PRIME Retreat: Feb 19-22, Joshua Tree, CA: Learn More
40 years of science-backed body-based training for men.
The time has come to start living into a new model, and it’s much easier than you think. When you're ready to let your body do what it knows how to do, MELD is ready to help you tap into the skills that will serve you for the rest of your life.
Release and reconnect
Develop emotional awareness
Awaken alignment
At MELD, we don’t fix men because men are not bad or broken. We support their progress from initiation, to transformation, to mastery – embodying a felt clarity, real presence, and leadership that begins in the body.
For nearly three decades, MELD has stood as a trusted guide for men navigating the complex terrain of modern life—stress, relationships, leadership, and identity. Since 1995, we’ve refined a simple yet powerful framework that helps men drop beneath the surface, break free from inherited patterns, and create lives of deeper purpose and connection.
We invite you to explore why this method works—and what kind of transformation you can expect.
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Feb 19-22, 2026
Release what’s been holding you back, build genuine connections with other driven men, transform your relationship with yourself and with the world around you.
We’ll spend 4 days diving deep into the MELD method – a unique combination of somatic work, connection-building, and practical tools that will transform how you show up in every area of your life.
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10 Weeks Online
Slow down, expand your awareness, and close the gap between where you are, and what you want.
In our flagship program, Core, men practice fundamental somatic skills shared by our team of expert facilitators. Learn the science behind the state of your nervous system, sharpen your instincts, and enhance your ability to stay regulated under stress.
Core offers participants the option to be put in a men’s group.
Men regularly tell us that they get more from our in-person and online trainings than they’ve received from decades of therapy.
That may sound like a brag, and in a way it is, but it’s also a fact.
Science-Rooted Approach: At the heart of MELD’s methodology is a deep commitment to a science-backed approach. By weaving in over five decades of physiological research and the therapies that emerged from this extensive study, MELD’s methods and trainings are not just innovative but also grounded in proven scientific principles. This commitment to research-based strategies provides a solid foundation for all of MELD’s programs, guaranteeing reliability and effectiveness.
Body-Based: MELD’s somatic (body-based) approach speaks to men’s physicality and tendency towards action. MELD addresses your Somaware™, the system with which you perceive and translate the unconscious signals of the body into conscious, actionable information, focusing on the impacts of stress and other experiences on your physiology. Somaware™ is the bridge between the physical sensation and non-physical concept, our shorthand for the system that makes the unconscious –> conscious. Some of this was the seed for what EVRYMAN was and now exists at MELD
This body-based approach recognizes the intricate connection between the physical body and emotional well-being. By employing techniques that directly engage with the body’s innate wisdom, aka “getting out of your head and into your body”, MELD facilitates a deeper experience, leading to emotional mastery, peak performance, deeper connections, and the capacity for profound personal growth.
Community: MELD often works with men in groups, helping them break out of patterns of isolation that society has forced us into, building deep bonds and creating community. This community focus allows individuals to learn, grow, and heal within a supportive network, as our biology demands. The shared experiences within the community foster a sense of belonging and provide a safe space for open communication and mutual support. This aspect of MELD’s ethos taps into the human need for connection, leveraging the journey of personal development to be more enriching and powerful.
Causal Orientation: Rather than merely addressing the effects of personal challenges, MELD focuses on their causes. This approach identifies and addresses how the root issues have manifested in unconscious protective patterns, leading to more effective and lasting change. By understanding and tackling the underlying causes of challenges, MELD helps men achieve sustainable growth that builds on itself.
MELD’s unique blend of science, body awareness, community engagement, and a focus on causality creates a holistic impact that transcends traditional wellness and growth methods. MELD men experience not just temporary relief or superficial changes but deep, lasting transformation that permeates all aspects of their lives.
The word “soma” is Greek for “body”, “somatic” simply means “of the body”. What that means is that we work with the signals and wisdom of the body to get “underneath” behavior patterns and beliefs. Intellectually understanding what isn’t working is great, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to make sustainable changes. That’s because our patterns live in our body and are reenforced by our nervous system.
Consider that 80% of information in your system flows upwards from your body to your brain [1]. Whenever something happens in our world, our body is first to react – first we have a physical experience. Then, we have an emotional experience, and THEN we have a cognitive, intellectual experience.
Yet we live in a “top-down” world where our lives are determined and dictated from the mind. While the mind is a very powerful tool, it cannot be the only voice represented in the conversation. Understanding why we do what we do is only part of the puzzle. The mind can often function as the biggest distraction from the root of an issue due to its power to rationalize, as the nervous system instinctively works to protect us from feeling discomfort.
