Fire walking has been around for centuries. Many cultures practice fire walking to show commitment, communicate with the spirit world or as an outward sign of overcoming fear.

Recently, a fire walk event organised by motivational speaker Tony Robbins left a number of people with injuries.

I’ve had a very different (and positive experience) with fire walking at a spiritual retreat centre in the hills to the north of Glasgow, Scotland back in 2014. It taught me a lot about persuasion, motivation and overcoming and facing fears.

Here’s what I learned (and how to do it properly!).

Commitment Can Be Built Through Consistency

In Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion he explores the concept of commitment and consistency. Part of this theory is that someone who agrees to a small task or favour is more likely to take part in a larger or more significant task in order to be consistent in their actions.

The fire walk I took part in was the climax of a long evening of meditation, group sharing, music and motivation. Part of the build up included a challenge that involved breaking a wooden arrow.

The point of the arrow was put at the base of my throat while the notch was pushed against a wooden board. I had to move powerfully towards the board, trusting that it would bend and break before it pierced my skin.

This was a strong test. It’s not natural to have something pointy in your throat – a very sensitive part of the body. We are instinctively very protective of our necks and so it took guts to break the arrow. Most of the 40 strong group did. A few were unable or unprepared to have a go.

The result was that every person who had broken the arrow completed the fire walk. The completion of the small task built commitment towards the much larger task ahead.

‘OK, great story. But how does that help anyone?’ It’s simple, you can use this technique on yourself. For example, I recently started taking cold showers as part of the Wim Hof method. I started by turning the temperature down to 4. Then a few days later, I turned it down to 3. And then 2 – until now when I’m able to have a completely cold shower for several minutes.

Or if you need to be motivated to do cardio in the mornings: put your running gear by your bed. When you get up, it’s right there. If you put it on, you’re a lot more likely to go out and do your 30 minutes before the kids wake up. The small task of laying out your kit the night before brings the commitment to actually do it at 5.00am the next morning.

broken arrow confidence test fire walk tony robbins

Fire Walking and The Power of Social Proof

The power of social proof is another significant aspect of persuasion and features heavily in Cialdini’s book. Social proof means that you’re more likely to behave in a certain way if you see other people doing the same. Like the saying goes:

“Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.”

The fire walk took place in a group. Some people (like me) were there with friends. Others had come alone and knew no one. Throughout the evening, we were encouraged to befriend other people on the course and build rapport.

The reason behind this was clear as we walked down into the woods where the walk was to take place. A pile of red hot coals was being spread in a sandy clearing among oak trees. It was a daunting site. If it has been just me, would I have done it?

Probably. But it would have been harder. In fact, when the time came I walk with confidence and purpose. I’d come to know the others on the course. If 40 other people were going to walk across the coals, I was too.

Fire Walking to Overcome Other Fears

Before the fire walk, I was told to ask the tree spirits to grant my deepest desires. Unfortunately for the tree spirits, I’m not really into all the new age spiritual stuff.

Instead I had a different take on the evening. I knew that completing the fire walk would be a challenge but if completed, would give me the power to overcome greater fears. If I could channel the feelings of triumph from the fire walk I could use this to do other things that scared me.

This was before I knew or understood anything about state control or the power of framing. But with the understanding of these concepts, it make even more sense.

That’s why it’s important to do things that scare you. When I first moved overseas, I tried to do something that scared me every day. It worked. It wasn’t enjoyable but I got fully immersed in the culture a lot faster.

I’ve even used the frame of my fire walk to do scarier stuff like jump out of aircraft.

What are you afraid of? It’s natural to have fears – going to the gym for the first time, starting to do freelance work, job interviews, heights, flying or even spiders (I won’t judge). Overcoming these fears is possible. But don’t feel ashamed about working up to them.

Face smaller fears first that you can frame in the context of your Big Fears. You’re much more likely to be able to over come them and in return, live a fuller life.

Closing Thoughts

When I agreed to do the walk with my good friend Jeremiah Reynolds to raise money for his theater company Poorboy, it was for a bit of a laugh and to help a guy out.

What I experienced instead was something deep, powerful and ultimately life changing. If you get the chance to fire walk, do it.

As I’ve learned more about persuasion and the power of the mind through books such as Gorilla Mindset so much more of the experience makes sense. Learning from it has been fun and brought me to places I never knew existed. Hopefully the same can happen for you.

Neil

P.S. I don’t always walk on hot coals for kicks, but I do write a fortnightly email that goes out to a chose few subscribers. If that doesn’t sound appealing, don’t click here.

About Neil M White

Neil has been writing for a number of years. He has worked as a freelance writer both in the UK and internationally and has worked on a number of high profile media projects. Neil spends his spare time hiking, in the gym or hanging out with his family.

2 comments add your comment

  1. That’s crazy! And yet, at the same time, it makes me want to try walking across hot coals.

    It’s amazing what we can do when a) we’re motivated and have the proper mindset, and b) a crowd is watching. Social proof is much more powerful than we as rugged individualists like to think it is.

    • Hi Alex. Yes it was an amazing experience. Once I’d done it once, I wanted to do it again and again. The social aspect was powerful. The organisers clearly wanted us to have a positive shared experience.

Leave a Comment