The Fire-Walk

Sometimes in life we have to be willing to do things that we don’t necessarily want to do. Often we have to walk down paths that are not always paved in gold, but sometimes the roughest paths lead to the best destinations. One such destination occurred for me over ten years ago at a Tony Robbins Unlimited Power Workshop.

I’ve always considered myself an adventurous “daredevil” and I had been geared up for years to do a fire-walk.  I had visited the South Pacific and seen natives perform the ritual in ceremony, but I did not have the opportunity to join them. A few years later at age 25 I finally was afforded the opportunity to cross the goal off of my ‘bucket list’.

Fire-walking for the first time with Tony Robbins just made the experience that much more profound. So I had no fear when it came to pulling off my shoes, rolling up my pants and walking through 40 feet of hot, burning, flaming coals. The most powerful moment for me, however, was watching the transformation that took place in the woman who sat next to me during the entire event.

Debbie and I connected as we sat down side by side on the first day before the event even began. She expressed to me that she was going through a mid-life crisis of epic proportion. Her husband had suddenly divorced her with no warning, she was laid off from her job for no reason – and to top it off, she had a dying mother that she had to provide care for. “Could it get any worse?” she asked. To which I replied “Imagine having to cope with all of that, but from the comfort of a wheelchair which you are relegated to for the rest of your life because you lost your legs in an accident.” She nodded in approval as she glanced down at her feet in appreciation. “Have you been here (to a Tony Robbins event) before? It seems like you have” she questioned.

I hadn’t been to an event before, but I was a huge fan of Tony as I had read all of his books and shared his mindset. Debbie expressed her doubts about “motivational speaker types” and commented that she was only there because her friends had paid for her ticket and urged her to go. She came only out of guilt that her friends had spent a lot of money for her to come. She was so despondent that she had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to benefit or see any change no matter what Tony said. Boy was she wrong.

The three day workshop started on a Friday afternoon. Tony came out and pumped up the crowd and spoke about the power of the mind and its ability to adapt and change. Then all 2500 of the attendees took a break and walked outside into the parking lot where there was a huge pile of firewood accompanied by two fire trucks. Tony got on a platform next to the pile of wood and talked about fire and how hot the wood burned and how hot the resulting coals would be. He talked about fire-walking rituals and how they were a rite of passage for boys to become men in some cultures. Debbie was quick to announce to me that she was not going to do the fire-walk. Coincidentally, Tony went on to say that it was okay not to do it if you weren’t ready. He then explained what percentage of people would get burned and out of those people who got burned how many would be burned bad enough to require medical attention.

Interestingly enough, according to him, most people got burned after they had exited the coals and broken their state of mind. The coals were so hot that they would often fuse to the feet during the walk. A quick shot of water at the finish line would knock the coals off and insure that you weren’t burned when you ‘broke state’. As the crew lit the bonfire, we returned to the auditorium for more of Tony’s training.

The master motivator demonstrated how to change your thoughts and how your thoughts controlled your physiology. He explained how the body is capable of doing amazing things when the mind believes it can. He cited examples of people lifting cars to save trapped loved ones after accidents. He taught us to enter a “state” and in this state the mind could alter perception. For instance, he demonstrated that repeating a simple mantra like “cool moss” could make the feet think that they were walking on cool moss rather than hot fire. I couldn’t wait to test the theory and I was determined to not let Debbie’s constant and incessant negativity and refusal to do the fire-walk hinder my experience in the least.

Finally, the time had come – the pinnacle of the workshop was about to happen on the first night. We all took our shoes off, rolled up our pants and then filed out of the auditorium and back into the parking lot. What had been an enormous pile of wood only a couple of hours prior had been reduced to a flaming pile of cinders. Debbie walked out behind me, but reconfirmed that she was not going to do the walk – in fact, she had not removed her shoes in the auditorium.

Adjacent to the bonfire, there were about a dozen lanes roped off in the parking lot that were laden with tightly packed flaming coals. The group divided and we lined up single file in front of our designated lane. At Tony’s direction, we began to enter our “state” and repeat our mantra. Debbie was about to exit the line and go wait in the “coward section” for observation only. I grabbed her by the arm and said “If you get burned, the wounds will heal quickly in comparison to the pain of a lifetime of ‘What if… I had done it’.” She remained in line behind me and said “Ok, let me watch you go first”. Then, in a surprise move, she took off her shoes and tossed them to the side.

I entered my state and found my clarity, focus and power. I wasn’t nervous in the slightest - aside from the adrenaline produced from my pure excitement. I remained focused as Tony’s affiliate coaches walked up and down the lines making sure that each participant was mentally focused and ready for the feat. A few people were pulled from the line and put into a ‘focus group’ to get them into state before they were allowed to do the fire-walk. Surprisingly, Debbie was not pulled.

I forgot about her and set my focus on the fire in front of me. I wanted to take in the moment to the max, for I knew this would be a powerful event in my life. One after another, the participants in line in front of me walked through the coals – some fast, some slow, but all made it to the finish and were greeted with a shot of water on the feet to keep them from getting burned as they broke mental state to celebrate.

