Why you can walk on fire
There are many descriptions already available that use known phenomenons from physics to explain why frewalking works and why it does not burn your feet.
However, you have certainly also asked youslef the burning question:
However, you have certainly also asked youslef the burning question:
Why can I walk over 700 degree hot embers without burning my feet?
I propose an explanation that shows why you can get into a state of mind and body that allows the physiological state of your feet to change in a way that you can walk over the embers unharmed. Some of these physiological states are explained in the addendum. Together with my descriptions they offer the possibility to grasp the impossible. This article is not an attempt to deliver scientific proof.
My explanation is based on research done by Candace Pert an internationally recognized neuroscientist and pharmacologist in the 1990s. This research is confirmed by cell biologists such as Bruce Lipton. Candace Pert has found out that our psyche i.e. all of what is of ostensibly non-material nature such as mind, emotions, and soul is linked to our body via a psychosomatic network (psychosomatic: relating to, concerned with, or involving both mind and body). This network allows the continuous exchange of information between our psyche and body via biochemical processes. In our brain we produce substances (peptides i.e. small molecules) that flow through our body to communicate with other cells by acting on the cells’ surface receptors.
An emotional expression for example is always tied to a flow of information that results into a change of our physiological state (consciously or unconsciously). Reciprocally a change in our physiological state is always accompanied by a change of our emotions (consciously or unconsciously). Mind and body are always in balance – they maintain their integrity.
With intention, motivation and feelings safely over the embers
If I am clear about my intention to walk over the fire and my emotions related to that activity then every cell in my body gets behind that intention and does what needs to be done to cross the glowing embers unharmed. There is a physiological integrity and directness about this process that is the result of my clarity about my own intentions and feelings. Imagine your emotion is fear and worry as you want to cross the fire. Your physiological reaction cannot protect you from getting burnt as your cells are supporting your feelings of fear and worry. Your energy is tied by dealing with the feeling of fear.
As fear does alter your physiological integrity so do your strong positive intentions. It is what Tolly Burkan the forefather of the western firewalking movement calls Mind in Matter or the importance of the state of your mind that makes a crucial contribution to the success of crossing the glowing embers. (Tolly Burkan Extreme Spirituality)
The art of firewalking lies in confronting yourself with your emotions and transforming them into your inner forces and positive intentions before you cross the fire.
In addition everyone attending the firewalking seminar has an influence (conscious or unconscious) on everyone else. This is a phenomenon analogous to the strings of a resting guitar responding when another guitar’s strings are played. The participants of the firewalking seminar are vibrating together.
At the end whether you believe in one or the other explanation or in none of them only the experience of firewalking will give you the certainty that you as well can do it. Come to one of my firewalking seminars or book a company seminar for your team or enterprise. Witness yourself that you can do impossible.
Explanations from physics
Leidenfrost effect and water vapor theory
The Leidenfrost effect is a physical phenomenon in which a liquid, in near contact with a mass significantly hotter than the liquid's boiling point, produces an insulating vapor layer keeping that liquid from boiling rapidly. Due to this ‘repulsive force’, a droplet hovers over the surface rather than making physical contact with it. This is most commonly seen when cooking: one sprinkles drops of water in a pan to gauge its temperature: if the pan's temperature is at or above the Leidenfrost point, the water skitters across the pan and takes longer to evaporate than in a pan below the temperature of the Leidenfrost point (but still above boiling temperature).
Film boiling
A stage in the boiling process in which the heater surface is totally covered by a film of vapor and the liquid does not contact the solid. (physical chemistry)
Boiling in which a continuous film of vapor forms at the hot surface of the container holding the boiling liquid, reducing heat transfer across the surface. (thermodynamics)
Both effects are supposed to explain that when you walk on fire the soles of your feet sweat instantly and this moisture creates the insulating layer under your feet that protects you from the heat of the embers.
Boiling in which a continuous film of vapor forms at the hot surface of the container holding the boiling liquid, reducing heat transfer across the surface. (thermodynamics)
Both effects are supposed to explain that when you walk on fire the soles of your feet sweat instantly and this moisture creates the insulating layer under your feet that protects you from the heat of the embers.
Physiological explanation
Heat conduction
Conduction is the transfer of heat from one substance to another via direct contact. Conduction is the main way heat is transmitted to a person's feet during firewalking. As the ash-covered coals and the feet are both poor conductors of heat only very little heat is effectively transmitted.
Remark: you can download a pdf version here.
Remark: you can download a pdf version here.
