How Personalized Music Can Guide Healing and Growth

What if your soundtrack could meet you exactly where you are—without substances, complicated rituals, or one-size-fits-all advice? We sit down with audio alchemist Robert Alexander to unpack how personalized music and sober guided journeys can sharpen focus, calm the nervous system, and strengthen community. From energy hygiene to brain health as life health, we explore how sound becomes a practical tool you can actually use day to day.

Robert traces the origin of Life Rhythms, a music wellness approach built on conversation, intuition, and craft. He explains why he works with your frequency—your story, state, and goals—rather than chasing trendy tones or rigid protocols. We dig into how he captures guided journeys in real time, then designs supportive music behind a client’s voice so they can re-enter clarity or calm on demand. If you’ve felt overwhelmed by wellness noise, this thoughtful, customizable process will feel like a breath of fresh air.

We also talk about the subtle influence of the Five Rhythms movement on the brand’s name, the art of curation learned from years of producing and DJing, and the “buffet” mindset that keeps growth flexible yet grounded. Robert shares guardrails for responsible creativity, how personalized tracks become anchors for morning focus or evening wind-down, and the simple, generous advice he’d offer his younger self about feeling lost and being found. It’s a warm, practical guide to aligning sound with the way you actually live.

If you’re curious about music for mental wellness, personalized sound design, guided journeys, and energy hygiene that sticks, this conversation will resonate. Listen, share with a friend who needs a gentle reset, and subscribe for more candid, community-centered stories. We’d love to hear: what part of your day could use a custom soundtrack?

Transcript

Welcome And Energy Hygiene

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Who's Your Mama, a podcast focusing on tomorrow's future, which are our kids, educators, teachers, parents, all-encompassing with the goal of understanding that our brain is a muscle that we can exercise to control the speed in the direction that we want. Let's go, y'all. The time is now. So, Robert Alexander, welcome to Who's Your Mama?

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Thank you so much. What an honor.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Oh, it's an honor for me as well. So you and I share many things in common about one being community and how energy is contagious. I talk a lot about energy hygiene, brain health is life health. And you wear many hats specifically creatively and just in life. So I could introduce you and all the things that I know about you, but um I think in in the spirit of the time we have, at least for now, and hopefully you'll come back on again and share more. How would you describe some of the hats that you wear in your creative life and and how and why you chose to focus on that?

Robert’s Creative Hats And Identity

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Ooh, you're such a great question asker. Um, so for me, I don't like to be everything to everybody, you know, kind of like handyman. You know, I like to wear the right hat for the right job, even if it's simply showing up in community and saying yes versus yes. So at the end of the day, you know, community is a really important thing to me. So without being everything to everybody, one of the hats that I do wear is I do have a music wellness business, and community and fostering community is a really important thing to me. And I realize designing these personalized pieces of music, it's not necessarily like a catch-all because everybody is different.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

So um, yeah, I mean, I also tell people personalized, would you call it personalized producer and alchemist curator?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

You could probably call that curation is a good thing, um, because I definitely have like a music background that goes down like a whole like different rabbit hole, you know, being signed to a couple of different labels and at the same time doing DJ sets, and especially with what I'm evolving, will definitely uh culminate, it does culminate everything together. So um, being an audio alchemist, that's the title that I have for my life rhythms business. And at the same time, when I'm working with people one-on-one and they ask, Well, what kind of frequencies do you work with? Well, I work with your frequency. Well, what do you mean? It's like, well, it's not here, it's here. So everything I do is intuitive-based. It all starts with a conversation because everyone's going through different things at every given moment.

Birth Of Life Rhythms

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I love that. Wait, so what would you say are anything or things that that sparked you to uh invest in in this direction in life?

Personalized Music As Wellness

SPEAKER_00 2:58

During that time, originally, there was a mentor of mine who um, yeah, she she was working with a lot of different people. And she was saying, you know, you're working as a graphic designer in this full-time work, maybe you can be a coach. And I'm just like, you know, just me, me, coach. I mean, I'm good at helping people and doing different ways. I just didn't want to label myself that. And then there was another mentor who would bring me through guided journeys and what have you. And I was like, wait, I record these journeys. And at one point, I was actually connecting with somebody else, like a friend of mine, and I was walking him through guided journeys, and I was like, wait a second, you know, there's all these different people that are having like downloaded guided meditations, and there's people that are doing sound baths, and I'm not dismissing any of this. This is like at the end of 2013. So I was like, wait a second here, like I don't drink, I don't do substances in terms of just anything like ayahuasca or you know, anything like that. Again, not not you know, poo-pooing any of it. So I realized why wouldn't people want something, you know, like a sober guided journey with something that's designed specifically that goes behind their voice because I'm capturing it. I'm capturing them in a state where they can remember, or maybe not, because they're so much in a deepened state. So I realized, okay, you know what? If I'm offering a drug-free solution, if I'm offering something that really helps one really tailor into it's like designed for their mind, body, and spirit, whatever they subscribe to in that way. Why wouldn't they want something to help them evolve? And I remember at one point I was going to be doing an event, and I was thinking, wait a second, there's this whole five rhythms like movement, and it's completely unrelated. I'm like, wait a second, life rhythms, like your life, your rhythm. Why wouldn't we have something that's like designed to help something culminate in their mind, body, and soul, and maybe even like bring events together and doing different things in that way? So, really, I wanted a curated system, something designed for a person so they have something that they need. Because there's no point providing like one thing that everyone's going to get exactly that from. So, why not work with somebody? Why not walk them through a guided journey after the life rhythms name? Like a year later, was when I was deciding to integrate that music component into it. I mean, music's been a helpful component for me. Why wouldn't it be a helpful component for other people too in ways that work best for them?

