The Gift of Being Present with Trevor Hall: 152

00:00:00 Trevor:  I think it teaches you how to be more intuitive and a better listener, which ultimately, as musicians, we're listeners, we're hearing these ideas and melodies and they're just kind of coming through us. So, I think that's how that kind of links in, I think, with how it improved, at least for me, my relationship with music.

00:00:29 Chazmith: Welcome to our Power is Within podcast. I am your host, Chazmith, and my mission for this podcast is to inspire you to take your power back and to realize that you are the healer that you have been looking for all along. I believe that we are all capable of healing in mind, in body, and in soul. 

00:00:51 Chazmith: Today's episode is sponsored by Primal Trust Academy and Community, which was created by Dr. Kathleen King, who is a dear friend of mine. Primal Trust is a membership site that helps you to find freedom from chronic illness and trauma, and it is quickly growing into one of the largest worldwide online healing communities, and it is co-led by Dr. Kathleen King herself and other Primal Trust graduates. The membership includes access to regulate, which is the level one comprehensive program to self-regulate the brain and the nervous system, focusing both on a top-down and a bottoms-up approach. It is a prerequisite to the level two mentorship, where we go deeper into the inner work of attachment and trauma healing. And then there is the level three, where we focus on values-based living. P.S. There is a new, simplified version of the mentorship, and there is going to be a new addition to the level three soon. To learn more, click the link in the show notes today and use the code OPIW to save 5%. 

00:02:09 Chazmith: So, guess what today is? It's a very special day, in my opinion. For one, it's my podcast's three-year anniversary. Woo, woo! Guys, never did I think when I started this when I embarked on this journey three years ago, did I ever think I was going to reach three years and 150-plus episodes. I was so not tech-savvy. And honestly, these past few years, it's been a lot of trial and error. But here I am. Here we are. So, what makes today even more special than it being my three-year anniversary episode, is the guest. The guest today is so near and dear to my heart. His gifts in this world have made a massive impact in my life and has been an integral part of the healing journey that I've been on. I'm quite certain that many of you will actually feel the same way. He is, by far and large, my most favorite musician of all times. For me, his music is not just music. It is medicine. It is magic. And today I welcome Trevor Hall. So, how many of you can relate to what I'm saying? His music speaks to the soul. It has a way of getting into the heart of healing, and it does provide so much magic and medicine, in my opinion. This young, incredibly gifted, and talented musician has overcome his own health challenges, just like us. He's gone through his own journey of healing, and he's with us today to take a deep dive into his journey and share it with us. We go into his struggles with various health conditions and how he moved through these challenges, what he learned along the way, and how his music has played a role in his own healing. If you're not already familiar with Trevor Hall, well, I strongly encourage you to go to your music app of choice and give him a listen. I have no doubts that you will not be disappointed. Quite opposite. 

00:04:37 Chazmith: Okay, so, Trevor Hall. In addition to being a musician, he is also a husband and a father. He has his beautiful wife, Emory, who is a poet and a photographer, and he has his beautiful little boy. With all of that said, let's welcome Trevor to the show! 

00:05:00 Chazmith: Trevor, welcome. 

00:05:04 Trevor: How you doing? 

00:05:05 Chazmith: Good, welcome to the show. It's such an honor to have you here with me right now. 

00:05:10 Trevor: Thanks for having me. What a privilege. 

00:05:13 Chazmith: Yeah, that's how I feel. I'm really thrilled to get to share this special episode with my listeners. Just as a fun fact, your episode will actually be my gift to my listeners as my three-year anniversary episode.

00:05:24 Trevor: Oh, my God, I love that. 

00:05:26 Chazmith: Yeah.

00:05:27 Trevor: That's wonderful.

00:05:28 Chazmith: Yeah. 

00:05:29 Trevor: Thank you. 

00:05:30 Chazmith: Of course. Thank you. So, as we were kind of just talking about offline before we started recording, my podcast is really about helping people to be inspired that healing is possible in all capacities, whether it's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. And I've talked to so many people and witnessed how easy it is for us to put certain people on pedestals and we separate ourselves from them and think that their situation is different because we can only see through one lens, and we don't see that they could also go through the same things as us even if it doesn't look that way on the surface. I know for you, through doing some research, that you've had your own health challenges along the way on this journey in your musical career. And so, I feel like it would be such a great topic for us to just dive into that and just, I have lots of great questions to just kind of pick your brain and see what this experience has been like for you, what you've learned along the way, the lessons.

00:06:31 Trevor: Yeah, wonderful. 

00:06:33 Chazmith: Good. 

00:06:34 Trevor: Of course, yeah. It's a long journey.

00:06:36 Chazmith: It is, and it is for so many people in the chronic health and illness community. 

00:06:41 Trevor: Yeah. 

00:06:42 Chazmith: Mm-hmm. But I stand firm in my belief that there's always light and that there's always a way out and there's always healing accessible to all of us.

