Did you know that your reality is built on your already-existing store of memories, emotions, associations and identity? Basically, your life is operating from a set menu meaning you respond and react from that set menu. So, if you perceive only what you know, how do you ever perceive anything new? Let’s dive right in…and find out how you can open the door to new possibilities…

In 1924, Baird T Spalding published the first volume of Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East… there followed another five volumes and the books describe the travels to India and Tibet of a research party of eleven scientists in 1894. During their trip they claimed to have made contact with “the Great Masters of the Himalayas”, immortal beings with whom they lived and studied, gaining insight into their lives and spiritual message. This close contact enabled them to witness many of the spiritual principles displayed by these Great Masters which Spalding describes as acts that can be accomplished by anyone who comes to know his “TRUE” self. Such examples are walking on water, or manifesting bread to feed the hungry party, appearing in two places thousands of miles apart within moments, and many more incredible manifestations! Have you ever wondered if it is really possible to manifest those kinds of miracles yourself?

In one of the books, Master Puriji says “there is a number among you who have never witnessed body levitation and they wonder. Let me say there is no wonder about it, it is a power that belongs to man. We look upon it as knowledge of ancient Yoga. Many people have used it in the past and it was not looked upon as miraculous. In fact, Buddha visited many distant places through the levitation of his physical body. Thousands of people have made that accomplishment and there are much greater evidence of power than this that you will see, evidence of a great irresistible force that can be used to move mountains when brought under complete control.

From the moment you are born you are given a name, placed into a religion, sent to school, and taught a history that may or may not be true… and you are then tested on it and if you accept what is taught you get high marks at school and are told you are a good student. You’re taught and told what is possible and what is not, for example … if you put your hand in a fire you will burn your hand, that it’s impossible to walk across water or live without food. You are basically conditioned and placed in a limited paradigm.

Yet you live in a world of possibility, a world of infinite choices and endless opportunities, yet as a result of early conditioning many people get caught up in doing the same things every single day; work routine, relationship rut, fitness habits and health regime or lack of. What about you?

Do you wake up at the same time every day? Do you eat the same breakfast? Do you tend to order the same food on a regular basis? I know I do! Do you have a fitness routine that’s gotten a bit stale? And your life? Is that feeling a bit stale in certain areas?

Every year thousands of people across the globe attend courses and buy books on goal setting, goal getting, and personal achievement. Yet they never reach their true potential or put into practice the tools and techniques that they have learned because they simply go back to the way they’ve always done things and choose the same food from the menu of life. As they get older, they then wonder why their life is not quite the way they imagined when they were younger. No doubt most of them settle for second best and get trapped and are lulled by complacency. They become stuck in the old patterns and programs running at the unconscious level.

Your reality is built on your already-existing store of memories, emotions, associations, and identity. It’s estimated that as humans, you’re 95% set by the age of 35… and what I mean by that is set in the patterns, behaviors and emotions that you operate from. Even the vocabulary you use on a regular basis! That means that you are operating your life from a set menu of patterns, behaviors, and emotions. So in any situation, you just respond and react from that set menu.

If you perceive only what you know, how do you ever perceive anything new?

This is just one of the reasons that I’ve run breakthrough experiences such as fire-walking, to open the door to new possibilities. To blow the boundaries of what is possible and what you’ve no doubt been told and taught – it’s impossible to walk across burning hot coals! Yet for thousands of years in cultures around the world, people have walked across hot coals as a way of honoring the element of fire and using it as a means of healing and purifying their communities and themselves. In Bali, it’s the children who walk on fire. I’ve often seen children walk and dance across the coals when I’m running a firewalk – its so inspiring… they simply have no fear!

In pre-Roman temples, the priests and priestesses used firewalking as a healing ritual. Many tribal people had rituals and ceremonies to honor the sacred aspect of fire. Firewalking is one of mankind’s oldest change-promoting tools. Almost every culture worldwide is known to made effective use of firewalking to empower, heal and purify, as well as to encourage a change. In fact, fire-walking has nourished the human spirit for thousands of years. It is one of the ultimate good things in the universe, the source of so many benefits, yet so neglected and unappreciated by people.

