The Night in 1988 That Turned Into a Career of Walking People Across Fire
Before David Albin asks anyone in the Generation Hero room to walk across a bed of burning coals, he tells them exactly how he ended up doing this for a living. It isn’t a polished origin story about discovering his passion. It’s a specific morning, a specific date, and a specific object in each of his hands.
What was Dave Albin’s own life like the morning everything changed?
He names the date without hesitating: June 8th, 1988. Addicted to drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes, over a hundred pounds heavier than he is now, describing himself as a car crash, a plane wreck, and a five car collision rolled into one person.
I woke up that morning, and next thing I know, I had a phone in one hand, and I had a .357 Magnum in the other. And here’s what I knew. Something was going to change that day. I was in a lot of pain. And so, I made a phone call.
That call went to Alcoholics Anonymous, and they came and picked him up. Recovery brought insomnia, and one sleepless night an infomercial for a thirty day self-improvement program caught his attention. He bought it. He worked it. It worked. He turned a friend on to the same material, and years later that friend called with news: Tony Robbins was coming to town for a four day event. Bring a good attitude, they were told. Be ready to play full out. Then came the detail Albin wasn’t prepared for. There would be a firewalk.
Why did the man who now runs firewalks spend his first one hiding in the back of the line?
Albin is honest about what happened next. He said yes on the phone so his friend wouldn’t think he was a coward, then hung up and told himself there was absolutely no way he was doing it. Ten hours into the seminar, well past midnight, he found himself in a parking lot with three thousand people, drummers pounding, a crowd chanting yes while he stood in the back repeating no in his own head. A staff member found him hiding there and asked if he was okay. He said he was fine. He wasn’t. But he agreed to at least watch, and watching meant getting in line, and getting in line meant getting closer, until he was standing at the front staring down at coals radiating real heat.
A trainer told him to keep his eyes up instead of staring at what he feared, to look toward the people already celebrating on the other end instead of the fire itself. Someone told him he’d know when he was ready, and to go the moment he heard the word. He said yes, louder each time, and then he went. He made it across, got pulled aside by a stranger telling him he’d done it, and heard himself deny it out loud before even checking his own feet. No burns. Just dirt.
Albin says the first thing he learned about fire walking that night was this: “If you take the first step, you will take the second, third, fourth, and fifth.” That single realization is what Albin wants the Generation Hero room holding onto more than any instruction about physical stance or breathing. Nobody takes one step onto the coals and simply stops there. The hard part is entirely behind you by the time your first foot lands.
What does a man in a wheelchair have to do with anyone in this room?
Before turning to logistics, Albin shows the room a video of a well-known guest walking across coals years earlier, visibly terrified beforehand and stunned afterward, declaring on camera that this changes everything about how she runs her life and her company from that moment forward. Then he tells a story from Tampa, a collegiate athlete who lost both legs to a drunk driver and had been close to taking his own life before a friend convinced him to see Tony Robbins first. That night, in a wheelchair at the edge of the fire lane, the young man refused help, positioned himself, fell forward into a handstand, and walked the entire lane on his hands.
Albin says that moment is what convinced him this was the work he was supposed to be doing. Not the celebrities. The people who showed up broken and crossed anyway.
Before letting the room outside, Albin fields real logistical questions. Roll your pants up. Skip the pantyhose. Someone with a titanium hip replacement just ten days old asks if he can attempt it, and Albin doesn’t hand him a blanket yes. He asks him to show what the walk will actually look like first, then makes the call together, refusing to argue for anyone’s limitations but his own. Someone else asks whether attendees should set a specific intention before they walk. Albin’s answer is simple: you don’t always know what you’re walking for until you’re standing at the edge of it, but yes, if you have something to walk through, decide what it is now, while you still can.
What Albin is really building, session after session, is the case that fear doesn’t disqualify anyone in that room from doing this. It’s the only qualification that actually matters. He walked in fear. He’s watched thousands of people, including a man with no legs, do the same.
Watch the full video Albin shows the room, and hear the rest of the Q&A before the walk, free, when you Create your free account.
The full session transcript follows below.
Transcript
Let's see a show of hands again. How many people have actually done the firewalk? So I just get it on? All right cool so you're in Australia and yeah okay awesome.
So I'm gonna show you guys a quick video and then if you will I'm gonna tell you a very quick story then we're gonna get you ready for the firewalk so that we can give you this amazing experience. And I believe we have our AV team has a he's he's coming back in he's on the way over so I'm going to show you a video I'm I think you'll recognize this this this lady and she did a firewalk with this was back in 2000 something but the reason I'm going to show you this is because you're going to be able to guys in the back guys please thank you you're gonna see this woman do this firewalk and it really is very accurate it depicts what it looks like.
This is what somebody can go through prior to a firewalk we're rolling we need some volume a little more she said holy shit did you guys see that she said it twice take notes here guys pay close attention pay close attention to this part this is the next chapter I'm here planning to do this I was thinking first of all when I saw the flames I went that is crazy. That's unreasonable all mammals know to run from fire in the world and so I stay too long at the fair because at some point I could have gotten out and then after I saw it turning and everybody was talking about actually gonna walk I thought okay now am I gonna walk in what I'm walking for and what's the metaphor mean and what does it all mean I didn't think I could do it and I did it I really I was petrified standing there for a minute and then I thought we have to believe you can do it and then that's it for the time being I have to walk.
And then Tony just whispered in my ear, yes, yes, yes, and I don't know how I did it possibly. I did it. I did it. I did it.
Give her a hand. Now, if you paid close attention there, you saw her say something during that last part. This is the next chapter, people. Oprah, she took her life and her company and everything in a completely different direction within less than 60 seconds of walking on fire.
Now, I've seen this countless times over and over and over and over. You guys are going to transform your life tonight. Now, I'm going to ask you to promise me something when you get to the other end. We've got somebody at the other end tonight, and they're going to tell you to stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate.
