BUENA PARK : Walking on Fiery Coals to Foil Fear

Ever wonder what possesses somebody to walk across a bed of flaming red coals?

“It reinforces the fact that I can do anything,” said Gordon Hicks of Whittier, who made his third journey over a 20-foot bed of 2,000-degree coals shortly after midnight Sunday at a home here, concluding a six-hour self-motivational seminar sponsored by Lighthouse Institute of Yorba Linda.

“It restimulates your drive. . . . Sometimes you feel down,” said Hicks, 40, who has an 18-month-old son. “I want to stay on the track of being the best father I can be.”

Reasons for fire walking range from trying to snap compulsive habits or phobias to simply wanting to prove that any feat is possible. Basically, fire walkers include “anyone whose life is not where they want it to be,” said Tom Craik, Lighthouse Institute’s founder.

Anxious participants began showing up at the home at 5:30 p.m. After roll call, the group filed into the house to upbeat tunes by Billy Joel and U2.

Three rows of lawn chairs, each with a piece of wood on it, were arranged in the living room. Participants were instructed to write a fear that they wished to conquer on their fragment of wood. The group was then led outside and directed to throw the kindling into a charcoal pit.

“The problem will burn until you walk over it--either here or somewhere else,” said John LaBriola, who oversaw the event with Craik.

After re-entering the house, the group was issued a workbook designed to help them focus on their goals and fears with an array of motivational exercises and quotations by figures from Napoleon to Yoda, the character from the Star Wars movies.

But the learning process is not confined to the pages of a workbook. Dance breaks, intended to overcome self-consciousness, are interspersed throughout the evening.

“Hiding under the pile of rationalization and excuses is fear,” said Craik, a licensed therapist.

“Our goal in the seminar is not to eliminate one’s fears, but to go after them,” Craik said. “The fire is used because you’re doing something you think is impossible. We want people to be afraid.”

Throughout the evening, Craik and LaBriola reminded the walkers they all had the capacity to walk over fire. “I’ve seen a 7-year-old walk, and I’ve seen an 85-year-old walk,” Craik said.

Craik’s introduction to organizing a fire walk seminar began rather innocently two years ago when he and his brother decided to walk over some coals in their back yard.

Family and friends began participating on subsequent informal walks, and in September, 1991, they held their first commercial seminar. Now, Craik said, they hold six each year, with 30 people attending each one at a cost of $100 per person.

“I was skeptical going in,” said Melissa Cravens, 27, of Mission Viejo, one of 15 people who had not walked before. But she said her doubts began to wane as the walk drew nearer.

“It’s very empowering,” said a wide-eyed Cravens after marching across the glowing coals. “I was surprised at my capacity to expand my beliefs.”

This individual realization quickly became a group celebration as each walk triggered a new round of congratulatory hugs--even for veterans who have completed the fire walk so many times they have lost count.

“How many 18-year-olds go with their mother on a Saturday night?” asked Leslie Brian, 43, of Yorba Linda, who regularly attends with her daughter, Stacy. Looking around at the faces radiating new hope and confidence after her jaunt, Brian said, “I love the love.”