In the rock star world of motivational speakers, giant handed Tony Robbins is something of a Bono. He doesn’t work in auditoriums, he fills convention centers. After working a crowd into a frenzy of positive mental attitude and belief in the self, if Tony Robbins tells you that you can walk barefoot across 1200°F coals you believe him. Unfortunately even Tony Robbins cannot control physics.
After working his magic on an audience at the San Jose Convention center in a show called, “Unleash the Power Within” he invited a select few (those who paid) across the street and down the block a bit to an area that was setup with hot coals for them to walk on to prove that they had indeed unleashed the power within them. This is the “Firewalk Experience.” Unfortunately not everyone was able to fully unleash their inner spirit animal.
As it turns out your intrepid reporter was on the scene that night but had no idea what he was seeing. That evening I attended an Aziz Ansari show across the street and was annoyed that an entire street was closed and a huge fire was burning in the middle of Park Ave. I would have used Park to get to the venue and as a Californian I have certain guaranteed rights when it comes to when, where and how I can drive (anytime, anywhere and anyhow), but I didn’t file a complaint with the right-to-drive commission.
The burning pile of coals in the middle of the road was laid out in an adjacent grassy area for the attendees to walk on. It’s sort of like the feeling you might imagine if you were literally walking on sunshine while listening to Walking on Sunshine.
Unfortunately 21 of attendees were unable to muster the necessary mental imagery of success to get across the coals and ended up having to be treated for burns. That or the insulating layer of ash that builds up on the coals was disturbed by one of the other firewalkers that went before them and they were exposed more directly to the hottest part of the coals. A few brave participants gave the Mercury News their real names:
Henry Guasch, 19, of Mountain View, said that after crossing the coals while chanting his mantra of “Cool moss,” he felt powerful.
“Overcoming something like that, it’s a breakthrough,” he said, adding that he did slow his pace in the middle of the field and got a minor burn.
Guasch and Andrew Brenner, another fire walker, both said that the keys to not getting singed are faith and concentration.
“I did it before, didn’t get into the right state and got burned,” Brenner said. “I knew I wasn’t at my peak state. I didn’t take it as serious.”
In what is the best advice given all night the fire department captain Reggie Williams said:
We discourage people from walking over hot coals.
But nobody has ever been inspired to change their life by listening to the sobering words of a fire official.
Source: Mercury News / Photo: Wikimedia
