August 1, 2025 • 43 mins
What happens when a former adult film star and cocaine addict transforms into a spiritual healer? Chris Albaugh's extraordinary journey reveals powerful lessons about human potential and the path to authentic living.
As founder of "Enhancing Your World," Chris has created a holistic wellness community that bridges the gap between where people are and where they want to be—mentally, emotionally, and physically. His approach weaves together scientific understanding with indigenous wisdom, Eastern philosophy, and practical healing modalities like Reiki, breathwork, and meditation.
Chris doesn't shy away from the darker chapters of his past. From attempting suicide to working in the adult entertainment industry alongside his now ex-wife, his story includes rock-bottom moments that ultimately became the foundation for profound transformation. Through his own healing journey, he developed the GAUGE method—Gratitude, Awareness, Unity, Growth, and Energy—universal principles he now shares with others seeking recovery and renewal.
What makes Chris's perspective unique is his emphasis on accepting people exactly as they are. Rather than trying to "fix" others or tell them who they should be, he creates space for authentic empowerment. "The only true healing," he explains, "begins with healing yourself." This philosophy extends to his understanding of addiction as a coping mechanism that once served a purpose but eventually reveals its limitations.
The conversation takes unexpected turns, from confrontations with angry neighbors to the Eagle-Condor prophecy of indigenous traditions. Throughout, Chris maintains that our challenges aren't random suffering but opportunities to discover our true nature—a process he describes as "remembering rather than conditioning."
Ready to enhance your world? Visit enhancingforyourworld.com to connect with Chris and a community of holistic practitioners dedicated to supporting your unique journey toward wholeness.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charlie McDermott (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
Mike Murphy (00:12):
Yes, thank you, charlie.
I am Mike Murphy, host of theGood Neighbor Podcast, a podcast
that is intended to help youget to know local business
owners, influencers, movers,shakers, just people in the
community that are doing thegood work of helping the
community move forward in manydifferent ways.
One of the people I have withme today is Chris Alba, and
(00:34):
Chris is the owner of Enhancingyour World, and there's a lot to
Enhancing your World, and everytime I try to explain I screw
it up.
So I said, chris, get your buttinto the studio here and we'll
just we'll do this together andjust have a nice organic
conversation about everythingthat you're doing in the
community.
So, without further ado, chris,welcome to the show.
(00:58):
Tell us about Enhancing yourWorld.
Chris Albaugh (01:01):
Well, thank you for the opportunity to meet with
you and speak about this.
You know, enhancing your worldis really like you said, it's
very multifaceted, but it'sreally a container.
It's a movement to um.
(01:26):
The very subtle separations umbetween us and our true nature
are um.
So it's, you know, our holisticwellness, um.
You know, on an energetic level,you know, depending on the
tradition or the teachings,there's all these discernments
(01:46):
and different ways to look atenergies, but you know, we
really try to stay within theHoly Trinity of mind, body,
spirit, or you can even callthat emotion right, the thing
that connects the formless tothe form.
And so it's a wellness communitywhere we and platform for
(02:09):
holistic wellness practitionersto help enhance their message,
get their message out there, aswell as a business platform and
allow us humans to learn fromdifferent lineages of thought,
of different lineages ofpractice, you know, really
(02:30):
focusing on unconditional loveand realizing that everything
that has created us to thismoment has been teaching us
something about ourselves andthe true nature of the greater
cosmos, if you will.
You know, and walking a path.
(02:50):
My personal path has been oneof many different lifetimes
within this one lifetime, but asfar as my knowledge and
education.
It comes from both the scienceyou know lens as well as the
spiritual lens and working withindigenous cultures to you know
(03:13):
Eastern philosophies and youknow doing all those various
different things too, and sothat's, that's kind of the the
what is enhancing your world.
It's basically a bridge to helpyou get from where you are to
where you desire to be mentally,emotionally and physically,
within all your relationships,within yourself and, of course,
(03:38):
then beyond, how that reflectsonto our collective planet.
Okay, that seems like a lot.
That's like taking a drink outof a fire hose Right.
But when I look at your website, you know you do a good job of
breaking it down, thanks, and soI think you know.
Something else that I'vethought about is people will
(04:00):
find you when they're ready tofind you.
you know, usually People willfind you when they're ready to
find you.
Usually, I think an old Zenphilosophy that I've heard is
when the student is ready, themaster will appear, and so
that's kind of like.
When I'm looking through yourwebsite, I'm like, okay, I could
see people who are just kind oforganically searching for this.
They come across your site andthis is going to make sense to
(04:22):
them.
So there's a large offering topeople that are seeking these
holistic wellness therapies onwhatever journey they happen to
be.
On Words I've written downcustomized nutrition and detox,
(04:45):
healing touch therapy, movementpractices like yoga, tai chi.
Breathing meditation.
Mike Murphy (04:54):
People know these things Reprogram your mindset,
crystal therapy, visualizations,nature retreats, things like
that.
There's a lot there, and so Ijust I wrote those down as at
least you know, categories,buzzwords that people can hear
and say, okay, now I kind of getwhere he's going with this.
(05:14):
And so when somebody asks youabout what you do, I mean you
just kind of given us kind of anoverview, but what's the?
Is there a typical person thatyou're helping or somebody that
(05:37):
you're looking for?
How do you, how do you findpeople?
Do you count on them to find?
Chris Albaugh (05:40):
you they do.
I mean, it's been.
It's that's why I say you knowyou get.
We're spiritual beings having ahuman experience right, because
when we really step back andlook at wholeness, look at you
know duality of pain andpleasure, you know of service to
(06:00):
self, others, you know thosetypes of things it creates.
All these different pathways andI guess the ultimate, and who I
typically work with, are thepeople that are looking to find
their true self.
They're wanting to let go ofthe past stories of whatever it
(06:22):
was they went through, the abuse.
They want to heal theirrelationships with their family,
their parents, their lover,whatever it is.
You know they have a substanceor an addiction issue and what
we are bringing to light throughthese coping mechanisms is the
(06:46):
root of where we don't feelworthy enough, where we don't
feel valued, we don't feel seenand unfortunately or fortunately
, however you choose to perceivewe have a lot of information
out there that tells us whowe're supposed to be, without
asking who it is that we are andhow is it that we're supposed
(07:08):
to walk and some of theblessings that I've received by
walking with some of thesewisdom keepers of these
indigenous tribes, which I justwrote a big article today about
Mama Lorenzo and you know mytime with him and what I've
learned from him about.
You know purifying your heartand you know the work that is
(07:31):
just around that.
You know what, if that was thedaily practice of looking at
challenge and strife and thisstuff as a, there's nothing
wrong but it's a little dirtybecause we all come into this
world in the human form pure.
You know, as a baby now,science and you know various
(07:54):
different things say we come inwith.
You know um past trauma passeddown, trauma from generational.
You know things such as thegrandmother effect or you know
different, different indigenousteachings generational.
You know things such as thegrandmother effect or you know
different, different indigenousteachings on.
You know healing our ancestrallineage and the things that they
had to endure so we could behere having this existence that
(08:15):
we have today.
So it gives us purpose and it'sa purpose beyond being a cog in
the societal wheel, however youchoose to look at it.
There's no judgment there.
But you know, for a long time Ihad issues with authoritarians,
(08:36):
with police.
I had a rough childhood growingup and you know I've been
arrested and beaten by thepolice and you know all that
stuff.
So I could have that story inmy head which you know I've been
arrested and beaten by thepolice and you know all that
stuff.
So I could have that story inmy head which you know, when I
would get pulled over as a in myearly twenties, if I got pulled
over by a police officer thisis just a story I would shake,
(08:57):
you know, I'd go into those whatyou know, maybe PTSD type
symptoms, and you know I'd beall nervous and anxiety, you
know, and just because I was, Iwas holding on to this energetic
trauma within my nervous systemand the story wrapped around it
was I'm not safe.
Yeah, you know I'm in day, youknow, and being able to go back
(09:23):
into you know and working withthat stuff and that kind of
stuff.
Now, when I get pulled over,the last time I got pulled over,
I mean I was, I knew I wasgetting a ticket, I should have
got a ticket.
