Most men were never taught how to feel – they were only taught how to suppress, analyze, or perform.

At MELD, we offer another way.

Somaware™ is our proprietary framework that makes emotional growth not just a concept, but a trainable, embodied reality. It is the foundation of everything we do: from our coaching to our groups to our retreats.

Where traditional self-help gives you insight, Somaware™ gives you power.

Where therapy looks back, Somaware™ helps you build forward: from the body up, from the inside out.

What is Somaware™?

Somaware™ is a practical, relational, body-based framework that weaves together the most effective elements of modern somatic science. It gives you the tools to read your nervous system, rewire old patterns, and lead from presence.

Here is the base upon which it is built:

1. Felt Sense Tracking

(Eugene Gendlin, Pat Ogden)

→ Notice what your body knows before your mind does. Build the bridge between sensation and self-awareness.

1. Polyvagal-Informed State Awareness

(Stephen Porges)

→ Read your nervous system like a map. Learn to shift from shutdown or stress into connection, calm, and presence.

1. Microsomatic Practices

(Owen Marcus)

→ Engage in simple, daily body-based actions that rewire your patterns through practice, such as emotional strength training.

1. Attachment & Relational Repair

(Ron Kurtz, Sue Johnson)

→ Heal the early emotional templates that shape your current relationships. Relearn secure connection through present-moment contact.

1. Interpersonal Neurobiology

(Dan Siegel, Louis Cozolino)

→ Use the intelligence of the group to regulate, reflect, and rewire your relational brain. You don’t grow alone.

1. Somatic Release & Trauma Renegotiation

(Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing®)

→ Gently discharge stored survival energy and complete incomplete responses, freeing the body from the past without reactivating it.

Why Does This Matter?

Most leadership models ignore the body. Most emotional growth tools ignore the communal aspect of life. Somaware™ integrates both. It’s not therapy. It’s not peak performance coaching. It’s a new path for men ready to lead their lives with presence — not pressure.

How to Begin Applying Somaware™

You don’t have to master all of it at once. Start here:

1. Pause and Track: When emotions rise, ask: Where is this in my body? What does it need?
2. Practice Daily: Use 2–5 minutes a day to breathe, feel, or move with awareness and intention.
3. Get in the Room: Join a MELD group or retreat. Growth happens faster in community.
4. Notice Your Defaults: Do you shut down? Overdrive? Analyze? These are the  emotional coping mechanisms you developed when you had no support or training, and Somaware™ gives you the tools to shift them.

Somaware™ isn’t something you learn once. It’s something you live.

If you are ready to shift from reaction to response… from surviving to relating… from striving to leading:

Explore what MELD has to offer. Begin allowing your somatic experience to be a resource. Discover how to apply MELD’s tools, such as ROC and SAC. Lean into Assertive Vulnerability, where you stay open as you engage with others.

In the twenty years that we have been teaching men these and other Somaware™  power tools, many of them share with us and the media how this has saved their marriages and lives. The beauty and power of the application of Somaware™  lies in its simplicity. With a bit of practice, men often see significant change quickly.