We're all familiar with the now stereotypical concept of the American "self-made man": an independant go-getter, yet solitary, often detached, isolated, and alone. He's been made famous in film and television, as well as portrayed in American literature across multiple genres. He is a modern day Atlas, bearing the solitary weight of his own personal world on his shoulders. This is a man that prides himself on that which he has built with his own two hands. He has pulled

As one who is committed to self-growth and collective healing, as well as critical academic conversation, I often feel torn between these two worlds, which are unfortunately too often at ideological odds with one another, and rarely agree. I recently read sociologist Michael Kimmel's Manhood in America: A Cultural History (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012, 3rd ed.), an extended critique of American masculinities since the American Revolution, including the way masculinity has been d

“So men are lost, and we cannot be found by orienting to the past as a new world is in emergence” ~ Patrick Dougherty Patrick Dougherty, MA, LP, is a Minneapolis, MN-based psychotherapist, author, and Qigong teacher, who specializes in working with men and trauma. His recent book, a memoir, is entitled, A Whole-Hearted Embrace: Finding Love at the Center of it All. www.theheartembodied.com. David M. Odorisio, PhD, is an author and educator who specializes in archetypal and

It was C.G. Jung's insight - culled from the wisdom traditions of East & West - that the psyche, or soul, is comprised of elements both "masculine" and "feminine," each with their own characteristics necessary for personal and collective healing, growth, and empowerment. While these terms seem relegated to gender, certain qualities traditionally ascribed to masculinity and femininity, such as aggression and nurturing, solitude and relationality, or action and receptivity, ar

Posted on March 25th, 2015 by the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health What does it mean to be a man in today’s world? Limited ideas of masculinity, propagated by the media and socio-cultural norms, can be stifling for men who want to explore their spirituality and discover new ways of expressing themselves. To create a shift, men are banding together to question old paradigms and find support through conscious community and engagement with nature. “Men often have a hard time art

Our current culture has more opportunities for increased consciousness, personal growth, and collective healing than ever before imaginable. This makes the 21st century a potent time for actualizing a shared vision of healing for both men and women so that violence and traumas from the past need not be repeated but repaired on both local and global levels. In order for men to rise and meet their female counterparts as equals, however, I believe that many men must first make