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October 2009 (800) 218-0055 toll free in the USA or +1 (214) 393-1790
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Survival of the Fittest
from the desk of Charles Horton
 In this month's photo and video essay edition, we celebrate the FIT: Firewalking Instructor Training. This is our hallmark training intensive. We are proud of the thousands of graduates FIRE has taught over the years.
With the global economy at record-setting lows, now is the time to invest in yourself to ensure that you survive and thrive. The insight and skills learned in the FIT will inspire and motivate you, whether you intend to teach firewalking or not. If you are a life coach or trainer, expect to propel your business and confidence to new heights.
Firewalking is a Global Movement
At our last FIT in August, students traveled from several continents to participate. The melting pot of cultures was powerful, and it reaffirmed that people all over the world are looking for leadership and growth opportunities. That is what you will be able to deliver after training with us.
Recently, we were contacted to produce firewalking instructor training (FIT) in China. We've listed it on the calendar and will keep you informed as details develop. I'm planning to travel on a ten-day tour of China after the event, and hope to take FIT students along (or anyone else who wants to join). If you're interested, contact Matt Carr to discuss the itinerary and costs.
A European master firewalker is producing a class in Portugal, and our students are staging firewalks monthly around the world.
Our founder, Tolly Burkan, started teaching people the ancient art of walking on fire decades ago in California. In this issue, we show you where the movement is today. Enjoy! We hope we will see you in the pictures someday soon!
Is it Better the Second Time Around?
Already took the FIT? Scroll down to the bottom for incredible savings on a repeat intensive - a special offer for certified firewalking instructors.
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FIT: Real People, Real Results
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What is Firewalking Instructor Training?
by Chucky Pizzo
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Firewalking Instructor Training (FIT) is our most popular, and some say our most exciting intensive. It teaches you how to walk on fire safely, but more importantly, how to build and run successful firewalks. It is also incredibly empowering and of great value to anyone, whether or not they intend to teach firewalking. FIT participants leave changed - with a whole new perspective about what they can accomplish in life.
Training is intense over several days. You learn much more than how to build and walk on fire. You also learn how to walk on broken glass - which some consider scarier than walking across hot coals. We celebrate each victory, because we know students are facing their fears and taking steps that help them grow.
The training moves from team building to intense - quickly. Some exercises appear deceptively easy, yet test a student's ability to concentrate, focus, and think creatively. A simple game of witch/watch, where a doll and a wristwatch move around the room, demonstrates the need to pay attention at all times.
Exercises such as low ropes teach the power of working as a team, while thinking out of the box is necessary to complete the outdoor exercises.
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We teach that concentration and the belief that you can succeed are more important than brute strength. We start by breaking boards. Later, we advance to breaking one-inch thick concrete blocks, which requires absolute concentration. These excercises teach, among other things, to give your all on the first try if you really want to succeed.
Breathing exercises flood our brains with oxygen and bring us into peak states for the challenges ahead. It is another one of the techniques that looks simple, yet proves very powerful in transforming the way you think about your life.
Strength in numbers is the focus of the trust fall, in which participants fall backward from a height just over a meter into the arms of classmates. We teach the proper method so that everyone carries a portion of the weight. Then students bond by taking turns falling backwards - blindly - into the arms of fellow students.
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Several exercises are outside of the comfort zone of most, yet that is exactly how one learns to stretch one's capabilities both professionally and personally. Often, we hold ourselves back with the thought that something is impossible - without realizing that such limiting beliefs are a set-up for failure.
Snapping an arrow with the tip pointed against the soft part of your throat is one of the many challenges you will meet head-on during the FIT. Sound challenging to anyone out there? Think of it this way: it's only a basic skill you will master before bending steel rebar with your throat. Soon, you realize that you can do more than you ever thought possible.
Walking on broken glass is one such activity. Many of us have been programmed to fear being cut by glass. With focus and technique, you can do it safely.
In the FIT, we show you how to break glass safely and prepare it. But nothing prepares you for the sound of fifty pounds of broken glass snapping under your feet as you walk across it. You learn to pay attention with every step you take - a great metaphor for getting ahead in life.
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There is also a tremendous amount of hands-on experience learning how to build fires properly. Whether it's the selection of the wood, the size and shape of the pieces, the best way to prepare the fire for a grass field or a concrete surface, we have you covered.
