By Lorraine Chapman – Firewalking Instructor & Empowerment Coach
Stepping Into Transformation
When I arrived for Lisa Clifford’s Fire Walking and Empowerment Instructor Training, I carried a familiar spark inside me. It was a mix of excitement, anticipation and the deep knowing that something powerful was about to unfold.
I was ready, yet completely unaware of just how profoundly this week would shape me. From the moment we gathered at the retreat space, I felt the lineage of the Sundoor firewalk tradition in the air. The land felt alive. The teaching felt sacred. The space felt welcoming and expansive.
It felt like coming home to a part of myself I had been journeying toward for years.
Within hours, we were preparing the land for our first firewalk. It was not a gentle introduction. It was an initiation. A direct invitation to rise.
Walking Through Fire, Changing My Story
Across the week, I tended multiple fires and walked more than ten firewalks, including an extraordinary 50-foot walk. Each walk worked on a different layer within me. Some brought clarity. Others offered boundaries. Some peeled away beliefs I had not realised I still carried.
The 50-foot walk was one of the most powerful moments of my life. Fifty feet of glowing coals stretched out like a path of truth. Standing at the edge, I felt the heat, the land, and the support of the group behind me.
I walked it first with the rhythm of drums, then in silence, and finally alongside a colleague. Each journey across the coals revealed something new, something deeper, something truer.
Breaking Through Limitation
During the training I completed, and held space for others to complete, arrow breaks, board breaks, glass walks and rebar bending. Each challenge dismantled a different layer of fear or conditioning and revealed something more honest and expansive beneath it.
The work was physical, emotional, energetic and spiritual.
Lisa held the space with pure heart-led integrity.
Her teaching resonated deeply with me. It mirrored my own approach: rooted in compassion, embodiment and courageous self-discovery. Learning with her felt like being guided by someone who spoke the same language as my soul.
Becoming the Fire
One of the most meaningful aspects of the week was learning how to guide others through their own journeys. We explored workshop design, group processes, songs, safety frameworks and how to hold powerful transformational spaces.
As I learned, I felt my leadership expanding.
Something in me sharpened. Something opened. Something grew bold.
This training was not simply about walking on fire.
It was about becoming the fire.
Integrating the Flame
On the final day, we explored how to take the teachings and craft them into our own offerings. I left the retreat already sketching ideas, refining new programmes and designing a website that would honour the depth of this work.
It felt as though the coals had pressed a new blueprint into my heart.
Receiving My Certificate, Claiming My Mission
When I received my certificate, something lit up inside me.
My flame. My purpose. My path.
I felt it rise, steady and bright.
I am ready to guide others.
Ready to help them reclaim their fire.
Ready to walk beside those who are ready to transform their fear into power.
A Poem From My Journey
Someone
By Lorraine Chapman
Someone once told me I shouldn’t stand out,
So I shrunk who I was and became filled with doubt.
Someone once told me my dreams were too bold,
So I stopped dreaming and did exactly what I was told.
Someone once told me that I was stupid and wrong,
So I stopped trying to be brave, clever and strong.
Someone once told me that life is supposed to be hard,
So having true happiness I learnt to disregard.
But now I know what they cannot see,
I carry a spark and a flame deep in me.
And now that my fire has started to grow,
I’m learning my worth and I’m letting it show.
I am strong and happy, heartfelt and free,
I am brave and courageous and finally me.
My flame now burns bright and others I transform and inspire,
To step into themselves through the magic of fire.
Reading this poem after completing my training, I realised how perfectly it reflects my journey. Every line is a reminder of the limitations I once held and the fire that helped me rise beyond them.
Your Invitation
If you are reading this and holding self-doubt, trauma, shame or fear…
If you are longing for confidence, courage and reconnection with your truest self…
If you are ready to rewrite your story…
I invite you to meet the flame.
Let the fire reflect you.
Let the fire transform you.
Let the fire ignite you!
