When we were about to move from Southern to Northern California, to start a new chapter in our life, I felt the need to mark it with a ceremony. An article in a local newspaper caught my eyes: FIRE WALK
I registered without hesitation, propelled by an inner knowing that this was the right thing to do.
Walking Over Fire
I arrived on a large, flat piece of land on a sunny winter afternoon (we were in the Southern Californian desert, after all). People started gathering. 
Some, who walked on fire before, said they were hooked. Others, like me, didn’t quite know what to expect.
Our facilitator invited us to form a big circle, and we started by introducing ourselves. We were then led to stand around a very large pile of wood, and begun to drum and chant while an attendant set the pile on fire.
The flames blazed so high we had to look up to see the tops. Surely we’re not going to walk over this?
Breaking Bricks?
The facilitator reassured us: we will be doing a series of preparations while the fire burns down to searing coals, after which, yes, we will be walking… We moved onto a large patio and started discussing belief: What did we believe was possible?
The facilitator piled 5-6 large wooden bricks on top of each other and asked if we thought he could break them all in one stroke. None of us thought so.
“If you find that you can break the wooden bricks with one hit, will you believe you can walk on fire?”
We all had to admit that, yes, this will seem more possible, but… no one said we could break the bricks! A series of meditations followed, in which we prepared for breaking the bricks. The fire was almost forgotten.
Our focus was solely on our hand, the one that was supposed to land a karate stroke to a pile of seemingly unbreakable wooden bricks.
People went up one by one, focused. Each produced a deep shout from within their bellies as their hand landed in the center of the brick pile and sliced it. I was impressed.
When I approached the bricks, I didn’t think I could break them.
The visualization, the concentration, the belief, the magic, whatever it was took me by surprise when my voice sounded from deep within me, and my hand sank into a pile of wood that gave way to my force and broke in half. It was shocking. For the first time that day I thought I just might be able to walk on fire.
Inner Voice
“It’s not about walking on fire” repeated our instructor, “it’s about listening to your inner guidance”.
I realized that if your inner guidance tells you not to walk on fire, you shouldn’t. If you do, you’ll burn… The only way to walk on fire is to do it after receiving an inner confirmation that this is what you should be doing now. And that if you went home without having walked on fire, you should consider following your guidance a success.
We were as ready as we will ever be. The fire was down to a carpet of glowing embers and smoldering coals, raked to a flat surface by an attendant. We formed a circle around it and begun to drum and sing.
People were invited to walk when they felt ready. I noticed the veterans line up, eager to step onto the burning coals. I felt centered by holding my hoop drum in one hand, beating a steady heartbeat with the other, and chanting deeply. But I felt far from being ready to walk on fire.
Finding The Moment
Carried on the wave of ecstatic glow emanating from the faces of those who walked and kept lining up to walk again, I felt a readiness well up within me.
No one was lined up to walk in that particular moment. I moved up but someone got there just before me, and stepped onto the coals. “Oh, well” I thought, and got ready to follow.
“NO!” I heard within me, loud and clear.
I stopped myself a split second before stepping onto the scorching coals. My heart was pounding. I never received such a clear inner indication before. As I stood there, calming my breath, a realization dawned on me: the fact that I was ready a moment ago didn’t mean I am ready NOW…
This was a new moment, and all bets were off.
In this moment, NOW, I needed to start my preparation again. If I wanted to walk on fire, or do anything, I couldn’t count on the previous moment. It was gone… Forever.
I went back to the circle and grounded myself in the drum’s heartbeat, feeling resigned to the fact that I may not walk on fire that day, after all. Yet I was elated by the fact that I was so clearly guided from within.
And Another Chance
Slowly the momentum has built up in me again.
This time, when I was ready, I found myself dancing, not walking, on the sizzling coals. Drumming, my face lifted to the stars, my eyes closed, I felt my feet gliding, skipping, hopping, merging with Mother Earth beneath me.
The moment felt eternal. An abrupt sensation of wetness pulled me out of my trance. I realized I was standing on wet grass, on the other side of the ember surface.
Someone brought me a bucket of water to dunk my feet in, then asked me to take a look. Not one blister. My heart was ablaze as the bonfire was at the start of this journey, and a sense of ecstasy engulfed me.
I felt I can do anything, if I did this… My body had a feeling of expansion and presence that I couldn’t put into words. I was home.