• Want to feel more in touch with yourself and other people
• Want support learning & practicing knowing and communicating your needs
• Experience a general sense of loneliness or isolation • Want to build relationship skills to help you grow community or deeper friendships.
These groups are for anyone who identifies as a man to learn and practice skills in recognizing, regulating and expressing emotions with more flexibility and skill. The group will be an engaging blend of learning ideas and tools drawn from contemporary neuroscience and psychology, and experiential practices that guide men in connecting more authentically with themselves and others.
Previous Groups:
Being Home: Finding Ground, Soothing Fear, and Staying Close to what is Essential in Uncertain Times.
As uncertain times challenge us, they can also be an invitation to connect more deeply with what is essential in life. These online meetings will offer a gentle space to be in the company of others in a slowed down, supportive spirit. Zubin will offer perspective and practices including shared silence, guided meditations, and connecting among participants to support soothing body, mind, and spirit. Anyone who identifies as a man is welcome. By donation.
If we've met before, simply say you'd like to attend and I will reply with the link to register.
If we've never met before, please write a few sentences about who you are and your interest in attending, and I will reply with the link to register.
If you email me and don't hear back, please try again in case I missed your first message!
Middlebury Monday Men's Groups 2020
Schedule:
Mondays: 7:00 – 8:30 pm in Middlebury (location will be provided upon registering) One-Time Drop-In Groups (come to one or as many as you like): January 27, February 10, February 24, and March 9
Four - Week Committed Group (commitment to all four meetings required): * this group has been shifted to an online, drop-in group (see info. above) March 23, April 13, April 27, May 11
Cost: $25 / meeting. Payment is due in cash or check before or at each meeting. If this cost makes it difficult to attend, please let me know and we can discuss a sliding scale option.
To Attend: Please send me a message by clicking here to tell me which groups you'd like to attend. Spaces are limited, so it's recommended that you reserve your spot sooner rather than later.
If we haven't met before, we'll need to schedule a brief phone conversation for us to introduce ourselves, and to make sure the group is a good fit. Please include in your message a few times you're available to talk for 10-15 minutes via phone.
About the Groups Many men have been conditioned to believe that we should and can handle challenges alone and without support. This group is an opportunity for men to experience an alternative to isolation and false invulnerability, and to cultivate meaningful and genuine connections in a compassionate circle of men. These Men’s Groups are a safe, structured space for men to:
- grow and learn through the challenges we face in relationships, work, parenting, spirituality, soul growth and sense of purpose -practice speaking and listening from our center - learn tools to navigate emotions such as such as anger, fear, shame, and grief more effectively, and to open to receive positive experiences more fully - give and receive presence and support among other men interested in being honest and together.
Meetings will emphasize guided mindfulness practices, both individually and relationally, to support men in grounding into embodied wisdom, and connecting with their experience more directly and clearly. These groups are open to anyone who identifies as a man.
More on Men's Work
I am passionate about learning what it means to be a mature and integrated man in today’s world, and I love supporting other men who want to do the same, both individually and in groups.
Since ancient times, men have gathered together to draw strength and support from each other. In our modern world, many men have not been taught how to embody masculine energy in a way that supports their deepest purpose and values in life. Men’s work is an opportunity to explore, in the company of other men what it means to be a mature man today.
Many men today identify with a narrow and limited vision of masculinity. Some men have learned from society and their role models that being a man means always maintaining a strong, tough, and stoic stance. A man stuck in this rigid model of manhood may have lost touch with his capacity to feel and share his heart, to be vulnerable and humble, gentle and sensitive. Without being in touch with these qualities it is difficult to genuinely give and receive love, to be intimate with others, and thus to have satisfying relationships. When men are cut off from their own and others’ love they may find themselves depressed, bored, or struggling with addiction.
Other men have been so wounded by the misuse of masculine power that they have disowned their own power by adopting a perpetually sensitive, accommodating, and passive stance. Cut-off from the power of his own life-force, a man caught in this pattern may feel depressed, depleted, and generally unable to direct the course of his life with purpose and passion. He may also struggle to set boundaries, to take responsibility for his life, and to know what is most important to him.
An integrated, mature man is able to connect with his masculine power and his masculine heart. When we have access to both our strength and our vulnerability as men, we bring a uniquely masculine medicine to the world: a vitality and strength that is infused with consciousness and love.
Of course, every man is more complex than any formula, but this framework can help us recognize and work with some of the common challenges men today face. While my approach to men’s work incorporates certain models of healthy masculinity, it is also guided by the belief that our deepest identity as men is beyond any ideas or beliefs we or society hold about manhood.