I was, I was, I was reallyspeeding and the cop said I wish
I didn't have to do this, likehe had so much empathy and and
(09:46):
it wasn't that I did anything,but just the energy and the
conversation and you know how weinteracted was so much
different.
Mike Murphy (09:56):
Okay.
So I think that a lot of peoplethat come to you, maybe
something that's part of theirpast, something that might be
part of their present, would beaddiction, substance abuse or I
don't know.
There's all sorts of addictionsthat you would know more about
that than me.
But I think you have a kind ofa unique perspective on
(10:22):
addiction recovery.
You've kind of covered some ofit through our conversation thus
far.
But there's the gauge, yourlife method, that you spoke
about to me before, like in thepre-interview.
So what is that and how doesthat relate to recovery?
Chris Albaugh (10:44):
Okay, well, gage is was a dream or a vision that
I had in 2017, when I was goingthrough a transition myself, of
going from like personaldevelopment leadership, where
(11:04):
you're trying to like to improveyour character, right that,
whatever that archetype is thatyou have in your mind of
yourself, you're trying to, youknow, make it look better, make
it look healthier, whatever thatis to like a deeper, profound
of healing, and that really camethrough.
I was a mindset coach andbusiness coach and I had a
(11:29):
client ask me for some help withsome marketing and they
introduced me to Reiki andcrystal healing.
I was just modeling for theirwebsite and when I got off the
table, I was so high I just lostlike 30 pounds.
I mean, I was so high, like Ijust lost like 30 pounds.
(11:51):
I mean I was blown away.
And so that led to thisprofound shift in me where I was
really trying to detach myselffrom perspective and perception
and mindset development, like Ihad been trained, and really
start practicing a deeperembodiment.
(12:13):
And that goes into the gaugemethod, because there are five
universal principles that I'vefound present in most religions,
spiritualities or even business, and those universal principles
are gratitude, awareness, unity, growth and energy, and so this
(12:33):
helped me put together, notnecessarily a framework where it
was rigid, but it's pliable,it's more customizable to that
moment and you know, I wastalking about that conversation
with Mama and that's just made avery interesting connection
today and I feel like that's whyI keep bringing it up.
(12:54):
But he gave me a gauge and thestory of that was he came to me
in a dream and when we weresitting together in this year's
Sintada, I asked them about it.
And not only did he consciouslywas aware that he came to visit
(13:15):
me with these other mamas totest my heart, and you know like
he was giving me details of thedream that I didn't share with
him, which was really wild.
But at the same time, when Iasked them well, did I pass the
initiation?
Because that's our Westernworld, right?
What's our, what's our checkmark?
(13:36):
You know where, you know what'sour, you know, have we got that
initiation?
Where's that, you know, line inthe sand, or consciousness, or
certification, or whatever itwas and did I pass him and the
answer he gave me was a gauge.
He didn't tell me yes or no, hedidn't tell me this is what you
(13:57):
have to do, just when you nolonger have, you know, anger in
your heart or your parents oryour partners, or you know for
for for humanity, then you'llknow, okay.
And so that really opened myeyes to various different things
(14:20):
.
But in my own addictionstruggles and the ones that I've
gotten to help, um, you know,my, my substance of choice was
cocaine.
Um, I um struggled with lowself-esteem and wanting to prove
myself and things like that.
So cocaine was great for mebecause I could work a lot, I
could go go go super social, youknow all that stuff.
(14:43):
So it was the drug that helpedme live the lifestyle that I
ultimately wanted to live.
The challenge being with thatwas just like any pendulum swing
what works for a little bitwill also have a dark side to it
.
And same thing with diets.
You know what's the right diet?
What's the right diet, you knowever we talked about nutrition?
(15:06):
Well, you know, the thing is issupplements are supposed to be
supplements.
You're only supposed to takethem for a short period of time.
Same thing with mindset.
Same thing with you know allthese different things.
We're supposed to use them assignposts.
A lot of teachers of presencetalk about words and labels and
concepts as signposts.
They will point you towards thetruth, but we can only
(15:28):
experience truth in the moment,of point you towards the truth,
but we can only experience truthin the moment.
So, when it comes to addictionrecovery, there's usually,
there's usually the reasonthere's the addiction is it's a
coping mechanism that served usfor a certain period of time.
Now the challenge being is howdo we let go of that identity
and realize that we don't needthat anymore?
(15:49):
And a lot, of, a lot of thatcan come through presence,
mindfulness, embodiment,practices, those types of things
to where you know, even touch.
You know, I tell people whenthey're feeling overwhelmed or
whatever, to, you know, puttheir hand on their heart and
just breathe and feel thetemperature in your chest, you
(16:10):
know, between your fingers, andthings like that, because that's
bringing you into the here andnow.
And as long as you're not beingthreatened in your physical
environment, your nervous systemis going to be aware of those
observations, so it's going toregulate itself.
So we're not having to come upwith projections, we're not
having to come up with excuses.
We're not having to come upwith excuses or alibis of why
(16:34):
this didn't work or why thisrelapse happened.
And then we have to get overthe shame and the guilt of it.
Or you know those types ofthings and working with a lot of
medicine people from around theworld, a lot of the medicines
that they use to help healmental, emotional and physical
disease would be what would beconsidered plant medicine.
(16:57):
You know different types ofhallucinogens or tobacco or
things that in our culture rightnow are kind of like they're
not, they're bad things.
You know, or you know a lot ofpeople are now starting to
praise them as the saviors andtheir tools, like sitting with
ayahuasca or psilocybin or youknow these different, these
(17:20):
different plant medicines.
They'll help give us access tothings, but we actually have to
do the work in our life, justlike anything else.
There's a lot of compensationwe have to give before work in
our life, just like anythingelse, there's a law of
compensation.
We have to give before we canreceive.
We have to, you know, before wecan sow those types of things.
Those are universal truths thatring true beyond anyone's you
(17:43):
know identity of, you know their, you know this religion or you
know no, we're all human beingsand we practice different ways
of being human, which is thebeautiful thing, just like any
snowflake is unique in itself.
It's how they stick togetherthat makes them so impactful.
Mike Murphy (18:00):
Well, I can tell you've learned a lot since your
days of addiction and all thatstuff.
So you're a natural teacher.
I mean mean, you've kind of gotthe knowledge that you're still
learning, I'm sure, oh yeah,always you're, but you've got
the passion, you've got the willto help people.
Um, you were once upon a timein the entertainment business,
(18:22):
correct?
All right, what was thatspecifically and how long ago
was that?
Chris Albaugh (18:27):
well, um, so that that started.
Um, believe it or not, um, inmy teenage years, I, I tried to,
you know, I modeled and didsome things here and there, um
acted and and did some smallthings.
And then, um, you know, I hadto, um, um, I committed suicide
(18:49):
and um, or attempted.
Yeah, someone found me andbrought me back, okay, so you,
were.
Mike Murphy (18:56):
You were clinically gone.
Chris Albaugh (18:57):
Yeah, um and um.
I came back with this, thiswhole new, this whole new thing,
um, and I'd be happy to deepenthat story if necessary.
But needless to say, it endedme up in the financial services
because I wanted to make adifference in people's lives and
(19:18):
I know a lot of.
I attributed a lot of the abusethat I received as a child
because of scarcity, mindset andpeople not having enough
resources, and you know thosetypes of things and at the time,
most of you know those types ofthings and at the time, most of
you know, 50 of divorces endedin because of finances.
Oh, I'm gonna change the world.
And then 9 11 happened, uh, sofound myself, you know, as a um
(19:44):
GED, you know holder.
But I dropped out at the junioryear of high school to get away
from abusive environment in myfamily structure and go into
business and sales and you know,you know, get into the real
world, as they would say.
And so I found myself like inthe situation of like I didn't
(20:07):
know where I was going to go,like this, I thought this, this,
this opportunity in finance,was going to be my thing and
with the industry and the tanker, I had to look for other
alternative things dancing andworking in the adult industry
alongside of my wife, whicheventually led us into the adult
(20:30):
film industry and so we didthat for a few years and learned
a lot about ourselves, learneda lot about life and other
people, and I was very gratefulfor those opportunities to
really get to see all the thingsthat I've gotten to experience
(20:54):
and meet people on the levelsthat I've gotten to meet them on
.
