Healing through heat

Stepping on fire and not getting burned may seem like something out of the movies, but the practice, which dates back some 4,000 years, brings some people to a place of healing. Certified fire-walking instructor Claudia M. Weber—who is also a clinical hypnotherapist, behavioral therapist and life coach—will demonstrate how to walk on burning-hot coals during two sessions, Oct. 23 and Nov. 20, at the Goddess Temple in Chico. Offering the sessions as an “inexpensive” alternative for those who cannot afford traditional therapy, Weber teaches fire walking to empower people. For more information, log onto www.hypnotherapychico.com/
firewalkwithclaudia.en.html.

What is fire walking?

You build a great big bonfire and you let it burn down. Then it gets to the form where it is in chunks we call coals, hot coals. We get them out and people walk on them. It’s been done for thousands of years, in many different ways, but that’s the traditional technique.

What is the overall experience for a newcomer?

They’re always nervous. I think the misnomer that I always hear is that they believe they don’t have to have fear in order to walk across it. It’s not about not having the fear. It’s about walking through the fear, and doing it, and going forward, and looking where you are going to go and reaching the other side. That’s what it’s about.

How do people usually react afterward?

I have seen people come off the fires, off the hot coals, and they just drop. They drop down because they realize that they are capable of it at that moment. A lot of people cry because it’s so empowering. Others just get so excited they can’t stop smiling for a week.

You use the phrase ‘ignite your spirit’—how does fire walking do that?

That’s its purpose. The whole reason I’m doing this is because I am a therapist and life coach, and recently, I’ve been … getting people who really need help but can’t afford therapy. It’s literally been breaking my heart. [Fire walking] is an inexpensive way for people to overcome a lot of their fears and overcome negative belief patterns that have been holding them back.

So, it’s effective therapy?

Absolutely. Some people have actually reversed illnesses, major illnesses. This is what I teach. I teach the power of the mind to overcome their illnesses, their situations, to redirect their life in a positive way. This is an inexpensive way of reaching a person and making them go back home and think, “Wow! If I can do this, what else can I do?” Just one small change can take them in a completely different direction. That’s my goal.