Music that can change the world

Podcast Transcript

Christiaan: joining me today on the podcast is Mark Romero, and Mark educates people worldwide on the signs of energy and its relation to human functioning, using music as a way to empower us. So, welcome to the podcast. Mark, happy to have you here.

Mark: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Christiaan: Yeah, starting the journey in your own life, how and when did you stumble on meditation and mindfulness?

Mark: You know, it’s interesting, I used to get really harassed by my co-workers and people, and old business partners, because it’s something that’s always kind of been there for me. There’s always been this part, even through my whole, you know, 19-year career in the high-tech industry, there was this aspect that I really started to want to go within. And I think it was really kind of inspired by a book that was given to me by a friend, many years ago, called Illusions by Richard Bach. And in that book, it talked about the power of imagination, and how to tune within to start creating, you know, what it is that you wanted to manifest in your experience, and I was kind of intrigued by that. So, that was really a big catalyst for me to start looking at this aspect of going within. And then of course, as I kind of fed this passion, I started getting introduced to things like meditation, creative visualization, all these things in working in this internal world, and having a passion and a deep desire to kind of like figure out this thing called life, you know, how do we play the game of life? What’s it all about? How do we access our power? How do we, you know, quiet the craziness of our own minds. And, of course, in that research, in that study, I got introduced through meditation. But it really kind of all started with that little book, and this is going back to the early 80s. You know, that really challenged me to start looking within. And it was from that particular experience that meditation and all kinds of different things begin to open up for me.

Christiaan: Yeah, and so from that you, at a certain point, really connected it with sound and music. Like did you play music back then already, when you read that book, and you’re still working in this high-tech industry?

Mark: Well, you know, it’s funny because I was mesmerized as a kid, I went to go see Pink Floyd in concert. I’m like, oh, my gosh, I got to get a guitar. And, you know, I started harassing my dad, you know, way back in high school. You know, Dad, you got to give me guitar Dad, you got to give me a guitar. You know, hi, son, how are you doing? You know what dad, you got to give me a guitar. Finally, you know, he got me a guitar. And I just picked it up and started playing it. But it was never, you know, I didn’t have this, like, you know, dying dream to like, become a rock star or something like that, I just wanted to play. And throughout that whole career and everything, it was my stress reliever, it was my solace. And an interesting thing in talking about meditation and stuff, when I play music my mind goes silent sand it’s a magical experience, you know, going into that. So, I really kind of used it as my own way to, you know, to cope and deal with the twists and turns of the human experience. So, something that even throughout my career, now I had a roommate that played bass, we played music, we jam hours upon hours on end, I’d get up early in the morning and play before going to work, I’d come home in the afternoon, play some more and it was just something that was passion, but never really this desire to get out and, you know, play or do public performances or anything like that. In fact, I was kind of a shy kid, when it came to music. I could speak in front of 1000 people and feel like a fish in water, but put a guitar in my hand and two people in the room and I became the shy kid so, I used to have the best concerts in the safety of my bedroom at home.

Christiaan: Right and starting your journey in spirituality and meditation and getting, you know, more and more involved in these inner workings, what was the moment that connected with your guitar playing? Or was it always there but did it open up? Where did it open up at a certain point to play in front of other people?

Mark: Well, I was, you know, of course, it was interesting, because I came out with an album in the early 2000s. And I wanted to have the experience of going into the studio and making an album. And my neighbor was a professional drummer and finally got on my case one day, and he said, you know, dude, come on, you’ve been talking about making this album for a year, let’s just do it, I’ll help, I’ll play drums on it, I’ll produce the album, I’ve got a buddy, you give us a bro deal on the studio time, let’s make the album. So, we went in and made the album. Like I said, not even with the intention of selling CDs or anything, I just wanted to have the experience. So, I produced the album and came out the CD and that CD ended up getting in the hands of a guy from NASA, who discovered frequencies in my music that actually put listeners into a higher state of consciousness and actually helped the body to heal and harmonize the energetic fields that make up the human being. And so, it was out of that, kind of that discovery that it really became this connection between the two. At that particular point in time, I was already practicing meditation, I was already doing inward processes, visualizing different things like that but that, out of that discovery really became the catalyst for, how can I merge the two together? And how can I start utilizing my own meditative experience while playing? You know, to plant the seeds for what I wanted to manifest in my experience, to really get connected, you know, to that space between the thoughts, you know, when I tap into our true essence, and that it was really out of that whole experience and getting connected and learning about quantum physics and consciousness that really opened up and really drove the connection between the two but my constant to, fueling that desire to go within even deeper, and then how I could help other people get into that space also transform their lives.

Christiaan: And so, the person was invited NASA, he heard your music and then he heard something that could– What exactly is it, like what is it in the music you play and then maybe some music that is made that has such a genuine effect on our mind?