00:06:52 Trevor: Of course, I agree.

00:06:53 Chazmith: Yeah. Yeah. So, I think, you know, just kind of for a little rundown for people who are listening, I know that you've gone through several different health challenges at different periods of your life, going from severe stomach illness, you've done a lot of extended travel to India, I'm not sure if it came from there or what was the result of it. You've had been tested for Lyme, you've had severe staph infections, or you've had to strip away some of your identity in the form of your drugs.

00:07:23 Trevor: Now that you're laying it all out, I'm like, oh, God, what have I been through?

00:07:29 Chazmith: Right? It's like a medical questionnaire. Sometimes I think, man, I'm feeling really good, and then I fill out a medical form and it asks you all these really detailed questions and you look at it and you're like, oh, shit, I got all that going on. 

00:07:43 Trevor: Exactly. Exactly. 

00:07:45 Chazmith: But here you are, and you've made it through, and you are a beautiful, gifted, talented musician. You still show up for tours, you still show up for your people, the listeners, the fans, and you still have this beautiful, strong presence on stage. And I can't imagine how exhausting that is in and of itself and can take a toll on the body. From personal experience, I know that when you've gone through healing a lot of stuff, it's so important to really stay regulated in the nervous system and have your center and take good care of yourself. So maybe we could just start out with talking about some of these health challenges that you've been through and what some of the struggles were. We're going to start there and build our way up.

00:08:27 Trevor: Of course. Yeah. I think the first big journey was definitely my tummy, but it didn't so much happen before India. I always had a sensitive stomach growing up and grew up in a very small town in South Carolina and nobody could really kind of tell me why my tummy was bad and meet all these doctors, my mom, and stuff. And then finally one day my mom took me to some gastro guy, you know, and he said, "You know, did you think that I think your son may benefit from an antidepressant. I think that his tummy is reflective of his emotions and what he's feeling and stuff." And we've kind of seen improvement, you know, with people's tummies with, you know, like taking an antidepressant like this. And we had kind of tried everything, you know, known to us, known to my mom in South Carolina, you know, in the early 90s. And I started to take an antidepressant and my tummy got better. And it was kind of interesting for me because it was like, oh, like something wrong with my brain, you know, that I have to take this like thing to like have a healthy stomach. So that was kind of interesting to me. And about, I guess, a few years down the line, I started around my freshman year at high school or so, I started to go visit this yoga studio in my town. And the yoga teacher's husband was this very just amazing chiropractor, but in a very intuitive way, you know, this was presenting this kind of like alternative medicine, like the first time that like we had ever seen anything like that, you know, where he'd like muscle tests and just a whole different understanding of health. And he got me off of that antidepressant and kind of, you know, treated my, helped me understand my body in like a more natural way. And it was interesting to kind of have those kind of two polarities at such a young spot of understanding of health, I guess. And so anyway, that kind of went on. But knowing that my tummy was sensitive and this and that, like when I did go to India, you know, when I started going to India, my overall health did take a little bit of a dramatic turn because I was getting so many different types of parasites and amoebas and, you know, was coming back and, you know, knocking those out with antibiotics and then touring like crazy, you know, which is, you know, exhausting and very damaging just to your overall like immune system. So my overall health took a really, really kind of downward turn. 

00:11:21 Trevor: And I continued going back to India because I just, you know, I loved it so much. And I felt like I needed to go every year, you know, which I was doing despite being so ill, you know. And then it was around the time I met my wife that I kind of had reached kind of my limit, you know, as far as my health at that point and kind of stopped touring for like a year and really kind of focused on bringing my gut, you know, back to a good place and worked with all different types of people, you know, from acupuncturists to chiropractors to Western medicine to, you know, nutritionists to Ayurvedic, you know, treatments. You know, at that point, you know, you're just so desperate to try feel better. You're so it consumes your whole world, you know, it's like I can't keep living like this. I'm going to have to sacrifice some things and pause and get back on track, you know. And that can be like really scary and really a ticklish time, you know, because everything just seems like so unstable. And I think one of the things that was like super frustrating was nobody could really tell you why you were feeling that way, you know, and all you wanted was an answer. It's like you would get these blood tests and they're like, "You know, everything looks okay." And you're like, "Yeah, but I am not well," you know, or you do like a poop test, you know, and they're like, "Yeah, it's negative." And you're like, "It's not. It cannot be," you know, and you almost become desperate for somebody to give you a diagnosis, you know, so you can start a treatment. It's a really kind of like lonely point of sickness, I feel like, where every day you're just trying to just make it through the day. So, yeah, that was kind of, I guess, the big first chapter, I guess, of my like health journey. It was definitely how my digestive system just kind of broke down and ultimately affected my emotional health, my physical health and everything, you know.

