Lyca Shan

BIOGRAPHY
Lyca Shan
Firewalker, Dream Warrior

"As a child I grew up in a cult environment where I was constantly told I was worthless, useless and undeserving of love. I endured years of emotional and mental abuse. I grew up without knowing my biological father, watched helplessly as my mother was repeatedly robbed of her money and as my brother was exiled from the family at a young age. As devastating as this story sounds, it led me to one undeniable conclusion: I am a conqueror!

At my lowest points in life (there’s been more than one), a powerful and imaginative warrior was always there to rescue me. Now I know that warrior was me!

Even when I only saw myself as a worthless, helpless victim, the warrior within me dared to ask questions, challenge negative thoughts and fuel me to imagine a different set of circumstances. I am here to say, “There is no fight you cannot win. There is no dream you cannot live.”

Firewalker

"Writing my book, Firewalker became my personal healing process and is now a universal testimony to the dream warrior that lives within every single human being.

My book is entitled Firewalker, not only because I have literally walked on burning coals, but because I had to walk through fire in order to help myself and to show you that there is no tragedy you cannot conquer.

At the age of eight, I was taken from Boston and transported to a remote compound in Northern Maine where I spent over the next ten years in what I can only refer to as a cult. Freedom of speech, self-expression, free will and independence were forbidden and resulted in harsh punishment, even exile. My self-esteem was crushed by years of repeated mental and emotional abuse generously poured out by the cult leader."

Dream Warrior

"By listening to my dream warrior, I finally mustered enough courage to leave the cult in 1989 and joined my younger sister who had escaped to Washington where I was briefly reunited with my brother who I hadn’t seen in five years. This was my first time in the real world – I didn’t even know how to use a pay phone.

I worked a string of odd jobs, putting myself through school where I earned an Associates degree in computer science. Since then I have worked for fortune 500 companies such as AT&T and Nextel Communications as a systems engineer and project manager. My Mission: While I was physically free from the cult, I still had to rely on my internal dream warrior to break the emotionally chains I carried. Thus, the process of writing Firewalker became a burning drive; it was something I HAD to do, for myself and for you."