Mark: Well, it’s interesting because Dr. Jones, he was the gentleman from, former top consultant from NASA. And he was involved in a study of how we can rise people above energy disruptors in our environment, you know, they were very concerned about, you know, cell phone signals, EMS, Wi-Fi, smart meters, 4g, 3g, 5g, now, of course, coming out. All these different things that we’re disrupting in the body’s energetic fields, causing stress, causing mental disharmony, all these different things. And in the course of their studies, somebody had given him a recording of Paramahansa Yogananda chanting, who is an Indian monk from the early 1900s, who came to the United States trying to bridge this gap between Hinduism and Christianity and, you know, really supporting people and going within. And when this man chanted and people listened to him, there was a shift in brainwave activity, a shift kind of that they had identified with athletes in the peak performance zone, people in the zone. And so, doc was kind of a comedian guy, he say, you know, I love Paramahansa Yogananda and like the next guy, but nobody’s going to listen to this guy chant, you know, from these early recordings and stuff, let’s go see if we can find music that will do the same thing. So, they went out and started testing thousands of music CDs, Mozart music, different things, and they were looking for a certain response that would take place in the physical aspect, but also in the mental aspect and in brainwave activity. So, right around that time, while he’s out searching, I’m playing music for a wellness studio, local in town, and after I’m done playing for their open house, a woman comes up to me, she goes, oh, my God, I hear these tones in your music, and I’m looking at her like going, oh, my God, this, this lady’s going to get weird man. And then she gets right up in my face and she goes, and nobody can hear the tones, but me. And I’m like, kind of going, oh, I knew it. She goes, let me get a CD I know the scientists. So, I’m like giving her a CD, maybe she’ll go away, maybe she won’t bother me anymore. And then I didn’t think anything more of it. Well, a few weeks later, I get a call from Dr. Jones and he said, man, he goes, we’re, like, so excited that we’ve been introduced to your music, we want you to come to this lecture, and bring your guitar and I’m like, okay, you know, I’m thinking I’m going to show up there and play during donut time or something. I had no idea what I was going to go step into. But really what it was introduction to quantum physics and energy 101. And I was absolutely mesmerized by what I was witnessing and then what really took it to a whole other level was they were demonstrating up on stage how things we use every day, like furniture polish, or laptop computers, or a cell phone, actually compromise our energy and put us into a weakened state. And but what really got interesting was when they said halfway through the program, Mark, come up, bring your guitar, we want you to start playing. And I start playing, and I see people’s physiology, their physical energy shift instantly in front of my eyes. I mean, I was like, what the heck is this? I’m blown away. Quite honestly, I didn’t even really know how to compute it within my own mind. Because up until that particular point in time, I’d never thought of myself as being anything more than flesh and blood and what I experienced through my senses, and what I saw in the mirror, and I realized, oh, no, there’s so much more to who and what we are, what we see through our senses is just the tip of the iceberg of who we really are. And so, that’s when, you know, I was like, kind of going, oh, my gosh. And then a few weeks after that, Doc called me up and he said, listen, we’ve discovered frequencies in your music that actually tune and harmonize listeners energy fields. And I said, well, what does that mean, Doc? He said, well, when your music plays, it actually puts people in a state of harmony, when they’re in a state of harmony, they have an increase in their strength, their flexibility, their endurance, or coordination and balance, we improve their memory, their focus, their creativity, their intuition, they’re actually able to quiet the mind and rise above the static and noise of everything that we’re being exposed to in our environment. And I still don’t understand what that means. He said, well, what it means we want to buy 1000 CDs from you don’t start selling them. I said, well, okay, now that I can relate to, I’m not so much sure about the other stuff. But that was when I really started learning about, you know, energy and consciousness and quantum physics and how my music could actually restore harmony within people’s lives and help them really kind of, in essence, play more beautiful music through their life expression.

Christiaan: That’s super interesting and I wonder when you play, is there something going on? Like you talked about, like, if I can call it so, state of flow that you get into when you play music, I can really relate to that you, you get into a certain, somewhat it’s a trance, like state of playing or doing, where everything naturally follows each other. And there’s no real yet like disconnection or disharmony, so to say, but when you start playing or when you play something, what is going on inside you? Do you have a certain intention that you set, for instance, like this is a song that’s going to be for healing or this a song for you know, anxiety or depression or is it something that you just let it happen?

