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Permalink Reply by Jim Stephens on September 7, 2010 at 8:27am

If you need more info before you send in the registration form see the following ...

NWTA WEB Site

MKP-AB Web Site on NWTA

New Zealand You Tube video on NWTA (7min)

Article by Peter Clothier at Huffington Post

Read this for more information about what happens at the NWTA ...

Overview of the NWTA
More Details of What Happens on the NWTA

Braveheart YouTube Video (2min)

Other forms and information for the Alberta NWTA are ... 

Letter To Participants, NWTA Application Form, NWTA Forms 1/2/3 Registration/Tuition/Confidentiality, NWTA Form 4 - Release Agreement, NWTA Form 5 - Confidential Medical Record and Reading Material by Robert Bly..  Forms 1-5 are required to be completed before participating in the NWTA.  All personal information is kept confidential.

We believe an element of surprise will challenge you to draw on abilities you may have forgotten you had and make it a little more difficult to use your ‘old standby’ ways of handling things. Would you really want to know the end of a suspense thriller before seeing the movie, or read the last chapter of a mystery novel before the rest of the story? The following link takes away this element of surprise ... so, only view the link if you want to take away that element of surprise.
Specific Answers - the "No Bull Shit" FAQ

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Permalink Reply by Gleb Gladwin on September 10, 2010 at 2:56pm

Honestly, for me the big difference was that I realized that amongst regular guys, I wasn't alone in thinking and feeling everything from lonliness to not fitting in.

Second thing was patience and after a few years I learned to ratchet down (yes some will laugh at this notion from me) passion and testosterone levels and really start to enjoy life differently.

I was the ultra high action guy who learned to slow down a bit and enjoy things in longer than 6 second bits.

Finally having my eyes and soul opened to the whole notion that we all transition. As a group, there are cultural/institutional transitions for each of the 'tribes' and 'norn' behaviors I belong to like; man, parent, Christian, business owner, worker safety, business owner, husband, divorced guy, chaser of women, how to treat subordinates, women in work, engaged guy, customers, investors etc.

So much of this I simply lumped into a giant pile and so much of this I didn't pay attention to. I simply steamrolled over anyone I cared to. The New Warrior Training Adventure was particularily scary for me because for the first time I met men who would not back down and wouldn't take my bullshit. It was impressive, scary, a WILD two day ride I'll NEVER forget and worth 2 times the cost in real competitive dollars (the training really is underpriced) and worth dozens of times more in the sense that I became a 360 degree man, not just a hard charging, forward is the ONLY direction kinda guy.

I have no idea where this post or blog goes, but if it is in public and you are a man reading this or a woman who would like her man to experience something like what I did, DO IT! Make it happen. If you are in an income bracket where you think the Weekend fee is really expensive (and I invite you to really gut check that if you smoke or drink, but Apple products, go to movies or buy the latest outdoor gear) , do what it takes. Get a second job for a month or two and sign up for the training.

It will be something you do that you will never regret nor forget!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Stephens on September 19, 2010 at 7:44am

By Boysen Hodgson

Hey men,

Someone asked me the other day what I needed around marketing in the project ...
My answer to him was that I needed more men willing to drop the shame and take a stand for the work we do.

Here is what that means to me:

You CAN'T understand the NWTA until you attend it.
You CAN'T compare your other experiences, because there isn't another one like it.

There are many imitations. There are many organization that try to do what we do without going as far as we are willing to go.

The power of the NWTA is that we took a stand ---- that we would be the ones to push the boundaries and challenge a man's comfort zones ---- even KNOWING that we would piss him off. We ask a man to go to the edge and often beyond it and STAY THERE until he gets what he came to get. We ask a man to do whatever it takes in a culture that only asks for what a man 'is comfortable with'. That is the gift. As uncomfortable, ridiculous and sometimes cheesy as I may think it is, the gift of the NWTA is that it takes men to a place where every lesson can be relearned, where wounds can be healed, and where a man can find his voice after unpacking all the bullshit he keeps in his life to cover it up.

And the NWTA is NOT the 'end-all, be-all' of personal growth. [we shouldn't pretend it is!] There are lots of experiences that will help a man grow and deepen his wisdom, abilities and tools. But I would submit that the NWTA is Emotional Manhood 101, it is the PREREQUISITE training that will help a man access his own personal store of power, power that will take him anywhere he wants to go. The NWTA is a foundation for personal growth. Its intensity means a whole lot less time wasted down the road doing remedial work. When you learn how far you can actually push yourself - surrounded by other men - when you learn what you are capable of feeling through your entire being - and can share it with other men - then you are in the best position possible for YOUR next step.