In detail, we teach you how to stack, space and secure the wood for optimal conditions. A lot of factors make a great fire for firewalking, and you will build and walk across several types of fires you and your team build themselves.
At our most recent FIT, a special guest joined us to discuss the spiritual history of firewalking - an art that dates back to ancient cultures. Students also learned all about the proper propellants and tools to safely ignite a large fire.
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One of our rituals is to write down goals we'd each like to achieve, and/or behaviors we'd like to change, then toss them into the fire. It's symbolic yet a powerful metaphor for change.
Learning how to tend the fire is crucial for students. We show you how to do it, and then let you do it. You will learn to respect the heat and the fire.
As the fire burns down, we use the time for additional classroom instruction or entertainment. In August, fire performance artists from Mountain Mischief surprised our teams with a virtuoso performance.
Once the wood burns to embers, yet is glowing hot (averaging 1100 degrees Fahrenheit), we teach you how to walk across the red-hot coals safely. You can feel the intensity of the heat, and it is always amazing to see the reaction of first-timers. Expect to be exhilarated! Photographs don't always do the experience justice, because flash often washes out the red hot intensity and creates the false impression of walking on ash. In person, you can see and feel what you just accomplished.
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To become a FIRE-certified Firewalking Instructor, you must walk across the fire 108 times in one session. The number is rooted in ancient tradition, and anyone teaching firewalking can proudly say they have walked on fire over a hundred times.
It's an amazing feat - one undertaken with great seriousness through the expert guidance provided by our executive and master instructors. Firewalking is safe when done the way we teach it. You will be forever transformed. Our students routinely tell us it was a terrific four-day investment in their future.
Firewalking Institure of Research and Education (FIRE) is the pre-eminent authority for firewalking instruction, with over 2000 graduates. We operate with the full cooperation of the local fire department.
Register today! Join the FIT - December 3 - 6, 2009
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Graduates Grow Their Businesses!
by Chucky Pizzo
Certified firewalking instructors Veronica Valdez and Josue Ecamilla are creating the life of their dreams. They are introducing a line of authentic salsas from Mexico to the American market - via mail order, supermarkets and restaurants. The pair was interviewed on radio and may land a segment on a new Hispanic television channel. Salsa and firewalking... two hot topics!
Master Instructor Steve Consalvez is having a conference center built to facilitate firewalks, retreats, alternative therapies, coaching and business meetings produced by his U.K.-based company, Success Formulae. Check out coverage of a firewalking event he led that ran "on the telly" in Britain last year ( click here). We like the message : turn fear into action.
The Team Culture Institute led by Gene Gray scheduled a charity event, Firewalk for Firefighters, to raise money for the Fallen Heroes Family Support Fund. Regrettably, the weather did not cooperate and Gene hopes to re-schedule. The natural alliance between firewalking and firefighters is one that is sure to generate awareness and publicity.
Christy and Kenny Chapman recently hosted a goal setting and team building workshop in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Christy appeared in a glass walking video posted on Facebook, and Kenny reports they "hit it outta the park with the workshop! The glasswalk blew the audience's mind." He also has a smart-looking Web site to generate buzz for his coaching business.
On October 17, executive instructor Mike Agugliaro and wife Jennifer are opening their home in New Jersey for a firewalk. Don't miss the inspiring youth videos on their company Web site, People Power Programs. We love the sound of kids chanting, "I will, I can, I must!"
In Egypt, entrepreneur Mohamed Tarek led a firewalk during a retreat to the Sinai that included meditation and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). He is now also offering online video training.  Another successful Alchemist Seminar was produced by Chris Livingston, who also runs Mind Mastery and other life coaching events featuring glass and firewalking, as well as rebar bending. He runs many of the classes in conjunction with his award-winning bookstore, The Book of Knowledge in Winchester, VA. Got news? E-mail: chucky AT firewalking DOT com
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| CareerConnection: To Create Opportunity, Change!
FIRE led a glasswalking demonstration at CareerConnection, a group that helps professionals network and stay positive while making career transitions. Tom Niesen and Charles Horton told the 300-plus assembled professionals, "the trick to overcoming obstacles is letting go of whatever holds you back - focus on results. Program yourself with the positives - go tackle your goals. That's a key to success."
