and I, I lead breathwork ceremonies, um, called somatic breathwork, it's a, it's a self breathwork that allows people to kind of allow their, um, their, their, um, you know, the, the, the messages that are residing in the body to come out.

Um, and where I'll go with this is [00:55:00] I will . So I'm gonna go back to a story of maybe about 12 years ago or 12 years ago, 10 years ago, perhaps I was living in, in, in, in Dubai at the time. and I, this was pre MBA. I was actually applying to two different MBA. Like I applied to six different MBA programs and I got into two of 'em.

I got into three of 'em and I was choosing between two, two that I really wanted Wharton and another school. And, um, I had chosen the other school over Wharton, even though my body said that I wanted to be at Wharton. When I went to go visit the campus. It felt great when I went to visit the other school, it was okay.

But the mind told me that I should have, I should go to that school because they offered me a half ride scholarship. It was like, I'm gonna save $60,000. Like, it's a lot of money for me at the time, a 28, even though I was gonna get a, you [00:56:00] know, big paying salary job afterwards, but I'm like, I'm gonna do the right thing.

You know, like rankings wise, they're just like one off from each other. So I chose the other school I put in the deposit, application, everything I said yes. And as soon as I did that, even though my body said I wanted to be at Wharton, living in Philadelphia, um, instead of this other cold place that, you know, wasn't as great.

Um, all of a sudden, like my body shifted and felt like I felt sick that whole day. It was like, like everything, just like, didn't feel right. Like, like just this, this, this, like this pain in my, in my, in my chest started to happen. And, uh, and that was when I first realized how important intuition is. It was, uh, it was just like everything I knew was wrong.

And I had to go back in my decision in order to make things feel right. Um, doesn't answer your question about how I tune into it. It [00:57:00] was, this is an example of like how I really understood that this is a real thing. And now how I tune into it is, is that, um, is, is everything that I just shared, just kind of like allowing myself to feel and, and knowing that if, if my body feels like a yes to something it's, uh, It's it's gonna let me know.

It's gonna let me know. It just, it just feels right. There's a lightness in my chest. There's like a lightness in my body. There isn't this tension, there's contraction this, this, this, this heaviness. So that's, that's a, that's, that's a way of understanding and being able to decipher for yourself, whether a decision that you're making is right or wrong based on your intuition, it just feels you're gonna feel light or you're gonna feel contraction, expansion of contraction.

It's one of the two. Mm

[00:57:52] CK: mm. One of the, um, technique that I discover during ceremony actually mm-hmm is the mind, as you [00:58:00] say, creates a lot of ideas, it just wants to be helpful. Right. So it's constantly, am I helpful here? Here, here, here, here, here. Even though, you know, I don't need it to do anything other than just sit.

So the mic produced a lot of ideas and. and, uh, a simple trick is just put my hand on my heart and just feel like, Hey, what does my body need right now? So for me, that's a way to amplify. What does the body desire in that moment? Mm-hmm yeah, but I wanna segue to lifestyle design. That's what actually what brought us together very recently, you know, I was watching, you know, passively, um, what you're doing, you're traveling around the world, living up your life.

I really love how you are expressing, uh, your inner joy by the way you live your life. Right? So, so that looks very glamorous from a distance mm-hmm . How do you practicalize from 95 or [00:59:00] solopreneur or entrepreneur to someone who lives, uh, their life from Bali or Colorado, California, different places. Can you walk us?

Through the practical aspect. So maybe a concern about community. I don't know anyone in Bali yet. Mm-hmm right. I, I, I want to go there, but how do I, practicalize it, I don't exactly know, um, how to do remote work yet, right. In the us versus Bali. So these like practical ways to design the life of your, of your, uh, joy, that would be really, really helpful for people who is thinking about taking a leap.

[00:59:42] Salman: Sure. Um, yeah, I'd love to be able to distill that for, for people to make it a little more practical. Um, and maybe for context, I'll share that. I, I do bounce around from different places. I currently pay rent. I'd like to say people ask me, where do I live? I'm like, well, I pay rent in the San [01:00:00] Francisco bay area.

Um, so that's where I am right now in my room. Um, but I, I do travel often. I will be going to Costa Rica in a few days to, to run a retreat. Um, just as reference, I, I work for an organization and we'd run, uh, ayahuasca retreats, plant medicine, retreats for leaders called one heart, one heart journeys. And I'm taken to Costa Rica about five times a year to do that work.