00:13:37 Chazmith: Yeah, it's such a common story and it's something that I'm sure so many people who are going to be tuned into this can relate to. It can be a really lonely journey. And like you said, it starts as maybe a physical symptom, but it becomes so all encompassing that it can really eat away at your emotional well-being and everything. So, well, I'm glad you had your wife through that time. I'm glad that you had already, I know she wasn't your wife yet, but I'm glad you had Emory at that time.

00:14:04 Trevor: Yeah, it's kind of cool that I feel like, you know, kind of right when she like entered my story, you know, is when I learned how to kind of take a breath and learn about my body and get back to a good way and have a support system, have somebody to just talk things out with. That's what started, you know, kind of the healing journey.

00:14:28 Chazmith: Yeah. So, you got your gut back in check and then you kind of start, you go on with life. Where then in this timeline did you end up with the Lyme diagnosis and the Staph?

00:14:40 Trevor: I can't remember, but I was just kind of my, I was really suffering from at that point. I don't know which one was first, but you know, I think it was the Staph actually. I think the Staph was first. So after to kind of healing my gut, I, or to the best that I could have, you know, it's like a daily thing, you know, daily journey. We were living on Hawaii and that winter I got a really serious staph infection that just completely brought me to my knees. You know, I had this little just like looked like a pimple just on my thigh and in 24 hours it just went crazy. I mean, it just blew up on my whole leg. I had an incredible fever, you know, couldn't just function properly. It was just like delirious, you know, went to the hospital in Hawaii where we were and got treated. But then was trying to get back to the mainland. Long story, but we ended up in Honolulu on Oahu and had to be readmitted there because the antibiotics like really weren't working. And my, the Staph on my leg was still growing and it was just like, I was still had a fever and the whole thing. And I was able to get back to the mainland and I got admitted in LA to the hospital, Cedars-Sinai for like seven or eight days and was on like a drip of the like most the heaviest like antibiotic or whatever for like that time. And that was the only thing that could get my leg down. And yeah, it was, it was a, that was a really, it was a really tough time. Really, really tough time. That health was, you know, it was different than my stomach. It was like this thing that just like really brought me to my knees and had to cut my locks because the staph was kind of potentially like spreading to the back of my head. And they couldn't get to it, you know, with this big, this big head of Natty locks. So, I had to cut my hair. So, it was just like a really this kind of intense time. Yeah. But a time when we really had to try and try and stop. And yeah, it was very turbulent time, but glad, glad I made it through, and it wasn't. Yeah. And then it wasn't after that until the Lyme kind of, I was just the chronic fatigue became super just too much. And I ended up seeing this doctor in LA that helped me treat the Lymes. So yeah. 

00:17:31 Chazmith: Mmh. Wow. Yeah, absolutely. So, it's interesting because, so I have a belief around symptoms, a couple beliefs. One belief is that all sensations and symptoms in our body are messengers. I really believe that every time that I'm in some way out of balance, like my body doesn't have the verbal language, right? That language that we're having with each other right now comes from mind, but the body has only one language, it's sensation. And so, I think for me, I believe that the body always wants to be well, wants to be in balance. When something's out of alignment, this is how it communicates. Something happens. There's chemistry and physiology that changes and shifts and it presents in symptoms and diagnoses disease. And so that's like one of my beliefs. And the other thing I really believe is that there's always a bigger component than just purely physical. It's really easy to say, oh, I got Lyme disease just because I got bit by a tick or, oh, I got this infection from this specific thing. But I guess I always think there's probably something bigger beneath it all. And there's this element of yes, medicine and all these Western and Eastern traditional medicines to help us. And there's also an element of healing through our beliefs, through our mind, through our motion, through our spirit. As you navigated that journey and coming out the other side and reflecting back, do you see any bigger connection to what you went through?

00:18:58 Trevor: Oh, 100%. I mean, I feel that those worlds so intertwined, our internal realities, colors, our external reality, they're so linked with how I feel like how one views things. If one has a healthy mindset, every environment is healthy. So yeah, they were totally linked. And I did notice how to say, I guess on my road to healing and what I've had to do, it's just really humbled me how I view things and humbled my relationship to myself and taught me how to listen properly or listen more deeply. And that's continuing every day. So, I do relate to that, that these things are messengers and these things come into our lives sometimes to perhaps tell us to slow down or tell us to stop or to destroy something. And you have to, or at least you don't have to, but I try to look at every kind of setback or whatever as also the divine hand. And it's just something that you work at.

00:20:16 Chazmith: Yeah, it's funny because in the moment, in a hard moment in something that we're maybe we're in a little resistance to something that's challenging, whether it's physical, emotional, mental, like spiritual, whatever it is, it's so easy in the moment to not be able to make sense of it sometimes, right? And it's like, oh, this doesn't make sense. And if you're the kind of person who's of the belief that everything is divine, that everything happens for a reason and that there's this bigger plan, this bigger picture that we don't have control of, then sometimes we only have this limited scope. So, we can't see that, but hindsight 2020 always helps, right? And there's oftentimes that we go through what we call hardship and then we get past it and years down the road or even whatever amount of time we're looking back, we're like, oh my God, that might have been suffering. That might've been hard, but it did this. It helped me in this way. 