And I believe we're going to have David and Will probably down on the celebration end for you guys because they're going to tell you to stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate. Because I want you to anchor this moment in. And then I want you to ask yourself a question. And the question is, what else is possible?
What else is possible? What else is possible with you? What else is possible collectively with all of you? Because the next time you guys interact with each other after you firewalk, you have a new commonality, unlike anything else.
There's a bond within people. People who firewalk. So my recommendation to you guys is don't downplay this. Don't go, oh, you know, yeah, we did this, and yeah, we broke a board, and we walked on fire.
Now, your friends are going to think you're whacked, and we are. So, again, what I'm encouraging you to do here is be fully associated to what you're going to do tonight. Because tonight can be about a completely new beginning. A complete new foundation, a building on this tonight.
So, if you will, I'm going to tell you, can I tell you guys a quick story about how I got into this crazy position that I am here? So, on June 8th of 1988, I woke up, and I was grossly addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes. I was 100 and some pounds heavier than I am now. I was a car crash, a plane wreck, and a five-car collision all rolled into one.
And so, when I woke up, I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to die. I woke up that morning, and next thing I know, I had a phone in one hand, and I had a .357 Magnum in the other. And here's what I knew. Something was going to change that day.
I was in a lot of pain. And so, I made a phone call. And that phone call, I called this organization called Alcoholics Anonymous. And they came and picked me up.
And that was on June 8th of 1988. And as a result of that day, as I started to get into recovery, I had insomnia. And I was up one night, and I was watching an infomercial, and it was a big talk. And it was a tall guy that looked like this guy right here.
And he was talking about inspiration and desperation, and we'll do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure. And he was selling this 30-day program, and I bought his program. And I went through it. And I did what the man taught me to do.
And it worked. Well, as a result, I turned some friends on to Tony. One in particular went through the program, read his book. And the next thing I know, that was on June 8th of 1988.
And then in 1995, this friend called me on the phone one day, and he said, hey, did you know that Tony Robbins is coming to the United States? And I said, yeah. And he said, I'm coming to town live. And I said, no, I had no idea.
And he goes, come on, dude, let's go. I mean, I read his book. You turn me on to this guy. I want to go to the event.
And so he said, you know, it's a four-day event, and we'll go together. And I looked at my schedule, and I said, yeah, I can do that. So the next thing I know, he said, well, I'll call you right back. And he calls me back about an hour later, and he goes, done.
We pick up the tickets at Will Call. Again, it's going to be Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. And here's what they told us to do. Number one, bring a good attitude.
Number two, be ready to play full out, which I recommend tonight to you. If you go out to the fire, be ready to play full out. Bring some snacks, and be prepared to spend a lot of time in the room. And I said, yeah, okay, as far as the attitude, yeah, I just spent $1,000.
I'll have a good attitude, not a problem. So he said, oh, and he said, by the way, we're going to be doing a fire walk. There's where the phone went. When he said that, I pretty much lost control.
I lost control from the waist down. I mean, right? And I'm thinking to myself, no way in hell. I mean, I want to go see Tony Robbins.
That's great, but I'm not going to do that. That's crazy. Why would you do that? That's insane.
I'm not going to do that. Of course, but I don't want my buddy to think I'm a wuss, right? So I'm like, yeah, sure, fire walk. Yeah, sure, no problem.
I hung up the phone, and I went, no way in hell. I am not doing it. I'm not going to do the fire walk. It's not going to happen.
I'm going to go see Tony. He's a great guy. I want to see what he's got to talk about. And I'm sure the fire walk's only for the crazies.
So we'll let them do that, and then I'll just be over here. So you show up. Next thing I know, you register. You go into the room with Tony, and he takes his stage at like 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Next thing I know, it's after midnight. I've been in a room with him for 10 hours. So I go all the way to the back, all the way to the back, where you can't go any further, right? Well, there's the problem with that.
Tony. People know where all the cowards are. So next thing I know, this guy comes up to me, and he looks at me, and he goes, are you okay? And, of course, when we're not okay, what do we say?
I'm fine. Sure, I'm fine. And he said, oh, okay. He said, well, are you going to walk tonight?
And I said, absolutely not. And he kind of went, not a problem. It's okay. And here's what he said.
I love this part. He goes, we don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. And I went, I like this guy. He's my ticket out of here.
And then he said, but wouldn't you at least like to watch? And I said, yeah, actually, I would. And he said, well, you're not going to be able to see anything from back here. You're going to have to get in line.
And he was telling me the truth, though. Right. I couldn't have seen anything. Because understand, I'm in a parking lot with 3,000 people.
So I'm going to see a people. I can't see anything. Now, there's a big fire. There's a fire building over here.
And Tony's got a bunch of African drummers, right? It's really intense. But, you know, and he's got everybody in this chant. Like, they're going, yes, yes.
And I'm going, no, no, no. I'm not doing this. Because I'm holding out. I'm not doing it.
So next thing I know, I'm in line. And all of a sudden, I get a little closer and a little closer. And all of a sudden, I go, boom. And I can see people walking.
And I'm thinking to myself, what in the hell are these people? These people are nuts. But what I noticed was is that it was every walk of life. It had nothing to do with gender.
It had nothing to do with color. It had nothing to do with any of that. I just saw people that were just, there was like this moment. There was like this definitive moment.
And all of a sudden, they would just step up and they would walk. And so, and I'm walking and I'm kind of moving along. And all of a sudden, this other guy comes up to me. And he says, he knows when, he whispers in my ear, he says, he knows when you're ready.
When he says go, you go. And I'm thinking, you can go to, you know, where would you like to go? So, all of a sudden, I'm watching and I'm watching and I'm watching. All of a sudden, boom, there I am.
I'm at the head of the line. And all of a sudden, now I'm staring down at the coals, right? And you can feel the heat coming from the coals. What they did is they, we load coals and wheelbarrows.
