Yesterday at 9pm I completed my first ever firewalk. In the grounds of Kelvingrove Museum, along with 15 other people, I conquered my fear walking of over burning hot coals. In the words of Errol Gordon, who conducted the 2 hour Learn or Burn Seminar before the firewalk, I made nature my bitch.
I had long known it was theoretically possible to radically alter limiting perceptions and beliefs, but the actual practice of doing so still surprised me. Simply repeating negative phrases was enough to make everyone in the seminar weaker, and vice versa. By utilising NLP techniques of anchoring(1) and acting ‘as if’(2), we were able to banish fears of getting burnt and really enjoy the experience.
The seminar was about proving irrefutably that your physiology and the words you use (in the world and in your head), affect the results you achieve in the world. By getting people into their peak state it is possible to do almost anything.
The event was organized by the SAMH mental health charity (no, the firewalk wasn’t a recruiting drive for more people who need help) and implemented by Men in Black (or, rather, Men in Grey after too many washes). I would definitely recommend doing a firewalk with them, especially if they have the excellent She-Boom playing.
A fellow firewalker asked me on arrival why I wanted to do it. I said I didn’t know. I was sure I had a really good reason at one point, but I had forgetten it. The words ‘Do a Firewalk’ had been sitting on my todo list for over a year and this was the first time I’d seen the opportunity to do one. Right now I am just very happy to have done it.
1) Anchoring is where you come to associate a phrase or a touch with a specific state. These states can be positive ornegative.
2) Acting ‘as if’ is where you hold your body in what you imagine to be the state you want to get into. So if you wanted to be depressed you might slouch, bury your chin in your chest and tell yourself you’re an idiot. If you want to be upbeat you might stand tall, smile and tell yourself you’re a cool dude.
This is an incredible video. For those sucked in into your theories about self-conviction, there’s still the black guy making last-ditch powerful visual motivational sales hand movements and succeeding (to the naked eye) for the first split second, and the girl at the back who can only react to your having finished the walk of fire with getting up and leaving.
Good stuff. The bizarre thing is how blazé you look about it: no power-walking, no purposeful-looking domination-of-the-earth. You’re not fire-striding or fire-swaggering. You’re fire-strolling.
I think the important thing is not to stride too hard. Walk lightly at all times.