And so I was in the adultindustry and also nightclubs,
and you know all that.
You know all the hedonisticstuff, you know the drinking,
the drugs, the.
You know partying with, youknow rock stars and you know I
(21:14):
mean it was that lifestyle thatso many people want, whether
they admit it or not.
They want to at least have thatexperience right, like what
would it be like to party withMotley Crue for one night, you
know, or whatever it is right.
And you know I got to livethose experiences, so I'm
grateful to have those.
(21:35):
But yeah, as I said, I developeda cocaine habit, okay, and my
house was robbed and you know,luckily my wife wasn't hurt, but
they literally robbed us withinan hour window of her and her
friend being there and us comingback.
So they were like either in thehouse or they were watching the
(21:56):
house when she was there.
And you know we had weapons, wehad guns out on the you know
that were left at the house.
It was about the only thingthat they didn't steal and
totally wiped us out.
And he was like what do you mean?
I was like I'm not living in myhighest potential.
You know my heart's in theright place.
(22:17):
I'm trying to help people.
You know we're making money,we're doing all these things,
but we're also, you know,destroying ourselves in the
process.
So there has to be a differentway.
And so that allowed me to tothen go into mainstream
entertainment, um, and work with, you know, comedians and
musicians and models and actorsum, you know I've acted.
(22:39):
You know, um, I've got theopportunity to work with zach
afron and a few other folksthrough the years.
So you know, we got to do a lotof that cool stuff and that
allowed me to learn about whatothers called success.
(22:59):
But I felt really hollow inside.
And then a businessredirectionction I partnered
with a guy who was embezzlingmoney from his financial firm
and you lived an interestinglife yeah, yeah, I mean the fbi
called me and you know the whole, the whole, the whole crazy
game of the things left me in aredirection where all the things
(23:21):
I had ever worked for you, youknow all the material wealth,
all the things were taken awayCars, repo, the driveway, all
the things.
And it was like rock bottomagain, right, like, oh, my God,
I've been here so many timesLike I've done all these things,
I've helped make people, youknow, like the ego just was
screaming like why me?
Like I've done all this goodand I've helped these people and
(23:43):
they've made money and theylive their dreams.
And you know I'm suffering, whyme?
And in those, those darkmoments, you know, a few key
things showed up for me.
One I heard that voice thateveryone talks about, right, and
you know, spirituality.
Charlie McDermott (24:01):
Well, I didn't know what that meant.
Chris Albaugh (24:02):
You know I was taught to be of service.
That was spirituality.
You know my book, my Bible ofservice, that was spirituality.
You know my book, my Bible ofchoice at that time was thinking
grow rich by Napoleon Hill.
You know like that was.
You know what I was trained todo.
You know I came from a lineageof successful people in whatever
they did.
So like that was, that was thepart that I knew how to play,
(24:31):
and I didn't know whatspirituality meant.
I knew what religious meant.
I knew that one wasn't for mebecause it was no room for
questions, and so, anyway, Ilearned about meditation and I
started doing these differentthings and, um, as, as life
unfolded for me, I again gotsome opportunities to test my
(24:52):
growth, not based on what Ithought or who I thought I was
or whatever, but true lifeexperience, when there was a
life on the line or there wassomething going on.
Um, you know, um, how did Irespond versus how did I react?
Or how did I react but then wasable to have enough presence to
(25:14):
pull myself back from thatreaction.
You know, the story that iswanting to bubble up is my
neighbor was a preacher and hecaught something on fire and
someone called the firedepartment.
He blamed it on me and he was atroublemaker in the
neighborhood, but he had moneyand he was.
(25:36):
You know, he was a bully.
So as soon as I go in the househe's banging at the door
wanting to fight me.
I got a two-year-old freakingout, hiding under his bed
because of what's going on.
At this point I had neveryelled in front of my son.
So the fact that I was yellingat this guy, you know, out of
(25:56):
fear and out of trying toprotect my family, I'm
traumatizing my son.
And my wife was there and Ihanded her my cell phone and you
know I was.
I was raised in the darkness, Iwas raised in violence.
So that was a natural responsefor me to meet violence with
violence, and through myexperiences I've learned that
(26:19):
doesn't work.
You never change anyone's mindor heart with a fist, but at the
same time, you know you got toprotect your family and so I
handed my phone to my wife and Isaid, okay, hit record in a
second.
And she said why?
I said because I'm going toopen the store up.
(26:41):
He's going to come in this doorand I need the evidence to
clear my name, that he was athreat to me, and what I did was
in self-defense, even though Ihad the clarity that this is
what's going to happen and let'splan this out to make sure I've
got a case when I go to court.
Because I'm going to court, I'mgoing to get arrested.
This is how it's going to godown.
(27:03):
And she looked at me and shesaid do you really think that's
the best way to do it, withDamien here, my son, and
immediately that changedeverything for me.
(27:24):
But anyway, you know, all theseexperiences that I'm sharing
with the audience and yourselfand you know reminding myself of
, you know, are, are there,there pebbles that helped me
remember that I've always triedto walk this earth with a pure
heart and what helped and whathas helped other people in this
journey is the willingness andthe openness to accept people
(27:48):
for where they are, wherethey've been and where they
desire to go.
You know, as I've shared heretoday, like there's not anything
that I could really judgeanybody on, because it's
probably I've already, probablydone it myself.
Right, sounds like you've donejust about everything, pretty
much, you know, and I don't saythat in a pride thing, but I say
(28:11):
that more and I'm like, yeah,that that's if you were to look
at the spiritual journey or thehero's journey or you know any
of those things.
They have to.
We have to battle through thesethings to come to our authentic
self and then really realize.
It's like more of a rememberingthan it is a conditioning, which
(28:37):
is kind of contrary to whatwe've been taught in modern
times.
Sometimes in the indigenouscultures they have a prophecy
(29:03):
called the Eagle Condor prophecyway it's been translated to me
is when the heart of the southbecause south america is known
for their heart, theirhospitality, their love, their
family, you know those types ofthings with the, with the north,
which is the mind, which is thetechnology, which is the
masculine, but you know, so youhave the masculine and the
(29:24):
feminine again, you know, comingtogether as one and birthing a
new earth, and that would beunited in tantric teachings and
you know all the variousdifferent things.
And that's where it helps totake a wider view of what we've
(29:44):
been taught and question why dowe think that's true?
Mike Murphy (29:48):
okay, if that makes sense well, a lot of it does
make sense.
You've you've done a good jobof explaining certain concepts
to me.
There's a lot within that thatI don't quite understand, okay,
um, but you know you've piqued alot of curiosity today.
One thing I can say you knowyou have in terms of being on a
journey and being able to healfrom that and then being able to
(30:11):
transition into a teacher,somebody who can help heal
others.
You know, being a healeryourself, you've built a ton of
street cred.
Chris Albaugh (30:22):
I got certifications too.
Charlie McDermott (30:27):
I got certifications too.
Mike Murphy (30:29):
It's not just, you know, street cred, but yeah,
it's the official stuff, thecertification stuff.
So I want to make sure that,before we sign off, that people
understand, okay, you knowyou've been through all this
stuff and you can kind of asyou've helped yourself and you
have had others, other healers,help you you can do the same for
(30:50):
others, and so your website isa place where people can go to
kind of start learning andunderstanding more about who you
are, what you do.
(31:14):
I know that that website isbeing redeveloped right now.
There is some portions of itthat are still under state of
construction right now, but,having said that, there's a lot
there still, and so I don't wantto dissuade people from going
to the website as it existsright now, knowing that it's
just going to get better andbetter and better, which is
pretty cool because, like I said, there's already a lot there,
and I want people to visit thesite and kind of help connect
(31:36):
the dots on where you've been,like everything you just
described and I know that's justa sliver of what you've been
through and connect the dots onall the uh, the, I guess, the,
the healing principles, thewellness solutions, right, you
can offer.
So what's the name of thewebsite where you want them to
go to?
Chris Albaugh (31:55):
it's enhancingyourworldcom and you
know, just to hit on a couplekey features, um, it of it is to
be a place of holistic wellness.
