Allan Santos and I met 15 years ago at the Britt Festival in Oregon. I vividly recall drinking beer with him at the bar while Dave Anderson shot pool in the corner. After studying with players like Shinji Eshima and John Hood, Allan had landed an orchestra gig in the Toledo Symphony. The goal had been reached. But Allan felt like things were at an 8 in his life. Not a 10. What would a 10 look like? Fast forward to the present, and Allan is on a totally different path. Allan left the Toledo Symphony several years ago. He became the #7 ranked yoga competitor in the nation (yes, we talk about this!). He has now moved into Life Coaching. After reading my manifesto about my new direction in life, he reached out to me and we started talking. He was tremendously helpful in helping me gain clarity about the next steps in my life. I’d never had conversations like this. He gave me strategies to obtain clarity and focus on what’s actually important in any given moment. The is a deep conversation for sure. I’ve never really put anything like this out on the podcast. My conversation with Trevor Jones might be the closest thing. But I know you’ll enjoy it! Resources we covered in this interview: Allan Santos (Facebook) Allan’s email: allan@allanjaysantos.com Documentary on Marshal Hawkins (Allan’s first bass teacher) Allan’s yoga competition video Martha Beck Institute (where Allan studied as a Life Coach) Unemployment Never Sounded So Sweet (the post I wrote that put us back in touch) Two book recommendations from Allan: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron The Big Leap by Hendricks Gay leave a review for Contrabass Conversations in iTunes! Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to your mobile device! Thanks to our sponsor! This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. Enter the D’Addario strings giveaway for Contrabass Conversations listeners at contrabassconversations.com/strings!