Mark: Well, initially, way back when with that first album, there was no intentions that were in that album, the only intention was to go into the studio, have fun and make music. And so, and then it got obviously this discovery but then, as later as I progressed on my own journey and my own evolution and kind of peeling back the layers of my gift, one day, I was in the office with Dr. Jones, and he said, Mark, what’s the most powerful energy disruptor in the whole universe? And you know, I didn’t know, I figured it’s got to be something like radiation or something like that. And he said, no, he goes, would you believe the most powerful energy disruptor in the universe are our own limiting thoughts, beliefs and perceptions, the stories of lack, limitation, not good enough, I’m anything but divine, all these belief structures that we’ve imprinted into the operating system software of our minds. And out of that discussion, I mean, I was intrigued by the answer. And I’m like, kind of go, well, heck, if this music can eliminate energy disruptors in the environment, maybe it can also eliminate energy disruptors within our own minds. And so, out of that particular discussion, I got this idea, you know, I’m going to start composing pieces of music with different intentions behind them, to help people create ships. And what I further kind of embodied this idea was one day I was watching a video about an upcoming sound healing conference and one of the scientists’ guy says that music is the carrier wave for intention. And I thought, oh, okay, I can put frequency, I can put it intention into music, and then have people play that music in their environment, and have it create that vibrational shift within themselves if they were truly willing to change. And so, I started experimenting in my coaching sessions, I’ve been doing coaching sessions and stuff for years and I had a young lady who came to me with a very common issue, you know, 10 years, creating all the wrong kind of relationships. Excuse me. And, you know, I realized that she was holding onto a lot of resentment ended up that she really held a lot of resentment against her father. And I said, listen, are you open to forgiving your father? She said, you know what I am. I said, I’m going to play a piece of music with the intention of forgiveness. And so, out comes, this piece of music, I’d never played it before, it was almost like the guitar played me and I recorded it in the studio. And I sent it to her, I said, here, play this in your environment, let’s see what happens. And she called me up two days later, she’s going Mark, oh, my God, you’re not going to believe this, my dad called me today, out of the blue and say, you know what, 10 years way too long to have unresolved issues, be open to sitting down and talking about reconciliation and forgiveness. Because you don’t understand, my dad’s like macho man guy, he would never do anything like that. I say, you know what the biggest lesson that we all need to learn is that the outer world is a reflection of the inner world, you set the intention to forgive and you started working with this piece of music infused with the energy of forgiveness and lo and behold, what shows up? An opportunity to forgive what absolutely needed to be forgiven, before she was ever going to be able to create that healthy relationship. So, out of that whole experience, I’m like, Ooh, you know, I’m thinking I’m onto something here. I started building a library of different pieces, as I started doing more and more session work, I would see people maybe need self-confidence for maybe to love themselves more, or maybe to build faith and trust or maybe to relax and let go. I mean, I started building all these different pieces. And then really, in essence, prescribing them to my clients, to help them to shift vibrationally, to move past different things and to create, you know, align themselves with what they really want to create in their lives.

Christiaan: Yeah. I mean, when I listen to music, sometimes I don’t listen necessarily, to, to the lyrics always, like, it’s very actually common to listen to music, to not pay attention to the lyrics. But usually, when I don’t do that, I find that after listening to something for a week, it has an impact on me. And it’s not because I listened to the lyrics, but as you also know, talked about these frequencies, but also when I then look up the lyrics, and I see what they’re actually talking about. It’s like, yeah, I sort of felt that all along, even though I wasn’t necessarily aware, it’s not even, you know, you can even listen to a different language, it doesn’t matter, the transmission, so to say, of these emotions and intentions, are carried through music, and that’s so mind blowing for me.

Mark: One, it’s not only music, but it’s also how we show up in the world. It’s an expression of who and what we are, how we talk, how we interface with people, how we connect with people, you know, we’re vehicles for this expression. And, you know, music is, you know, along with any other type of art form, or any type of self-expression is an excellent, you know, medium for conveying intention and it really kind of opens up to the door to just how powerful we truly are.

Christiaan: Right and I mean, I imagine that when you started to play guitar, and you said, you played it mostly for yourself that– Is the truth that there was also a healing going on when you played the guitar in your own time and was it throughout this time that you played it that you came to a sort of state where you could start to help others, if that makes sense?

Mark: Well, I think, you know, in essence, I really was doing sound healing and meditation at the same time for myself, because it was a guitar that helped me through some of, you know, the dark nights of the soul. It was the music in those times that helped me to deal with the stress levels that I was dealing with in my career, you know, it was that, but I didn’t put it together. You know, I didn’t like oh, there’s something you know, cool about my music, I just thought, you know, it’s pretty music, it’s just helps me to relax. It wasn’t until after that discovery that I really became purposeful in how I used it, not only on myself, but how I could share this with others, and combine it with things like meditation and different processes, really, to help people compose extraordinary lives was just something I’ve always had a passion about.

Christiaan: And so, for you personally, as a musician, doing this, is there a way that you can, sort of say, sharpen the tool that you’re using? I mean, I imagine you play and practice every day, but is there like a cultivation or a certain state that you get in before you play?

