Last spring I walked across an eight foot bed of 1200 degree Fahrenheit coals in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at a Tony Robbins conference. It was at once the most frightening, fun, wild, terrifying, empowering and fulfilling experience of my life.
Firewalking has been around for thousands of years. It has been practiced for centuries by shamans, yogis, priests, and ordinary folk, as both a religious ritual and as a healing ceremony.
Tony Robbins uses fire walking as a metaphor for facing fears and overcoming obstacles. It is also meant to represent the power of the mind in controlling one’s focus (including the ability to withstand pain).
The physiology associated with fire walking is actually quite simple. Controlled breathing, balanced step, distribution of weight equally throughout the foot, and a slow but consistently measured pace. Anyone can learn to walk on fire, without being burnt, in a matter of minutes. It is not the physiology which is difficult to master. It is the psychology.
You see, when you have poor psychology you walk up to that bed of coals, you feel the heat, you smell the burning of the wood. At that moment your rational subconscious kicks in and says WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU NUTS? Fear quickly sets in, you come out of “State” and you are unable to control your physiology (ie. breathing, balance, pace). This is how people get burned. It is the physiology that fails them. However, the physiology is directly controlled by the psychology.
There are three aspects to successfully walking on fire: Story (what you believe), State (your ability to control your focus and therefore your actions) and Strategy (knowing the right way to proceed).
Before I did the fire walk we spent hours working on Story and State. We visualized our successful triumph over the coals. We visualized our standing in the coals and being at one with the fire. We visualized what this triumph would mean to us. We visualized the celebration at the end of the walk. We visualized the coals being like “cool moss” as we calmly walked over them.
We did incantations where we recited, while in a peak state, the phrase “my body will do whatever it takes to protect itself”. We were assigned random “accountability partners” (mine happened to be a 70 year old lady named Jane). We had to state, over and over again to our accountability partners that we would complete the task, that we wouldn’t back down, that we would walk on fire. We had to tell our accountability partners why we would walk on the fire, and what it would mean to us if we successfully accomplished this goal.
We visualized over and over again our greatest individual achievements, the things that we most value in life today, and we also visualized the successful accomplishment of our current goals and desires. While in these meditative states we created physical “anchors” (in my case a clenched right fist) which we could then recall as we walked up to the fire. We celebrated to music our previous achievements and as we were doing this we would perform our unique physical “anchor”, over and over again, to condition our mind to associate positive feelings with this physiological move.
Finally we learned the strategy. Walk up to the fire. Make your physical anchor. Look to the sky and recite the words “cool moss” as you calmly but with balance step walk across the coals. There can be absolutely no hesitation or you will burn your feet. It has to be absolutely certain, consistent and balanced. The entire time you visualize yourself walking on the cool moss. That was it, a simple but critical strategy.
At about 12:15am, after having been working on preparing our minds for the walk since 10:00am it was time to test our resolve. I distinctly remember Tony saying “now take off your shoes”. I was sitting in the front row. At that moment African drums started to play loudly from the many speakers throughout the Broward Convention Centre. Everyone stood up, and started to walk to the parking lot where five rows of eight foot by two foot wood piles were slowly burning. As we were walking we were told to chant the word “Yes” in sync with the loud and rhythmic beating of the drums.
As soon as Tony told us to remove our shoes I fell out of state. As everyone started to chant I felt almost an out of body experience. It was surreal. It was scary. I didn’t want to do it anymore. I immediately became convinced that I was going to burn myself. I felt uncomfortable and nervous. But I was caught in a stream of people like a current in a fast moving river. I looked for an exit path and I couldn’t find one. Worst of all was the fact that I had an elderly lady holding my elbow as we walked out to the fire. The same lady who I had told at least a dozen times throughout the day that I wasn’t going to back out.
As we approached the coals I could smell the distinct scent of the burning wood. I could feel the heat of the coals as I was near. I knew that this wasn’t a gimmick. This was real. Then I looked up and noticed that others in front of me had already walked on the fire, unscathed, and were now celebrating on the other side.
My mind said “If they can do it I must be able to”.
Then the moment of absolute clarity came for me. There were about 6 or 7 people in front of me in the line to walk on the fire. I knew it was now or never. Either I was going to get myself in state and go for it, or I would drift into the darkness of faces and back out. I decided to move forward, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. At that moment of decision I felt absolute certainty. I made my physical anchor about 10 times very quickly. I told myself that “others did it, so I can too”. Before I knew it I was standing at the fire. Tony’s assistant said go. I looked up to the sky and said “cool moss” as I visualized walking on moss covered stones. I felt the warm texture of coals under my feet, as I peacefully walked over the bed of fire. In 8 paces I was done, unscathed. And tearfully celebrating with random strangers.
I learned from this event that we can accomplish things that we didn’t think were possible if we align these three principles – story, strategy and state. The stories we tell ourselves about what we can and can’t do in this life will alter our actions. The physical state we live in, the energy and enthusiasm we convey to people, and how we direct our focus will dictate our ability to achieve large goals. Finally you can’t achieve anything if you have the wrong strategies. I learned that if others can do something, so can I. I just have to remain focused, believe, model a successful strategy and stay consistent in my approach. More than anything however, I learned the power of absolute certainty and commitment. This is the x-factor. When you are certain in life that you will achieve something – that is when the fear goes away. It is replaced with peace and celebration.
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