Walking over coals for red-hot self-confidence

To date, this part of a motivational exercise for the Sandoz corporate sales team has been the biggest fire-walk attempt in South Africa.The previous biggest event had just over 90 participants.

The event was hosted by two FIRE (Firewalking Institute of Research and Education) certified fire-walking instructors, Willem Gous and Barry Mitchell.

“It is awesome, but only if you do it for the exact reason you want to,” said Suvira Takoordeen after the walk.

“I didn’t feel any pain; the mindset you’re in has to be focused,” said Liezel Smit.

According to Gous, fire-walking is an amazing way to break through limiting beliefs that might be holding you back.

“One of the main reasons to tackle the fire-walk is to motivate yourself and allow yourself to conquer your fears,” he explained.

“Many people think that there is a trick to fire-walking, but the wood used is South African Sekelbos, which can burn in excess of 700 degrees C – therefore perfect for walking on!”

Gous specialises in helping people to discover the potential already existing in their lives and to build business around that potential, while Mitchell is one of South Africa’s top sales trainers and motivators.

A lot of effort is made to assure the safety of all participants and only certified personnel are used to assist with the fire-walk.

As part of their certification, trainers have to walk more over fire more than 100 times in one evening.

Q and A with fire-walking instructor, Willem Gous

Gous has multiple careers and owns multiple companies, but to him the reward of helping people overcome their limiting beliefs and conquering their fears is priceless and immensely rewarding.

“We are all held back by fears, such as ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I do not deserve this or that’, and ‘I am not clever enough’. Only by facing these fears and limits we place on ourselves will we be able to move forward in life and grow and get what we truly want in our lives,” he said.

* Why did you become a fire-walking instructor?

I became an instructor by chance and not planning. I love to learn and develop myself and I became aware of some limiting beliefs that were holding me back from achieving my dreams in life. Then I stumbled upon the training and did it. It is very challenging and you are constantly out of your comfort zone. The one evening I walked over fire more than 100 times. It was amazing; after that I felt I could achieve anything to which I set my mind.

* How does someone become a fire-walking instructor?

The training is FIRE certified and is the same training that Tony Robbins and T Harve Ecker did. It is five days and must be supervised by a fire master. You walk on fire every day and learn to build the fires and to be as safe as possible. You also learn to break arrows and bend steel rods with the soft part of your throat. Cobus Visser, from SuperMan Life, is Africa’s only fire-walking master and is doing a course again, from May 22 to 27.

* What does it involve to be a fire-walking instructor?

You want to explore and develop yourself by pushing yourself, but, most importantly, you want to help other people discover what they are capable of doing and guide them along that journey. It is about moving out of your comfort zone and learning from that.

* What lessons do people learn from fire-walking?

That the things you thought are impossible, become possible. As a child you were told that fire burns, but then you walk over a hot bed of coals ranging from 200 to 500 degrees C and you start to question what is really possible. Once you put your mind to something, very little can stand in your way; not even a hot burning bed of coals.

* Which precautions should be taken to ensure that the coals are ”safe” and ”perfect”?

We always have at least two people watching the fire so that nobody throws any foreign object into it that could harm participants. We also make the fire on sods of lawn to ensure a soft coal bed, but also because grass does not have stones in it that might stick to your feet. We also ensure that we walk only when there is little or no wind. A gust could push the temperature to over 1 000 degrees C, which makes it dangerous. Before we light the fire, we always set the intention, ”Ice cold healing fire”.

* How long before the walk should you light the Sekelbos?

It all depends on how you build the fire. You can build it in such a way that it burns down in two hours, or you can make it more compact with less airflow and it will burn down in three hours. – @IschkeBoksburg