And then we put a wheelbarrow in between two lanes. And then we shovel the coals onto the lane, right? And there's a wheelbarrow right there. And, you know, and everybody's, yes, yes.
And I'm staring. And all of a sudden, the trainer's standing right there. He goes, eyes up. And I pulled my, he screamed at me, right?
I pulled my head up. And, of course, when we're in the room, Tony said, look, don't stare at what you fear. Look at the celebration end. Did you see Oprah when she got to the other end?
I thought she was going to lose her panties for crying out loud. She was out of her mind. She's crazy excited about her accomplishment. Well, that's what Tony says to do.
Don't stare at what you fear. Look at, look at to the, you know, to the outcome of what this can do for you. And so, I pull my eyes up. And he said, squeeze your fist and say yes.
And I went, yes. And he kind of looked at me, he goes, stronger. And I went, yes. And he went, and he screams at me again.
He goes, stronger. And I went, yes. And he goes, go, go, go. And I took off.
Now, here's the first thing I learned about fire walking. If you take the first step, you will take the second, third, fourth, and fifth. I guarantee you, no one is going to go out there, take the first step, and stand there. And I got to the end.
And all of a sudden, stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate. Well, about that time, a girl reaches me. And she grabs me by the shirt. And she's pulling me out of the way.
She's going, you did it, you did it, you did it. And I'm going, I did it, I did it. Now, she's trying to get me out of the way, too, because there's somebody else coming, right? And I'm going, I did it, I did it.
And I went, no, I didn't. How often have we done something, right? You do something really cool, and then you dismiss it. You go, I didn't do that.
Right? Have we all done that? Who hasn't done that? Yeah, we've all done it, right?
And all of a sudden, I look back, and I went, what in the hell? And I said, I go, oh, my god. Oh, crap. Crap.
I've really burnt myself bad. I mean, I've really burnt myself, right? And all of a sudden, I look at my left foot. My foot's dirty, but there's no burns.
I look at my right foot. It's dirty, but there's no burns. And I went, OK, I did it. I get it, right?
I understood that part, but I didn't know how I did it. I'm like, how do you do that? Those colds are 1,000 degrees. Your skin will blister at one time.
They're 1,075. So how did I do that? Again, I didn't know. And so there's a guy standing right next to me, and he's got his pants rolled up.
And I walked up, and I said, hey, did you just walk? And he goes, yeah. I said, did you burn yourself? He goes, no.
I walked over to another guy. He's like, hey, did you burned? No. I started asking everybody, did you burn yourself?
No, no, no, no. So at that point, I went, OK, there's no trick here, right? It wasn't mirrors. It wasn't this.
And so, you know, how do I do that? So what I found was that Tony uses a couple of hundred volunteers at every fire walk. And so I found out that I could call Robbins Research. This was in 1995, right?
And fax machines and all that stuff. And so, you know, you had to. So I had to call them. They sent me an application.
And they said that, you know, you could become part of Tony's volunteer team. And so I filled out the information and they sent it to me. And the next thing I know, I got a letter in the mail about a month later and said, Congratulations, you've been chosen to crew with the Anthony Robbins Companies in Orlando, Florida. And so the next thing I know, there I am.
And I'm crewing on the team. In fact, when I registered, I met another guy and he had done this before. And I was talking with him. And so they do it alphabetically.
It's like, so I'm over here in the A's and he's over here in the T's. And then. So as soon as I walked up, right, they gave me my assignment. And I looked at it and it said, fire building team.
And I went, sweet. This is what I want to do, right? Well, I run into my buddy later. And he comes up and goes, hey, man, how do you do?
What position do you have? And I said, I'm on the fire building team. He goes, who did you piss off? I'm like, oh, this is not good, right?
So what happens is, is that on the fire building team, you're out there all day. A lot of the other crew are inside with Tony, right? And I was outside. Well, later.
Robbins found out that I had a military security background. And the next thing I know, I'm now part of the security team taking care of some of Tony's celebrities. Out of 500,000 people that Waz and I have done, we've done everybody from Oprah to Usher to, I mean, you name it. I've done every professional athlete you could imagine.
I've done all the top stars. But you know who I love the most? Grandmas. Grandpas.
Kids. Kids. People that were scared to death and they stepped through and they did it anyway. In fact, I was in Tampa in 2002.
And there was a young man there. He was a collegiate athlete. And he was football, baseball, basketball, wrestling. This guy was just a collegiate athlete.
And he was hit by a drunk driver. And he lost one leg here. And he lost the other leg here. And so he was.
Very close to suicide. And one of his friends said, hey, look, I know you're thinking about suicide, but Tony Robbins is coming to town. Why don't you go see him before you do this? Because it's in our moments of decision that our destinies are shaped.
And the bottom line is, I'm out there one day and there I am. And we are going along and, you know, I'm working Tony's lane because I took care of Tony and because he had all the celebrities in the lane. And next thing I know. Tony stops and he looks at me as if to say, and he's got that look on his face like, I think we're going to see something really, really incredibly special here.
Well, I didn't see it. It's pretty dark out there. And all of a sudden here comes this young man in a wheelchair. And he wheels his chair up to the lane.
And Tony bends down to talk to him. And the kid goes, no, get away. Go. All of a sudden that young man.
He moved. He moved himself, positioned himself. And he fell forward. He went into a handstand.
And he walked across the fire in his hands. So at that moment of my life, I went, okay, this is what I should be doing. That young man out there in the. That young kid right there.
He was nine years old and his sister was six years old when they walked the fire the first time. So I'm going to take the next couple of minutes here, you guys. And I'm going to show you how to fire walk. My recommendation is pay close attention.
And here's the other thing I would ask you to do. Honor that fire. Respect that fire. We've I've gotten to a point where not only do we honor and respect the fire, we pay homage to the to the wood, to the process, to the water, to everything that is going to create literally you guys could be if you allow it to be.
If you allow yourself to have as much fun as Oprah did, literally one of the top experiences of your life. So my question to you is this. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Hmm. Something to think about. In fact, I think we ought to say that together. Let's do it like this.