Mark: I think it’s about, you know, I think, you know, every morning, you know, I get up and I do have my meditation, and I do my internal process work and when I go and I play out, or I’m working with a group of people, I will always take a moment to breathe and connect to my breath, and tune in. And, then when I do, like, I do keynote concerts and bigger events too, I’ll take a moment to tune in and imagine light coming in through the top of my head and lighting me up like a light bulb, you know, with love and compassion and possibility, and then reflect that out as I go about my work. But you know, so those are just kind of some of my own internal practices that I do. And then of course, there is the physical aspects, you know, I practice with a metronome every day, my scales, my chords, my strumming, everything is to sharpen on a physical level, but there definitely is a mental internal practice that needs to take place also.

Christiaan: Yeah, it’s something that I find alchemy music group or for that you work on this sort of alchemy, this sort of cosmic soup, which needs ingredients sometimes and like your bacteria is in your body or creating an environment, you know, where your food can be digested, good, or actually not that beneficially. I feel it’s the same with your mind, you’re creating conditions for your, basically your whole life to process through that space of yours in a beneficial or not so beneficial way. And unfortunately, yeah, even music I feel is, use a lot in a way that doesn’t create a very healthy mental environment.

Mark: You know, once again, it comes back to the intention aspect, what’s the intention? I mean, if anger and hatred and things like that are put into the music, well, what’s it going to do to you energetically? What’s it going to, how’s it going to impact you? I mean, even if you look at sound healing itself, there’s a lot of study that’s been done on, you know, today, the standard for tuning instruments is at 440 hertz, which, according to some of the different pieces and studies that I’ve read is disharmonious in nature and out of alignment with the universe was really a standard that was established after World War Two. But prior to that instruments were tuned to 432, which was in harmony with the universe, and mathematically in harmony with the universal and with pie. And so, you know, like, for example, for I would say, probably the last five years, I’ve been tuning my instrument to 432 and there is a difference. There’s a difference that I noticed in how, not only how the instrument plays, but it’s like adding another layer of frosting or something on top of the cake, of what I was already putting out. It’s something kind of magical. So, you know, it’s a great vehicle but certainly, there’s music out there that gives us energy and empowers us and lifts us to new heights, but there’s also music, as in anything in life, that takes energy away, and brings us down.

Christiaan: Right and so this tuning to different frequency, is that is your guitar standard tuned in that tuning?

Mark: Yeah, I tune into 432.

Christiaan: And so, the difference is that, for instance, just so our listeners also understand, if you would now play a song that is composed in the standard tuning, and you would play along with it, it wouldn’t harmonize right, your tuning is a little bit, is it below?

Mark: Yes. And so, you know, my first albums that came out, though, they’re those were tuned to 440. And the scientists still discovered this healing energy. So, this energy is like something that comes through me. It’s something, I guess it is kind of like my innate gift. I remember sitting down with Dr. Jones, and he said, you know, he goes, it’s really kind of amazing, you have an innate ability and gift to harmonize this harmonious energy. He said, I don’t know how you do it, he said, but that’s your gift. And I mean, I certainly didn’t know, I didn’t, I mean, I wasn’t consciously aware of what I was doing. I just became consciously aware of how I could use the music after the gift was discovered. And, you know, because, in essence, we’re kind of like guitars, all of us are, you know, we have these facets of our lives, those are the strings. We take action through the facets of our lives, we produce results, that’s, you know, the strumming in the plucking in the music that we play. And you know, I could play like Andres Segovia, but if my guitar is not in tune, or in harmony, am I going to make beautiful music? No, I’m not going, it doesn’t matter how well I play. It doesn’t matter how will I go to work and do all the things that I need to do, if you’re out of tune, you’re never going to reach your full potential. And that’s the beauty of things like meditation, sound healing, these internal processes, they help us to tune the strings of our life experience, and tune in ourselves so that we can truly step into bringing the next higher expression of who and what we are out into the world.

Christiaan: Right. It’s like tuning into harmony instead of disharmony in your life.

Mark: Correct.

Christiaan: Yeah, incredible. Yeah and so you talked a little bit about, you know, the noise, so to say, that is around us and what is actually the impact of the static and noise caused by our modern way of living? And is there something we can do about that?

