At a self-help seminar in Rohrbach, Austria, participants were urged to walk over hot, fiery coals. The purpose of the exercise was to "mobilize their energy reserves." The course motto was, "If you can walk over hot coals, you can do anything." The participants faced a 32 foot-long bed of embers. Seven people who took the barefoot walk discovered something terrible. Fiery coals can burn bare skin. Hit with agonizing pain, they ended the walk with a trip to the hospital, where they were treated for severe burns to their feet.