00:21:06 Trevor: Yeah.  

00:21:07 Chazmith: Like one example that you encountered with this was at one point when you were in the hospital in LA, I had read that Emory actually missed a trip she was supposed to go on. And then that trip was in a country where there was actually a big natural disaster that she could have potentially been in, but instead she was with you.

00:21:26 Trevor: Right, right. 

00:21:27 Chazmith: So, it's like you might've had to go through this suffering, physical suffering, but in the end you can't, it's like, well, if this didn't happen and she was there, what could have happened? 

00:21:39 Trevor: Yeah, I think there's just those things that those experiences that were events that happened that kind of just, I don't know, make you look at things differently and you kind of see maybe some type of thread, you know, or some type of connection, you know, and it shows the interconnectedness, you know, kind of all things, and you know, when you feel that, like when you get that feeling or when we like realize that or like whatever that feeling is, you know, is so kind of surreal or something, it's like, or I don't know, it's hard to describe, you know, you feel you feel this kind of connection with something greater than yourself or something. So yeah, I like to think, you know, everything happens for a reason and, and we just have to learn what you can and be kind to yourself and forbear, you know, forbear. 

00:22:37 Chazmith: What are some of the biggest lessons that you've learned through these physical challenges that you've endured? 

00:22:43 Trevor: I think it's just like giving me power of perspective, I guess, like I think it's allowed for me to like view things differently. And in that viewing, like has taught me so much about like myself and what's good for me. And it's helped me like grow into myself, you know, more in a way. And it's sometimes we do that through a little bit of suffering, you know, and sometimes you do that through joyful experience, you know, it's both, you know, but I think, yeah, I think ultimately like all of the just the struggles and the dark days and lonely feelings, you know, of being on that health journey like, or just being on a journey on the journey, you know. It just it just teaches you so much about yourself that I don't think I would have learned if I, you know, I had been on that journey. I didn't have the experience. So, kind of creates the sense of like weird gratitude, like, thank you. I don't want you to come back but thank you. But like, just stay over there. 

00:23:45 Chazmith: Yeah, I learned what I needed to learn. Thank you now. Bye. 

00:23:51 Trevor: It's all good. It's all good. Yeah. So yeah, I think that's what's coming to mind.

00:23:56 Chazmith: Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. So, your music for many people, your music is medicine for many people, your music really does support them on their healing journey. I mean, your music is wildly popular in the chronic healing community, a very popular music because there's a vibration. There's a resonance for people, the lyrics that people can feel connected. They don't feel so alone. Has there ever been any ways that your music really supported you through these times, through these challenges?

00:24:27 Trevor: Oh, yeah. I mean, the music is the ultimate, you know, the ultimate healer. You know, it's the thing that brings me into, you know, the observer, the witness, the vessel brings you out of your mind, you know, and that's yeah, it's a shelter. It's a haven. It's a friend, you know, and to have that, you know, yeah, during, during that time was amazing. And it produced so many, you know, so many songs that I think helped others and in turn helped me, you know, because the more we share our experiences and relate about different things, you know, on different subjects, you know, the more I see the interconnectedness of all of us, you know, it's like, you know, you can't rest your healing that song, you know, it's the amount of stories that people have come up and told me, you know, about their relationship with that song. Has in turn enriched my own relationship with that experience, and I didn't really know that was going to happen. It's been really like amazing. You see, the music is what kind of brought it all together for me, you know, and brings it all together for me, you know. So, yeah, it was, it was a potent time for, you know, all things musical. Yeah. 

00:25:52 Chazmith: Yeah. And that specific song did come shortly, come through that journey you went on. 

00:25:56 Trevor: That journey of the staff. Yeah. Yeah. And when Emory was going to be in Nepal, and it was that that was that whole journey. So yeah, you see how it kind of, you know, comes around. But like I said, it's like, I get it. You know, just stay over there.

00:26:13 Chazmith: Well, I think that's the goal. As long as you get it and you learn what it's there to teach you, then it can stay over there. 

00:26:19 Trevor: Yeah. Yeah. 

00:26:20 Chazmith: You know, but life keeps showing up until we actually get it. Cause sometimes like some of us just don't get it. We don't learn the first time around, you know. 

00:26:28 Trevor: Yeah. Yeah. 

00:26:29 Chazmith: Sadly. Sometimes we got to learn the hard way. 

00:26:31 Trevor: Yeah. 