Mark: Well, yeah, you can rise above it. So, you know, and this is kind of like, because, you know, our technology is not going away anytime soon. You know, looking at how much we’re distracted by our cell phones and smartphones or whatever they want to call them and, you know, it’s not going away, we’re only going to be further entrenched in it. So, if you think about, if you think in terms of energy, and that everything’s energy and produces a frequency of vibration, kind of like a AM, FM radio dial, you know, those old radio dials, where you would see all the frequencies. You know, everything that’s disharmonious in the world is broadcasting, let’s just say for simplicity sake at 88.5, you know, it’s like if you tune your station 88.5, you get static and noise. Well, most of us are tuned to 88.5 but what if there was a way to move from 88.5 to 90.7, you’re not going to receive the broadcast of those disharmonious energy producers. So, how do we do that? Well, once again, this is where meditation comes in, this is where sound healing comes in, this is where eating good quality foods comes in, this is where drinking good quality water comes in, when we do those things, we feel better. Why? Because you’re actually raising your frequency and your energy up to a new bandwidth. And that’s what I do with this energy that comes through me that comes through the music is it raises people from 88.5 to 90.7, where they’re no longer being negatively impacted by those negative influences in the environment. And ultimately, that energy can be used to let go of these negative belief patterns that we’ve all imprinted into the subconscious mind where they no longer negatively impact us and their broadcast no longer limits us from being who and what we are.

Christiaan: Right, it also reminds me of like all these different structures around us have, sort of, a frequency that they resonate more, you see that with the, I think it’s the crystal wine glasses, or like these wine glasses that resonate with a certain frequency, and even can make them burst. And I think two days ago, I was laying on my floor, and I heard my neighbor speak, but only at certain frequencies would it really get through to the ceiling. And it just made me realize, like, wow, you know, even our body and all the internal organs that we have, in our mind, it has all these frequencies that we respond to and that cause different things. And I think that’s so fascinating to be aware of that, but also work with that, as you do.

Mark: Absolutely. And then for all of us to realize, you know, we’ve all been blessed with this gift to move energy. You know, we’re all doing it every day anyways, just most of us are unconscious, of what it is that we’re moving, what the conscious mind is thinking, you know, I think thousands of thoughts every day, how many of those thoughts are empowering versus disempowering? You know? And if we think the same thoughts repetitively, which of course we do, they create vibrational thought patterns and get imprinted into the subconscious mind. And then the subconscious mind is kind of like, okay, I’ll take whatever you give me and then so whatever you program in there, and then it just says, okay, I’m going to do my job, I’m going to broadcast it to this field of energy that makes up everything in the universe. And then of course, that field of energy just goes, hey, I’m going to take whatever you broadcast, and then I’m going to mirror back to you what you’re broadcasting, what a great way to experience yourself. What a masterful game of life and then we kind of go, gosh, I wish I’d read the fine print before I came here to play the game of life, you know? But it really is a masterful design and then now more and more we’re becoming aware of our own power and our own innate ability, and then becoming aware of how it’s necessary for us to rise above these negative influences so that we can quiet the mind. You know, I love meditation, and it’s been around for thousands of years but yet thousands of years ago, they didn’t have 80,000 man-made chemicals in the air, food and water and ceaseless, limitless amount of electronic waves being bombarded through our energetic fields and through our body. You know, that impact how the mind operates. Dr. Jones was always convinced that the reason why we see the huge amount of neurological disorder, you know, disorders showing up in the world today was because of all these energy disruptors. I mean, look at Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism, you know, all these different things that have become so much part of the modern day world, he was convinced it was tied to all these disruptors that were being exposed to and the out picture of disharmonious energy.

Christiaan: Right. And so, let’s say, I’m looking for healing, I have, let’s just name something my relationship is not going that well, we have a lot of fights, and I stumble on your sound healings, is there like a specific one that that I can pick? Is it like– How does it work, if someone comes up comes up to you and then they asked, you know, like, I have these things, do you always have something about ready for that? And how do you connect that in a way that works for them?

Mark: Well, there’s really three steps and this is what I’ve kind of defined over the years. The first step is we must tune our energy, you know, and that means we need to rise above all the negative effects of the stuff in our environment, because that impacts how we, you know, really navigate and operate in life. And then to use your example, for example of the relationship, disharmony showing up in the relationship aspect. Well, I can guarantee you that a reoccurring negative pattern in the area of relationship is always has to do with the belief that you hold within yourself. So the second steps really about harmonizing your energy, and that’s about releasing and dissipating these old limiting beliefs that you have about yourself, about the world, about, in this case, the area of relationship, the area of relationship always has to do with the relationship with yourself. You know, you got to take a look within. And so, I have music, you know, I have, literally have music playlists and series that are really creative for each facet of your life. So, if you have a relationship thing, here, play the relationship music, if you have a prosperity thing here, I’ve got prosperity music, if you have a, you know, a work thing, and maybe a lot of disharmony at work, you’re always stressed out or whatever, hey, there’s a career and work music. Maybe you’re having trouble connecting in and getting connected into your spiritual aspect of who you are, well, there’s spiritual music, to help you to connect into those things. So, I started putting together playlist and series that would address each of these facets. And because you know, I’m kind of this creative guitar guy, I thought, wow, I could just like, I could break it down to the six strings, or the six facets, you know, why should Einstein get all the credit for string theory, I’m going to come up with my own string theory and say, you know, hey, well, you we all have strengths, we have our relationships, we have our health, we have our prosperity, we have our careers, we have our joy, our happiness, our fulfillment, you know, and our health, these are the six strings. The strings go out of tune, we experienced a disharmony in that particular facet. And that’s when you have to work on that particular thing, either through engaging in series or in sessions, of course, where I deal directly with the individual and what’s showing up for them or these general playlist and series that anybody can use to help the process of tuning that particular facet or string within their life.