I was doing 400 level reading before I did the NWTA. I had done other workshops, been in therapy, been in groups, I had 'gotten it' a dozen times. And yet I still hadn't learned some absolute fundamentals to growing into mature manhood ... because the 400 level courses can't teach them.

Because they CAN'T be taught without the kind of cauldron that we build for the NWTA. No Guru can match it. Tony Robbins can't touch it. And G*d can't answer our prayers for it. It takes a community of men. It take A LOT of men. Messed up, beautiful, wounded, brilliant, mature, childish, growing men willing to stand firm and assist other men. It takes men willing to look one another in the eye when it is REALLY hard to do so, men who have heard everything shameful and hidden that a man tries to hide. Men who have seen other men collapse and be reborn.

That is the NWTA. We are not perfected beings. We're not a church, a club. or a 'secret' cult.
We're the container that will hold any putrid, bubbling, poisonous potion of manhood and help it to transform into something sustaining and nurturing.
We're the container that will hold any golden elixir of empowered and compassionate humanity and help it shine and be shared with the world.

And if a man is willing to complete his initiation ... which means coming BACK from the experience and taking a place in a community of men with continuing commitment to his own self-discovery and responsibility ... then we DO change the world.

As one of our pioneers in this work has said often ... it's time to grow the fuck up.
Time to stop pampering ourselves and each other.
Time to stop letting our culture of toxic masculinity off the hook.
Time to stop expecting that someone else is going to step up and teach the next generations of boys what it means to be mature men.
Time to stop letting ourselves off the hook in our own immaturity, denial and ignorance.
Time to stop hiding out ashamed of what we ourselves needed in order to heal and grow.

Growing up means going beyond what I'm comfortable with.
Like a first bike crash, a first fight, a first fall, a first broken bone - it's painful, sometimes it's bloody, and it leaves a scar.
New Warriors are willing to be wounded - knowing that their lessons come from their wounds.

My scars teach me and remind me, remind me what I am capable of.

So when will we stop hiding out in shame about what we experienced from Friday to Sunday?

Love and Service,
Boysen

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Permalink Reply by Grant M. Waldman on October 2, 2010 at 12:06pm

MKP has created community for me. A worldwide community of brothers that I can count on and that can count on me.

MKP has invited me to stand in my power. I have stepped into my leadership like never before.

MKP has invited me to look at my shadows - shadows that I didn't even recognize before.

MKP has invited me to do my work in a safe place - a place where I am not judged - where I am supported.

When I invite men to an NWTA, I do so because I want to have a deeper connection with them. I utlimately let go of the outcome because it's not about me. I love to drop pebbles into the pond......

MKP led me to B2M and I will be forever grateful for that because it invited my son into a circle of men and it has and will change his life path.

MKP led my partner to Women in Power and she will be forever grateful.

I am very thankful for MKP and how it has supported my life and of all my relations! AHO!!

Grant

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Permalink Reply by Jim Stephens on October 4, 2010 at 11:08am

By Terry Larkin

Warriors Stretching

I wonder how different my life might look if two men had not stepped forward and been persistent about enrolling me into a New Warrior Training Adventure?

I resisted for about two years before finally surrendering and agreeing to go to an NWTA in 1994. Somewhere in my intuition I knew the Weekend was going to be big. I had a sense that my “covers” could be pulled. As it turned out, the Weekend was big, and the covers were pulled.

On Sunday, as I drove home after the Weekend, I noticed that the leaves on the trees were greener, the music on the radio was more vibrant and alive, my thoughts and my speaking were more deliberate and meaningful, and I was feeling like never before.

The Weekend, and the “work” have given me a perspective that I never had about the importance of connection to feelings, accountability, and a personal mission. The weekend led to experiences, relationships and a sense of self that may have never occurred.

I am grateful those two men, who had a few staffings, were persistent about getting me to the Weekend. They trusted themselves, the Weekend, and me. I went on to staff 98 NWTA’s, fifteen of those outside the United States, over the course of the next sixteen + years following my New Warrior Training Adventure in 1994.

Also, I have been able to take risks in my life that may have never been willing to before. I have new perspectives in many areas of my life, thanks to this work (personal accountability and integrity, connection to feelings, a mission, honoring and blessing of Elders, etc).

What if those two men had not been persistent about getting me to the Weekend?

I believe it is a huge stretch to invite a man to the Weekend. I believe it is a huge stretch to bring a man to the Weekend. I believe as warriors it is our job to stretch, with no attachment to the outcome.

