Men's Group Backpacking About H&S

Heart and Sword

Growing the immature masculine into the mature masculine. Which requires other men to do.

Heart and Sword is a men's work container in Austin, Texas. Twice-monthly groups. Backpacking retreats in the wild. The occasional sunrise hike or fire circle. The aim is one thing: to help a man grow into the mature masculine, in the company of other men. Run by Conor McMillen.

HARMONIZING THE HEART AND THE SWORD

 

Most men are either hyper-warrior or hyper-lover. The hyper-warrior is skilled in direction and force, weak in tenderness; his armor blocks him from vulnerability and from taking in the beauty of his life. The hyper-lover is skilled in feeling, weak in decision; he drifts, consumed by apathy or directionlessness. The name of this work is the answer. Bring the heart and the sword into one man -- soft and strong, sovereign and connected.

Most of the men in this work have also been trying to get from women what only men can give: a place to be vulnerable, a circle that pushes and holds without ambivalence, brothers who tell the truth. When that's missing, partnership carries weight it was never meant to carry. The work here is to give a man what his peer circle of men can give. The rest of his life lightens.

The five orientations

Membership is shaped by five orientations. You do not need to have these fully embodied. You need to be honestly oriented toward them.

  • 01Fatherhood

    You are a father, will be one, or want to be one. The arc of fatherhood -- past, present, or future -- is part of how you orient your life.

  • 02Sobriety

    Everyone carries compulsions -- substances, screens, scrolling, productivity, anything that pulls a man out of contact with what is real. The orientation here is broader than the AA sense: more presence, fewer escapes.

  • 03Sexual integrity

    A commitment to maturing in how you use your sexuality -- pornography, the way you look at women, dating patterns without real desire for partnership, how sexual energy moves through your life. The orientation is toward maturation.

  • 04A higher power

    Non-denominational. No script. Something bigger than you, called on to create sacred space. If the word "God" turns you off, you are not the only one in this room.

  • 05Sacred space

    Every Heart and Sword container -- retreat, group, gathering -- is held as sacred space for men. This is non-negotiable.

ERIC HINOJOSA

MICHEL SCOTT

ANDREW HEDGES

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"I have rarely felt I am in such competent, loving and visionary hands. If you're on the fence about this experience, just do it. The rewards can't be overstated."

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"I left with the sense that something subtle but deeply important shifted in me -- not as a dramatic peak experience, but as a new texture in my life that will stay with me for a long time."

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"I was and continue to be held up by the blessings of these men, and by hearing my own true self speak for the first time in years."

ERIC HINOJOSA

_

"I have rarely felt I am in such competent, loving and visionary hands. If you're on the fence about this experience, just do it. The rewards can't be overstated."

MICHEL SCOTT

_

"I left with the sense that something subtle but deeply important shifted in me -- not as a dramatic peak experience, but as a new texture in my life that will stay with me for a long time."

ANDREW HEDGES

_

"I was and continue to be held up by the blessings of these men, and by hearing my own true self speak for the first time in years."

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