Is the impossible really possible after all?

I have long believed that the mind is more powerful than the majority of us think. If you know certain techniques it can open up doors for you that may have been closed for a long time due to the fears or beliefs you have about what is lurking on the other side of the door.

If I needed proof I got it this weekend. In bucket loads.

I have spent the last four days in the company of 7500 other people at an event called Unleash The Power Within run by Tony Robbins. If you’re not familiar with him he is a powerhouse of a man who has spent the last 35 years researching and developing systems for tapping into the power of the mind and body.

He gets results.

The people at the very top of all walks of life, be it sport, business, entertainment or politics go to him for coaching to help them make the best even better.

UPW is four days of total immersion in various methods of using your mind to make big breakthroughs. Breaking through beliefs that have been holding you back and fears that have been stopping you going after what you want in life.

The first of many highlights of the weekend was a firewalk.

You know, walking several metres across glowing coals at around 1000°F in bare feet.

Power of the mind or just plain crazy out of your mind?

After only a few hours of mindset training the vast majority of the audience walked over the coals (30 paths of hot coals were laid out for us) with no injury whatsoever.

Looking back on it, it seems incredible.

There was no dousing feet in water beforehand, the coals were smoking hot and glowing (there was very little other light apart from the glow as we were doing this at 11pm) and yet…

Those of sound mind and reason would dismiss the very idea as insane. I include myself in this group.

However, I have an open mind and was curious.

We were whipped up into a frenzy of positivity and put into a mental state where we believed that we could walk on fire.

And then it was time.

We walked out of the venue onto a wide tarmac area. The smell of the coals burning was everywhere.

My heart was pounding but the little voice of reason in the back of my mind had been drowned out by loud tribal drums and 7500 people chanting “Yes…Yes…Yes…Yes…” The atmosphere was amazing, almost hypnotic.

The first step surprised me. I could feel the shapes of the pieces of raked out coal beneath my feet but I couldn’t feel any heat or pain at all.

I walked calmly, at normal walking pace, to the end of the path, wiped my feet to get rid of any clingy bits of hot coal then had my feet hosed off with cold water.

Then the euphoria hit.

I’d done it. I’d actually done it.

Somehow (and my rational, scientific mind is really battling with this) I had got my mind into a state where I believed that I could, so I did. I just did.

I wouldn’t blame you at all for thinking that there was some trickery going on here, that the coals weren’t really that hot, that there was enough ash between skin and coals to prevent burning, that they weren’t even real coals.

But I can honestly say, hand on heart, that there was no trickery. Those coals were bloody hot. And apart from the soles of my feet feeling slightly tingly for an hour or so there were no after effects whatsoever.

So.

Is it a case of mind over matter? Maybe.

But if it’s possible to use the power of the mind to enable you to walk unharmed over glowing coals, how many other seemingly impossible things could you achieve?

I’m on the path to finding out…

(Previously published on alittlebitofpeaceandquiet.com Mar 30, 2015.)