How long did it take after man learned to make fire,
before some decided to dance on the coals in a gesture of celebration and awe for life?

All we know is that Firewalking has been done all
over planet since pre-recorded history. It´s been done differently: With drums and in silence, on round bed of coals and on straight, on heated stones and on lava, after heavy fasting and prayers or in full warpaint.

"At the core" reflects Owsa, "it seems there has always been this, the impossible is possible. The sick can be healed, the strongest enemy can be defeated, miracles happens."

For some the Firewalking ritual in itself was the tool. The priests and shamans who facilitated the firewalk knew that it was the beliefsystem - the actual perception of reality - that had to be changed. The purpose was to make things that looked out of reach, instead be regarded as within the participants choice. This meant expanding the reality, moving boundaries to a new fixation. This freedom is still a central teaching of the firewalk..

How is it possible?
When somebody puts his feet on a bed of coals, one
walks, depending on type of wood, on 400 to 800 C. Ever since Tolly Burkan recharged
Firewalking outside a religious and historical context as seen in Greece, Bulgaria, Polynesia or Kalahari - in the late 70ies, academic physicists have tried to demonstrate the normality of Firewalking. Different explanations have been put forward in order to
take the mystery out of the phenomena.

"The motif for this", Rolf notes," has for some reason repeatedly been to expose/ exclude explanations that include states of mind."Popular physical explanations are the Leidenfrost
effect (the feet are somehow protected by a layer of mist,) and the conductivity theory (the coals doesn´t lead heat, hence if you put your hand inside an oven you dont burn because the air has
poor conductivity as opposed to if you touch the metal). These physicists have still to answer
several questions however:

1.Among firewalkers it is well known that people actually stand still in the coals for many
seconds, sometimes minutes. This surely is enough time for the wood coals to transport the
heat into the foot, but these times that doesn´t happen. Why is that?

2.Even on a small bed of not very hot coals people
sometimes burn badly when firewalking. How come these people were not protected by the law of physics? (Do not firewalk without proper guidance! To promote firewalks with a maximum of safety is one of the skills that are taught by firemasters Owsa and Rolf Beckman.)

3.It´s much easier to burn stepping on a coal accidentally or with a wrong reason (for instance group pressure) than it is when you make a deliberate decision to walk on coals. Now if pure physics had been the explanation, what is the difference? Answer beeing state of mind........

"The questions are fascinating and there is no one who has any solid answer. For many firewalkers the questions in themselves are a reason to firewalk since the experience put the participants in immediate
contact with the mystery of life and mans relation to the elements" says Rolf. "With our experience and expertise of hundred of firewalks on all kinds of wood and in all kinds of circumstances, it is very clear that the intention of the firewalker plays a significant role. If the intention is true to our inner being, it seems that our body
can protect the soles of our feet adapting to this intention. If the intention isn´t there and the participant walks without it, it seems this adaptation does not occur and chances of burning increases" Rolf concludes.

"A conclusion of sorts and also at the very
core of our teachings" says Owsa,"is that when we make decisions in life for the wrong reason, we more easily "burn". And when we make them from our deepest well our road becomes easier to travel. To know how to make decisions from that place of inner truth is often learned when Firewalking."