So we want to invitepractitioners of other
modalities, of other skill setsand things like that, because
(32:18):
everybody is on a unique journeyand even though you know I'm a
Reiki master and, let's say youwere a Reiki master, our
energies are going to bedifferent at different times.
So that is, there's nocompetition.
You know it's more aboutcooperation, finding unity and
things.
So there's a platform forpractitioners to help with their
(32:40):
, with their, you know,attracting clients.
And then there's a social mediafunction to where everybody can
drop in and just be a human andsay this is what I'm going
through.
You know, anyone have anyinsights or you know any
practices or anything that Icould do to help me through this
moment of temporary challengewhere maybe they don't have
(33:05):
access to a healer, or you know,or or whatever might be
available, because a lot oftimes I've gotten a lot of help
just by having a conversationwith somebody, not necessarily
hiring them to be a healer perse, but, you know, allowing us
(33:25):
to realize that the only truehealing and this is why I loved,
uh, loved and it was attractedto Reiki in the very beginning
is when I was taught it.
The first thing you did was youhealed yourself for at least a
year before you met anybody,before you called yourself a
healer, before you took onclients or anything else.
You worked on yourself everyday.
(33:47):
You know on your healingprotocols, so you know the
concept being is you know wemight have heard this before in
social media mean land, hurtpeople, hurt people and heal
people heal people, and the onlything that differentiates that
(34:08):
is who you're going to choose tobe.
If you're going to go aroundcalling yourself help, you know
help and then you're hurtingpeople because you don't have
the capacity to accept them asthey are and you're trying to
fix them or tell them who theyneed to be or that type of thing
, that's some unnecessary karmathat both the healer and the
(34:29):
person looking to gain thehealing are going to have to
grow through, because we're allnatural beings and healing
happens naturally and notnecessarily through force.
If you've ever had to be forcedto lose weight or to quit a bad
habit, it's really hard, butwhen we shift that paradigm a
(34:52):
little bit and just say this nolonger serves us anymore.
And now let me focus thatenergy on who I want to be, how
I want to feel, how I want torelate to myself, how I want to
relate to my friends and family,how I want to relate to the
planet and family, how I want torelate to the planet, it comes
from a place of authenticempowerment and not an
artificial control over anotherout of a fear or insecurity or a
(35:17):
way of wanting to protectoneself.
Okay, like I said, sometimes Ifall down rabbit holes I'm not
sure.
Mike Murphy (35:25):
sure we're not going to go down this rabbit
hole, but I'm sure there was amoment that you might be able to
identify that you were at yourrock bottom.
Chris Albaugh (35:34):
Many times, but the thing about rock bottom is
that's the only place to build asolid foundation.
Mike Murphy (35:38):
Okay, so I'm all about storytelling and education
.
Okay, you've done a great jobof storytelling today.
Education part will be ongoing,but I think what I'm
encouraging people to do is togo to your website and just kind
of see what it is you'reoffering, and I know they can
(35:59):
book a consultation with youthere as well, correct?
Chris Albaugh (36:02):
Absolutely, and that's the idea you know I can't
give.
If, if you and I were goingsomewhere, I'd have to know
where you are first before Igive you proper directions.
Yeah, so I don't want to givetoo much out and say this is the
way because I don't know theway yet, because I don't know
where you are, what you'rewanting, where you're wanting to
go.
That's why we have theconsultations, that's why we do
(36:23):
energy work, we have theconsultations, that's why we do
energy work, that's why we doteach breath work, because that
is something that we're alwaysdoing.
You know, breath in itself isthe only thing that you can do,
consciously and unconsciously.
It's a bridge.
So breathing techniques andthose types of things will help
work through that nervous systemso it soothes itself and then,
(36:46):
when the nervous system isn't soamped up or anxious, then the
thoughts and everything theycalm down and they change the
quality, and that's the ideabehind it.
Mike Murphy (36:57):
Well, I'll make sure that people also have your
other contact information too,when I post this, cool, but I
think, before we go, there arepeople out there who probably
are wondering, just like I am.
Um you, hopefully this isn't asensitive, touchy subject but
where where is your ex-wifejessica, and your son, damien, I
(37:20):
believe?
Yeah, where where are they now?
Um?
Chris Albaugh (37:22):
um, so actually, um, my ex-wife is actually
getting married this weekend, um, but they moved to Louisville.
I actually have my son, um, um,we have shared custody, um, so
we, you know, we still co-parent and you know all those
things, um, but, uh, yeah, wehad gotten to that point, um, in
our relationship where the mostloving thing we could do is
(37:44):
choose to walk a different path.
She wanted to live a certain wayand I was, you know, exploring,
you know, the cosmos andconsciousness and you know all
these various different things,and I wasn't able to provide the
security that she was needingat that time, that she was
(38:05):
needing at that time and Iwasn't being supported in the
ways that I felt like I neededto, as I was trying to let go of
the karmic past and and nothaving the relationship that I
had with, like, we just had thistalk.
I'm glad you brought this up.
We just had this talk the otherday, you know, as I was
apologizing if I causedabandonment or betrayal between
(38:32):
us.
I hope she understood thatwasn't the intention.
The intention was not tocontinue to hurt each other and
we both agreed we didn't want tohave the relationship that my
parents had.
As far as the quality, now myparents have the longevity they
were just celebrated their50-year anniversary but we
(38:53):
wanted to have a truepartnership where we were
walking with each other and weweren't really doing that.
She was living as a nurse, Iwas living as a holistic healer.
They were kind of at the end.
Mike Murphy (39:07):
The spectrum was wide there between the two.
Chris Albaugh (39:12):
Yeah, and I didn't have enough experience in
it yet to have more trust in it, so it was more intellectual.
So I was trying to, like, whycan't you just trust me that
organic food is the way to go?
Why can't you just trust methat these supplements are the
way to go?
Why can't you just trust methat you know these supplements
are good for us?
Or you know, like, why do youhave to push back?
And so that was a healing initself and I'm very grateful for
(39:37):
our relationship and that she'sfound someone to walk with in
the way that she wants to.
You know, and you know, my son'shappy with that circumstance
down there, from what he tellsme, and I'm very grateful.
How old is Damien now?
He's 14.
Okay, yeah, so he's.
He's starting high school thisyear.
(39:58):
So you know, I'm very, we'revery, blessed to have such a
wonderful kid and I tease himall the him, all the time.
Uh, you know I'm I don't knowhow I got so lucky because my,
at his age I was stealing cars.
And this kid that you know,he's just so chilled and laid
back, he's just, you know, um,super lovey, lovey, dovey and
(40:19):
just wants to.
You know, hang out, um, youknow, didn't didn't have any of
those things going on in hislife yet.
So I'm very blessed that Ihaven't been tested with those
tests yet.
But at the same time, as theysay in a lot of the philosophies
, if we heal those things, thenour kids won't have to deal with
(40:43):
them.
Mike Murphy (40:43):
Yeah, they say the sins of the father are visited
upon the son.
Right, it's a far cry from whenhe was two years old in that
house and daddy was packing heatand about to go out on the
front porch and changeeveryone's life forever.
That's right.
Good on you for making thosechoices.
(41:04):
It sounds like, although 14 isthe age where he's just going to
start getting into a lot of youknow stuff himself, right,
sounds like you've got a lot ofgreat tools and skills and
perspective now to to help him,so so good for you.
Thank you All right.
Well, you warned me before westarted this that you could talk
.
Thank you All right.
(41:25):
Well, you warned me before westarted this that you could talk
and if we had the time I couldget another hour out of you, I'm
sure.
Oh we could do it all day.
Yeah, well, but for now, sothat's.
That's the latest episode ofthe Good Neighbor podcast.
Thank you, chris Alba, forcoming in and sharing your
(41:48):
perspectives on healing and andletting us know all about
enhancing your world.
Good luck with the website.
We'll all be kind of keepingtabs on that, and if you ever
need to come back and storytellagain, the seat's yours.
Chris Albaugh (41:57):
All right.
Mike Murphy (41:57):
Thanks, Mark no problem.
Chris Albaugh (41:59):
Watch out, we might start a new podcast series
.
You've got a history ofpodcasting.
