…and then I walked on fire!! – My experience at Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within

Back in February of 2012, my wife and I watched the episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter where Oprah attended a Tony Robbins seminar. As we watched, I told my wife that I have always wanted to attend one of the seminars… and being the supportive person she is, she encouraged me to find out more about it.

The next day, I did some research on the web and found out that the next seminar was being held at the end of March, in Secaucus, New Jersey… only a few hours drive for me. After contacting the Tony Robbins sales rep, and mulling it over for a couple of days, I decided to go for it. I booked my hotel and was ready to go!

What are your Defining Moments?

If you’ve read my blog, you know that several years ago I started to write a book called ‘Defining Moments’. It was going to be about those moments in the lives of very successful people when they reached a crossroads, or made a decision that affected the rest of their lives. I never completed the book, and sadly, the subject of the first chapter of Defining Moments, Mr. Marvin Traub, passed away in July 2012.

I hadn’t really thought much about my book project in quite a while until I heard about Mr. Traub’s passing. Lately, I’ve been thinking more about it, but I’d like to change the focus somewhat. What about the defining moments of ordinary people, who are successful in their own way, but aren’t famous or have the notoriety of a prestigious job.

I’d like to know, dear blog readers, what are your defining moments?

Part 4 – Review of Tony Robbins’ Ultimate Edge

Day 6 of PPC – The six human needs, and how to use them
In this session, Tony discusses how all human experiences can be boiled down into four classes, each determined by the pleasure we feel, if it serves us, if it serves others, and if it serves a greater good.

Part 3 – Review of Tony Robbins’ Ultimate Edge

Sessions 3-8 – Personal Power Classic Days 1-5

Sometimes there’s good news and sometimes there’s bad news. Let’s start with the bad news first.

It’s been almost two weeks since I last posted my progress with Tony Robbins’ Ultimate Edge program. I just haven’t had ANY time to sit down and write my thoughts. So, I’d like to say sorry to any of you out there who’ve been waiting for this blog post.

Part 2 – Review of Tony Robbins’ Ultimate Edge

Session 2 – Inner Strength: Your Hour of Power

In this session, Tony explains how every decision in our lives is controlled by two forces; our state (how we feel in the moment) and our blueprint (our structure of beliefs and values). We’ll apparently learn more about our blueprint in the last session of Ultimate Edge, but for this session, Tony concentrates on how we can control our state.

Have you ever stopped to think about all of the different emotions – positive and painful – you feel during an average week? That was the first exercise in this session of Ultimate Edge. My list was surprisingly small, and from what I understand, that’s pretty common.

We can’t control all of the events in our lives, but we can control what the event means to us. Today’s session, the Hour of Power, helps us establish rituals that will condition us to consistently be in an empowering emotional state.

What Tony calls the Hour of Power is all about taking time for yourself, each and every day, the first thing every morning. So, here’s how it works…

• Step 1: Get up and start moving. If you can, go outside for a walk, or jump on the treadmill and start out slow. This will jumpstart your metabolism. Remember to breath. Take a few deep breaths in this ratio: inhale for one count, hold for four counts and exhale for two counts. Then for the next five minutes, practice inhaling four times through your nose and then exhaling four times through your mouth.
• Step 2: All about gratitude and visualization. For about 10 minutes, think about everything you are grateful for, starting with things about yourself, family, friends, colleagues, special moments in your life and so on. Then visualize everything you want in your life as if you had it today.
• Step 3: Incantations and exercise for 15-30 minutes. Tony suggest speaking incantations repeatedly while exercising. For example, you could say something like “every day, in every way, I’m feeling stronger and stronger” or “all I need is within me now.”

The assignment for this session was pretty simple. Look for “magic moments” during the day, and then do the Hour of Power the next day.

My thoughts
I got up early and tried the Hour of Power… well, in truth it ended up being the 45 minutes of Power, but I’m still giving myself credit for getting up to do this!

At first, I thought the breathing patterns would be difficult, and to be honest, I didn’t expect much from it. But to my surprise, somewhere around the three or four-minute mark, I got a sudden surge of energy. Now I’m curious to see if I’ll have the same experience every day.

The gratitude and visualization went well. One thing I find though, I that I visualize better with my eyes closed, which is fine if I’m on a treadmill or an elliptical machine, but not so good if I’m going for a jog.

Honestly, the incantation felt odd, but I did them. I did find myself speaking the incantations rather softly, instead of at a regular volume. Also, I spoke even softer when my son joined me in the room where I was exercising! So, the incantations take some getting used to… and I’m going to have to get over the embarrassment if I want to give this a real shot. 🙂

I felt great after my Hour of Power! My mood and energy was fantastic all day long, so I’d have to say my first experience was enough to get me to try this for a while.

Next up: the first Personal Power sessions