00:26:32 Chazmith: And it's funny because yeah, that song is, it's such a powerful reminder because like you said, when you had your stomach, you just felt like it was all encompassing and you just wanted to go away. And so many people were out there suffering. We want it to go away. We do, but we want it to go away in our time. And it is something that I feel like through my own experience, I've learned that I can't rush it. It's, I can't say, oh, this person healed in eight months. Why can't I? Like it's cause we're on, we're all on our own journey and to not put that pressure on ourselves to have to rush it is so valuable. 

00:27:06 Trevor: It is. And it's, you know, one of the things that just annoyed me so much, like when I was like in those spaces, like people that were like, you know, there's, there's a lesson in it, you know? 

00:27:16 Chazmith: Yeah. 

00:27:17 Trevor: And it's like, it's like I've learned, what am I supposed to be learning here? You know, but now I feel like I'm one of those people that like, don't worry, you're going to realize something, you know, it does teach you something, you know? But it's like, man, when you're, when you're in it, it just, if at least for me, you know, I couldn't compartmentalize it, it takes up your whole reality. It's like a pair of sunglasses, you know, that you put over your eyes and you see everything in this tint of your suffering, you know, and you don't know that you're wearing the sunglasses, you know? But one day you kind of, kind of realize it and like, then you put on another set of sunglasses, you know? But it just, yeah, I guess in that way, it kind of points to like an eternal vision, you know, that is there, you know, and it helps us realize that we're wearing sunglasses, you know, in a way. And, you know, at least for me, with my art and stuff, you know, I work at like trying to take them off and like in different ways, you know, like take off my, like the way I think about things and, you know, get into another space, you know? And so that sickness, those struggles, they kind of do that, you know, they kind of like do that in a very sick, twisted way.

00:28:38 Chazmith: I know it's true and I totally relate. I know so many people are probably laughing as they hear you say this at the maybe themselves in their own experience, because I have a lot of people come on here and share like, their healing stories and their testimonial stories. And so many people are at that place where they're like, they can see the gifts, they can see the magic looking back, they can see how it was for them, not against them. But we talk all the time about how don't worry if you're not there right now, because if you're just in it, like it's okay if you can't see a gift yet. It's okay, you're in it, and that's okay.

00:29:10 Trevor: Yeah. And you just, it'll all unfold naturally. Yeah, you just sometimes when I was like in that space, I put so much pressure on getting better getting into like that space to learn the lesson or whatever, that it just made everything so much worse. And it kind of like brings you into the present moment in a way or keep you know, it's like, I can't take all these thoughts on. I have to cut these out and be here now, in this moment, because that's all I have energy for. That's where my strength for. I can't put this pressure on myself or take these opinions on. At some points, I can't even listen to the self-negative talk anymore. I can't I have cut it out and just be here in this moment, and I think that's how in some ways it can bring you to your knees, it just strips you, it strips you sometimes of everything. Only to bring new life, I feel like.

00:30:16 Chazmith: Yeah. Do you feel like, I mean, I feel like you are already an amazing musician. I bet you were probably just born an amazing musician. But do you feel like it did help you as a musician?

00:30:26 Trevor: Yeah, I think because you know, you have to move into like, really, I think, a sense of feeling. You know, and you really have to like, you learn to just feel your body and feel your sensations and how different emotions make you feel in your body. It's like one thing to feel sad, but it's like, where do I feel sad? Like in my body? Those are two different things, I think. So I think it teaches you how to be more like intuitive and a better listener, which ultimately, as musicians, you know, we're listeners, we're hearing these ideas and melodies, and they're just kind of coming through us. So I think that's how that kind of links in, I think, with how it improved, at least for me, and my relationship with music.

00:31:18 Chazmith: So, okay, so we know that we kind of already briefed on like very briefed on this, like touring is hard, touring is exhausting. There's it's physical, mental, emotional, like the whole caboodle. And yet you have gone through a lot physically, you know, you've said I've had to learn what is right for me and what is good for me. And so my guess is you really have to honor your boundaries and have a dedication to certain rituals or self-care routines. And I imagine it's tenfold when you live this lifestyle you live that's that does put a lot of pressure on you that is not necessary. It's unique. It's different, you know, like where somebody like myself, I can heal and I can kind of create this like scheduled life that doesn't isn't like as chaotic or up and down and as demanding in all those capacities. But for you, it's a little different. So how do you really honor that truth for yourself? And how do you maintain your level of health these days, not only at home, but especially on the road?

00:32:33 Trevor: That's a that's a deep question. I mean, along with touring, touring is amazing, and gorgeous, and beautiful, and enlightening, and exciting. And all those things kind of keep you going, despite the exhaustion and perhaps the uncomfortableness or whatever, all the things that cut the draining of the fact of traveling all the time, all these things. So it's something that we honestly, we just talked about this other day, it's just we take it moment by moment. And it's one of the hardest aspects, I feel like, of our job, because you have to book so far in advance. And you don't know how you're going to feel in six to eight months or eight to twelve months. It's like, "Now, yeah, I'd love to do that tour." But when it comes upon me a year from now, I don't know if I'm going to want to do that, you know.