Mike Murphy (42:04):
I know, I've seen some of yours.
So yeah, someday, I think it'slike everybody will be forced to
have a podcast.
I think it'll be mandatory likecar insurance.
Chris Albaugh (42:16):
You've got to have a podcast.
It'd be like chatting with chatGPT.
You know, tell me what I'msupposed to do, because I don't
want to have to make thedecision myself.
Right, yeah, that's where we'reheaded All right.
Mike Murphy (42:27):
Chris, thanks for joining us today and you
listeners thanks for tuning in,and this is the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So we always sign off by sayingeverybody out there till we
visit with you next time.
Everyone be good to yourneighbor.
So long, everyone, bye-bye.
Charlie McDermott (42:42):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast Union.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPUnioncom.
That's GNPUnioncom, or call usat 859-651-8330.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Mike Murphy.
Mike Murphy (00:12):
Yes, thank you, charlie.
I am Mike Murphy, host of theGood Neighbor Podcast, a podcast
that is intended to help youget to know local business
owners, influencers, movers,shakers, just people in the
community that are doing thegood work of helping the
community move forward in manydifferent ways.
One of the people I have withme today is Chris Alba, and
(00:34):
Chris is the owner of Enhancingyour World, and there's a lot to
Enhancing your World, and everytime I try to explain I screw
it up.
So I said, chris, get your buttinto the studio here and we'll
just we'll do this together andjust have a nice organic
conversation about everythingthat you're doing in the
community.
So, without further ado, chris,welcome to the show.
(00:58):
Tell us about Enhancing yourWorld.
Chris Albaugh (01:01):
Well, thank you for the opportunity to meet with
you and speak about this.
You know, enhancing your worldis really like you said, it's
very multifaceted, but it'sreally a container.
It's a movement to um.
(01:26):
The very subtle separations umbetween us and our true nature
are um.
So it's, you know, our holisticwellness, um.
You know, on an energetic level,you know, depending on the
tradition or the teachings,there's all these discernments
(01:46):
and different ways to look atenergies, but you know, we
really try to stay within theHoly Trinity of mind, body,
spirit, or you can even callthat emotion right, the thing
that connects the formless tothe form.
And so it's a wellness communitywhere we and platform for
(02:09):
holistic wellness practitionersto help enhance their message,
get their message out there, aswell as a business platform and
allow us humans to learn fromdifferent lineages of thought,
of different lineages ofpractice, you know, really
(02:30):
focusing on unconditional loveand realizing that everything
that has created us to thismoment has been teaching us
something about ourselves andthe true nature of the greater
cosmos, if you will.
You know, and walking a path.
(02:50):
My personal path has been oneof many different lifetimes
within this one lifetime, but asfar as my knowledge and
education.
It comes from both the scienceyou know lens as well as the
spiritual lens and working withindigenous cultures to you know
(03:13):
Eastern philosophies and youknow doing all those various
different things too, and sothat's, that's kind of the the
what is enhancing your world.
It's basically a bridge to helpyou get from where you are to
where you desire to be mentally,emotionally and physically,
within all your relationships,within yourself and, of course,
(03:38):
then beyond, how that reflectsonto our collective planet.
Okay, that seems like a lot.
That's like taking a drink outof a fire hose Right.
But when I look at your website, you know you do a good job of
breaking it down, thanks, and soI think you know.
Something else that I'vethought about is people will
(04:00):
find you when they're ready tofind you.
you know, usually People willfind you when they're ready to
find you.
Usually, I think an old Zenphilosophy that I've heard is
when the student is ready, themaster will appear, and so
that's kind of like.
When I'm looking through yourwebsite, I'm like, okay, I could
see people who are just kind oforganically searching for this.
They come across your site andthis is going to make sense to
(04:22):
them.
So there's a large offering topeople that are seeking these
holistic wellness therapies onwhatever journey they happen to
be.
On Words I've written downcustomized nutrition and detox,
(04:45):
healing touch therapy, movementpractices like yoga, tai chi.
Breathing meditation.
Mike Murphy (04:54):
People know these things Reprogram your mindset,
crystal therapy, visualizations,nature retreats, things like
that.
There's a lot there, and so Ijust I wrote those down as at
least you know, categories,buzzwords that people can hear
and say, okay, now I kind of getwhere he's going with this.
(05:14):
And so when somebody asks youabout what you do, I mean you
just kind of given us kind of anoverview, but what's the?
Is there a typical person thatyou're helping or somebody that
(05:37):
you're looking for?
How do you, how do you findpeople?
Do you count on them to find?
Chris Albaugh (05:40):
you they do.
I mean, it's been.
It's that's why I say you knowyou get.
We're spiritual beings having ahuman experience right, because
when we really step back andlook at wholeness, look at you
know duality of pain andpleasure, you know of service to
(06:00):
self, others, you know thosetypes of things it creates.
All these different pathways andI guess the ultimate, and who I
typically work with, are thepeople that are looking to find
their true self.
They're wanting to let go ofthe past stories of whatever it
(06:22):
was they went through, the abuse.
They want to heal theirrelationships with their family,
their parents, their lover,whatever it is.
You know they have a substanceor an addiction issue and what
we are bringing to light throughthese coping mechanisms is the
(06:46):
root of where we don't feelworthy enough, where we don't
feel valued, we don't feel seenand unfortunately or fortunately
, however you choose to perceivewe have a lot of information
out there that tells us whowe're supposed to be, without
asking who it is that we are andhow is it that we're supposed
(07:08):
to walk and some of theblessings that I've received by
walking with some of thesewisdom keepers of these
indigenous tribes, which I justwrote a big article today about
Mama Lorenzo and you know mytime with him and what I've
learned from him about.
You know purifying your heartand you know the work that is
(07:31):
just around that.
You know what, if that was thedaily practice of looking at
challenge and strife and thisstuff as a, there's nothing
wrong but it's a little dirtybecause we all come into this
world in the human form pure.
You know, as a baby now,science and you know various
(07:54):
different things say we come inwith.
You know um past trauma passeddown, trauma from generational.
You know things such as thegrandmother effect or you know
different, different indigenousteachings generational.
You know things such as thegrandmother effect or you know
different, different indigenousteachings on.
You know healing our ancestrallineage and the things that they
had to endure so we could behere having this existence that
(08:15):
we have today.
So it gives us purpose and it'sa purpose beyond being a cog in
the societal wheel, however youchoose to look at it.
There's no judgment there.
But you know, for a long time Ihad issues with authoritarians,
(08:36):
with police.
I had a rough childhood growingup and you know I've been
arrested and beaten by thepolice and you know all that
stuff.
So I could have that story inmy head which you know I've been
arrested and beaten by thepolice and you know all that
stuff.
So I could have that story inmy head which you know, when I
would get pulled over as a in myearly twenties, if I got pulled
over by a police officer thisis just a story I would shake,
(08:57):
you know, I'd go into those whatyou know, maybe PTSD type
symptoms, and you know I'd beall nervous and anxiety, you
know, and just because I was, Iwas holding on to this energetic
trauma within my nervous systemand the story wrapped around it
was I'm not safe.
Yeah, you know I'm in day, youknow, and being able to go back
(09:23):
into you know and working withthat stuff and that kind of
stuff.
Now, when I get pulled over,the last time I got pulled over,
I mean I was, I knew I wasgetting a ticket, I should have
got a ticket.
I was, I was, I was reallyspeeding and the cop said I wish
I didn't have to do this, likehe had so much empathy and and
(09:46):
it wasn't that I did anything,but just the energy and the
conversation and you know how weinteracted was so much
different.
Mike Murphy (09:56):
Okay.
So I think that a lot of peoplethat come to you, maybe
something that's part of theirpast, something that might be
part of their present, would beaddiction, substance abuse or I
don't know.
There's all sorts of addictionsthat you would know more about
that than me.
But I think you have a kind ofa unique perspective on
(10:22):
addiction recovery.
You've kind of covered some ofit through our conversation thus
far.
But there's the gauge, yourlife method, that you spoke
about to me before, like in thepre-interview.
So what is that and how doesthat relate to recovery?
