Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alex King-Harris. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alex, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
“Where Is Your King? – A Story of Persistence Through Mental Health”
The end of my marriage was the moment everything cracked open.
I was in the wake of profound loss, self-harming and self-abandoning—floating in a haze of grief, addiction, and confusion. That’s when a dear friend sat me down, looked into my eyes, and asked me a question I will never forget:
“Where is your King?”
That question pierced the fog. It didn’t offer an answer, but it illuminated the absence of the part of me that knew how to rise. The very next day, I walked into an AA meeting.
That was the beginning of my journey toward reclaiming my life—not in a straight line, but in spirals. I falter often. I’ve failed again and again in my quest to live fully free of addiction. But each time I fall, I find the courage to dust myself off, stand up, and walk the path again. That’s what persistence looks like for me: not perfection, but relentless return.
In my late teens and early twenties, I experienced several intense, unconnected brushes with death—trauma that shaped my psyche physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These near-death moments were brutal, but they cracked me open to something greater: a hidden hand guiding me, a presence I can only call mysterious, sacred. That, paired with a deep inner knowing, planted the seed of a lifelong devotion to healing.
Why bother to keep trying?
Because something in me believes freedom is possible. Because I love life. Because creation calls to me.
I’ve danced with many healing modalities—12-Step recovery, breathwork, ritual, ancestral grief work, mystical Christianity, Buddhism, somatic integration—and I’ve built a life where I share these tools with others. But my commitment to them comes and goes. I’m not here to pretend otherwise.
What I am here to do is return home, again and again, to the practices I know liberate me. I’ve learned that being transparent about my struggles is not weakness—it’s my superpower. I can be radically honest in ways that create safety and resonance for others. And paradoxically, that same sensitivity, if untended, becomes my shadow: isolation, dishonesty, and hiding.
I’ve come to accept that the path of mental health isn’t about escaping struggle—it’s about cultivating devotion to what brings me back. It’s about learning how to hold both the pain and the beauty, and being willing to be seen in all of it.
This is how I persist. Not by never falling, but by always rising with more honesty, more humility, and more love.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m the Co-Founder of EvolveWell and Artistic Director of the EvolveWell Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit built on the back of the EvolveWell coaching platform, which is currently in beta. Our mission is to make transformational coaching and therapy radically more accessible—especially for those who might never otherwise have the support they need. We do this through a blend of technology, education, and donation-based events that channel the power of community, embodiment, and authentic care.
With my co-founder Pete Kennedy and an amazing team of developers, coaches, and creative visionaries, we’re building a hybrid ecosystem of platform + programming that serves the entire arc of the coaching journey. One of our big focuses is helping coaches and organizations embrace AI as a tool for amplification—not replacement. We teach people how to stay human while leveraging tech in ways that are ethical, emotionally intelligent, and creatively expansive.
Before EvolveWell, I spent over a decade as co-founder and CEO of YogiTunes, one of the first independent streaming platforms designed for yoga teachers and wellness professionals. It was born from my own journey in the global healing arts and music scene.
Long before that, I was a touring artist and a cornerstone of the yoga/wellness music movement—as a longtime member of celebrated projects like Desert Dwellers, Liquid Bloom, and Shamans Dream, and as a solo artist under the name Rara Avis, signed to Six Degrees Records. My work has always been about creating ceremonial spaces—sonic and otherwise—that help people drop in, remember who they are, and reconnect to something sacred.
Underpinning it all is a life devoted to transformation—not just personally, but collectively. I’ve led rites of passage for youth, mentored men in emotional integrity, and walked a path of recovery from addiction and trauma that informs everything I now offer. I believe in reclaiming ritual, integrating shadow, and using both ancient tools and modern tech to foster meaningful change at scale.
What I’m most excited about now:
Launching Transformational Events for Coaches—gatherings that blend breathwork, visionary art, thought leadership, and community ritual.
Hosting Dance Temple Gatherings in both Los Angeles and British Columbia, where music, movement, and sacred intention converge.
Finalizing the EvolveWell Platform, which will serve as the connective tissue for coaches, clients, and institutions ready to evolve how we grow together.
For me, healing isn’t a brand—it’s a lifestyle. And this next chapter is about weaving everything I’ve learned—from the stage to the ceremony, from the codebase to the collective—into offerings that awaken, empower, and unite.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three Essential Keys That Shaped My Journey
1. Devotion to Inner Work (Self-Honesty + Emotional Literacy)
The most transformative changes in my life didn’t come from outer accomplishments—they came from learning to sit with what’s uncomfortable, to be honest with myself, and to feel what I used to avoid. Whether it was through 12-Step recovery, breathwork, or therapy, I had to develop the capacity to face my own patterns with compassion and clarity. That’s still a daily practice.
Advice: Start small, but start honestly. Build a relationship with your inner world—through journaling, mindfulness, therapy, or simply learning to name what you’re feeling. Surround yourself with people who value depth and vulnerability. Emotional fluency is a superpower, especially in a world addicted to performance.
2. Creative Expression as Healing and Offering
From music to event design to mentorship, creating has been a sacred outlet for my healing—and a way to serve others. My projects like Shamans Dream and Desert Dwellers weren’t just performances; they were invitations into ritual and remembrance. Now, with EvolveWell, I’m designing technology and events that carry that same spirit forward in new forms.
Advice: Find a medium—any medium—that helps you transmute your inner experience into something tangible. Don’t worry about being “good.” Focus on being real. When your art or work comes from lived truth, it becomes medicine not just for you, but for others.
3. Relational Integrity + Community as Medicine
Healing didn’t happen in a vacuum. The presence of mentors, friends who asked bold questions (like “Where is your King?”), and sacred containers of community were essential. I learned to see myself more clearly through others—and to walk the line between sovereignty and belonging.
Advice: Invest in relationships that mirror your highest self back to you. Seek out spaces—men’s groups, creative communities, recovery circles—where truth-telling is welcomed and accountability is mutual. And when you can’t find those spaces, create them.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A Book That Touched Me: The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
There have been many books that have left a deep imprint on my journey, but one that continues to echo through my heart is The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller.
One line in particular struck me like a tuning fork:
“You can only heal what you can separate from.”
Weller’s work helped me understand that grief is not something to “get over,” but a sacred territory to be honored—a necessary rite that connects us to our humanity, our ancestors, and the Earth itself. His writing offered language and permission for the immense sorrow I had long carried but didn’t always know how to meet.
As someone who has walked through addiction, loss, and emotional fragmentation, this book helped me see that awareness and acceptance are the first steps toward integration. That we must be willing to gently name and tend to the disowned parts of ourselves—the ones hiding in the shadows, still trying to protect us long after their time has passed.
This book didn’t just inform me. It initiated me. It’s a reminder that healing is not just personal—it’s cultural, ancestral, and collective. And it’s inspired the way I hold space for others in breathwork, ritual, and coaching: with reverence, spaciousness, and the belief that grief, when welcomed, becomes praise.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alexkingharris.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexkingharris/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexdanielkingharris
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkingharris/
- Youtube: @alexkingharris
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/raraavismusic
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