My turn was next and I was focused and ready to go, but before I took my first step, the line coach stopped me. He told me to stay in state for a moment. What was wrong? I was sure I was ready. But apparently I was so ready that the fire was not hot enough for me. They had stopped my line to bring over a wheel-barrel full of fresh coals. I watched (in state) as the workers raked fresh burning embers onto the path in front of me. “Bring it on” I thought to myself. When the raking was done, my coach called me to his attention, looked into my eyes to determine my readiness and then gave me the nod.

And I was off. One foot in front of the other I walked slowly and methodically through the hot, burning coals as flames lapped up in front of me. I repeated my mental mantra “wet sand… wet sand… wet sand…” as I walked fearlessly through the fire. It was a short, slow walk that would create a long, profound memory. I felt the warmth beneath me, but I held my mental state until I felt the water hit my feet. The water signified that it was time to celebrate and I high-fived the other participants who had already finished. Before I could turn around to check on Debbie, I felt someone’s arms wrap around my waist as if to tackle me. It was Debbie and she was rejoicing at the completion of her fire-walk. I believe her excitement trumped everyone else’s (including mine) combined. She remained at the finish line and danced and hi-fived everyone who finished – whooping and hollering with excitement each time someone crossed the line. One forty foot fire-walk changed the course of that woman’s life.

We all celebrated as Tony took the podium and congratulated everyone on their accomplishment before we returned to the auditorium to wrap up the session for the evening. As we walked back across the parking lot, I noticed that the ambulance and EMS workers had a few customers, but none seemed seriously injured. A few ice packs and bandages were issued and that seemed to be the extent of it. Debbie was now like a kid on Christmas morning – continuously replaying her experience and her gratitude to me for helping motivate her to do it.

Back in the auditorium, a few announcements were made and the itinerary and agenda for the next day were revealed. Debbie was exuberant with excitement and couldn’t wait for the next day. I was betting that she wouldn’t sleep a wink that night. She transformed from doubting to doing, coward to courageous, powerless to empowered right before my eyes that night. She thanked me repeatedly for giving her the extra encouragement to overcome her fears. Debbie remained on the edge of her seat, soaking in every word that Tony said for the duration of the workshop. My own sense of accomplishment was belittled by the pride I felt from helping her accomplish something that she never imagined possible. That was my greatest takeaway. I knew that one day I would follow my passion and ultimately help people transform themselves as Tony Robbins did.

As I put my socks and shoes back on, I noticed that the tiny hairs on my toes had not even been singed from the heat. How was this possible? On multiple past occasions, I had burned every hair off of my fingers, hand and arm just from lighting a kerosene heater or gas grill. How had the searing heat from the coals not burned my toe hairs less than an inch above the flames? I didn’t question the inexplicable; rather I embraced the power of my mind to overcome that which seems impossible.  

Eleven years later I was walking my dog outside on a very hot summer day in Florida. We navigated our usual course as we followed the sidewalk to the wooden boardwalk/bridge that led to the community pool. I had taken the same walk with my dog hundreds of times, but today I did it barefooted in the noon sun and heat of the day. I immediately felt the heat on my feet as we transitioned from the coolness of the white sidewalk to the wooden planks, but I kept walking. Exactly half way down the bridge my feet felt like they were going to spontaneously combust from the immense heat. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had 2 options – jump the railing and land in a sand-spur infested patch of undergrowth 8 feet below – or take off running. I chose to run in spite of the searing pain in my feet. I made it to the end of the bridge quickly, although it seemed like an eternity.

I instantly found the first spot of shade and stepped into it. I looked down at my feet and expected to see smoke rising from my soles. I hobbled over to a picnic table under a canopy and sat in the shade for a while as my feet cooled off and my dog “did his business”. The incident caused my Tony Robbins fire-walk experience to be recalled from my memory banks. I wondered if I still possessed the ability to enter ‘state’.

I closed my eyes and recalled Tony’s words and the entire experience as if it were yesterday. I began to utter the phrase “wet sand… wet sand… wet sand…” to myself over and over again. Magically, my feet no longer burned. I glanced over and spotted my dog who seemed perplexed at my actions and demeanor. I breathed deep and continued to repeat my mantra as I stood up to walk back home. As I approached the wooden bridge, I breathed deeper and stated with authority “wet sand”!

I then stepped from the cool concrete to the hot wood, but this time I felt no heat. I walked the distance of the bridge slowly and methodically while repeating my mantra “wet sand… wet sand…” until I reached the other side. The distance of the bridge was much farther than the distance I had walked through the coals ten years ago - and although the wooden bridge was visibly not on fire; nonetheless, it had nearly set my feet ablaze only ten minutes prior. This time I walked the entire distance with absolutely no pain or sensation of heat. It was an amazing feat that reconfirmed the power of my mind and mental ‘state’.

Here’s the tangible takeaway that I want to share with you: anything is possible if you truly believe you can achieve it. One of Tony Robbins’ most popular quotes is borrowed from Napoleon Hill:  “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”  The power of the mind/body connection is profound!