Um, why Bali? I spend a lot of time there. I live there over the pandemic and I've created build big community there. And that's where I kind of started off my artistic abilities and my artistic talents with some of the work I do. I design, uh, objects and with jewelry and I started DJing there. Um, Colorado, I just have a lot of tribe there, a lot of community.

Um, but I find myself doing a lot of work. and creating more community here in the bay area, more and more so now where music and breath work and, um, and coaching, whether it's, um, plant medicine, integration, psychedelic integration, coaching, or life coaching. [01:01:00] Um, so just, just about me and where, um, what I would say in terms of how I've been able to integrate all of this together, is that it, again, it's not, it hasn't been a linear process where I, I have this very intentional, this is what I want.

Um, but a lot of it has been in, again, following, following my joy, following my flow and knowing that these are the things that I like enjoy, I enjoy in my life enjoy doing whether it's music, whether it's beautiful objects, sacred objects, whether it's ceremonies and retreats, um, or whether it's, you know, whether it's breathwork and.

um, it's been kind of like a, like connect the dots kind of journey for me where, you know, like this dot leads to this, to that, to that, to that. Um, but I know that what I'd want in my life is I wanna be able to be mobile. I wanna be able to be, um, [01:02:00] able to, uh, do the work I love to do, which is in transformation.

And so whether it's the ceremonies or the music or the dance or joy, beauty, it's all in the spirit of transformation, transformational art. And I choose intentionally the, the, the ways I, I, I support myself and, and do work that are in alignment with, you know, my guiding principles and my vision for my life.

So that's in the work of transformation being around great community, being able to move around and be in places that I love. And so, um, and so I've intentionally chosen for myself. Not to not to do work. That keeps me in any particular place. Mm I've. Intentionally chosen to be around people who, um, to do similar work and are in the same spaces.

And by that, by that [01:03:00] kind of, um, decision making process that I have I've, um, those are the things that I like I've I, I intentionally choose to do. And the rest have been, have been through expressions of the ways I want to help people. Mm. And from, from, from, from, from those conversations, I've found the opportunities and the projects and the possibilities that have aligned with my desired way of living.

[01:03:30] CK: Mm mm. This reminds me of a quote, um, or an idea I got from listening to the conversation between Joe Rogan and SA guru mm-hmm and, and the big nugget that I took away was instead of pursuing happiness, which implies happiness is outside of you make your life an expression of your joy. Mm-hmm . So you, my friend is very, uh, are very clear about [01:04:00] the criteria, the life that you want.

You want to be around free people, transformational work, you wanna be mobile. And as such, you didn't say this in the way you articulated you, uh, are open to new possibilities to contribute to these ecosystem. And then you also so myself with great people. So wherever they are, that's kind of where you're drawn to.

Is that, is, am I projecting that too much or

[01:04:27] Salman: that's not at all? It's it's definitely, I feel like that's one of my superpowers. I, I, I, I surround myself with amazing people and I'm a connector in that way. um, I'm connection is my superpower. Mm-hmm, finding myself connected to others and forming connections with, with other people.

And so, and that's part of the spirit of, of, of, of service for me in just like helping people just achieve whatever they desire mm-hmm and opportunities then have, you know, have flown have flowed flowed down to me. And [01:05:00] I think that's part of the surrender that I've I spoke about earlier of just, um, being in service and surrendering to the, you know, the, the, the benefits and the gifts that have of come come, you know, that are a result of that.

And so, yes, um, offering energy in the spirit of something joyful, something you love, something in service, um, often comes with the, the gifts, you know, mm-hmm, like often gifts allow you to receive gifts. And so for me, I've found exactly what I've wanted and I, you know, I, I work, I. I have a strong belief that intentions and manifestations are real mm-hmm um, that what I would like to receive has most often come, come to me, come to me in, in, in various ways.

Maybe not an exact the same exactly the right way. And this is a lot of, you know, um, like quantum theory work, um, quantum, quantum physics was that Joe?

[01:05:59] CK: [01:06:00] Sure. Since you mentioned it, do you mind going to double click on that? What does that mean? Yeah. For, for, for people who may have heard about Joe Dispenza, but who's not really well versed in it.

What is his quantum theory work that you talked

[01:06:14] Salman: about? Yeah, so quantum, you know, quantum physics, quantum, you know, the, the quantum, um, is, is that we live in a, in a, in a, in a non-linear world and, and that there is, there are multiple possibilities. There are multiple like infinite. You know, universes that exist and that whatever you desire in your life is possible through the power of belief.

