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IN THIS ISSUE:
TRANSFORMATION BY FIRE - An Essay on
Firewalking
AN EXPLANATION - Why it Works Most of
the Time
WISDOM: Life gets shorter each passing day. When you remember that, you have no time for quarrels.
TRANSFORMATION BY FIRE by Leah Maka
I met Leah last April at a ten-day Non-violent Communication workshop in Oregon. She is a bright light and an extraordinary person, although she would be the first to deny it. I am not sure how we started talking about firewalking, but I was amazed to discover she was a firewalker. With thoughtful introspection, Leah has contributed an intriguing essay on her experience as a firewalker.
"You're going to do what?" "That's crazy!" "Whoa! That's pretty dangerous!"
I heard many such comments when I said I was going to do a fire walk. It was the early 80's and the consciousness-raising movement was still going strong. Firewalking began to appear in American culture in the early 60's. By the 1980's, it was becoming an event people did as part of their personal growth and/or spiritual exploration. People like Anthony Robbins, Tom Peters and others were using fire walks as part of their business development seminars. In indigenous cultures, firewalking is used to initiate shamans, healers, and warriors, as a test of their intention and personal power.
My first fire walk was at a friend's farm with a small group of strangers. We gathered in the late afternoon in the kitchen to talk about how we had heard about the fire walk, why we were there, and what we hoped to experience. I was there because walking on fire seemed magical to me and, though I did not expect I could ever do it, to be present when others did would be a magical and powerful experience.
The man who was leading the fire walk talked about intention and purpose. "Think about something in life that is not working for you and give it to the fire for transformation," he said. We are often told to "let go" or "give something up" that is not productive or useful in our lives. Firewalking is about transformation, not giving up some thought or behavior. To transform the thought or behavior allows us to reclaim the energy and power inherent in the behavior or thought.
I sat in the circle in a small farm kitchen and shared my reasons for being there, what I thought my intention was, and that I had no idea what I was going to get out of the experience. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening as we talked, sang songs, danced, drummed, shared food and got to know each other, I kept waiting for something magical to happen; for some shift to occur if I was going to fire walk. My consciousness would change. I would feel something different. I would see differently. Yet, as the time for the fire walk drew closer, I felt as I always had. Nothing seemed different.
We built the pyre, lit the wood and got ready to walk across the hot coals. With the moment of truth fast approaching, I grew increasingly uneasy. I knew I would not be able to walk. The fire walk leader reminded us that walking was not the purpose--being present and intention were the goals. As we walked barefoot down the lighted path to the fire, I still could feel no magic, no shift, no new awareness or perception. I stood in the circle and watched as the coals were raked into a long, glowing path. Everyone gathered at one end. The night sky was clear and cold. The incandescent light cast shadows on the anxious faces. All eyes fixed on the line of hot coals. We stood in silence. Who would be first? Would anyone walk? Was it really possible?
Then a young man stepped up to the fire. He looked down at the fire, took his first step onto the coals, and walked to the end of the path. We cheered and shouted, celebrating his walk. Others moved to the fire. The air became charged with excitement and joy each time someone walked the row of glowing coals. I still felt I was not going to be able to walk the fire. I was standing next to a woman I had connected with during the afternoon. Both of us had expressed our doubts about being able to walk. When she moved up to the fire, I went to stand a few feet behind her. If she walked, then I knew I could walk! I don't remember her name any more, but I remember stepping up to the fire behind her and looking at that glowing path. I could feel the fear rise up in my throat. It threatened to cut off my breathing. I felt the power of my fear. I heard a voice call my name. I looked up to see our guide standing at the other end of the path. "Look at me," he said. "Just stay focused on me."
I raised my eyes to the guide, took a deep breath, and stepped out. I walked across those glowing coals (1800 degrees) into the arms waiting for me at the end of that path. I walked one more time that evening. I never did experience any "magic." The experience I had was not in my head. It was in my cells, in my senses, in a wholeness of experience that is beyond description. As I attempt to explain firewalking, I struggle, wanting to put words to my experience. It is something for which I have no words.
But, I can tell you what I learned. First, I learned that fear is energy. We have named this energy "fear." We have lots of rules and beliefs about "fear." These rules and beliefs keep us locked in a room. This room becomes our prison. Second, the key to unlocking the room is found in what we do with this energy. The indigenous peoples teach that to walk the fire without getting burned you must wait until the "fear," the "energy," is right up in your throat ready to cut off the breath. When you feel it just ready to choke off your breath, you walk. Third, you listen for the "still, small voice inside that says 'now'." To walk for any other reason, person or purpose is ego and you will receive a response from the fire in the form of a "burn." I have been burned twice, yet never had a mark on my feet. Fire walking is not about ego. It is about spirit, and about our own inner spirit. It is also a visceral experience of "no limits." We all know that fire burns; it eats things up; it consumes. Yet, when we walk the fire, those rules or beliefs no longer apply. We experience a universe that is without limits.
