What if the pain you've been trying to escape is actually the fuel you've been looking for? Recording artist Ben Barbic walked away from alcohol, nicotine, and blood pressure medications at 28 — and built a 15-year operating system for resilience.

In this episode of Health Longevity Secrets, Robert Lufkin MD sits down with Ben Barbic — chart-climbing reggae and hip-hop recording artist, San Jose-based studio owner of Where Dreams Sail Studios, and author of the new memoir Rise and Climb: Finding Purpose Through Pain (Skyhorse Publishing / Simon & Schuster, October 15). They talk about the night his childhood home burned down, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that destroyed his family's second house, the teddy bear from his young son that triggered his sobriety pivot, the redwood-tree metaphor on the book cover, kirtan and chakra meditation as his entry point to a calmer mind, and how very small daily choices — a single five-minute habit — compound into a completely different life.

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 — Introduction
• 01:08 — Meet Ben Barbic: Recording Artist, Author, and Self-Builder
• 02:00 — Childhood Trauma: When the House Burned Down
• 03:00 — The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and the Power of Rebuilding
• 04:01 — Why Music Became His First Anchor as a Child
• 05:02 — The 28th Birthday Pivot: Walking Away from Alcohol and Nicotine
• 06:02 — The Subtraction-Then-Addition Method for Habit Change
• 07:03 — Quitting Blood Pressure Medications and Treating the Root Cause
• 09:04 — The Teddy Bear Moment: How His Son Triggered the Pivot
• 12:04 — Why Tiny Five-Minute Habits Beat Big Resolutions
• 14:05 — The First Three Habits He Added After Sobriety
• 17:07 — Kirtan and Chakra Meditation: A Beginner's Path
• 19:08 — Music, Memory, and the Brain's Storytelling Pathways
• 24:09 — Writing a Memoir: The Hardest Part Is Vulnerability
• 27:10 — Three Lessons for Self-Builders and High Performers
• 30:11 — The Redwood Tree Metaphor on the Book Cover
• 31:11 — Victim Mindset vs Agency: How to Reframe Adversity
• 32:11 — Redefining Success: From Catching Up to Contributing
• 36:12 — The Empty-Nest Pivot and the Next 5 Years
• 38:13 — Final Thoughts: Pursue What Gives You Purpose

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Subtract before you add — remove the drainers first, then layer in new habits.
• Hypertension is rarely solved by stacking more meds — change the upstream inputs and the numbers follow.
• The pivot moment usually has a single concrete trigger.
• Five minutes is enough — compounding does the rest.
• Kirtan plus chakra meditation is a friendly entry point for musicians.
• Redwood trees regrow tall around old burn scars.
• Define success by what you can contribute, not by who you can catch up to.

LINKS & SOURCES:

• Rise and Climb: Finding Purpose Through Pain by Ben Barbic
• Ben's music catalog
• 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake background

📖 Dr. Lufkin's book Lies I Taught in Medical School: https://robertlufkinmd.com/lies/
📰 Substack: robertlufkinmd.substack.com
🌐 Website: robertlufkinmd.com

⭐ Enjoying the show? Please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 30 seconds and helps more people discover the science of health and longevity. Thank you!

New episodes every other Tuesday. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

Continue this conversation on Substack: https://robertlufkinmd.substack.com
Lies I Taught In Medical School — Free sample chapter: https://www.robertlufkinmd.com/lies/

Web: https://www.robertlufkinmd.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/robertlufkinmd
X: https://x.com/robertlufkinmd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlufkinmd/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@robertlufkin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlufkinmd/