Last weekend I went to Anthony Robbin’s Unleash the Power Within 4 day seminar in London.
Tony Robbins is one of (if not the) top life coaches in the world and has spent the past 38 years inspiring millions of people at his events, and with his books and audio programs. He’s also personally coached top celebrities, athletes and politicians including Hugh Jackman, Serena Williams and Bill Clinton. Amazing man, and I have never seen someone with so much passion and energy. The seminar was intense, lasting between 10 and 14 hours each day with very few breaks. Robbins (or Tony, as I’ve decided I’m going to call him) covered two of the four days, was on stage pretty much the entire duration of both, and just radiated unbelievable amounts of enthusiasm, spirit and drive the whole time.
The biggest feature of the Unleash the Power Within event is the Firewalk on the first night. Every attendee (over 7000 people at this event) get’s the chance to walk barefoot over hot coals, burning red at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Tony, firewalking helps you realise that you can break through limiting beliefs and do the things you’ve been putting off in your life. ‘Unleash the Power Within’ is all about literally that – finding and unleashing your inner power so you can go out and achieve whatever it is that you want.
We spent hours in the run up to the firewalk being mentally prepared to do it. We identified our goals in life, our values and our limiting beliefs, then looked out how to realign our values and our beliefs to create a feeling of certainty that our goals could be reached. Tony taught us how to create immediate energy and a success mindset by changing our mental state through the power of focus, words and visualisation. He geed us up constantly, playing music, getting us to share our stories with those around us, and literally making everyone jump around and celebrate while picturing achieving success.
The whole thing was very American in terms of the celebrating and the unashamed passion and enthusiasm… I had to work hard to keep my reserved ‘Britishness’ at bay.
By the time we got to doing the walk most people had changed from apprehensive to apparently excited and in the zone. I was still apprehensive, but a lot less so than before.
As we took our shoes and socks off and slowly walked out into the cold, most people chanting ‘Yes’ yes, yes’ I did wonder what the hell I was doing.
10.30pm in the middle of London and I’m outside, barefoot, with 7000 people I don’t know, chanting ‘yes’ and about to walk over 12 feet of burning hot coals.
There were 30 lines of coal to walk over, but with so many people milling about in organised chaos I couldn’t see anything except for the odd glimpse of glowing red. I did seriously think about turning back, but the thought of telling people at home that I’d chickened out stopped me (accountability lesson right there). Eventually I came across some form a queue and a line of coals became visible. One person after another was being quickly prepped by an assistant, getting in state, storming across and then celebrating on the other side. No one seemed to be crying on the floor holding their melted feet. If they can do it, I can do it.
All of a sudden I was at the front with a guy standing next to me shouting ‘Are you ready?!’
‘Yes!’
‘GO!’
No more time left to think, I looked at the other side, took a step, and stormed across.
‘Yes! You did it!’ two more assistants greeted me on the other side.
I took a second to think if my feet hurt.
They did, but I was pretty sure it was because of the freezing water I had just stepped in. I hadn’t felt anything during the walk. A feeling of elation, pride and relief swept over me. I did it!
We had to move on pretty quickly and I was slightly concerned about the growing feelings of discomfort in my feet. They were either burned or turning into blocks of ice from the cold. It was too dark and crowded to check but I decided it was probably the second one. Other people were complaining of the cold too. When we had eventually hobbled back inside to collect our shoes I checked. No damage whatsoever, just dirt from the coals.
It started to sink in what a great experience that was. I got the message. It shows you that you can achieve so much more than you think when you harness the power of your mind and get rid of limiting beliefs. It also showed that those limiting beliefs can be removed radically fast when you use all the tools at your disposal. And it’s a metaphor for achieving anything in life. Set the goal. Get in the right state to achieve it. Create your own energy. Visualise the outcome. Believe you can do it. Take the first step. Keep going. Succeed. Celebrate.
The event changed my perspective on how to go about achieving my goals, and it’s given me a ton of tools to help my clients achieve their goals too. I’ll be writing up more about it in the next few weeks as I add to the site.
If you ever get the chance to go to a Tony Robbins event, I’d highly recommend it. Amazing experience!
April 3