[net.general] More on the Interesting Seminar

root@boulder.UUCP (Boulder Rootsie) (03/12/85)

First, to recap.  I recently attended a seminar in Denver Colorado which 
taught us, among many other things, how to walk on red hot burning coals in
our bare feet.  I have received many questions about it.  Here is a reply to
most of them.  If you still have any questions call me, Burt Wagner, in
Boulder at 303-494-0462 or send mail to me at:

{hao,nbires,cires}!boulder!UCBACS!clipr::bwagner

This was posted by a friend, so please reply directly to the address above.
I have plenty of written information on this subject and I will
mail (US postal) it to you if you give me your mailing address.  I am sorry,
but I dont have the time to answer all of your computer mail individually, but
I will try to get to as many as I can.

-The seminar is not about firewalking per se.  It is about a relatively new
 technology called Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP for short.
-The firewalking part of the seminar is only a very visible demonstration of
 the power of the NLP techniques.
-Using a technique called modeling, which is ONE of the NLP skills taught at
 the seminar, YOU can easily learn to do anything that anyone on the planet 
 can do.  Tony Robbins has simply modeled someone who knew how to firewalk
 and can teach this to anyone else using NLP techniques in a very short time.
-Modeling can be applied to ANYTHING.  He also modeled someone who knew how
 to do a karate move called the "six inch break" one of the hardest moves in
 karate.  (you put you hand next to the board, close your hand to make a fist
 and break the board from six inches away)  Within 2 hours of modeling this 
 person he was able to do it AND teach it to ANYONE ELSE within minutes!
-The firewalking segment of the seminar is not just watching "masters" 
 firewalk.  Most (>95%) of the people who go choose to participate, that is
 walk across the bed of 1000-2000 degree coals provided, once they KNOW they
 have mastered the necessary skills.
-There seems to be some confusion as to how long it takes to master these 
 skills.  The firewalk is only one night out of the four day Mind Revolution
 Seminar.  It is taught the FIRST night as a demonstration of the power of the
 NLP skills that are taught during the next two days.
-Using NLP it takes about 5 hours to teach this particular skill (firewalking)
 to a large (>300) group of average, ordinary people from all walks of life
 who come from a large variety of backgrounds.  To teach this one on one to a
 single individual would require from 5-30 minutes (approx) depending on the
 individual.
-This is not EST.  I have never done EST but from what I have heard the two 
 are worlds appart.  EST starts from the axiom "EVERYONE is an asshole." This
 is based on the assumtion, among others, that "people always do the best they
 can with the resources they have".  (Personally, I can hardly wait to take my
 NLP skills to an EST seminar and reframe them.)

I have received numerous theories as to why peoples feet dont burn.  I would
like to reply to some of them.  First, as far as I know, there is NO 
scientific explaination for firewalking.  We know how to do it but have no
pat explaination as to why the feet dont burn.

Some of the theories presented were:

-Speed.      You run across quick enough to not burn.  We have done 40 foot
             firewalks at a normal walking speed.  Some very aged people have
             taken incredible amounts of time to walk across.
-Sweat.      You perspire fast enough to form some sort of "vapor lock" that
             protects your feet.  This is like licking you finger and puting 
             it on something very hot for a brief time. (see above) Also it
             still works if you completely dry you feet off before you do it.
-Callouses.  Thich layer of dead skin insulates the feet.  Anyone can do this
             within hours.  People have done it walking across on their hands.
-Burning.    This theory says that my feet are burned and I am simply blocking
             the pain (?)
-Ashes.      The soot and ashes insulate you from the heat.  Anyone know the
             insulating properties of ash?  I know that soot is one of the 
             best approximations to a black body there is.  Black bodies
             always radiate as much energy as they receive. ZERO insulation.
-Hypnosis.   I (and the 300 others there) were all lead to believe that we
             walked on the coals through "mass hypnosis".  People with this
             theory still have to explain to me video taped closeup of peoples
             feet crunching through the coals.  Seen on NBC news for example.

Any other theories are greatly appreciated.