Um, because our thoughts, our energy, our beliefs are energy. Our words are energy and we're all made of energy. The entire universe is made of energy. And so if you align yourself and your thoughts and your beliefs and your words with a particular, um, energy, that energy will become attracted to you, it's law of attraction.

Um, also, um, if anyone is familiar with that [01:07:00] and, and so when you align all of your own self with what you want, you will attract it. And, um, and so for me, and so for practically speaking, it's like, if you, if you say, you know, if, if you, if you, um, you know, whatever, whatever you, whatever you say, whatever you say in, in, in a particular way, um, we'll become intra.

You know, you'll be attracted to if, like, if you keep saying that you're late all the time, um, to work. I keep, I keep showing up late. You'll keep showing up late. If you, you know, are able to rephrase yourself and, and, and say something like I'm getting better at becoming on time, getting on time, then you know, that is the energy you're, you're expressing to the, the outside world, the universe to yourself.

And so you're gonna attract that same energy and you're gonna start showing up on time. And so for me, I've been calling in, you know, and, and saying to myself, and just being very, uh, in integrity with what I want in which with, with things, with what I [01:08:00] say, and with what I think and what I believe, and, and my experience, my personal experience is that it has worked, um, uh, when I believe that I'm gonna be receiving something and I'm gonna be, um, I'm going to be successful in what I'm doing.

I'm gonna call in more coaching clients. I'm gonna call in more opportunities to share my music. I'm gonna call in. I'm getting I'm being, I'm getting better at DJing. I am, I am a successful coach. For example, these things are aligning myself with the universe around me and those things are actually coming to fruition.

And, and so it's, uh, it's important for anyone to, to really start believing in the things that you want. And don't doubt yourself and, and don't save things to ne to negate or discount the things that are possible for you, because everything is possible, um, to reflect back on what on, on Joe, like Joe Des Benza, Joe Des Benza [01:09:00] is, is a, he wrote an amazing book, um, um, forgetting the name of it now, but it's, it's about the power of your mind and belief to heal physical ailments.

I think he had a, like debilitating maybe life. Potentially life ending, um, um, illness. And he started to believe that he was healing, that he was getting healthy. He was gonna get better. And despite what doctors told him, he believed that he was gonna get healthy and he did. And the book is, is about that and the power of the mind to be able to call, to attract and call in and create whatever you want in your life.

Because we live in a quantum world where anything is possible through the power of this alignment of energy and belief. Hmm.

[01:09:49] CK: Beautiful. Um, well, let's talk about your superpower a bit. Okay. You see your superpower is attracting the right people for [01:10:00] those people who may be a little introverted, right. Who may feel a little lonely.

Who may definitely want to tap into this high vibration community, this, this energized, this energy, collective energy that you talked about all over the world. Yeah. Uh, well, I'm definitely one of 'em right. Sounds awesome. Right. California de you know, Colorado, Bali, wherever the case. Yeah. Um, can you say a little bit more about how do you go about intentionally, uh, befriend or enter a community that resonates with you that amplifies your collective energy?

[01:10:40] Salman: Hmm. Uh, so just to clarify that question, you're asking, how do I, how do I find community? How do

[01:10:46] CK: I, yeah. How do you find it? You know, how did you find, uh, your community, your tribe mm-hmm out of, let's say billion, other, you know, communities out there. How did you, how did you find the tribe that really resonates with you that nourishes your [01:11:00] soul?

[01:11:01] Salman: Oh, yeah. Um, there, uh, well, for me personally, when I found myself being attracted to different things, being attracted to different energies and communities after being, um, in a, you know, very mainstream corporate world, um, where I used to, you know, I used to go to bars, I used to drink. I used to, um, you know, just be in, in, in spaces that weren't really, um, opening, opening me up to, you know, to, to being a better version of myself.

Um, I, I, I, soon thereafter found myself connecting with, um, with people who were interested in having con conscious conversations and over non-alcoholic drinks and, and, and to, um, Yeah to become, you know, do more movement and heart center activities and find myself in tea houses [01:12:00] and, and, and vegan restaurants.

And it's interesting, vegan restaurants are a great place to find people that I liked. Um, even though I'm no longer vegan, but it just, you know, it kind of attracts a certain kind of person who was a little more conscious about like what they wanna do, you know, how they, how they live their life. Mm. And so, uh, and there's often, there's often places in vegan restaurants where, you know, there's something like a community message board.

So for example, when I was in Bali, um, I didn't know where to go. So I went to like the popular vegan restaurants, where a lot of people hung out and I would just meet people there. Um,

[01:12:34] CK: and that a hack that's very actionable right there.

