My vision of doing men’s work is to bring masculine energy back home. Ever since man first went to war, he never quite came back. The wars may be over, but his energies are still fighting invisible enemies in the name of survival. And as for the woman in his life…without the presence of a man who may be physically present but lost to the computer screen, his woman feels lonely and bereaved.
I would like to bring this man back into the bedroom. Back to where his heart beats. There, by reclaiming his masculine energy, he will relax in love and peace of mind.
I would also like him to re-engage with his woman. And do it in such a way that she will feel attuned to the equal human being he is, and feel nurtured and cherished by him as she will nurture and cherish him. All the while, he will remain a full-blooded sexual animal, grounded in his body’s awareness and centered in his meditative consciousness.
I am passionate about working with men because I myself missed a solid masculine energy from very early on in my life.
My father left my mother when I was seven, so I had no strong imprint of a male role model. That left me confused about my identity as a man. In my youth, I would long to have a male friend with whom I could reveal myself as I really was. It was very painful to discover that most of the men I knew were more interested in women than in me. They would hang out with me as long as there were no women around, but as soon as the girls turned up they would pour their best into them.
So when I was introduced to a men’s workshop for the first time, I felt like I was coming back home. For the first time, I felt relaxed, joyful and connected. Having lunch together, teasing each other, creating sacred theatre, expressing emotions… these moments from that experience have stayed with me. I felt like I was living through a part of my boyhood that had evaded me, and for the first time truly entering manhood.
When I moved to the West in 2013, I noticed that Western men have all kinds of challenges around trust – trusting that they could speak freely about their feelings rather than believing they had to banter about their prowess. In the part of India, I’m from, most men are quite ready to share their stories and show how they feel to other men.
I soon learned that there was this gift inside me where I could help to bring a certain trust into male masculinity. I could help men to start enjoying each other’s company in a fresh way. And this is something I can actually offer in the West
So it became a driving passion for me… I wanted to create a new kind of men’s gathering where men can come together and start talking about their real-life stories and begin to inspire each other by being who they really are, Sharing not only their success but failure too.
Do you want to know more about Anahata Mens` Work