“Yes! Yes! Yes!” I was chanting to the tribal music playing in the background. My bare feet taking small steps on the cool evening floor, moving together with 12,000 other participants waiting to change their lives. Feeling excited and yet anxious, I was staring down on the ground, trying to focus and remember what I had to do, ignoring the orange glow casted by flames burning in a distance.
Finally my turn came. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did my power moves for the last time and stepped onto 1,000 degree Celsius burning charcoal.
The day was 1 Feb 2018, 11 p.m. I was getting ready to walk on fire as part of Tony Robbins’s Unleash Your Power Within Seminar in Singapore Expo.
Most would have first known Tony Robbins through his books and seminars. For me, it was quite different. I had not known who Tony Robbins was before the movie ‘Shallow Hal’ by Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow, where he played a cameo role.
Years later, I chanced upon the book ‘Awaken Your Giant Within’. I thought to myself: ‘Oh, isn’t this the self-help guru in that movie? Wait, he really is a self-guru!” I always love reading – I picked up the book wishing that I could also ‘Awaken my giant within’.
But, I gave up after 50 pages. During that time around 2010, I was a career soldier with the Air Force, satisfied with leading a comfortable lifestyle. I had no motivation to complete the mammoth 600-page book. Soon, it was forgotten, sitting with hundreds other books in the corner of my bookshelf, never fulfilling its promise of changing my life.
Fast-forward 6 years, a big career switch, a daughter and a personal tragedy (my brother suddenly passed away at 36 years old) later, I was no longer comfortable. I was not satisfied with how my life had panned out. My career switch turned out to be more challenging than expected. While I looked forward to a new life in a commercial organization, I quickly realized that I was out of depth for my role as a sales trainer and strategist. The armed forces trained me well in leadership and organizational skills yet; I discovered that I had to learn everything from scratch in the new role. I often questioned myself if I made the right choice to leave the Air Force. I longed for a better life.
In early 2017, I read a Facebook advertisement on Unleash your Power Within seminar and learned how Tony Robbins changes lives of millions. Like the book, I thought the seminar would transform me into a better person and gave me the drive to do better. However, unlike the book, which cost $29.90, I balked at the seminar course fee – cheapest ‘Gold category’ ticket for the 4-day seminar was $1500, which I could not afford. Therefore, I gave up on the thought and went back to the struggles of reality.
About 1 month before the program was due to run in February 2018, a new ‘Silver category’ was launched -costing only $700. I jumped at the opportunity and sign up for the program. It would turned out to be the best investment I ever made.
So, I turned up on the first day, excited but not knowing what to expect. The atmosphere was electrifying like a mega party – the motivational crew greeted everyone with hugs and high-fives. All 12,000 of us danced along to high-energy music, clapped and cheered. By midday, my palms were so sore from clapping, my calves burned from non-stop jumping and dancing. But I felt good, I felt excited, I felt that my life was finally going to improve, until Tony announced that everyone would be walking on fire on that evening. Oh s***!
The fire walk is a signature feature of the UPW seminar – it was designed to challenge and overcome our fears. Needless to say, I have not seen or heard about fire walks before. It did not help that Tony mentioned that the charcoals were burning at over 1,000 degrees Celsius. Like many, I was brought up on the belief that fire is dangerous and not touch anything hot. The last time I got burnt was when I was a mischievous kid, defiantly using my finger to prove to my mum that the iron was not hot. Well, I guess we are know how that turned out.
Luckily, Tony Robbins knew what he was doing. For hours, everyone practiced the fire walking drills – using positive self-talk, visualization and affirmations to get us into a state of intense focus and confidence where we ignore the fear of stepping onto burning charcoal. We did power moves – a series of positive body poses and actions such as jumping, clapping and chest thumbing, before visualizing stepping onto the charcoal. We rehearsed celebrating after completing the walk. I must have mentally walked over fire at least 20 times before the actual walk. My focus shifted from how hot the charcoal could be to how proud I would have felt after the walk. Fear eventually became confidence. At 10pm, I was ready.
I did as rehearsed as I stood before the burning charcoal. I shouted my affirmations and performed my power pose – an awkward mix of clapping and fist pumping. Well, I did not care how silly I looked, I just felt great. I looked up and strutted forward, like how ‘The Rock’ Dwayne Johnson enters the WWE ring. I was going like: “if you smell~!” 5 steps out, I got burnt.
I stepped on a piece of hot charcoal and jumped. I cursed. It was hot! Of course, it was hot, who was I trying to kid? It was worse than touching the iron. Instinctively, I looked down at saw more charcoals ahead of me. But strangely, I felt no fear. I quickly remembered my goals, took a deep breath and walked on, 10 metres to go. As I reached the end I went crazy – celebrated exactly as I visualised, jumping, shouting my lungs out and hugging random people around me. I made it! I was overwhelmed with emotions. I did get burnt, the charcoal left a 50-cent sized cooked flesh on my left sole. But I felt great, I overcame fear. If burning charcoal did not kill me, nothing should ever stop me again. Indeed, my life changed from that day on.
The seminar and fire walk were a turning point in my life. After the seminar, I found new energy and passion. I wanted to be better person and effect a bigger change as a trainer. I dived deeper into the topic of human behavior and psychology. I finally completed the Awaken the Giant Within book, a few times over. I read all the other Tony Robbins’s books. I even bought his audio program and committed to master the techniques of positive mindset and behavior change.
As a result, I now regulate my own emotions better, challenge my fears and set empowering goals. I have grown to appreciate my family and career better. I have a new outlook in life and try to live with passion everyday.
At the same time, I want to pay it forward by empowering others with what I have learned. Thankfully, as a trainer, I am privileged touch many people, helping them focus on possibilities and achieving fulfilment , regardless of their situation. Seeing positive change gives me so much pride and energy to continue what I am doing.
So, at the 1 year anniversary of my fire walk, I am starting this blog Walking on Fire – where I share about growth and development, as a tribute to giants of positive mindset like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Napoleon Hill and many more. More importantly, to also help more people find happiness and contentment.
If you are looking to become a better person, I invite you to join me here and share this journey together.
Walking on Fire 