Christiaan: Right. And, Mark, I’m so happy you actually brought your instrument with you, the guitar and we talked about it just before starting the recording. But it would be incredible if you could play something for our listeners. And I wonder like, what is something that you believe at this point you want to play?

Mark: Well, I’ll preface it with this. I remember, there was a point after this discovery that I  was really kind of lost, I wasn’t really sure what I should do with this gift, or how I should express it and bring it forward to really have the most positive impact upon people’s lives. And one day, a friend of mine sent me a video and I was listening to the video and I heard this one comment, and it just like, you know, have you ever heard something it just resonates, it’s complete truth. You kind of go, oh, my gosh. So, I read the quotes to you, it says, you know, people think we need to seek enlightenment, no, we are enlightened, that is our natural state. The unnatural state is what we have been put into, we don’t have to seek enlightenment, we have to remove the vibrational barriers and the limiting beliefs that systems that have held us in a state of unenlightenment. It’s not about seeking it, it’s about removing what is stopping us from being what we already are. See, you already are a masterpiece, you already are defined, you already are unlimited in your power and your ability to compose the life of your dreams. And it’s kind of like, you know, the comment from Michelangelo and how he carved David, he said, you know, I didn’t carve David, I just remove the pieces that were hiding David within the block of marble. Well, right there, that’s the game of life. That’s, you know, for us to experience our true masterpiece. So, it’s interesting that you asked this question, what would I want to do? And this is a little process in music about revealing the masterpiece that’s within you, you know. And once again, this is a collaborative dance, I could play the best piece of music in the universe but if you’re not open and willing to set the intention to reveal the masterpiece within you, it’s not going to matter. Kind of reminds me of my favorite email that a woman sent me, is there any way you can make a song that will make my husband a better man? You know, I laughed, I’m like, oh, my gosh, I’d be retired by now, my wife would be playing that song in the house all the time. And I just said, you know, I could play the most masterful piece of music in the universe but if your husband doesn’t want to become a better man, it’s not going to matter. 

Christiaan: Yeah, make sense. 

Mark: This piece is all about revealing, so it’s kind of a little bit of a guided piece. So, just take some nice deep breaths and kind of tuned in to that inner place. That place where we truly do discover our mastery. Let’s take a deep slow inhale. Just open mouth, exhale, let it go. Just relax. As you breathe, set the intention to unveil the masterpiece that’s within you. So many of us spend our whole lifetime looking outside of ourselves. Everything you need is right within. And we take those moments to connect to the spaces between all of our thoughts, we unveil another possibility, another opportunity to reveal the masterpiece within. So, just to the best of your ability, imagine breathing in the notes. Take another deep, slow inhale. This is all you have to do to activate your greatness. There’s nothing to figure out. No certain level of worthiness that must be achieved to access it. Take another deep breath, just take another deep cleansing breath. And setting intentions are great. And as much as I’d love to say that all we have to do is just go sit on the sofa and meditate and that things will magically manifest in our experience, we have to combine that with physical action. So, I want you to just come up with the act of self-love, something that you can do just for you, get out in nature, get a massage, take a bath with crystals and candles, whatever works for you, write in a journal, take some time to meditate. Make that your committed action step and then look to see what shows up in your experience. Look to see what breadcrumbs show up along the pathway to lead you to revealing more and more of your magnificence and your unlimited potential. So, there you go.

Christiaan: Thank you so much, very beautiful. And yeah, I definitely notice, you know, just the space of awareness that is created through music and also through your words. It’s very grounding. I love it. 

Mark: Thank you. 

Christiaan: Thank you so much for playing.

Mark: My pleasure.

Christiaan: Yeah. And so, when you play in front of people, and you also play private sessions, or how do you work usually?