00:33:47 Trevor: So it's kind of this, you have to take it, you know, take it as it comes. And having a family now is really like, different as well. And we're still learning, we're constantly learning how much is too much and how much is necessary. I just feel like I'm blessed to be in a position where I can kind of have the option to make it my own now, you know, and do what I want to do and like, do the things I want to do on the road, do as much as I can, or as little as I can, you know.

00:34:31 Trevor: So it's just like, it's hard to say it's something that, you know, even after all these years I'm still taking it tour by tour and moment by moment. And you kind of have to because on tour, everything is just always changing. You're never in the same place more than 24 hours. You're never eating the same thing pretty much, you're you have to find different food all the time and this and that and everything's just changing. So you have to be kind of in the moment. And that's what's so beautiful about it. It does teach you to kind of learn to be in the moment because if you do fight the all those things and all everything's always changing this and that and I wish that that that's what exhausts you. That's what brings you down. But if you're able to stay in the moment and enjoy and appreciate, you know, every experience and not be attached to any experience. That's when I think it's I can maintain my energy better. So it's more a state of mind than anything, you know.

00:35:47 Chazmith: Yeah, it's just staying present.

00:35:49 Trevor: I don't know if that yeah, fully answers the question, but staying present has definitely been like one of the greatest players in my healing journey.

00:36:00 Chazmith: Yeah, yeah. Do you have any kind of just daily rituals that you engage in on a regular basis, like any kind of meditation practice or if you do yoga regularly or, you know, any kind of just awareness where you're focused on, like the emotion and where it feels in your body, anything like that?

00:36:24 Trevor: Well, on my good days, you know, now that I you know, now that we're parents, I'm like, our lives have changed like so much, you know, our daily schedule and our availability and time to do things. But it's really actually kind of made each moment a practice, you know, each moment sacred by being aware of it and being present to it. That way I don't have to do any type of formal ritual. You know, it's like if I do yoga on the day, that's great. If I didn't do it, that's okay, because I'm trying to bring my attention back to this moment and every moment all the time.

00:37:14 Trevor: So that's kind of been really beautiful. You know, sometimes I wish I had more of the formal kind of practice of getting up early every morning and meditating for an hour or doing yoga. It's just it's not how it is right now, and that will probably change. But one of the things that helps me, you know, just kind of bring is I do a lot of like mantra repetition, to kind of bring me back into the present moment or my heart space. And/or just trying to watch my breath and each and every action and just kind of bring my attention. That helps me really kind of just get in the present. And those two things are kind of my main things that I can do anywhere at any time. You know, that's what's so beautiful about it.

00:38:12 Chazmith: Yeah, yeah. I know it sounds like the idea behind yoga is to develop this practice, right? of presence and awareness. And the goal, I think, in the long run is to not necessarily need to do the tools every day to bring yourself there, but to literally bring the essence into your daily living, into your life. And like you said, into the moments and the more that we can do that, the less we need this dedicated time set aside to the practice because we're living the practice.

00:38:46 Trevor: Of course. Yeah, I do believe that regular practice is extremely important if one can maintain it, you know. So it's not that I actually aspire to kind of getting back to that point, but I'm also accepting that my practice is now to be a father and be present in that capacity and that role. That's my practice, you know.

00:39:21 Chazmith: I bet you being a father and just being present with your boy, though, I mean, I've heard so often how much kids can when you're engaged, when you're with them, when you're playing with them, you are nothing but present with them. You're nothing but in that moment, you know, and then kids are so great because they get you down on your knees playing again, and playing is so powerful.

00:39:39 Trevor: Yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely a big little kid. So it's been pretty beautiful in that sense. But yeah, that, you know, one of the greatest things, I think, kind of, again being a parent is how a child brings you into the present moment. And you can either fight it, you know, be like, God, I wish I could be laying down right now. I wish I could be, you know, numbing out and watching a show or, you know, having some alone time or whatever. Which I get all those thoughts, you know, I'm not like some type of, I don't know, crazy perfect person. But it's like, it's when I'm in that moment, and I'm surrendered into the moment that I feel like a fluid, the energy is fluid and not blocked, and I'm not stressed.

00:40:42 Trevor: And in order to do that, I have to cut a lot of things out of my mind. I have to leave them out. I have to leave them out. I don't have time for it. And that's been one of the beautiful things I think about becoming a parent because I'm a very like an empathetic person or I like can just, like I take on emotions or like, feelings and environments and like, you know. It's tough, you know, and that and a lot of that relates to my physical well-being and health, you know, and kind of becoming a papa has helped me kind of draw the line a little more with things that are to my own fault that I like spin out about or stress out about. I can't really, I have to just try to be present. I don't have time for it, you know. So that's all that's related. That's linked to there.

00:41:46 Chazmith: Yeah, that little guy's gonna be a big teacher for you, huh?