Kind of like a like. Hmm. Something to think about. Let's let's do that.
You guys ready to do that? Here we go. It's kind of like you're walking. I go.
Hmm. Something to think about. Stand up. Let's do that.
Come on, you guys. Let's have some fun. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Hmm.
Something to think about. All right. Give yourselves a hand. All right.
Guys, go ahead and have a seat. So. So here's what it looks like. This is getting yourself in a peak physical state where your body, your mind are come together.
All right. So basically what you're going to do, what I do is I'm in a strong physical state. Right. So if I if I hit myself here, right now, ladies, you might want to find another place and I hit myself.
My body goes, OK, what's going on? What are we doing? Where's Dave taking us now? Right.
So now. So if I walk out to the fire. And I go, yes, yes, yes. Cool.
Moss. Cool. Moss. Cool.
Moss. Cool. Moss. That's it right there.
Well, come on. I just fire walked you guys. Give me a hand for God's sake. Oh, stop it.
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. So that's it.
So when you come out here tonight, I'm going to know if you're physically ready. I'm going to see it. I'll see it in your eyes. I'll see it in your physiology.
But I want. But I want to see it. I want to see. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. And here's what you say.
I want your eyes up. What? Don't do what I did. What did I do when I first went there?
I went, oh, God. They're going to burn the hell out of me. Right? And that's when the trainer said what?
Eyes up. So if you come out there, I want your eyes up. Then I want just yes. Yes.
Yes. And here's what I want you to say. Cool. Moss.
Cool. Moss. Cool. Moss.
Cool. Moss. Cool. Cool.
Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.
Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.
Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.
Then when you get to the end, we're going to have somebody that's going to stop you, and they're going to say, stop. Wipe your feet. Don't pound your feet. Now, why do you think we're having you wipe your feet?
If a little coal gets caught somewhere in your footsie, and you're going to wipe them off. Now, we're also going to spritz those lanes out there, right? So the front of the lane is going to be a little bit moist, and the back side of the lane is going to be a little bit moist, too, so that in case there is something, a little ember in there, it's going to go out. It's going to go out immediately.
So it's stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate like crazy. I want you to go to a 10, all right? You guys have got to go ballistic, absolutely ballistic. Are you guys willing to do that?
Yes. All right. Fantastic. Anybody have any questions about what we're going to do?
Speak up now. Forever hold your peace. Yes, sir. Stand and identify yourself.
Hi, Paul. Nice to meet you. What about pants? Do you roll them up?
Yes. You roll your pants up. If you're wearing pantyhose, I don't recommend that. You definitely …
No, here's what … Guys, if you're wearing pantyhose, oh, God, I'm having vigils. Cool mask. Cool mask.
Cool mask. Cool mask. Cool mask. Cool mask.
Cool mask. Cool mask. Cool mask. Cool mask.
Cool mask. Cool mask. Sometimes, a lot of times, the women will come up to me and go, what if I have nail polish on my toenails? Typically, you'll know, because as they go across out there, they start popping.
Pop, pop. No. No, they don't. No, they don't.
They don't do that. They don't do that at all. Now, I know, I think Justin has got … He's going to be out there, so you guys are going to have some video of this, and there's going to be some pictures of this, so you guys will have this experience.
Now, here's something else to think about, and that is the people that are in this organization who are now watching you. So, I guess they're also watching at home, right, or some of them watching at home. That's really cool. Wish you were here.
We'll get you to one, all right? These guys want us back, we'll come do that for you guys. So, does anybody have any questions before we get started? Yes, sir.
Can I do this in my condition? No. Mic runner. Mic runner.
Mic runner. Can we have a mic runner? Yes. So, I said something earlier, you guys, that I want to make sure you guys understand, so why don't people get what they want in life?
Who can tell me? They tell them they can or they can't, right? Exactly. I'm too young.
I'm too old. So, the question is, you're asking me, so you're asking me, can you walk? Because I have a new hip, 10 days old, and I limp on every step. Is it got alloys in it?
Yeah. Do they heat up quickly? It's titanium. Ooh.
Titanium's really hot. It's really hot. That's not working. That didn't work?
No. Then why are you asking me the question? Can I do this in spite of the fact that I have a brand new hip and I limp? You know your limitations.
Now, I can't argue for your limitations, because if I argue for your limitations, those are mine. Can you? Yes. She's saying no.
He was using a walker two days ago. Well, then let me make a suggestion. Then let me make a suggestion based on this recovery. You just had a hip put in.
Right? Right. All right. So, I do fire standing.
You do what? I do fire standing as an instructor. I train people how to teach people how to fire walk. I train instructors.
And as part of my training, I go stand on the fire, and we play a song. It's three minutes and 40 seconds, and I'm standing on it. When my son graduated from his fire walking certification. He did a 108.
That means we build a round fire. We put a 10-foot lane, a 10-foot lane, and a 10-foot lane, which is what you guys are walking. He walked that 10-foot lane, that counts as one. Walks another one, that's two.
He walks 107 times. And then we take that 10-foot lane, we make it a 20-foot lane, and he walks it for a 108. And how many steps does this fire walk? That's a 10.
That's about a 15-footer. Which is? Which is, I'm just saying. An average of how many steps?
Depends on your steps. Depends on your height. You know what I'm saying? It could be some long steps.
It could be. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You'll notice people take little longer steps sometimes when they're doing it.
Here's what I want to do. I want to serve you at a high level. Okay. I want to serve you at a high level.
You're going to have to decide. Now, if you decide to do it, I'll support you with it. If you decide not to do it, you want to wait until you're a little bit more on your feet type of a thing, if you will, so you're walking a little bit, because you just had it replaced. Most people aren't even up and around sometimes with a hip replacement.
You're already up and doing it. Right. Walk on your hands. Who said that?
You walk first. Will someone be by me side by side? We can. Again, I had a young man, I've had more than one person walk on their hands.