Chris Albaugh (10:44):
Okay, well, gage is was a dream or a vision that
I had in 2017, when I was goingthrough a transition myself, of
going from like personaldevelopment leadership, where
(11:04):
you're trying to like to improveyour character, right that,
whatever that archetype is thatyou have in your mind of
yourself, you're trying to, youknow, make it look better, make
it look healthier, whatever thatis to like a deeper, profound
of healing, and that really camethrough.
I was a mindset coach andbusiness coach and I had a
(11:29):
client ask me for some help withsome marketing and they
introduced me to Reiki andcrystal healing.
I was just modeling for theirwebsite and when I got off the
table, I was so high I just lostlike 30 pounds.
I mean, I was so high, like Ijust lost like 30 pounds.
(11:51):
I mean I was blown away.
And so that led to thisprofound shift in me where I was
really trying to detach myselffrom perspective and perception
and mindset development, like Ihad been trained, and really
start practicing a deeperembodiment.
(12:13):
And that goes into the gaugemethod, because there are five
universal principles that I'vefound present in most religions,
spiritualities or even business, and those universal principles
are gratitude, awareness, unity, growth and energy, and so this
(12:33):
helped me put together, notnecessarily a framework where it
was rigid, but it's pliable,it's more customizable to that
moment and you know, I wastalking about that conversation
with Mama and that's just made avery interesting connection
today and I feel like that's whyI keep bringing it up.
(12:54):
But he gave me a gauge and thestory of that was he came to me
in a dream and when we weresitting together in this year's
Sintada, I asked them about it.
And not only did he consciouslywas aware that he came to visit
(13:15):
me with these other mamas totest my heart, and you know like
he was giving me details of thedream that I didn't share with
him, which was really wild.
But at the same time, when Iasked them well, did I pass the
initiation?
Because that's our Westernworld, right?
What's our, what's our checkmark?
(13:36):
You know where, you know what'sour, you know, have we got that
initiation?
Where's that, you know, line inthe sand, or consciousness, or
certification, or whatever itwas and did I pass him and the
answer he gave me was a gauge.
He didn't tell me yes or no, hedidn't tell me this is what you
(13:57):
have to do, just when you nolonger have, you know, anger in
your heart or your parents oryour partners, or you know for
for for humanity, then you'llknow, okay.
And so that really opened myeyes to various different things
(14:20):
.
But in my own addictionstruggles and the ones that I've
gotten to help, um, you know,my, my substance of choice was
cocaine.
Um, I um struggled with lowself-esteem and wanting to prove
myself and things like that.
So cocaine was great for mebecause I could work a lot, I
could go go go super social, youknow all that stuff.
(14:43):
So it was the drug that helpedme live the lifestyle that I
ultimately wanted to live.
The challenge being with thatwas just like any pendulum swing
what works for a little bitwill also have a dark side to it
.
And same thing with diets.
You know what's the right diet?
What's the right diet, you knowever we talked about nutrition?
(15:06):
Well, you know, the thing is issupplements are supposed to be
supplements.
You're only supposed to takethem for a short period of time.
Same thing with mindset.
Same thing with you know allthese different things.
We're supposed to use them assignposts.
A lot of teachers of presencetalk about words and labels and
concepts as signposts.
They will point you towards thetruth, but we can only
(15:28):
experience truth in the moment,of point you towards the truth,
but we can only experience truthin the moment.
So, when it comes to addictionrecovery, there's usually,
there's usually the reasonthere's the addiction is it's a
coping mechanism that served usfor a certain period of time.
Now the challenge being is howdo we let go of that identity
and realize that we don't needthat anymore?
(15:49):
And a lot, of, a lot of thatcan come through presence,
mindfulness, embodiment,practices, those types of things
to where you know, even touch.
You know, I tell people whenthey're feeling overwhelmed or
whatever, to, you know, puttheir hand on their heart and
just breathe and feel thetemperature in your chest, you
(16:10):
know, between your fingers, andthings like that, because that's
bringing you into the here andnow.
And as long as you're not beingthreatened in your physical
environment, your nervous systemis going to be aware of those
observations, so it's going toregulate itself.
So we're not having to come upwith projections, we're not
having to come up with excuses.
We're not having to come upwith excuses or alibis of why
(16:34):
this didn't work or why thisrelapse happened.
And then we have to get overthe shame and the guilt of it.
Or you know those types ofthings and working with a lot of
medicine people from around theworld, a lot of the medicines
that they use to help healmental, emotional and physical
disease would be what would beconsidered plant medicine.
(16:57):
You know different types ofhallucinogens or tobacco or
things that in our culture rightnow are kind of like they're
not, they're bad things.
You know, or you know a lot ofpeople are now starting to
praise them as the saviors andtheir tools, like sitting with
ayahuasca or psilocybin or youknow these different, these
(17:20):
different plant medicines.
They'll help give us access tothings, but we actually have to
do the work in our life, justlike anything else.
There's a lot of compensationwe have to give before work in
our life, just like anythingelse, there's a law of
compensation.
We have to give before we canreceive.
We have to, you know, before wecan sow those types of things.
Those are universal truths thatring true beyond anyone's you
(17:43):
know identity of, you know their, you know this religion or you
know no, we're all human beingsand we practice different ways
of being human, which is thebeautiful thing, just like any
snowflake is unique in itself.
It's how they stick togetherthat makes them so impactful.
Mike Murphy (18:00):
Well, I can tell you've learned a lot since your
days of addiction and all thatstuff.
So you're a natural teacher.
I mean mean, you've kind of gotthe knowledge that you're still
learning, I'm sure, oh yeah,always you're, but you've got
the passion, you've got the willto help people.
Um, you were once upon a timein the entertainment business,
(18:22):
correct?
All right, what was thatspecifically and how long ago
was that?
Chris Albaugh (18:27):
well, um, so that that started.
Um, believe it or not, um, inmy teenage years, I, I tried to,
you know, I modeled and didsome things here and there, um
acted and and did some smallthings.
And then, um, you know, I hadto, um, um, I committed suicide
(18:49):
and um, or attempted.
Yeah, someone found me andbrought me back, okay, so you,
were.
Mike Murphy (18:56):
You were clinically gone.
Chris Albaugh (18:57):
Yeah, um and um.
I came back with this, thiswhole new, this whole new thing,
um, and I'd be happy to deepenthat story if necessary.
But needless to say, it endedme up in the financial services
because I wanted to make adifference in people's lives and
(19:18):
I know a lot of.
I attributed a lot of the abusethat I received as a child
because of scarcity, mindset andpeople not having enough
resources, and you know thosetypes of things and at the time,
most of you know those types ofthings and at the time, most of
you know, 50 of divorces endedin because of finances.
Oh, I'm gonna change the world.
And then 9 11 happened, uh, sofound myself, you know, as a um
(19:44):
GED, you know holder.
But I dropped out at the junioryear of high school to get away
from abusive environment in myfamily structure and go into
business and sales and you know,you know, get into the real
world, as they would say.
And so I found myself like inthe situation of like I didn't
(20:07):
know where I was going to go,like this, I thought this, this,
this opportunity in finance,was going to be my thing and
with the industry and the tanker, I had to look for other
alternative things dancing andworking in the adult industry
alongside of my wife, whicheventually led us into the adult
(20:30):
film industry and so we didthat for a few years and learned
a lot about ourselves, learneda lot about life and other
people, and I was very gratefulfor those opportunities to
really get to see all the thingsthat I've gotten to experience
(20:54):
and meet people on the levelsthat I've gotten to meet them on
.
And so I was in the adultindustry and also nightclubs,
and you know all that.
You know all the hedonisticstuff, you know the drinking,
the drugs, the.
You know partying with, youknow rock stars and you know I
(21:14):
mean it was that lifestyle thatso many people want, whether
they admit it or not.
They want to at least have thatexperience right, like what
would it be like to party withMotley Crue for one night, you
know, or whatever it is right.
And you know I got to livethose experiences, so I'm
grateful to have those.
(21:35):
But yeah, as I said, I developeda cocaine habit, okay, and my
house was robbed and you know,luckily my wife wasn't hurt, but
they literally robbed us withinan hour window of her and her
friend being there and us comingback.
So they were like either in thehouse or they were watching the
(21:56):
house when she was there.