00:41:49 Trevor: Yeah, he is a big teacher already. He's a wild man.

00:41:53 Chazmith: Is he?

00:41:55 Trevor: He's a wild man.

00:41:56 Chazmith: How old is he right now?

00:41:57 Trevor: He's the tyrant of the house. He's like two and a half, I think.

00:42:04 Chazmith: Okay, yeah. The two's.

00:42:08 Trevor: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Yeah.

00:42:11 Chazmith: You're like, I thought touring was exhausting.

00:42:13 Trevor: Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.

00:42:16 Chazmith: That's so fun.

00:42:17 Trevor: It's true. It's pretty cool.

00:42:19 Chazmith: Yeah, it was a really cute video when you came home from your last tour, like, and he saw you. That was really cute.

00:42:24 Trevor: Oh, yeah. They surprised me in the airport. Yeah, oh, my God. I just that moment. You know, as soon as you I think any parent knows, as soon as you just feel them on you, you know, skin to skin, it's just like your whole nervous system just- and I think like I think being in such a heightened environment like touring for that long to come back to that. It's like, yeah, my whole being was like, I forgot about.

00:42:58 Chazmith: Yeah, you melted. Yeah. That's awesome. How long was it before you had seen him?

00:43:05 Trevor: I wasn't, you know, that long. We were able to on this tour, even though it was like over a month long, which is like a really long tour for us. There were different points on the tour where we were able to see each other, you know, for a day or two. But it was not like, you know, I could just relax and be there and know that I'm going to, it's like you're always saying, "I got to leave tonight." Or it's just it's tough, you know.

00:43:38 Chazmith: Yeah, I get it. And I bet I mean, I bet if you don't see him for a day, I have plenty of friends with kids. And I mean, they miss him after the day, like a day, like I mean, "I have a dog and I miss my dog if I go to work for eight hours."

00:43:49 Trevor: Yeah, I know. I know. We have a puppy too, and luckily it comes with me on tour or else I'd be like a mess, I think.

00:43:58 Chazmith: Yeah, that's good because dogs are really regulating and soothing to the nervous systems. They say if you're like dysregulated, just pet an animal. So what would you what advice or just insights would you give to anybody out there who maybe they're in the thick of it right now and they're going through their health challenges and they do feel alone and, you know, they're just kind of feeling a little like hopeless.

00:44:30 Trevor: I would just say like, I see you like, believe it or not, like I feel you. I know where you are. And it's not something that you're experiencing by yourself. I think that's like the first thing because it can be really isolating and feel so isolating when you're in that space. But that yeah, you're not alone in that. There are there are people who understand where you are. And just knowing that is really comforting. That I think one of the things I would really like, urge people and I wish I did more of. When I was in that way is to really like listen to your own intuition like you are your own healer. You can go to so many different types of doctors and this or feel lost and It's so many opinions and sometimes that can make you sick from taking on all these things. But go be easy on yourself and try to listen to your own intuition. And if you're feeling something that you think is right for you in order to heal, then you should follow that. You can disagree with people, you can, even doctors, you can. So I would just probably just know you're not alone and know that you are powerful enough to listen to your body and make your own choices.

00:46:32 Chazmith: Yes. Advocate for yourself. Take your power back. Yeah.

00:46:37 Trevor: Yeah. I would think I would say that's pretty important.

00:46:41 Chazmith: Yeah, yeah, I really agree. My mission statement is literally that the podcast mission statement is that I'm here to inspire people to realize that they are the healer that they've been looking for. Yeah, it is within us.

00:46:56 Trevor: It is within, within us. And it's always been revealed, even when you think it's not, so you have to just sometimes you have to fake it till you make it, sometimes you have to just keep on keeping on, you know, and just wait for something for it to unravel. But it will and just listen to yourself. Listen to your heart. That's probably the advice I'd give, yeah.

00:47:35 Chazmith: Yeah and if you have a hard time listening to yourself and listening to your heart and you already have it tuned into Trevor's music, start there because it'll usually help you get into your heart.

00:47:49 Trevor: I appreciate that.

00:47:51 Chazmith: I asked everybody my final question, and this does not necessarily have to pertain at all in any capacity to physical health or healing. It can be whatever you want. You, through your music, you share a lot of messages, a lot of stories, a lot of poetry. But if you were told from today forward that you could actually only share one overall arching message for the rest of your life, what would you spend your life sharing? And I will say I always preface this for people with kids. I love to see what would they teach and share with their child if it was just one parting message.

00:48:30 Trevor: Oh, wow. Oh, God. I would say, it's kind of a combination of love yourself and find out who you are. In your deepest essence, and that goes with loving yourself. And when I say like yourself, I mean like, your innermost self. I think that's something that love is just the greatest medicine, and I think that it should be sought and worked out, you know, developed in one's heart, you know, more important than mathematics, or science, or, taxes or learning how to do anything. So I think it's the essence of all things. So, yeah, just don't be too hard on yourself.