Mark: So, there’s a couple different ways I do, do keynote concerts and then I do group healing sessions, you know, where sessions of musical meditations, people lay down and I take them through processes. The interesting thing is, I’m actually starting to have more and more opportunity to do this in the corporate world to help reduce stress and increase mindfulness and enhance performance. And so, that’s kind of an interesting thing. And then I work, I do sessions with people where I listened to hear where they’re out of tune, then I compose pieces of music or process, that’s vibrationally designed to support them in a way to help transcend some of these obstacles or reoccurring negative patterns in their lives. And then I have a coaching program that I do, it’s called, my harmonize your life coaching program, where I take people to different layers of frequency and energy and process work to help them to unveil this greatness that’s within them. And that kind of opens up to the third step. So, we talked about the first two about tuning energy and harmonizing energy. And then the third step is really about learning how to orchestrate it, and shape and shift it into whatever it is that we desire. That’s our gift and our innate ability to do this. So, I have a coaching program that takes them through all steps, three steps of those processes, it really empowers them to become the conscious composer of their life experience. And then I do licensing programs, I do music for other people who are doing you projects that are, you know, up to good work in the world, that are looking to empower humanity, I offer that particular aspect also. And then, but my passion is really about just working with people, whether it be in a group or one on one thing, I love that whole aspect, and doing live events and stuff. So, it continues to be a huge, tremendous blessing and a lot of fun. So, those are kind of the main ways right now that I’m expressing.

Christiaan: Yeah, very cool. Yeah and actually, you talked about how a book sparked your journey, so to say, and what is a book you are reading right now, that’s next to your bed, for instance?

Mark: Gosh, I have a book and I’m like, going to go, what is the name of it, it’s such a cool book. And I’d have to go run and get it to get the exact title, but it’s about and I kind of like it because the woman who wrote it is kind of spicy. And it’s about really getting in touch with the bad assets within, I mean, that’s really the title of a book, it has that in it, I wish I could give you the full name. But it really is about, you know, tying into that true essence, that spirituality, that divine expression and shedding all those old belief structures, you know, all the old stuff, you know, it says that, you know, we’re not deserving of life’s blessings, you know, those are great works of fiction. So, it’s kind of a book to help support that particular aspect. So, I love reading all kinds of personal development books and things that kind of inspires me in my own journey, because I still get to deal with my humanity and, you know, constantly looking to process and move things through. So, I wish I had the complete title for you. 

Christiaan: Well, I’ll make sure to mention, like, put it inside the blog post and description of the podcast, so people can always look it up later. And I’m, just this idea of abundance and I remember, gosh, it was a long time ago, I read, I think it was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I don’t remember the writer. And it was like a book about how this kid had two dads, one was rich dad, and one was a poor dad, and he learned sort of, to have these two perspectives on life and the difference that makes inside your life. And like, before that I sometimes heard about the, like this idea of, you know, prosperity and abundance and viewing these things in a way of saying, like, don’t feed them in a way of that you don’t have enough, feed them in a way that you have an abundance. And I think that’s such a powerful thing. But for a long time, I couldn’t understand that. Because it was like, yeah, but life is life, right? You know, you can’t change it. But it’s really, about changing this perspective, and changing your view of what is possible. And I think this perspective of abundance of seeing, like, I have enough, you know, and I have enough to give and enough to, there’s enough opportunity for me and you know, also in rejection, if you get rejected, there’s like, there is so easily this tension coming up, of keeping everything for yourself, you know, like ,that typical, something in my life, that rejection is such a strong thing that sometimes when it happens, I can like, mentally crawl up into a ball thinking like, I need to protect everything. And, but that does the opposite, it creates actually more rejection and more negativity.

Mark: Well, and that’s a, you know, and that’s something I’ve certainly have had to work through. I mean, you know, my inspiration for playing music was Pink Floyd, The Wall that was all about living behind a wall. Yeah, that was kind of my, you know, that was my, you know, national anthem, so to speak, because, you know, if I wasn’t accepted, or rejected, or whatever, and, you know, I started as a kid, believing I wasn’t good enough. So, I hid behind the wall and find, if I’m here behind the wall, I don’t have to worry about being judged or whatever. Well, you know, that model doesn’t work very well. And I certainly wouldn’t endorse it as a behavioral pattern and it’s interesting, because we were talking about the book I’m reading, and she addresses that very aspect. And by the way, I found the name, it literally is, You are a Badass, How to Stop Doubting your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, author’s name is Jen Sisera. And I mean, it’s and I like her because she’s kind of spicy, as you can tell by the title of the book, but she addresses that very same thing. Not everybody’s going to like you, not everybody’s going to love you, but what is it that, you know, if you’re trying to find your sense of self-worth, self-love and acceptance based on how people react to you or the outer world is towards you, you’re never going to find it, you find that place within, you find it within, just like you find your greatness, you find your self-acceptance, your self-worth, your self-value, all that comes from within, you can’t buy it on the grocery store shelf, you can’t buy it at the Mercedes dealer, you can only find it within yourself. And that I think is, you know, getting people to open up to the possibility of living life from the inside out, but certainly backwards from how we were raised and taught and you’re talking about Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Richard Kiyosaki is the author of the book, you know, and he talks about that, you know, is that you have to live life in a completely different way to how we’ve been programmed.