And you know we had weapons, wehad guns out on the you know
that were left at the house.
It was about the only thingthat they didn't steal and
totally wiped us out.
And he was like what do you mean?
I was like I'm not living in myhighest potential.
You know my heart's in theright place.
(22:17):
I'm trying to help people.
You know we're making money,we're doing all these things,
but we're also, you know,destroying ourselves in the
process.
So there has to be a differentway.
And so that allowed me to tothen go into mainstream
entertainment, um, and work with, you know, comedians and
musicians and models and actorsum, you know I've acted.
(22:39):
You know, um, I've got theopportunity to work with zach
afron and a few other folksthrough the years.
So you know, we got to do a lotof that cool stuff and that
allowed me to learn about whatothers called success.
(22:59):
But I felt really hollow inside.
And then a businessredirectionction I partnered
with a guy who was embezzlingmoney from his financial firm
and you lived an interestinglife yeah, yeah, I mean the fbi
called me and you know the whole, the whole, the whole crazy
game of the things left me in aredirection where all the things
(23:21):
I had ever worked for you, youknow all the material wealth,
all the things were taken awayCars, repo, the driveway, all
the things.
And it was like rock bottomagain, right, like, oh, my God,
I've been here so many timesLike I've done all these things,
I've helped make people, youknow, like the ego just was
screaming like why me?
Like I've done all this goodand I've helped these people and
(23:43):
they've made money and theylive their dreams.
And you know I'm suffering, whyme?
And in those, those darkmoments, you know, a few key
things showed up for me.
One I heard that voice thateveryone talks about, right, and
you know, spirituality.
Charlie McDermott (24:01):
Well, I didn't know what that meant.
Chris Albaugh (24:02):
You know I was taught to be of service.
That was spirituality.
You know my book, my Bible ofservice, that was spirituality.
You know my book, my Bible ofchoice at that time was thinking
grow rich by Napoleon Hill.
You know like that was.
You know what I was trained todo.
You know I came from a lineageof successful people in whatever
they did.
So like that was, that was thepart that I knew how to play,
(24:31):
and I didn't know whatspirituality meant.
I knew what religious meant.
I knew that one wasn't for mebecause it was no room for
questions, and so, anyway, Ilearned about meditation and I
started doing these differentthings and, um, as, as life
unfolded for me, I again gotsome opportunities to test my
(24:52):
growth, not based on what Ithought or who I thought I was
or whatever, but true lifeexperience, when there was a
life on the line or there wassomething going on.
Um, you know, um, how did Irespond versus how did I react?
Or how did I react but then wasable to have enough presence to
(25:14):
pull myself back from thatreaction.
You know, the story that iswanting to bubble up is my
neighbor was a preacher and hecaught something on fire and
someone called the firedepartment.
He blamed it on me and he was atroublemaker in the
neighborhood, but he had moneyand he was.
(25:36):
You know, he was a bully.
So as soon as I go in the househe's banging at the door
wanting to fight me.
I got a two-year-old freakingout, hiding under his bed
because of what's going on.
At this point I had neveryelled in front of my son.
So the fact that I was yellingat this guy, you know, out of
(25:56):
fear and out of trying toprotect my family, I'm
traumatizing my son.
And my wife was there and Ihanded her my cell phone and you
know I was.
I was raised in the darkness, Iwas raised in violence.
So that was a natural responsefor me to meet violence with
violence, and through myexperiences I've learned that
(26:19):
doesn't work.
You never change anyone's mindor heart with a fist, but at the
same time, you know you got toprotect your family and so I
handed my phone to my wife and Isaid, okay, hit record in a
second.
And she said why?
I said because I'm going toopen the store up.
(26:41):
He's going to come in this doorand I need the evidence to
clear my name, that he was athreat to me, and what I did was
in self-defense, even though Ihad the clarity that this is
what's going to happen and let'splan this out to make sure I've
got a case when I go to court.
Because I'm going to court, I'mgoing to get arrested.
This is how it's going to godown.
(27:03):
And she looked at me and shesaid do you really think that's
the best way to do it, withDamien here, my son, and
immediately that changedeverything for me.
(27:24):
But anyway, you know, all theseexperiences that I'm sharing
with the audience and yourselfand you know reminding myself of
, you know, are, are there,there pebbles that helped me
remember that I've always triedto walk this earth with a pure
heart and what helped and whathas helped other people in this
journey is the willingness andthe openness to accept people
(27:48):
for where they are, wherethey've been and where they
desire to go.
You know, as I've shared heretoday, like there's not anything
that I could really judgeanybody on, because it's
probably I've already, probablydone it myself.
Right, sounds like you've donejust about everything, pretty
much, you know, and I don't saythat in a pride thing, but I say
(28:11):
that more and I'm like, yeah,that that's if you were to look
at the spiritual journey or thehero's journey or you know any
of those things.
They have to.
We have to battle through thesethings to come to our authentic
self and then really realize.
It's like more of a rememberingthan it is a conditioning, which
(28:37):
is kind of contrary to whatwe've been taught in modern
times.
Sometimes in the indigenouscultures they have a prophecy
(29:03):
called the Eagle Condor prophecyway it's been translated to me
is when the heart of the southbecause south america is known
for their heart, theirhospitality, their love, their
family, you know those types ofthings with the, with the north,
which is the mind, which is thetechnology, which is the
masculine, but you know, so youhave the masculine and the
(29:24):
feminine again, you know, comingtogether as one and birthing a
new earth, and that would beunited in tantric teachings and
you know all the variousdifferent things.
And that's where it helps totake a wider view of what we've
(29:44):
been taught and question why dowe think that's true?
Mike Murphy (29:48):
okay, if that makes sense well, a lot of it does
make sense.
You've you've done a good jobof explaining certain concepts
to me.
There's a lot within that thatI don't quite understand, okay,
um, but you know you've piqued alot of curiosity today.
One thing I can say you knowyou have in terms of being on a
journey and being able to healfrom that and then being able to
(30:11):
transition into a teacher,somebody who can help heal
others.
You know, being a healeryourself, you've built a ton of
street cred.
Chris Albaugh (30:22):
I got certifications too.
Charlie McDermott (30:27):
I got certifications too.
Mike Murphy (30:29):
It's not just, you know, street cred, but yeah,
it's the official stuff, thecertification stuff.
So I want to make sure that,before we sign off, that people
understand, okay, you knowyou've been through all this
stuff and you can kind of asyou've helped yourself and you
have had others, other healers,help you you can do the same for
(30:50):
others, and so your website isa place where people can go to
kind of start learning andunderstanding more about who you
are, what you do.
(31:14):
I know that that website isbeing redeveloped right now.
There is some portions of itthat are still under state of
construction right now, but,having said that, there's a lot
there still, and so I don't wantto dissuade people from going
to the website as it existsright now, knowing that it's
just going to get better andbetter and better, which is
pretty cool because, like I said, there's already a lot there,
and I want people to visit thesite and kind of help connect
(31:36):
the dots on where you've been,like everything you just
described and I know that's justa sliver of what you've been
through and connect the dots onall the uh, the, I guess, the,
the healing principles, thewellness solutions, right, you
can offer.
So what's the name of thewebsite where you want them to
go to?
Chris Albaugh (31:55):
it's enhancingyourworldcom and you
know, just to hit on a couplekey features, um, it of it is to
be a place of holistic wellness.
So we want to invitepractitioners of other
modalities, of other skill setsand things like that, because
(32:18):
everybody is on a unique journeyand even though you know I'm a
Reiki master and, let's say youwere a Reiki master, our
energies are going to bedifferent at different times.
So that is, there's nocompetition.
You know it's more aboutcooperation, finding unity and
things.
So there's a platform forpractitioners to help with their
(32:40):
, with their, you know,attracting clients.
And then there's a social mediafunction to where everybody can
drop in and just be a human andsay this is what I'm going
through.
You know, anyone have anyinsights or you know any
practices or anything that Icould do to help me through this
moment of temporary challengewhere maybe they don't have
(33:05):
access to a healer, or you know,or or whatever might be
available, because a lot oftimes I've gotten a lot of help
just by having a conversationwith somebody, not necessarily
hiring them to be a healer perse, but, you know, allowing us
(33:25):
to realize that the only truehealing and this is why I loved,
uh, loved and it was attractedto Reiki in the very beginning
is when I was taught it.
