As you can see from my previous post, our Tony Robbins experience was an interesting one. We attended the first half of the “Unleash the Power Within” seminar a few weeks ago in London, England. We did not enjoy it as much as we could have.

I would like to say, however, that I really do enjoy listening to Tony Robbins. He is not a motivational speaker in the traditional sense. He teaches you how to use your brain to maximize your potential. I have read one of his books and listened to his “Personal Power II” and “Get The Edge” CD sets. (I have not used everything I have learned, though; I continue to work at it.)

We were very excited to attend the seminar. For a variety of reasons, we have not been at our peak over the past few weeks. We hoped the “Unleash the Power Within” experience would change that.

When we arrived at London’t Excel Center, we had to sign a firewalk release form to get our tickets. This was at noon, mind you; the firewalk was not to take place until after dark. It is a bit misleading to ask you to sign that you are doing something of your “own free will” when you will not even be doing it for eight to ten hours. In fact, we had to sign the disclosure before we even saw the fire.

The seminar was like a rock concert: an endless sea of people, energizing music, and strobe lights. Everyone, from 70 year old grandmothers to their 12 year old grandkids, were standing on the seats and dancing. They were all full of energy. It was, in the words of the guy seated next to us, “like being in a cheesy nightclub.. without the alcohol.”

Seating was very confusing, and probably the worst I have seen for any type of event. We had “diamond” tickets, and were supposed to be the first in the arena and the closest to the stage. We expected to be so close that we might even have personal interaction with Tony Robbins. But when we actually got into the arena with the other diamond ticket holders, there were already people inside that had “front row” badges. (I believe things had been misrepresented, and am still trying to resolve that with Robbins Research. To date, I have had no luck.)

My wife and I both did the firewalk. I was in a peak mental state, and I did not feel a thing. My wife, on the other hand, was not able to get in the right state. Although she walked on the coals, she burned one of her feet. (I will discuss this separately in the near future. In the meantime, here is a good article about it.)

In some ways, the whole “Tony Robbins” experience is very odd. Quite like a cult, in fact. When we spoke with one of their coaches (and at my “Momentum Session”, which I will discuss separately), they kept referring to “Tony’s Teachings” like a preacher would discuss a prophet. Tony has a lot of great material, and much of it has practical applications, but I felt like they were always trying to sell us something else: his “Mastery University” seminars (which consist of “Life Mastery”, “Date with Destiny”, and so forth), the “Platinum Partnership” (a group of 100 people that pay top dollar, around $40,000 per year, to be a part of a small peer group that is “priveleged” enough to get to interact with Tony once in a while), and individual coaching.

There are a few good things about the seminar. You are with thousands of people that are all full of excitement– enough to trample you if you are not careful! Their motivation adds an energy to the room. It helps to do the exercises in that kind of environment, compared to doing them by yourself while listening to his CDs.

Was it worth it? Personally, I do not think so. But, if you are really into his material, you may think differently. If you have Personal Power II, you will find that most of what Tony goes through is right in the set. I have it on my iPod, and have listened to parts that were almost verbatim in the past week. (Of course, Tony says that “repetition is the mother of skill”, and his reasoning/excuse is that you must master the basics first. But listening to it on my iPod again and again is just as good and a lot cheaper.)

I took very thorough notes while we were there. I would like to share them with you. I will explain the firewalk experience and how we prepared for it. And I will share the details of the concepts that Tony teaches.