[01:12:37] Salman: Yeah. so vegan restaurants are great if I found them to be great. Um, uh, yoga, yoga studios.

I mean, I mean, not everyone, you know, a lot of yoga is like mainstream these days, but. Certain ones where there'd be events happening, like, uh, maybe like, uh, like a, like a, like a breathwork or a cookhouse ceremony, [01:13:00] very more like intentional kind of activities. And I would just go and attend these, these events and meet people.

Um, I was just very curious about people. So I would just like go up and like introduce myself often in these new places. Um, so there's an element of also just being, um, being curious and being open and putting myself out there. And often at these places where I would find people who are my tribe they're they also found myself, uh they're they're also very much, very much more open, open hearted, um, to connect.

I found myself finding my, my, myself, surrounded by people who were just like very sociable mm-hmm and, and kind, and didn't have any kind of. Question around why I was wanting to like talk to them. So it just like naturally I found myself more and more part of these communities. Um, but's cuz we attract each other.

Mm,

[01:13:58] CK: beautiful. I love it. And it [01:14:00] also

[01:14:00] Salman: helped actually, so to speak about my like artist artistry side and, and was earlier, but the way I, the way I look and present myself, I think opens up the invitation for other people to, uh, to just wanna talk to me. Mm yes. So I, I found, I found that to be a great conversation starter because I've, you know, um, I wear a lot of jewelry and I have like more unique clothing than, than most people.

So I, I tend to stand out. Um, and my sense of fashion and style has allowed me to make a lot of friends.

[01:14:37] CK: Mm, well, I mean, that sounds like a good course. Just, you know, planting a seed, my friend. Yeah.

[01:14:43] Salman: Yeah. I think you're not the first part. Who person who have said that.

[01:14:47] CK: Yeah. How, okay. So, okay. So let's brainstorm on that for a moment.

Right? How do win friends and influence people? That's one of a very, very top popular, you know, personal development book. Yeah. How to wear good clothes and [01:15:00] win friends or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think, I think there's something right there. Just wanna plan a seed with you. Okay. Um, okay.

Is there a last, any, any last thoughts that I didn't ask you that you really wanted to say? I forgot to ask you at all, any parting words or are people

[01:15:19] Salman: parting words? Yeah. So. You know, I I'll say, I'll say like the work that I, I love, I love doing is, is helping people realize their best truest, most aligned Integris and, um, self-expressed selves.

That is, that is what I love, you know, that's, that's how I found myself in, in, in the way I am now, um, living completely free from expectations or judgments from others and just doing the things that I love to do. I love to help people doing that, uh, to do that. Um, I do that through a variety of work. I do, [01:16:00] um, whether it is support of people in their transformation, through, um, plant medicine retreats through my work with one hard journeys, through my own personal work, with transformational coaching or psychedelic, um, coaching or my music.

And that is how I want people to. Live. That is how I want everyone to be able to, um, to express themselves and live their lives without, without any kind of, um, contraction or pressure from kind of any out external source. And it's important to, to recognize that, um, there's a lot of external externalities that create, you know, misalignments in our lives, um, whether you're expecting to receive love from others or, you know, you're getting pressure to perform or be a certain way from others.

And I want everyone to know that, um, those are outdated ways of thinking the [01:17:00] outdated ways of being, and we get to give love to ourselves first and foremost, that's super important. Self love, I think is like number one for anyone to live a, a life, um, that they, that they truly love. Um, and. And to, um,

Hmm. And to recognize that you may have self learning beliefs, you may have fears that's normal for everyone, and those are, those are way. Those are things that get to be shifted and get to be transformed. Um, and once you do, you'll get to experience and live a life of, of full integrity and alignment. And I that's my wish and hope for everyone.

[01:17:45] CK: Beautiful. Salman let me take a moment to really acknowledge you more than anything else, more than your stories and the different modalities that you have taken on. I just really appreciate how you live your life going [01:18:00] from corporate America to a Wharton MBA to transformational artist, DJ breathwork, teacher integration, coach, all of these different ways to take care of people.

Um, Yeah, I have no doubt that you would be, um, you know, whatever aspiration that you wanted to be. You're already doing that. So I really, really appreciate the joy, the courage and the purpose purposefulness that you, um, that you embody. So thank you so much for sharing your story on noble

[01:18:33] Salman: warrior thank you.

C K. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for this, uh, wonderful conversation. I, I, I really appreciate it and I loved it.