Click to play exclusive behind-the-scenes footage
Television station CW 33 covered the event (check out the clip here).
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Mischievous RAD Girls Glass Walk on TV
The Rad Girls - shorthand for radical - are a trio of daring young women who break the gender barrier with edgy stunts. Their program moves to the cable channel MavTV this fall. Pundits liken the show to a female version of the MTV hit, JackAss. Master instructors Brandi Slater and Kevin Axtell recently worked with them on a segment scheduled to air later this year that features glasswalking and arrow snapping. Brandi filed the following report, to which we have added previews:
"The shoot was fantastic! The cast and crew were all awesome - it felt like we were connecting with old friends. All of the girls either surf or skateboard, so after each activity they said things like 'it felt just like dropping into a 12 foot wave' and 'I got that feeling like when you're about to drop into a vert (vertical halfpipe - skateboarding). Their young audience will really connect."
"Kevin facilitated the glass and they all walked, and then one of them walked blindfolded. She was visibly shaking; when she got off, she was so stoked!"
"Kevin also led one of them through laying down on the glass and the others stepped onto her stomach and over the glass. When she stood up, she was in an altered state - she had a really strong experience!" - Slater and Axtell are Mountain Mischief. |
Refer A Friend
Not staging events? Want your friends and family to enjoy the same experiences you did so they can have their own breakthroughs? FIRE will offer them a 15% courtesy discount off our regular tuition - 10% off our earlybird registration - when you refer them for training. Think about the people you care about and how they will benefit when you tell them to "just do it."
Contact Matt Carr (ext. 308) Take advantage of these promotions, and ask about the rewards we offer when your referals register. It's a sweet deal!
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Got an event or idea? Share your story with the community of firewalkers.
Chucky Pizzo
Evangelist-in-Chief
E-mail: chucky AT firewalking DOT com | |
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Upcoming Events
Firewalking Instructor Training (FIT)
Dec 3 - 6, 2009
Dallas TX
Charles Horton
Rites of Passage
Wealth Building
Dallas TX
Charles Horton
Firewalking Instructor
Training (Europe)January 3, 2010Algarve Coast, Portugal Rolf and Owsa Beckman Firewalking InstructorTraining (FIT - Asia)January 6-9, 2010
Dongguan, Guangdong, China Charles Horton Steve Consalvez
Executive Firewalking Instructor Training (EFIT)
Firewalking Instructor
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In the News
Can a Walk on Hot Coals Lead You to Enlightenment?
Dallas Morning News
VIDEO: Walking on Fire for Motivation
Dallas Morning News
The 25 Things to Do
Before You Die
RealBuzz
Hot Combo:
Firewalking & Fireworks
Hampshire Chronicle
Walking Over Hot Coals to Bond with Colleagues
CNN International
Volunteers Firewalk
for Hospice
Guardian
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Burn These Books!
Let it Be Easy
by Tolly Burkan
Whether it's heaven or hell, we create our own lives. For those who are constantly struggling with finances, relationships, health, school or career, life is hell. But life was never meant to be a struggle.
A pioneer in the human potential movement, Tolly Burkan shows how easy it is to create an extraordinary life, beginning exactly where you are today. Instead of struggling to make things happen, he shows how you can master the art of letting things happen.
Designate today as the beginning of a new phase in your life. This profound little book will show you how easy it can be.
Only $14.95 + S/H, In Stock. Ships same day. Shipping quoted for domestic only. E-mail for international rate.
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Extreme Spirituality
by Tolly Burkan
"A must treasure for every serious seeker's library. It's powerful message of courage, wisdom, love and joy transforms you even as you read. Tolly's insights are simple and profound and have the energy of alchemy in them. As he shares his visionary concepts, he touches our hearts."
--- Rev. Edwene Gaines
Only 14.95 + S/H In Stock.
Ships same day. Shipping quoted for domestic only. E-mailfor international rate.
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Become a Hottie!
Do you have a desire to help change other people's lives?
F.I.R.E. needs volunteers: writers, graphic designers and Web site professionals.
We also need bloggers, Facebook users, and Twitter tweeters to help spread our message of empowerment.
We probably need more volunteers than we know. Are you special? Let us know!
info@firewalking.com
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