15 Dec I learned to relate to men
The biggest impact on me of the New Warrior Training, which I did in 1999, was that I accessed my masculine and learned to relate to men. My upbringing meant that I didn’t trust men, even after being trained as a Gestalt therapist. I was raised among women, so I saw men through the lens of my mother. Before doing the weekend I could relate to only a handful of men, maybe three.
But it was my first staffing, which was as powerful, or more so, than my weekend, that really enabled me to step fully into my masculine. Staffing is what the 30 to 50 men who volunteer for weekends provide: they return to support participants – and at the same time dive deeply, once again, into their own discovery of who they are. This is why I recommend staffing and attending iGroups as an invaluable follow-up to the weekend.
As a counsellor, I’ve referred at least 500 men to the training. They came back further down their growth path, centred and grounded in their masculine while respecting the feminine. – Garth
I’ve participated in and led New Warrior weekends in Canada and the US, Australia and New Zealand. They do have regional flavours, but the essence of waking men up is the same everywhere. As a counsellor, I’ve referred at least 500 men to the training. They came back further down their growth path, centred and grounded in their masculine, while respecting the feminine.
Now as an NWTA leader (which I became after coming to Australia in 2008), my primary focus is to make sure that staff, from the outset, come home to their centre and access what I call their “medicinal warrior” (or “medicinal masculine”). They can then set their egos aside and be in service to the participants, so that they come out of their weekend in their own centre – responsible and respectful, rather than inflated, connected to the earth (the true feminine), and honouring the women in their lives.
MKP also taught me to be deeply present. It informs my commitment to my wife – and has given our 12-year-old son a grounded, emotionally available father. As a result of MKP and surviving cancer, my priorities changed: I decided not to miss a moment of my newborn son’s life. I became his primary caregiver. And during his development, I saw things that men usually don’t see … because they’re too busy.