This is entirely up to you. Okay. I don't want you to go out there and take a step and stand there. No, I wouldn't do that.
You're not ready for standing. What I would want to do is we'll get out there and you show me what it's going to look like to walk, and then I'll give you my recommendation. Okay. Fair enough.
All right. Is that fair enough? Give him a hand, you guys. Sometimes it's not the right time, and you have to wait for the right time.
You have to decide that. I know you want to. I get that. You broke the board.
I got that. Again, you have to make sure that there's a healing process here that you want to go through too. I want you to have an amazing experience. Again, you'd have to, and it's going to scare her to death.
Now, if you do it, you have to be cognizant of what's going on with her feelings as well. We'll talk about that out there when you're here. Anybody else? Yes, ma'am.
Do you have a mic? Mic runner. What's your name and where are you from? Michelle from Massachusetts.
Hi, Michelle. My question is, before we take the walk, are we setting the mental intention of what it is we want to overcome? We can? Sure.
That's a great idea. Absolutely. Sometimes people get out there and the next thing you know, you fire a walk and all of a sudden it just starts happening. It was like Oprah.
Watch that. She wasn't, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm doing it.
Oh, my God. I did it. Oh, my God. She walks off camera and goes, it's the next chapter, people.
You won't know until you get to that moment, but yes, you can definitely set the intention that this is going to be literally one of the most extraordinary experiences of your life. That's the beauty about our filters. We decide. Every single one of us here.
Something happens. Something happens to us. We give the meaning to it. I was with Tony at 9-11.
We were on the big island in Hawaii and I can tell you that he got several people up and they all had different reactions to 9-11. Every single one of them had different, based on their filters and their what? Their model of the world. So yeah, if you want to set your intentions, set it up there, set it.
Great question. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Anyone else? We ready to do this? Yeah. You guys go out there with that energy?
Not so much. Let's try that again. You guys ready to do this? Yeah.
Whoa. All right. Let's do this. Justin, which way do you want us to go out?
And so, by the way, before we go out, there's an area right here that you can stay on this side of.
Full lesson transcript
Lightly edited from the original recording — fillers removed, nothing added. Income disclaimer.
Let's see a show of hands again. How many people have actually done the firewalk? So I just get it on? All right cool so you're in Australia and yeah okay awesome. So I'm gonna show you guys a quick video and then if you will I'm gonna tell you a very quick story then we're gonna get you ready for the firewalk so that we can give you this amazing experience.
And I believe we have our AV team has a he's he's coming back in he's on the way over so I'm going to show you a video I'm I think you'll recognize this lady and she did a firewalk with this was back in 2000 something but the reason I'm going to show you this is because you're going to be able to guys in the back guys please thank you're gonna see this woman do this firewalk and it really is very accurate it depicts what it looks like. This is what somebody can go through prior to a firewalk we're rolling we need some volume a little more she said holy shit did you guys see that she said it twice take notes here guys pay close attention pay close attention to this part this is the next chapter I'm here planning to do this I was thinking first of all when I saw the flames I went that is crazy. That's unreasonable all mammals know to run from fire in the world and so I stay too long at the fair because at some point I could have gotten out and then after I saw it turning and everybody was talking about actually gonna walk I thought okay now am I gonna walk in what I'm walking for and what's the metaphor mean and what does it all mean I didn't think I could do it and I did it I really I was petrified standing there for a minute and then I thought we have to believe you can do it and then that's it for the time being I have to walk. And then Tony just whispered in my ear, yes, yes, yes, and I don't know how I did it possibly. I did it.
I did it. Give her a hand. Now, if you paid close attention there, you saw her say something during that last part. This is the next chapter, people. Oprah, she took her life and her company and everything in a completely different direction within less than 60 seconds of walking on fire.
Now, I've seen this countless times over and over and over and over. You guys are going to transform your life tonight. Now, I'm going to ask you to promise me something when you get to the other end. We've got somebody at the other end tonight, and they're going to tell you to stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate. And I believe we're going to have David and Will probably down on the celebration end for you guys because they're going to tell you to stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate.
Because I want you to anchor this moment in. And then I want you to ask yourself a question. And the question is, what else is possible? What else is possible? What else is possible with you?
What else is possible collectively with all of you? Because the next time you guys interact with each other after you firewalk, you have a new commonality, unlike anything else. There's a bond within people. People who firewalk. So my recommendation to you guys is don't downplay this.
Don't go, oh, you know, yeah, we did this, and yeah, we broke a board, and we walked on fire. Now, your friends are going to think you're whacked, and we are. So, again, what I'm encouraging you to do here is be fully associated to what you're going to do tonight. Because tonight can be about a completely new beginning. A complete new foundation, a building on this tonight.
So, if you will, I'm going to tell you, can I tell you guys a quick story about how I got into this crazy position that I am here? So, on June 8th of 1988, I woke up, and I was grossly addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes. I was 100 and some pounds heavier than I am now. I was a car crash, a plane wreck, and a five-car collision all rolled into one. And so, when I woke up, I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to die.
I woke up that morning, and next thing I know, I had a phone in one hand, and I had a .357 Magnum in the other. And here's what I knew. Something was going to change that day. I was in a lot of pain. And so, I made a phone call.
And that phone call, I called this organization called Alcoholics Anonymous. And they came and picked me up. And that was on June 8th of 1988. And as a result of that day, as I started to get into recovery, I had insomnia. And I was up one night, and I was watching an infomercial, and it was a big talk.
And it was a tall guy that looked like this guy right here. And he was talking about inspiration and desperation, and we'll do more to avoid pain than gain pleasure. And he was selling this 30-day program, and I bought his program. And I went through it. And I did what the man taught me to do.
And it worked. Well, as a result, I turned some friends on to Tony. One in particular went through the program, read his book. And the next thing I know, that was on June 8th of 1988. And then in 1995, this friend called me on the phone one day, and he said, hey, did you know that Tony Robbins is coming to the United States?