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The greatest lesson from the fire is to recognize the power of our internal energy, i.e., fear. Used one way our fears will destroy the earth itself. Used in a conscious way, fear becomes healing energy for all of humankind and Mother Earth. Firewalking offers other benefits: spiritual awakening, individual transformation, personal empowerment, increased self-confidence, release/transformation of fears, and the birth of new beliefs or practices and more.
I went on to lead fire walks for others and to walk many more times. Each time the fire challenges me to feel the energy and transform it again and again. That is what it is about.
AN EXPLANATION
There is no doubt that firewalking can be a potentially dangerous activity and should never be attempted without a guide. Physics, however, offers an explanation why it works--or, doesn't work. The research suggests that the secret lies in the low thermal conductivity of the burning wood or charcoal and the short time the foot is in contact with the coals. Bernard Leikand and William McCarthy published a paper (Skeptical Inquirer, Fall, 1985) on the subject.
They point out that charcoal and wood are poor conductors and the ash that is left is itself producing no further heat. Additionally, the foot will be in contact for a total time of a second or so. The most relevant form of heat transmission to firewalking is conduction. "Conduction happens when energetic molecules, the hot coals, that are vibrating collide with more sedate molecules, the soles of the feet, thereby transferring energy to them, but the thermal conductivity of coarse charcoal is very small and that of skin or flesh is only about four times more." Metals, by comparison, have a thermal conductivity several thousand times larger. Additionally, "the whole foot is not in contact the entire time because of the coarseness of the charcoal and how the foot is placed when walking. (He notes that one should not run.) "So, what I believe happens when one walks on fire is that on each step the foot absorbs relatively little heat from the embers that are cooled, because they are poor conductors, that do not have much internal energy to transmit as heat, and further, that the layer of cooled charcoal between the foot and the rest of the hot embers insulates them (the feet) from the coal's embers."
He feels that any physically fit person could do a walk of short length and that longer walks appear to be possible "if a layer of insulating ash is allowed to build up on a well-packed down bed, where the temperature has been allowed to fall significantly from what it was when the coals were at their hottest."
The fact is, however, that people have been severely burned. I know personally of one fellow who burned his feet very badly. He was a very large man. The above theory might suggest that his size may have caused his foot to sink through the cooled top layer to the hotter layer below and that the contact not only was hotter but perhaps longer than that of an average-sized individual. Perhaps the reason someone should not run is because of the added force with which each foot hits the surface, thereby sinking deeper into the bed of coals. In some of the resources I read, the temperature of the coals was suggested to be anywhere from 800-1200 degrees. Was this the temperature of the surface or the coals beneath? Perhaps the temperature does not matter because the contact is short and supposed to be with the upper layer that has cooled. (This tells me that it might be smart, should I ever try it, to let everyone else go first.)
Theory is always consoling. It does not mean that firewalking is a piece of cake. As Leah says, it is the fear of it that, when overcome, creates the transformation. Theory does not diminish the act. It may, however, aid one in gaining the courage to try. Such an activity, just like any that puts you on the edge, challenges all your mental, physical and emotional faculties to be present and focused on the activity. It is that experience that can transform paralyzed energy and from which one glimpses the power of personal potential. That breakthrough can contribute to every area of our lives. Anyone up for a fire walk?
2004! May our vision continue to expand, our understanding continue to increase, and our hearts continue to open so we may continue to learn how to be present and focused on the fleeting treasure of each moment.
A WISE, SAFE, JOYOUS AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!
There will not be a February Museletter as I will be wandering around Southern India for a month but I should return with 101 adventures to report.
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I WANT TO THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO LET ME KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ARE ENJOYING MY MUSELETTER AND ARE PASSING IT ON TO OTHERS YOU THINK MIGHT ENJOY IT. IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE TO HEAR FROM YOU. YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED!
I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A MAILING LIST OF AT LEAST 1000 BY THE END OF THE YEAR SO PLEASE KEEP THE REFERRALS COMING.
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EMAIL: allison@dancewitheagles.com
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WINGS Vol. III, No 1, January, 2004
