For decades, men’s work evolved in waves.
First came catharsis: primal screams around fire pits, rites of passage, and emotional breakthroughs. Men felt something for the first time, but often lacked tools to sustain the change.
Then came support: safe circles, authentic sharing, and emotional vulnerability. This wave brought connection, but it often plateaued in repetition, with little structure or measurable progress.
Today, the leading edge is function. Rooted in science, structured in method, and proven through results—this is Functional Men’s Work.
The origin of Functional Men’s Work began not in a lab, but in a living room.
In 2005, in the small town of Sandpoint, Idaho, Owen Marcus gathered a group of men in his straw bale home. What started there would quietly redefine the field. Drawing on 30 years of clinical experience in mind-body health, Owen crafted a new model of group-based emotional growth: one that didn’t just offer emotional release, but built lasting nervous system change, relationship capacity, and authentic leadership.
That early group became the Sandpoint Men’s Group (SMG) — and a local cultural force. Men credited the group with saving their lives and reshaping their families.
In 2016, that model went national under the name EVRYMAN, where it gained acclaim from The New York Times, Men’s Health, and researchers alike.
Today, that same model has evolved again. What was at EVRYMAN is now the core of MELD. Now refined, matured, and backed by research; it continues to evolve as other men study at MELD.
Just as functional medicine moved beyond symptom treatment to address root causes, MELD brings the same depth to men’s growth:
Medical Evolution | Men’s Work Evolution |
Holistic Medicine | Cathartic Men’s Work |
Focused on “whole person” care — mind, body, spirit. | Emotional breakthroughs and rites of passage. |
Integrative Medicine | Support-oriented Groups |
Combined Western and alternative tools. | Sharing circles and emotional safety. |
Functional Medicine | Functional Men’s Work (MELD) |
Systemic, root-cause, data-driven. | Science-based, somatic, measurable, communal. |
MELD brings together neuroscience, somatics, emotional physiology, trauma-informed care, attachment theory, and peer-based leadership. It is not just about talking; it is about restoring your biological and relational function.
Our method — Somaware™ — integrates the body, the breath, and the relational field into one trainable system. We measure progress not in how you feel for a moment, but in how your life changes.
Functional Men’s Work is not just about fixing what is broken; it’s about cultivating what is possible.
The highest expression of this path is what we call MELD Authentic Intelligence™ — the embodied, relational capacity to lead, feel, connect, and guide others with integrity and presence.
Where Artificial Intelligence is coded, Authentic Intelligence is cultivated.
This is the intelligence that:
This new AI is what every man in MELD trains toward – whether or not he knows it.
We have moved beyond old maps.
MELD is the system upgrade for men ready to live with clarity, vitality, and purpose.
Because you have outgrown the old model.
Not therapy. Not just a circle.
Functional Men’s Work is a science-rooted, systems-based approach to helping men lead with clarity, vitality, and heart.
It is for the man who:
We don’t manage symptoms.
We restore function: nervous system, emotions, and relationships.
This is not about performing masculinity; it is about embodying presence.
What makes MELD unlike anything else in men’s work?
MELS is built on four integrated pillars — each one essential, none optional.
We work through the body, not around it.
Breath, sensation, posture, and presence are core tools — not afterthoughts.
Grounded in neuroscience, polyvagal theory, trauma-informed care, and real data.
No jargon. Just what works.
Change does not stick in isolation.
Everything in MELD happens in the context of group: real-time feedback, real connection.
We go upstream.
Instead of fixing surface behaviors, we address the physiological, emotional, and relational roots of how men get stuck.
Together, these four pillars make MELD a functional system for transformation — not just a set of practices.
MELD’s proprietary map of transformation
Somaware™ is how MELD makes emotional growth trainable.
It weaves together the most effective elements of somatic science into one unified system so men don’t just understand themselves… they change.
Somaware™ turns emotional physiology into practical leadership.
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