[1] Porges, S. (2007). The polyvagal perspective. Biological Psychology, 74(2), 116-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2006.06.009
The MELD Method is a science-backed process for slowing down, and safely and effectively confronting what’s been hidden in our unconscious.
Created by Owen Marcus in 1995, The MELD Method is grounded in 5+ decades of research in how stress impacts the body, including the work of Ron Kurtz (Hakomi), Dr. Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory), Sue Johnson (Emotionally Focused Therapy), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), as well as Attachment Theory, Internal Family Systems, breathwork, and many other lineages.
The MELD Method helps men regulate their nervous systems, access and express emotion without shame, and take aligned action from a grounded place. The process is designed to holistically restore a man’s natural ability to feel and connect with what is true for him, live in alignment with his deepest purpose, feel profoundly fulfilled in his relationships, and contribute to the world in ways that are truly meaningful.
MELD is not a boot camp that beats you up and humiliates you, nor do we engage in new-age, mythopoetic concepts of what masculinity is or should be. We don’t offer prescriptive advice or one-size-fits-all solutions. We work with the nervous system to unwind the patterns of protection which no longer serve you, without compromising what you’ve built. Our compassionate approach honors the unique story, struggles, and aspirations of every man.
A men’s group is a recurring meeting, a secure container, where men get to let down the armor, practice feeling and articulating difficult truths, and hold each other accountable to shared agreements. MELD men’s groups blend somatic awareness, clear structure, and man to man support. Our groups teach down-regulation, boundary setting, and relational repair – practical tools to handle stress and anger without shutting down or exploding. We offer training and practice in our CORE men’s group experience, as well as resources to start and shepherd your men’s group.
A MELD Men’s Group is not a typical gathering of men, and it’s not like other men’s groups. MELD groups employ the MELD Method, our proven science-based somatic approach for connecting with, and expressing and processing your emotions. Members of a MELD Men’s Group create a safe space to open up as your authentic self. It is important for all members of a MELD group to have a grasp of the MELD Method for the benefit of the group success and for your individual experience.
Don’t worry, no one is expecting you to immediately master the process – sitting in a MELD Men’s Group is a practice that shifts and develops over time, and the more (and longer) you exercise these muscles, the more fit they become, the more you can ask of them.
MELD offers 2 types of men’s groups: facilitated, and peer-led. These take place in 2 formats: online and in-person. To become a part of a MELD Men’s Group:
Nope. Your blocks are ultimately the results of your nervous system, which is designed to protect you, working perfectly. You formed your unconscious patterns and beliefs out of a need to survive.
Here’s what’s happened: When you were young, you had many experiences that were too big for you to process. You did not have the skills, the model, or the safety to fully express and process your experience, and as a result, part of you was left incomplete. In order to protect you from the discomfort of incompletion, your nervous system, started to withdraw you from connection to what you were feeling.
This is all of us.
This became a pattern, because we had to. Now that we’re adults, those patterns have features that no longer serve us.
With careful facilitation, a protected container, and a supportive group, we can shed the elements that are holding us back, while keeping all of the positives that we’ve built for ourselves.
Many men’s retreats inspire, but few help you rewire your operating system to discard old behaviors and create new ones.
At MELD PRIME, you’ll practice body-based skills to discharge stress, express cleanly, and leave with an integration plan you’ll actually use. It’s a reset for your nervous system and your relationship to life.
Four days of experiential training in our science-based, somatic method for shedding the protective patterns our nervous system has created for us, and bringing lost, disconnected, or frozen parts of ourself back online.
We slow down, teach, practice in groups, spend time in nature, eat good food, and of course relax and integrate.
We train early-cue detection in the body, safe discharge, and clear language – so the conversation moves forward without a blowup. Intentionally thawing the backlog of unexpressed or frozen anger in the right directions can lighten the load, enabling us to respond instead of react.
Numbness is a protection pattern. The body is highly skilled in protecting us from pain and discomfort. We reawaken sensation gradually (titration) so you can feel just enough to choose, and not get hijacked.
We cultivate the skills to lean into the discomfort that causes the nervous system to shut us down, freeze response. For example: using MELD’s orient–ground–speak sequence to stay present, concise, and receptive. With reps, your default under stress becomes presence and clarity, instead of collapse.
Presence is trainable. We teach regulation (be available), attunement (connect), and repair (restore trust fast).
Purpose emerges when the felt senses of your body are online. Embody what is most important to you, how to navigate big transitions, and create something meaningful. We align commitments with what you can feel and sustain, not just what you think.
Peer groups are powerful; they get 10x more useful when your body is regulated. MELD gives you somatic tools that you can practice anywhere, anytime, so you can participate and contribute fully, and actually use the wisdom of your group without stress hijacking your trajectory.
