I’m not afraid, to take a stand, everybody, come take my hand

We’ll walk this road together, through the storm

Whatever weather, cold or warm

Just letting you know that, you’re not alone

Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road  

– From Eminem’s song, “Not Afraid”

Imagine yourself in a stadium of 12,000 people, the energy is higher than your favorite rock concert, loud music plays, everyone is singing, dancing, jumping, hugging, Tony Robbins is leading the charge, and you’re all on a quest to UNLEASH THE POWER WITHIN!

A couple of weeks ago, I did this. I was part of the 12,000 people in San Jose, California. We spent 50 hours together looking at our beliefs and what holds us back from living an amazing life. Yes, there was some ugly crying, smiles, laughter, a lot of hugs, and amazing breakthroughs.

Before I left Seattle, I wrote a blog post about how I was going to walk on fire and I am now a Firewalker, just like Oprah and thousands of others who have been on this journey. The ironic part about this is that the firewalking was no freaking big deal. What we delved into after walking on fire was the true work, the grit that took us to the other side.

What Tony Robbins teaches is not new. In fact, human beings have been conscious of the impact our thoughts and beliefs have on our lives for thousands of years. In addition to philosophers and psychologists that have taught us about this, religions have called attention to our thoughts as well.

Buddha said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.”

The Bible acknowledges the same concept in Romans 12, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Based on my experience, Tony Robbins is successful in teaching this subject to so many people by including six key ingredients.

1. Energy

Staying engaged for 50 hours, spread across 3½ days typically takes a good dose of energy. We were together for 10 plus hours every day and took very few breaks. From your standpoint, this may sound like a recipe for disaster. It was not. Not only were we not tired, we were engaged, paying attention, learning, and wide awake. The way we were able to do this was by keeping our energy high. We shifted between sitting, standing, dancing, and jumping. Throughout the program, Tony’s team played fun, modern tunes that kept the energy flowing.

2.  State

Throughout the seminar, we were taught over and over how to change our state. Our state is essentially our state of mind. Tony says, “The difference between peak performance and poor performance is not intelligence or ability; most often it’s the state that your mind and body is in.”  Read and watch here for more information. The movement we made collectively as a group was directly tied to increasing our energy and changing our state.

3.  Addressing Limiting Beliefs

Transformation day. This was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. We collectively identified our limiting beliefs, the deeply ingrained thoughts that have been keeping us from living our lives the way we want to live. We learned how to switch our limiting beliefs to ones that will propel us forward to take action and achieve what we desire.

4.  Physiology

When you change your body, you change your state. We continually did this by dancing, jumping, sitting, and standing. After doing this so many times, the action and results were ingrained in our nervous system. Learn more here.

5. Teaching Style

Tony and the other primary presenter, Joseph McClendon III, used simple and unique methods to help the audience learn. Throughout their speaking, they ask the audience questions and tell them to say “I” or “Yes” if they agree. With all of the distractions we have in our lives – email, texting, 24 hour news cycle, etc. – the call to attention helps! And they do this frequently so that you’re constantly paying attention. It was fascinating.

6. Purifying the Body and How it Impacts State

On the last day of the seminar we focused on how food and exercise impacts our state. This day was the most surprising to me, in a very positive way. We learned simple physical exercises and how to alkalize our bodies to improve our mental state. We had several guest speakers, including an amazing facilitator of meditation named MasterCo.

I recommend attending Unleash the Power Within. It’s Tony’s introductory seminar and has the most people in attendance. If I were to do this again, I would take a few more days off after attending. I walked away feeling really good and, very quickly, returned to working and would have liked to dwell in my bliss a little bit longer.

For those of you who are unsure of Tony Robbins, I can understand where you’re coming from. He repeatedly says that he works in service to others. His delivery is unique in that he successfully reaches people who are not easy to reach. In my opinion, that alone is a good thing for humanity.