And I said, yeah. And he said, I'm coming to town live. And I said, no, I had no idea. And he goes, come on, dude, let's go. I mean, I read his book.
You turn me on to this guy. I want to go to the event. And so he said, you know, it's a four-day event, and we'll go together. And I looked at my schedule, and I said, yeah, I can do that. So the next thing I know, he said, well, I'll call you right back.
And he calls me back about an hour later, and he goes, done. We pick up the tickets at Will Call. Again, it's going to be Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. And here's what they told us to do. Number one, bring a good attitude.
Number two, be ready to play full out, which I recommend tonight to you. If you go out to the fire, be ready to play full out. Bring some snacks, and be prepared to spend a lot of time in the room. And I said, yeah, okay, as far as the attitude, yeah, I just spent $1,000. I'll have a good attitude, not a problem.
So he said, oh, and he said, by the way, we're going to be doing a fire walk. There's where the phone went. When he said that, I pretty much lost control. I lost control from the waist down. I mean, right?
And I'm thinking to myself, no way in hell. I mean, I want to go see Tony Robbins. That's great, but I'm not going to do that. That's crazy. Why would you do that?
That's insane. I'm not going to do that. Of course, but I don't want my buddy to think I'm a wuss, right? So I'm like, yeah, sure, fire walk. Yeah, sure, no problem.
I hung up the phone, and I went, no way in hell. I am not doing it. I'm not going to do the fire walk. It's not going to happen. I'm going to go see Tony.
He's a great guy. I want to see what he's got to talk about. And I'm sure the fire walk's only for the crazies. So we'll let them do that, and then I'll just be over here. So you show up.
Next thing I know, you register. You go into the room with Tony, and he takes his stage at like 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Next thing I know, it's after midnight. I've been in a room with him for 10 hours. So I go all the way to the back, all the way to the back, where you can't go any further, right?
Well, there's the problem with that. Tony. People know where all the cowards are. So next thing I know, this guy comes up to me, and he looks at me, and he goes, are you okay? And, of course, when we're not okay, what do we say?
I'm fine. Sure, I'm fine. And he said, oh, okay. He said, well, are you going to walk tonight? And I said, absolutely not.
And he kind of went, not a problem. It's okay. And here's what he said. I love this part. He goes, we don't want you to do anything you don't want to do.
And I went, I like this guy. He's my ticket out of here. And then he said, but wouldn't you at least like to watch? And I said, yeah, actually, I would. And he said, well, you're not going to be able to see anything from back here.
You're going to have to get in line. And he was telling me the truth, though. Right. I couldn't have seen anything. Because understand, I'm in a parking lot with 3,000 people.
So I'm going to see a people. I can't see anything. Now, there's a big fire. There's a fire building over here. And Tony's got a bunch of African drummers, right?
It's really intense. But, you know, and he's got everybody in this chant. Like, they're going, yes, yes. And I'm going, no, no, no. I'm not doing this.
Because I'm holding out. I'm not doing it. So next thing I know, I'm in line. And all of a sudden, I get a little closer and a little closer. And all of a sudden, I go, boom.
And I can see people walking. And I'm thinking to myself, what in the hell are these people? These people are nuts. But what I noticed was is that it was every walk of life. It had nothing to do with gender.
It had nothing to do with color. It had nothing to do with any of that. I just saw people that were just, there was like this moment. There was like this definitive moment. And all of a sudden, they would just step up and they would walk.
And so, and I'm walking and I'm kind of moving along. And all of a sudden, this other guy comes up to me. And he says, he knows when, he whispers in my ear, he says, he knows when you're ready. When he says go, you go. And I'm thinking, you can go to, you know, where would you like to go?
So, all of a sudden, I'm watching and I'm watching and I'm watching. All of a sudden, boom, there I am. I'm at the head of the line. And all of a sudden, now I'm staring down at the coals, right? And you can feel the heat coming from the coals.
What they did is they, we load coals and wheelbarrows. And then we put a wheelbarrow in between two lanes. And then we shovel the coals onto the lane, right? And there's a wheelbarrow right there. And, you know, and everybody's, yes, yes.
And I'm staring. And all of a sudden, the trainer's standing right there. He goes, eyes up. And I pulled my, he screamed at me, right? I pulled my head up.
And, of course, when we're in the room, Tony said, look, don't stare at what you fear. Look at the celebration end. Did you see Oprah when she got to the other end? I thought she was going to lose her panties for crying out loud. She was out of her mind.
She's crazy excited about her accomplishment. Well, that's what Tony says to do. Don't stare at what you fear. Look at, look at to the, you know, to the outcome of what this can do for you. And so, I pull my eyes up.
And he said, squeeze your fist and say yes. And I went, yes. And he kind of looked at me, he goes, stronger. And I went, yes. And he went, and he screams at me again.
He goes, stronger. And I went, yes. And he goes, go, go, go. And I took off. Now, here's the first thing I learned about fire walking.
If you take the first step, you will take the second, third, fourth, and fifth. I guarantee you, no one is going to go out there, take the first step, and stand there. And I got to the end. And all of a sudden, stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate. Well, about that time, a girl reaches me.
And she grabs me by the shirt. And she's pulling me out of the way. She's going, you did it, you did it, you did it. And I'm going, I did it, I did it. Now, she's trying to get me out of the way, too, because there's somebody else coming, right?
And I'm going, I did it, I did it. And I went, no, I didn't. How often have we done something, right? You do something really cool, and then you dismiss it. You go, I didn't do that.
Right? Have we all done that? Who hasn't done that? Yeah, we've all done it, right? And all of a sudden, I look back, and I went, what in the hell?
And I said, I go, oh, my god. Oh, crap. Crap. I've really burnt myself bad. I mean, I've really burnt myself, right?
And all of a sudden, I look at my left foot. My foot's dirty, but there's no burns. I look at my right foot. It's dirty, but there's no burns. And I went, OK, I did it.
