Back in the early 80s for a brief time I helped out with firewalking events in Santa Fe, NM. My job was to put out flyers and to maintain the large stack of wood as it burned down to coals. The guy who ran the show had been trained by Tolly Burkan (Burkan taught Tony Robbins among many others).
I'd just moved out of a run down hot springs Rebirthing resort in Northern California run by Leonard Orr. Took me a few years to get free of all the nuage and cultic stuff I was lost in, but I eventually did.
Local fire departments were always notified before hand, but that doesn't mean we ever had proper medic stand by available, some firewalks were done in remote areas where medical help would have been slow to reach.
Part of this guy's rap was to talk about how other cultures use firewalking, including Eastern Orthodox Christians in some parts of Greece, as a way to convince people that this all was authentic, special, holy, and universal. Yet at the same time USA firewalking is presented as something modern, streamlined, without all the cultural trappings. So this attracts people who want a magic pill, a one shot boost, something fast and shocking to change their lives.
Plus something to boast about afterwards.
I remember even back then vaguely being disturbed by his emphasis on claiming that supposedly firewalking would eliminate all fear in the walker forever after. Now fortunately I know that healthy fear is an important survival skill, something to pay attention to and heed, instead of march through right into obvious danger.
Firewalking appropriates cultures, is an example of screwed up nuage b.s., and can be dangerous.