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Absolutely, I I love that. And I speak so much about in every area of my life that I think that music and humor are therapy for the soul. And one of the many things that you said, but one that I wanted to ask you to dive a little bit deeper into is you taught you talked about the five rhythms. Can you expand on that?

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Sure. I mean, I'm probably gonna blitz her because it's been a while. So there's actually this movement called Five Rhythms. And Gabrielle Roth, I think she was based like in New York and she passed away years ago. And she had this movement. And I have you heard of a static dance before?

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, so I think that may have potentially catalyzed that movement. So those are the different phases of the five rhythms. So when I thought about that name, like I know we were talking about you know, music and how music comes to us and things like that. Yeah, when I was thinking about five rhythms, you know, being a movement, I was like, wait a second, five rhythms, life rhythms, you know. So it was like that synchronicity between inspiration popping up, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah, see again? The synchronicity and how it's all intertwined.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

It all showed up out of nowhere. And I was like, wait a second, your life, your rhythm. Everyone has their own rhythm, everyone has their own frequency. So that that's where the catalyst of the name came through for the music, sorry, for the the brand that I have at the same time. Um again, the music component came in a little bit later. So five rhythms ultimately was like the name itself, not necessarily the movement. The name itself brought in like that wait a second, that's really cool. Whoa, those two words, life and rhythms, just blended well together because everybody has their own life, everybody has their own rhythm, and that's where the five rhythms component came through. But ultimately, it's something entirely different. You know, it's where the five rhythms within that whole movement is a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

I love that. And how did you find that as you were going through that rhythm within yourself? How did you find that impacted you as you were creating uh life rhythms?

Five Rhythms Influence And Naming

SPEAKER_00 7:23

I've realized for myself, no matter how conventional I've attempted to be, that I'm unconventional. It doesn't mean I'm three fries short of a happy meal. So the thing is, I'd rather, and that might have been like an Alan Watts thing or something, you know. So I realized for myself, I mean, no matter where I've gone to find home, it's like I'd rather go to a buffet. You know, I'd rather take different pieces of that buffet. And I realized not everything is so cut and dry for everybody. So why not go to the buffet? Why not have bits and pieces? Because the buffet might charge the the buffet may change tomorrow. So at the same time, why not go to that buffet and take what we like then? If we've already had plenty from that previous buffet, then why don't we just, you know, change things up? So I realized, you know, not everybody is going to be interested in one specific thing, very cut and dry, day in, day out. So why not work with where they are? See where they would like to be? So with my life, I realized I like diversity. I don't like to necessarily be too all over the map. I like to have something more curated. I want something tailored in a way where it can be adjustable. Um, if I have limited options, then why not work with the options that I do have? So I realized why not create something that's really adjustable, adaptable, and has guardrails, you know?

SPEAKER_01 8:46

And I think when we when we realize that we're open to understanding ourselves the way you just expressed, are we're not as limitless as we think we are, or as narrow as how far we can expand in all areas of life. And so that then leads me to as we're getting closer to coming to conclude at least this episode. Um, if you could tell, because I do think there's gotta be benefits of getting older in life, with your understanding of how you've grown, if you could tell your younger self something, what would it be and why now?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Really quick, how old's the younger self?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

As as as old or young as you feel, it it would be relevant to that.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Yeah, because when I was looking at a video of a younger self, my younger self probably didn't even know what from what, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

At that younger self being like a kid, I wouldn't have to be defined at any age, just what would you want a younger of yourself to know now.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

If you're feeling low, that's okay. Because at the end of the day, when it comes to really connecting, you know, there are people along your life that will lead you along this way. So if you're feeling lost or stuck, rest assured, along your journey, like you will find yourself, even if you're feeling lost. And if you are found, people are there to celebrate you.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Oh, I love that. I think that's gonna resonate with a lot of people. It resonates with me. That's why I think it doesn't matter so much of putting an age necessarily on it, but younger self and how you've realized, you know, certain things about yourself if you've gotten older. And I definitely think that's beautiful and it will resonate with anyone that's listening to it, and I know it resonates with me. So thank you for sharing all of that. I it's been an honor to have you on here, and um, I think you have a lot to share. So I believe this won't be the last time we see you on here and definitely watching. If there's anyone that wants to get in touch with you for different uh the many hats that you wear creatively, what would be the best way to go about that?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

It's a really good question. I know with life rhythms, basically the website is L-I-F-E-R-H-Y-T-H-M-S dot us. So there's ways to be in touch that way, but I'm sure you know people are like, who is this guy? You know, and there's ways for us to connect through the interview.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Okay.

Embracing Unconventional Paths

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Always more than happy to just say, hey, you know, I heard you, and I'm more than happy to hear them back.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Well, I I hear you. Thank you for being on here and giving me the opportunity. And I know a lot of people will um really uh not just listen but hear you as well. So as we always say when we sign off at Who's Your Mama, let's go, y'all. The time is now.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Well, let's go, y'all. The time really is now.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yes, sir. Well, thank you again, Robert Alexander. Thank you for coming on Who's Your Mama.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

My pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Thank you for tuning into Who's Your Mama, and I look forward to collaborating from a community standpoint for the next episodes.