I get it, right? I understood that part, but I didn't know how I did it. I'm like, how do you do that? Those colds are 1,000 degrees. Your skin will blister at one time.
They're 1,075. So how did I do that? Again, I didn't know. And so there's a guy standing right next to me, and he's got his pants rolled up. And I walked up, and I said, hey, did you just walk?
And he goes, yeah. I said, did you burn yourself? He goes, no. I walked over to another guy. He's like, hey, did you burned?
No. I started asking everybody, did you burn yourself? No, no, no, no. So at that point, I went, OK, there's no trick here, right? It wasn't mirrors.
It wasn't this. And so, you know, how do I do that? So what I found was that Tony uses a couple of hundred volunteers at every fire walk. And so I found out that I could call Robbins Research. This was in 1995, right?
And fax machines and all that stuff. And so, you know, you had to. So I had to call them. They sent me an application. And they said that, you know, you could become part of Tony's volunteer team.
And so I filled out the information and they sent it to me. And the next thing I know, I got a letter in the mail about a month later and said, Congratulations, you've been chosen to crew with the Anthony Robbins Companies in Orlando, Florida. And so the next thing I know, there I am. And I'm crewing on the team. In fact, when I registered, I met another guy and he had done this before.
And I was talking with him. And so they do it alphabetically. It's like, so I'm over here in the A's and he's over here in the T's. And then. So as soon as I walked up, right, they gave me my assignment.
And I looked at it and it said, fire building team. And I went, sweet. This is what I want to do, right? Well, I run into my buddy later. And he comes up and goes, hey, man, how do you do?
What position do you have? And I said, I'm on the fire building team. He goes, who did you piss off? I'm like, oh, this is not good, right? So what happens is, is that on the fire building team, you're out there all day.
A lot of the other crew are inside with Tony, right? And I was outside. Well, later. Robbins found out that I had a military security background. And the next thing I know, I'm now part of the security team taking care of some of Tony's celebrities.
Out of 500,000 people that Waz and I have done, we've done everybody from Oprah to Usher to, I mean, you name it. I've done every professional athlete you could imagine. I've done all the top stars. But you know who I love the most? Grandmas.
Grandpas. Kids. Kids. People that were scared to death and they stepped through and they did it anyway. In fact, I was in Tampa in 2002.
And there was a young man there. He was a collegiate athlete. And he was football, baseball, basketball, wrestling. This guy was just a collegiate athlete. And he was hit by a drunk driver.
And he lost one leg here. And he lost the other leg here. And so he was. Very close to suicide. And one of his friends said, hey, look, I know you're thinking about suicide, but Tony Robbins is coming to town.
Why don't you go see him before you do this? Because it's in our moments of decision that our destinies are shaped. And the bottom line is, I'm out there one day and there I am. And we are going along and, you know, I'm working Tony's lane because I took care of Tony and because he had all the celebrities in the lane. And next thing I know.
Tony stops and he looks at me as if to say, and he's got that look on his face like, I think we're going to see something really, really incredibly special here. Well, I didn't see it. It's pretty dark out there. And all of a sudden here comes this young man in a wheelchair. And he wheels his chair up to the lane.
And Tony bends down to talk to him. And the kid goes, no, get away. Go. All of a sudden that young man. He moved.
He moved himself, positioned himself. And he fell forward. He went into a handstand. And he walked across the fire in his hands. So at that moment of my life, I went, okay, this is what I should be doing.
That young man out there in the. That young kid right there. He was nine years old and his sister was six years old when they walked the fire the first time. So I'm going to take the next couple of minutes here, you guys. And I'm going to show you how to fire walk.
My recommendation is pay close attention. And here's the other thing I would ask you to do. Honor that fire. Respect that fire. We've I've gotten to a point where not only do we honor and respect the fire, we pay homage to the to the wood, to the process, to the water, to everything that is going to create literally you guys could be if you allow it to be.
If you allow yourself to have as much fun as Oprah did, literally one of the top experiences of your life. So my question to you is this. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Hmm.
Something to think about. In fact, I think we ought to say that together. Let's do it like this. Kind of like a like. Hmm.
Something to think about. Let's let's do that. You guys ready to do that? Here we go. It's kind of like you're walking.
I go. Hmm. Something to think about. Stand up. Let's do that.
Come on, you guys. Let's have some fun. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Hmm. Something to think about.
All right. Give yourselves a hand. All right. Guys, go ahead and have a seat. So.
So here's what it looks like. This is getting yourself in a peak physical state where your body, your mind are come together. All right. So basically what you're going to do, what I do is I'm in a strong physical state. Right.
So if I if I hit myself here, right now, ladies, you might want to find another place and I hit myself. My body goes, OK, what's going on? What are we doing? Where's Dave taking us now? Right.
So now. So if I walk out to the fire. And I go, yes, yes, yes. Cool. Moss.
Cool. Moss. Cool. Moss. Cool.
Moss. That's it right there. Well, come on. I just fire walked you guys. Give me a hand for God's sake.
Oh, stop it. Stop it. Stop it. So that's it. So when you come out here tonight, I'm going to know if you're physically ready.
I'm going to see it. I'll see it in your eyes. I'll see it in your physiology. But I want. But I want to see it.
I want to see. Yes. Yes. And here's what you say. I want your eyes up.
What? Don't do what I did. What did I do when I first went there? I went, oh, God. They're going to burn the hell out of me.
Right? And that's when the trainer said what? Eyes up. So if you come out there, I want your eyes up. Then I want just yes.
Yes. Yes. And here's what I want you to say. Cool. Moss.
Cool. Moss. Cool. Moss. Cool.
Moss. Cool. Cool. Then when you get to the end, we're going to have somebody that's going to stop you, and they're going to say, stop. Wipe your feet.