00:49:53 Chazmith: Yeah, which is part of loving yourself, right?

00:49:56 Trevor: Which is part of loving yourself, yeah.

00:49:58 Chazmith: It's all part of loving yourself. Love yourself enough to know yourself, love yourself enough to not be too hard on yourself, like forgiveness, grace, patience.

00:50:06 Trevor: it's a constant, it's a daily job.

00:50:10 Chazmith: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, this is true, very beautiful. Thank you so much. I just want to take a moment to really honestly say thank you again for not only being here with me and engaging in this conversation, which I know for some people, maybe not for you, but for some people, it takes, it's a lot of vulnerability to like talk about these kinds of, you know, challenges and open up about them. And not only thank you for just being here today, but thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being on this journey, for discovering and staying true to yourself. And not only that, but doing what you do, you were given this gift. And I think there's a lot of people who are given a gift and they don't necessarily leverage it. They don't use it. They don't share it. And you stood up and you took on this role of sharing your gift with the world and being vulnerable and sharing the lessons, the stories that you've learned along the way and I think in doing that, you've really contributed to a massive shift in consciousness and healing. I think you've really opened the door for more healing to happen across the globe. And I appreciate you.

00:51:24 Trevor: Oh, my God. Thank you so much. I wasn't expecting that. Yeah. We're gonna have a good day.

00:51:31 Chazmith: Yeah. Well, you know, the more of us that can stand in our truth and that can share our gifts and that can make this contribution, the more beautiful the world is. And I know that you said this once, I watched you in an interview and you said that you didn't care if somebody was like, if they wanted to be a beach bum and just live on the beach, and da, da, da, da, da. And they were happy that that was enough because their happiness contributed to your happiness and your happiness contributes to our happiness and all of our individual self-love and healing contributes to the collective. So we need more people to stand up.

00:52:07 Trevor: It's that enter. Yeah, it is. You can feel when some of the people that I've just been most inspired by being around them, you just know that they're like 100% themselves. They're honest in every aspect of themselves. It's so refreshing. It's so human and divine all at the same time. And you feel that feeling and you're like, "Hey, I want that. I wanna feel that within my own self." And so it rubs off, you know. It's like that's what we're working for and doing things like this and talking about suffering, physical, emotional, these things that it helps us. Be honest about everything and learn from each other. So, it's good work. It's good work.

00:53:07 Chazmith: I learned a long time ago that when you could be yourself, that the greatest that like they said, "One of the greatest gifts you could give the world is just being you because when you do that, you give other people permission to also just be them." 

00:53:20 Trevor: Yeah, and  you feel that when you're around somebody like that, you feel safe, you feel open, you feel expansive, you feel comfortable.

00:53:32 Chazmith: Yeah, and I think that's what your music does. I feel that at every one of your concerts, you know, at every one of your shows, I don't feel it internally just myself. I feel it all around me, you know, like I feel like that's what your music does for people is that gives them permission.

00:53:44 Trevor: Thank you.

00:53:45 Chazmith: Yeah, to be real.

00:53:47 Trevor: I hope it continues to do that.

00:53:49 Chazmith: I have no doubts. Absolutely no doubts. Thank you so much, Trevor. 

00:53:77 Trevor: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

00:54:00 Chazmith: So friends, what are you thinking right now? How are you feeling? How impactful was this episode for you? You know, the most beautiful part of my six-month solo backpacking journey. I thought it was going to be the mountains and the waterfalls and all the Instagram-worthy photos that you see, you know, people take and you think, oh, I've got to see that place. I've got to go there. I've got to have that experience. And it all was great, all of it, the whole package. But the most beautiful part of my entire six-month journey was at a deep level, discovering how incredibly connected we all are to be able to sit in a room with people who live in a completely different country, with completely different cultures, and who speak a completely different language than I spoke. And yet there was this common thread, this connection, this ability for us to relate, to understand each other without words because we didn't know each other's language. But yet there's a universal language and we understood it. We could empathize and have compassion for each other.

00:55:15 Chazmith: And in that experience, I just really learned how incredibly connected we really all are. We have a common ground. So for whatever reason, we chose to be here in this era, in these bodies, living these experiences, celebrating the beauty of it, struggling through the challenges. But we're ultimately together. Even when it doesn't feel that way. The journey can sometimes feel so alone, so isolating. But my hope is that today's episode with Trevor was a reminder to each and every one of you that we are not alone. We are never alone. And I just want to say, in honor of my dreams, I love you. I love you all. Each and every one of you.

00:56:08 Chazmith: If you're a new listener to this show, welcome. And if you've been following along for a while, thank you for being on this journey with me. For wherever you're at in your journey, please just remember that we are all capable of healing. It is for all of us. Every single one of us. Now, go listen to some Trevor Hall. Sit back, relax, take it in. And until next time, make this week so great.