The Warriors Path

(Sha)

 I have just returned from a five-day men's retreat named The Warriors Path; this was held at a place sacred to me named Caim in the hills of Perthshire. The retreat was held by Rory Lamont, who is the co-owner of Caim, with his amazing partner Shannon. Although with it being a men's retreat, I didn't see much of Shannon this time round, but we had a hug on my arrival. 

Also, co-facilitating were Rhys Thomas, Joe Van Nikirk, Ryan McKenna, and Michael Roberts. My thanks go out to each of them for making the experience so powerful.  

The first thing I want to talk about is the name The Warriors Path. It is not about men coming together to act tough or macho, far from it. It is about leaning into things that you might find challenging and through this growing. It’s about being vulnerable, sharing, doing hard things, connection, brotherhood, and finding a new way of living if we are stuck in life. These are just some of the highlights that can be expected when men gather to do this work. 

The group consisted of all ages from 20s’ to 50s’ who hailed from many countries across the globe from the UK, Ireland, Africa, and South America. It was an amazing blend of culture, ages, backgrounds, and outlooks on life. The common themes we all had were hardships, suffering and overcoming these challenges, or being in the process of doing so. For some of the group, it was their first time doing this kind of work, and others were more experienced.  

I was first introduced men's work through David Miller of Mantra Men's work; I have continued this path with other groups. It not only benefits me but also those who I relate to. The work never ends and nor do I want it to. We are never the finished article unless we choose to stop, which leads to stagnation.  

The retreat started with a sweat lodge. This was my first time doing this, so I was looking forward to it. For those of you who don’t know a sweat lodge is, its big tent is built from wood and covered to keep the heat in. Hot stones are brought into the lodge to be placed in a pit. Water is poured onto rocks to create steam, hence the sweat part. Inside the lodge, it is almost completely dark, except for the glow of the hot stones. 

In the lodge, we shared our intentions and current challenges and gave gratitude for what we had in life. We sang songs together, and the experience was a good way to bond before wholesome food and bed a 9pm. 

We got up at 7am each day and there was a full itinerary planned out with an emphasis on growth, community, understanding why we are the way we are, and how we can use the strength gained from this process to take back to our families and communities. 

Here are just some of the activities: 

Sweat lodge, breathwork, yoga meditation, cold plunge, hot and cold therapy, sharing circles, hiking, kambo, nutritional advice aimed at detoxing, live music, and even ecstatic dancing. As you can imagine the dancing was an uncomfortable thing for some men to do in front of other men, but we did it all the same. 

My personal takeaways from this gathering were the strength that can be found in community and bonding. Helping me to meet life's challenges. Not only did I receive wisdom, but it showed me that I have something to offer my community. 

It is important to say this type of work is not only available to men, there are also many women's circles and retreats going on around the country. If anything, we men are playing catch up. The sisters on the planet have been leading the way to becoming all you can be for yourself and the planet for some time. All hail the women of the world!  

Nothing gives me more joy that to see a small ember in someone's eye turn into a roaring flame as the power of true connection is poured on their fire.  If you haven't tried anything like this before, I would encourage you to give it a try. I recently organized another men's retreat where a few of the participants had never done anything like it before, and they all loved it.  

I will never forget the time we spent together up on The Warriors Path, and I am still in touch with those who participated. I look forward to hearing about their successes, my group of support has also grown if I need it, or indeed they need me. 

If you feel the call to do work like this, give it a go you won’t regret it. 

Big love 

Steve