Don't pound your feet. Now, why do you think we're having you wipe your feet? If a little coal gets caught somewhere in your footsie, and you're going to wipe them off. Now, we're also going to spritz those lanes out there, right? So the front of the lane is going to be a little bit moist, and the back side of the lane is going to be a little bit moist, too, so that in case there is something, a little ember in there, it's going to go out.
It's going to go out immediately. So it's stop, wipe your feet, and celebrate like crazy. I want you to go to a 10, all right? You guys have got to go ballistic, absolutely ballistic. Are you guys willing to do that?
Yes. All right. Fantastic. Anybody have any questions about what we're going to do? Speak up now.
Forever hold your peace. Yes, sir. Stand and identify yourself. Hi, Paul. Nice to meet you.
What about pants? Do you roll them up? Yes. You roll your pants up. If you're wearing pantyhose, I don't recommend that.
You definitely ... No, here's what ... Guys, if you're wearing pantyhose, oh, God, I'm having vigils. Cool mask. Cool mask.
Sometimes, a lot of times, the women will come up to me and go, what if I have nail polish on my toenails? Typically, you'll know, because as they go across out there, they start popping. Pop, pop. No. No, they don't.
No, they don't. They don't do that. They don't do that at all. Now, I know, I think Justin has got ... He's going to be out there, so you guys are going to have some video of this, and there's going to be some pictures of this, so you guys will have this experience.
Now, here's something else to think about, and that is the people that are in this organization who are now watching you. So, I guess they're also watching at home, right, or some of them watching at home. That's really cool. Wish you were here. We'll get you to one, all right?
These guys want us back, we'll come do that for you guys. So, does anybody have any questions before we get started? Yes, sir. Can I do this in my condition? No.
Mic runner. Mic runner. Can we have a mic runner? Yes. So, I said something earlier, you guys, that I want to make sure you guys understand, so why don't people get what they want in life?
Who can tell me? They tell them they can or they can't, right? Exactly. I'm too young. I'm too old.
So, the question is, you're asking me, so you're asking me, can you walk? Because I have a new hip, 10 days old, and I limp on every step. Is it got alloys in it? Yeah. Do they heat up quickly?
It's titanium. Ooh. Titanium's really hot. It's really hot. That's not working.
That didn't work? No. Then why are you asking me the question? Can I do this in spite of the fact that I have a brand new hip and I limp? You know your limitations.
Now, I can't argue for your limitations, because if I argue for your limitations, those are mine. Can you? Yes. She's saying no. He was using a walker two days ago.
Well, then let me make a suggestion. Then let me make a suggestion based on this recovery. You just had a hip put in. Right? Right.
All right. So, I do fire standing. You do what? I do fire standing as an instructor. I train people how to teach people how to fire walk.
I train instructors. And as part of my training, I go stand on the fire, and we play a song. It's three minutes and 40 seconds, and I'm standing on it. When my son graduated from his fire walking certification. He did a 108.
That means we build a round fire. We put a 10-foot lane, a 10-foot lane, and a 10-foot lane, which is what you guys are walking. He walked that 10-foot lane, that counts as one. Walks another one, that's two. He walks 107 times.
And then we take that 10-foot lane, we make it a 20-foot lane, and he walks it for a 108. And how many steps does this fire walk? That's a 10. That's about a 15-footer. Which is?
Which is, I'm just saying. An average of how many steps? Depends on your steps. Depends on your height. You know what I'm saying?
It could be some long steps. It could be. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You'll notice people take little longer steps sometimes when they're doing it.
Here's what I want to do. I want to serve you at a high level. Okay. I want to serve you at a high level. You're going to have to decide.
Now, if you decide to do it, I'll support you with it. If you decide not to do it, you want to wait until you're a little bit more on your feet type of a thing, if you will, so you're walking a little bit, because you just had it replaced. Most people aren't even up and around sometimes with a hip replacement. You're already up and doing it. Right.
Walk on your hands. Who said that? You walk first. Will someone be by me side by side? We can.
Again, I had a young man, I've had more than one person walk on their hands. This is entirely up to you. Okay. I don't want you to go out there and take a step and stand there. No, I wouldn't do that.
You're not ready for standing. What I would want to do is we'll get out there and you show me what it's going to look like to walk, and then I'll give you my recommendation. Okay. Fair enough. All right.
Is that fair enough? Give him a hand, you guys. Sometimes it's not the right time, and you have to wait for the right time. You have to decide that. I know you want to.
I get that. You broke the board. I got that. Again, you have to make sure that there's a healing process here that you want to go through too. I want you to have an amazing experience.
Again, you'd have to, and it's going to scare her to death. Now, if you do it, you have to be cognizant of what's going on with her feelings as well. We'll talk about that out there when you're here. Anybody else? Yes, ma'am.
Do you have a mic? Mic runner. What's your name and where are you from? Michelle from Massachusetts. Hi, Michelle.
My question is, before we take the walk, are we setting the mental intention of what it is we want to overcome? We can? Sure. That's a great idea. Absolutely.
Sometimes people get out there and the next thing you know, you fire a walk and all of a sudden it just starts happening. It was like Oprah. Watch that. She wasn't, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it.
I'm doing it. Oh, my God. I did it. Oh, my God. She walks off camera and goes, it's the next chapter, people.
You won't know until you get to that moment, but yes, you can definitely set the intention that this is going to be literally one of the most extraordinary experiences of your life. That's the beauty about our filters. We decide. Every single one of us here. Something happens.
Something happens to us. We give the meaning to it. I was with Tony at 9-11. We were on the big island in Hawaii and I can tell you that he got several people up and they all had different reactions to 9-11. Every single one of them had different, based on their filters and their what?
Their model of the world. So yeah, if you want to set your intentions, set it up there, set it. Great question. Thank you. Thank you.
Anyone else? We ready to do this? Yeah. You guys go out there with that energy? Not so much.
Let's try that again. You guys ready to do this? Yeah. Whoa. All right.
Let's do this. Justin, which way do you want us to go out? And so, by the way, before we go out, there's an area right here that you can stay on this side of.
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