I commit to stretch.

Terry Larkin
Alive Brown Bear
San Diego, Ca.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Stephens on October 4, 2010 at 11:33am

A new friend told be about ManKind Project and the NWTA. I was intrigued by what he said and, in looking back, I had a longing for a fuller life that seemed unfullfilled ... I just could not put into words these feelings at that time.

This man invited me to his I-GRP and I went. There, I encounterd a deeper level of connection to my feelings and a comfortable sharing of these feelings with other men. I came away from the I-GRP feeling lighter, more connected/grounded and wanting more.

I went to the next NWTA and this experience was taken to a much deeper level. I discoverd things about my self that I had carried as burdens for many years. The weekend helped me be able to have a better connection to my emotions, be able to authentically talk about them and not let them remain hidden and rule me.

The result has been a deeper relationship with my life partner wife and son ... one where all of us are more content.

I will always be in gratitude to Rick who brought me into this group of powerful men that helped me develop a richer and more satisfying life.

Jim Stephens

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Permalink Reply by Richard Fairchild on May 1, 2011 at 2:55pm

New Warrior Training Adventure

The New Warrior Training Adventure is a singular type of life affirming event, honoring the best in what men have to offer the planet. We are only able to recognize the powerful brilliance of men because we are willing to look at, and take full responsibility for, the pain we are also capable of creating … and suffering. This is the paradox of modern masculinity, and it is a lesson we are dedicated to learning and teaching.

The New Warrior Training Adventure is a modern male initiation and self-examination. We believe that this is crucial to the development of a healthy and mature male self, no matter how old a man is. It is the “hero’s journey” of classical literature and myth that has nearly disappeared in modern culture. We ask men to stop living vicariously through movies, television, addictions and distractions and step up into their own adventure – in real time and surrounded by other men.

“The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts. That is where the battle must be fought.” — Mahatma Ghandi

 

Who, What and Where?

The basics: You will join a group of between 15 and 40 other men at a camp or retreat facility somewhere in one of our geographical centers. We recommend that men drive no more than 3 hours to the training site. You will be asked to car-pool, in line with a commitment to ecological consciousness and as a way of beginning to create connections and camaraderie with the other men attending the training.

From Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, (with meals, breaks and time for sleep) you will be asked to join in a series of processes and activities – all designed with one goal in mind – to help every man at the training step into his own unique sense of himself as a man among men. Some of the activities are individual, many are group processes. There are physical activities, writing, visualizations. It will be one of the most action packed weekends of your life.

You will be guided on this journey by a group of 25 to 50 staff men. Some of these men will be staffing for the first time, others will have had decades of experience and advanced training. Each staff man will play a role in creating the weekend experience.

On Sunday afternoon, after celebrating your success, you will return home. It is a good idea to have a quiet evening planned. Some men choose to take Monday off in order to digest their experience and catch up on sleep. It will be up to you what you do with what you have learned about yourself and other men. For many men, Monday’s sunrise is the beginning of a life with a renewed sense of vitality and purpose.

 

Who Runs the Training?

The ManKind Project, an international not-for-profit organization, has assembled a highly-motivated, experienced staff to lead the training programs. Most staff members are volunteers, and because all have experienced the initiation process themselves, they have a compelling sense of male initiation and authentic self-examination.

The Leader team on your training will have years of experience working with men in transformational settings. Leaders in the ManKind Project have chosen to live a life of fierce and rigorous self examination. They have been judged repeatedly by their peers, and by the ManKind Project, and certified to lead the New Warrior Training, a serious responsibility. Their commitment is to the safety and success of each man on a training weekend.

In the final analysis, however, you run your own training through the responses and decisions you make along your journey. The staff serve as your guides and mentors, but you choose your own level of commitment, and you decide how far you will explore the inner terrain of your life, to discover the treasures, and obstacles buried within your self.

 

How Do I Register?

Only you can decide if you are ready to participate in the New Warrior Training Adventure. There is likely a training happening near you soon in one of our 39 geographical centers.  There is a simple process for registering that includes a detailed questionnaire.  Some communities also conduct telephone or face to face interviews.  Not every man is ready for the NWTA, but most men are. Face the fear. Take the risk.

 

How Much Does the Training Cost?

Tuition for the New Warrior Training Adventure varies from community to community depending on the local costs for site rental and the cost of living. In the Canada West Community, the cost of the training is normally $750. There is often scholarship money available. Please contact us to learn more.