Is it still relevant today?

Does the world really need more fire-walkers? Probably not. However, what the world does need, and what most organizations and communities need, is people who can face their fears with courage. The fire-walk inspires that sort of courage in people. As one tribe in Africa says, ‘when your energy is equal to the energy of the fire, you can cross the fire unharmed.’ They put no distinction on energy. Joy is energy and fear is also energy. Fear means focus your mind… and change your state.

Firewalking demonstrates the impact that emotions and thoughts have on our life. Dr Andrew Weil, the renowned Harvard-trained physician and medical researcher, has investigated firewalking for many years and says, “There is no way I can be convinced that mental state is not the key variable in firewalking.”

New firewalkers are amazed at the discovery that they themselves are such incredible beings. Firewalking reveals that being a ‘mere human’ is nothing ‘mere!’

We are electro magnetic beings and fire is electricity….Fire is not static, it dances, it moves, it sparkles… helps us to ignite our superhuman abilities, burning away old energy. Not only that, fire-walking affects the human psyche and creates a shift in many people; mentally, physically and emotionally. When we do something that we once believed to be virtually impossible, it shifts our way of thinking about what is and isn’t possible, allowing us to overcome our limiting beliefs, fears and doubts. Most people find the fire-walk to be an amazing, if not a life-altering experience.

The fire-walk creates a completely new experience that rapidly creates new neural connections. The most important point is, when you come to a ‘blow your mind’ kind of experience like this, there is nothing on your set menu to know how to act, emote, react so you add new options to the list your brain carries around.

So what am I saying here? In order to get out of a rut and open to new possibilities you must walk across burning hot coals? Absolutely not! What you do need to do is shake up your routine to create new options, to change the menu of patterns, programs, emotions and behaviors you’re operating with, AND ‘blow your mind’ experiences like the fire-walk, sky-diving, a bungee jump or zip-lining do create rapid shifts… and if you choose any of those experiences, please make sure you do it with a trained and reputable team. I’m based in the UAE and we’re lucky to have one of the longest zip lines in Ras al Khaimah –….and I’m going to be honest with you, was my heart beating faster at the top of the mountain just before they hook you up? You bet…. AND what a glorious feeling it is to just let go! I wanted to go straight back up and do it again!

I remember when I walked across hot coals for the first time….I quickly rushed over to the nearest hose to wash my feet and examine them closely… and you know what? There wasn’t a mark on them…

By expanding your understanding of reality, you add new options to the list you, as a human being, carry around. To expand the boundaries of what you already know, if you want more opportunities for growth, achievement, results, you need to breakthrough and challenge old paradigms so that literally, you say ‘I can’t believe I did that,’ and become more than you thought you could be…. You step into your mastery as the teachers and masters of the far east did in Baird T Spaldings books. One of my favorite quotes is ‘mastery is the letting go of everything in your life that represents mediocrity.’

You are only ever limited by who you think you are!

And the good news…the human potential is to grow! Growth equals life.

Just for a moment, consider a time in your life when you have created a huge shift or propelled yourself forward in some way. It could be a new career path, or venturing to a new country, opening your heart to love or to a spiritual transformation. I suspect there was an element of confusion or overwhelm just before you made that shift. You have to get used to the sense of newness, the feeling of adventurousness and the initial chaos and discomfort that happens before a shift occurs and leads you to a new way of being.

If fire-walking is a bit too much of a stretch for you right now, then simply shake up your routine… get up early and watch the sun-rise (there’s many benefits to sun-gazing and I’ll go into that in another podcast), move the furniture around in your home, buy different foods to sample and enjoy, or attend a different fitness class… the list is endless… Start pushing your own boundaries…

AND if you really want to expand the boundaries of what you already know, if you want more opportunities for growth, achievement, results…you need to breakthrough and challenge old paradigms so that literally, you say ‘I can’t believe I did that.’ Our minds really are the new frontier and while I’ve focused on fire-walking in this podcast, it is just the beginning and one option in the process of self-discovery and unlocking your true brilliance.