Christiaan: Yeah, makes a lot of sense to me now, it didn’t back in the day. I love how you sometimes can look back on these things, or books or movie, you sometimes, you see a movie again, you’re like, what, I missed that the first time. You just, you know, you’re so dynamic, everything keeps changing. And I love that, that 10 years ago, I wasn’t where I am now, and I won’t be where I am 10 years from now. It’s like–

Mark: Oh, thank God, right? That will be pretty boring, right? If my perspective would never change in my life, I mean, that’s such a, I love that about, you know, like meditation is that you find out that even this sort of identity that you think is, you, it’s just changing all the time too, you can’t sort of say, this is who I am. I love that. Well, we’re, you know, and I think what really kind of changes our level of awareness, you know, our awareness changes. And therefore we start we’ll go back and watch a movie, like, you said, and see something that we didn’t see or go back and read a book that we read 5, 10 years ago, oh my gosh, it’s like a completely different book. You know, because our level of awareness and literally who we are, is transformed didn’t change.

Christiaan: Yeah and going back to what you said about these frequencies, you know, I remember a friend of mine suggesting the power of now from 53:09 [inaudible], like, I don’t know, way back. And, like, I knew that he was offering something that was valuable, but I was not tuned into that. So, I didn’t read it up until I don’t know, maybe five years later or something. And then it hit me, you know, and it was always like, it for me, that’s so magical, because it was like, okay, so there’s always people tune into different things. And they might offer you something, but you might not be able to receive it yet and you need to, you know, get into that, do the work and cultivate that frequency, or as you said, actually remove the ones that are blocking you from tuning into that to be, sometimes able to experience that and like opening up or letting go is such a powerful one.

Mark: Absolutely. It’s so funny you mentioned that book, because I think the first time I read it, I like fell asleep, I’m like– Next time later down the road, I’m like, wow, this is like such a cool book, you know, I’m like, oh my God, this book is like, I don’t need to take sleeping pills, I just read this book, and I fall asleep. But it wasn’t until later, you know, once again, perfect example of what happens when your awareness begins to shift, you look at things differently.

Christiaan: Yeah, so Mark, first of all, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast as a sort of tradition, on the podcast, we ask our guests for a piece of advice and I would like to ask you a piece of advice for our listeners who might actually be struggling, you know, for by tuning into that frequency of abundance and prosperity and what is your advice for them, if they are struggling with that, if they’re, you know, in their daily lives, they don’t notice prosperity, they notice the opposite, like they didn’t notice they don’t have enough money, they don’t have enough love, they don’t have enough care?

Mark: Well, boy, there’s all kinds of different things we can tap into and focus on. But I think one of the biggest pieces that really helped me in dealing with the challenges, and the obstacles that I have encountered in my journey, is first of all, one, you know, we kind of tend to resist them, you know, we curse them, we don’t want to pay attention to them, my God, why am I having this problem? Why am I having, you know, challenges making money or whatever and stuff and we get angry, and we fight it and we resist. And you know, Carl Young said, you know, his famous quote, you know, “what you resist persists in your life”. And so, rather than resist in curse, and use colorful metaphors to describe your challenges in life, why don’t you inquire with them and ask them, how is it that you can help me to elevate my life to a new level? That’s somewhere within this challenge, and this obstacle in this thing that I’m encountering is a blessing. In fact, the challenges in life are like the rungs in the ladder, you can use them to raise yourself to new heights. And if we view them in that particular way, then we can transform them and use them as a catalyst to transform our lives. Otherwise, you know, if we’re complaining and you know, being in a state of, you know, just no gratitude whatsoever, you know, we get stuck in it, we resist it, you know, we want energy to flow. Life will always have its ups and downs, its high tides, and its low tides, and its new moons and its full moons but when we remove resistance from them, we’re able to flow through them so much easier and effortlessly. And then when we start to use those challenges and those obstacles as a rung in the ladder as a catalyst to change our lives, we can really leverage them to continue this process of revealing who and what we are, revealing our own greatness and moving forward from there.

Christiaan: Fantastic advice. Thank you so much, Mark, for your playing and your talk. It was a pleasure having you on a podcast and yeah, I am, thank you so much for joining us.

Mark: Well, and thank you, thank you so much for what you’re doing and the platform you’ve created. It’s so important and you know, all those cool people have things to say or music to play and whatever, you know, it doesn’t do any good if we just stay at home and play. So, thank you for providing the vehicle to get the message, the music and this great conversation out to the world today. Thank you, I appreciate it. 

Christiaan: Thank you.