Tolly Burkan, also known as Bruce Burkan ( ) born May 17, 1948 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, is a
firewalker and former magician.
He is part of the
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...
.
He is also the founder of the Firewalking Institute of Research and Education.
Biography
During the 1970s, Burkan created a firewalking class and began teaching firewalking to the general public. In the 1980s, he started working with large corporations and began training instructors.
Burkan's disappearance from
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a decr ...
and his subsequent reappearance two months later, after a memorial service, was the subject of national news in 1967. Although he would explain in his book ''Dying to Live'' and in news stories years later that he had run away from home for two months, the incident would continue to be cited in pseudoscience books as "still unexplained" and evidence of alien abduction or teleportation
Bibliography
* ''Extreme Spirituality''
* ''Let It Be Easy''
* ''Dying to Live: From Despair and Death to Freedom and Joy''
* ''Guiding Yourself Into a Spiritual Reality''
References
Further reading
*
*Beth Ann Drier, "The Curious Hot Foot It to a New Fad,"
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
, 11 April 1984, pt. 1, 1.
*
*''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' 4-2-90 Page 1, Section D
External links
*
''National Geographic''Loring M. Danforth, Firewalking and Religious Healing: The Anastenaria of Greece and the American Firewalking Movement, Princeton University PressEdwards, Emily D. “Firewalking: A Contemporary Ritual and Transformation.” TDR 42 (1998): 98-114.analysis of Burkan's seminars
*
Mythbusters - Firewalking 101'
"The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkan, Tolly
1948 births
Living people
American motivational writers
American self-help writers
American spiritual teachers
American spiritual writers