The first thing you did was youhealed yourself for at least a
year before you met anybody,before you called yourself a
healer, before you took onclients or anything else.
You worked on yourself everyday.
(33:47):
You know on your healingprotocols, so you know the
concept being is you know wemight have heard this before in
social media mean land, hurtpeople, hurt people and heal
people heal people, and the onlything that differentiates that
(34:08):
is who you're going to choose tobe.
If you're going to go aroundcalling yourself help, you know
help and then you're hurtingpeople because you don't have
the capacity to accept them asthey are and you're trying to
fix them or tell them who theyneed to be or that type of thing
, that's some unnecessary karmathat both the healer and the
(34:29):
person looking to gain thehealing are going to have to
grow through, because we're allnatural beings and healing
happens naturally and notnecessarily through force.
If you've ever had to be forcedto lose weight or to quit a bad
habit, it's really hard, butwhen we shift that paradigm a
(34:52):
little bit and just say this nolonger serves us anymore.
And now let me focus thatenergy on who I want to be, how
I want to feel, how I want torelate to myself, how I want to
relate to my friends and family,how I want to relate to the
planet and family, how I want torelate to the planet, it comes
from a place of authenticempowerment and not an
artificial control over anotherout of a fear or insecurity or a
(35:17):
way of wanting to protectoneself.
Okay, like I said, sometimes Ifall down rabbit holes I'm not
sure.
Mike Murphy (35:25):
sure we're not going to go down this rabbit
hole, but I'm sure there was amoment that you might be able to
identify that you were at yourrock bottom.
Chris Albaugh (35:34):
Many times, but the thing about rock bottom is
that's the only place to build asolid foundation.
Mike Murphy (35:38):
Okay, so I'm all about storytelling and education
.
Okay, you've done a great jobof storytelling today.
Education part will be ongoing,but I think what I'm
encouraging people to do is togo to your website and just kind
of see what it is you'reoffering, and I know they can
(35:59):
book a consultation with youthere as well, correct?
Chris Albaugh (36:02):
Absolutely, and that's the idea you know I can't
give.
If, if you and I were goingsomewhere, I'd have to know
where you are first before Igive you proper directions.
Yeah, so I don't want to givetoo much out and say this is the
way because I don't know theway yet, because I don't know
where you are, what you'rewanting, where you're wanting to
go.
That's why we have theconsultations, that's why we do
(36:23):
energy work, we have theconsultations, that's why we do
energy work, that's why we doteach breath work, because that
is something that we're alwaysdoing.
You know, breath in itself isthe only thing that you can do,
consciously and unconsciously.
It's a bridge.
So breathing techniques andthose types of things will help
work through that nervous systemso it soothes itself and then,
(36:46):
when the nervous system isn't soamped up or anxious, then the
thoughts and everything theycalm down and they change the
quality, and that's the ideabehind it.
Mike Murphy (36:57):
Well, I'll make sure that people also have your
other contact information too,when I post this, cool, but I
think, before we go, there arepeople out there who probably
are wondering, just like I am.
Um you, hopefully this isn't asensitive, touchy subject but
where where is your ex-wifejessica, and your son, damien, I
(37:20):
believe?
Yeah, where where are they now?
Um?
Chris Albaugh (37:22):
um, so actually, um, my ex-wife is actually
getting married this weekend, um, but they moved to Louisville.
I actually have my son, um, um,we have shared custody, um, so
we, you know, we still co-parent and you know all those
things, um, but, uh, yeah, wehad gotten to that point, um, in
our relationship where the mostloving thing we could do is
(37:44):
choose to walk a different path.
She wanted to live a certain wayand I was, you know, exploring,
you know, the cosmos andconsciousness and you know all
these various different things,and I wasn't able to provide the
security that she was needingat that time, that she was
(38:05):
needing at that time and Iwasn't being supported in the
ways that I felt like I neededto, as I was trying to let go of
the karmic past and and nothaving the relationship that I
had with, like, we just had thistalk.
I'm glad you brought this up.
We just had this talk the otherday, you know, as I was
apologizing if I causedabandonment or betrayal between
(38:32):
us.
I hope she understood thatwasn't the intention.
The intention was not tocontinue to hurt each other and
we both agreed we didn't want tohave the relationship that my
parents had.
As far as the quality, now myparents have the longevity they
were just celebrated their50-year anniversary but we
(38:53):
wanted to have a truepartnership where we were
walking with each other and weweren't really doing that.
She was living as a nurse, Iwas living as a holistic healer.
They were kind of at the end.
Mike Murphy (39:07):
The spectrum was wide there between the two.
Chris Albaugh (39:12):
Yeah, and I didn't have enough experience in
it yet to have more trust in it, so it was more intellectual.
So I was trying to, like, whycan't you just trust me that
organic food is the way to go?
Why can't you just trust methat these supplements are the
way to go?
Why can't you just trust methat you know these supplements
are good for us?
Or you know, like, why do youhave to push back?
And so that was a healing initself and I'm very grateful for
(39:37):
our relationship and that she'sfound someone to walk with in
the way that she wants to.
You know, and you know, my son'shappy with that circumstance
down there, from what he tellsme, and I'm very grateful.
How old is Damien now?
He's 14.
Okay, yeah, so he's.
He's starting high school thisyear.
(39:58):
So you know, I'm very, we'revery, blessed to have such a
wonderful kid and I tease himall the him, all the time.
Uh, you know I'm I don't knowhow I got so lucky because my,
at his age I was stealing cars.
And this kid that you know,he's just so chilled and laid
back, he's just, you know, um,super lovey, lovey, dovey and
(40:19):
just wants to.
You know, hang out, um, youknow, didn't didn't have any of
those things going on in hislife yet.
So I'm very blessed that Ihaven't been tested with those
tests yet.
But at the same time, as theysay in a lot of the philosophies
, if we heal those things, thenour kids won't have to deal with
(40:43):
them.
Mike Murphy (40:43):
Yeah, they say the sins of the father are visited
upon the son.
Right, it's a far cry from whenhe was two years old in that
house and daddy was packing heatand about to go out on the
front porch and changeeveryone's life forever.
That's right.
Good on you for making thosechoices.
(41:04):
It sounds like, although 14 isthe age where he's just going to
start getting into a lot of youknow stuff himself, right,
sounds like you've got a lot ofgreat tools and skills and
perspective now to to help him,so so good for you.
Thank you All right.
Well, you warned me before westarted this that you could talk
.
Thank you All right.
(41:25):
Well, you warned me before westarted this that you could talk
and if we had the time I couldget another hour out of you, I'm
sure.
Oh we could do it all day.
Yeah, well, but for now, sothat's.
That's the latest episode ofthe Good Neighbor podcast.
Thank you, chris Alba, forcoming in and sharing your
(41:48):
perspectives on healing and andletting us know all about
enhancing your world.
Good luck with the website.
We'll all be kind of keepingtabs on that, and if you ever
need to come back and storytellagain, the seat's yours.
Chris Albaugh (41:57):
All right.
Mike Murphy (41:57):
Thanks, Mark no problem.
Chris Albaugh (41:59):
Watch out, we might start a new podcast series
.
You've got a history ofpodcasting.
Mike Murphy (42:04):
I know, I've seen some of yours.
So yeah, someday, I think it'slike everybody will be forced to
have a podcast.
I think it'll be mandatory likecar insurance.
Chris Albaugh (42:16):
You've got to have a podcast.
It'd be like chatting with chatGPT.
You know, tell me what I'msupposed to do, because I don't
want to have to make thedecision myself.
Right, yeah, that's where we'reheaded All right.
Mike Murphy (42:27):
Chris, thanks for joining us today and you
listeners thanks for tuning in,and this is the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So we always sign off by sayingeverybody out there till we
visit with you next time.
Everyone be good to yourneighbor.
So long, everyone, bye-bye.
Charlie McDermott (42:42):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast Union.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPUnioncom.
That's GNPUnioncom, or call usat 859-651-8330.
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