 

Who Comes to the Training?

During your training you will stand shoulder to shoulder with an immensely rich mix of masculinity, with occupations and ages as wide as masculinity itself. Whether they’re corporate executives or high school students, all come to share a common understanding that their lives as men can be empowered with greater focus and direction, and that this personal initiation into manhood is crucial to their full development as men.

Some men come to heal. Some men come to find role models for positive and mature masculinity. Some men come to explore their Leadership abilities and expand their skills. Some men come to make a conscious transition for adolescent life to the life of a man. Some men come to find peace of mind in their transition to elder-hood. All men come because a small voice within them lets them know when it’s time.

“Some people sleep until morning. Others know they have to bring the morning.” — Shlomo Carlbach

 

Am I Ready?

We do not recommend this training for every man. We urge you not to apply to this program without serious forethought, and not to enroll simply at the urging of a spouse or friend.

To participate in this training, you must be in reasonably good physical condition, and willing to face the prospect of transformative change in your life. You must be highly committed to your life, and ready to participate fully in all training activities, many of which encourage you to take a hard look at yourself, your deepest fears, your wounds from the past, and and how you are willing to learn what you can do to take control of and improve your life. We choose to work only with men who are ready, and willing to do this initiatory work with us.

 

What Happens After the Training?

No weekend workshop is a fix-all. We do not expect the NWTA to “cure” you or “fix” your life. What we do expect is that a crack will be opened in the shield that you have covered yourself with, maybe the shield will break apart completely. The awakening that results from the NWTA can be very powerful … but the ongoing growth in self-awareness and empowerment that can come about by participating in ongoing men’s groups, called Integration Groups, is the most compelling reason that many of us took the NWTA to begin with. After the NWTA you will be invited to participate in an I-Group.

You will also be invited to join the Global Community of men that is the ManKind Project. Within MKP you can participate in advanced leadership and skill trainings, learn facilitation skills, and participate as staff at any of our trainings. You will also find a wider community of men, women, families and organizations dedicated to making the world a better, safer, more alive place through missions of service.

 

Does this work make a real difference?

Like a stone dropping into a pond, the New Warrior Training Adventure [NWTA] sends ripples through the lives of men, their families, and their communities. The growth and healing that men experience doesn’t stop with them. New Warrior men and Centers are involved in mentoring disaffected youth, working with gangs and incarcerated young men, building shelters for the homeless, creating programs for Vietnam-era veterans, and other causes that cry out for healthy masculine presence.

 

Is the NWTA for Every Man?

No. This training is not intended for men with active mental health issues that might lead to self harming or violent behaviors. Please seek professional mental health counseling. If you have been involved in ongoing treatment, talk to your provider about whether an intense men’s weekend could be valuable to you. Involvement with the ManKind Project is often recognized to have positive effects for men in recovery from chemical addictions or a history of addictive behavior. Talk to your sponsor. If you are actively using, we do not recommend the New Warrior Training Adventure.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” — Marianne Williamson

 

What Will I Get Out of This?

We don’t know exactly what you will walk away with. Your experience will be unique. You will learn about yourself and how you show up in the world. You will learn about your place in a community of men. You will learn about masculinity and the possibility of creating a new kind of a warrior, a peaceful warrior, to help heal the wounds in our society. You will see men mentor other men, support each other, play together and form a safe, authentic container where men are free to be exactly who they are, without defenses or masks.

It’s likely that when you leave this training you will have the possibility to love and be loved in a way you have not experienced in a very long time. You’ll have a gift to offer the world, and the energy to share it.

“Previous cultures throughout history always intended authentic masculine initiation. But their vision and their cultural context of the world was necessarily limited. Since the first earthrise photograph from outer space, we have entered a new mythological era. For the first time in human history, we have before us the possibility of authentic masculine initiation – an initiation into the global brotherhood.” –Dr. Robert Moore Coauthor of King, Warrior, Magician, Love

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Permalink Reply by John T. Stanton on August 21, 2013 at 9:14pm

The most authentic recruiting is demonstrated in how we MKP men live our lives.

Want what you see within us? Want our inner strengths you may see in us?

Come to the Weekend, we'll show you stuff. Your choices are never removed.

LOVE YOUR HOME PAGE VIDEO!

WELL DONE! EXCELLENT & AUTHENTIC!

GOOD WORK!

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Permalink Reply by Travis McKay on June 4, 2018 at 11:28am

Jim,

I have too many words to describe the transformational experience and gratitude I have for everyone that helped make this pathway possible.

Travis

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