At the age of 13, create a male rite of passage and invite all boys to go through it. For thousands of years, men have taught boys how to become healthy men. We have lost these rites of passage and now we have generations of men who are still boys, stunted, shutdown and numbing out with porn, videogames, drugs and addictions of every sort.

I staffed a Boys to Men Weekend recently where we took 16 boys from the ages of 13 to 17 years old and lead

New Bromance ~ Derek Dujardin and Craig Gagliardi

them into the world of men. Not the world of men of who they have been role modeling for the first decade of their lives, but the world of healthy, strong, trustworthy men. The REAL world of men.

The biographies of the boys were heart-wrenching. Half of them lived in foster homes. The other half lived with mom and had no father figures in their life. When they weren’t absent, their real dads were alcoholic and abusive. A lot struggled with ADHD, and more than 1/3 said have tried to kill themselves and most had suicidal thoughts. A few were normal boys, with normal boys trouble. But only a few. Couple came with their fathers.

I was hard NOT to write them off the majority. And a few times I caught myself doing exactly that. These guys had really GOOD reasons to quit on their lives. And a few of us would have blame them if they did. They had the ultimate trump card and an excuse that could justify any actions and behaviors for the rest of their lives. They were victims. And now, they were each becoming perpetrators, some faster than others. In year or two, jail was were they were headed. They were all running out of second chances.

So, what did we do? I can’t tell you EXACTLY what we did that weekend because it’s secret, as rites of passage for men should be. But I can tell you about the Hero’s Journey. We took them through multiple processes that spoke about the healthy male energies and archetypes, including the Lover, Warrior, Magician and King. We told them about their shadows. The Lover’s shadow is the Addict. The Warrior’s shadow is the Bully, the Magicians shadow is the Trickster/Manipulator, and the King’s shadow is the Tyrant. We talked about the masks we all wear to hide the scarred little boy inside.

But most importantly, we dealt with what it means to be a man. Men keep their commitments, especially to themselves and their communities. Men don’t hurt themselves or others. Men speak their truth from their integrity.  We modeled this for all the boys, to show them they can trust men. And trust themselves. Make good choices. For many, it was the first time in their lives they have met men like this. We cried in front of them and showed them there is no shame in our emotions. Open vulnerable and raw, we showed up.

The climax of the weekend is an ordeal. However, from this ordeal, each of the boys get to become a king, the Decider of their lives. We take them through their wounds and help them find the gift that is next to it. We help them to be empowered and change their interpretations of their victim story and confront the obstacles and beliefs that are holding them back from moving forward. In short, we showed them their gold, and showed them the the shadow that is covering it.

They got it. Every single one of these, rough, hurt, angry, medicated, abused, apathetic boys walked out of that weekend a new person. And we did in less than 48 hours. I have no idea how we did it. I think this is in our DNA. Men are born to do this. Boys are born to received it.

Will it stick? We have a group of eight boys who joined us, called Journey Men. The J-Men on our weekend had biographies that were just as horrific as these boys who walked in on Friday night. But, they showed up, as men. They showed up in ways that taught me that I still have work to do. These Boys, were also Those boys, only a few months earlier or a year before. These J-Men, all had Victim stories that would give them an excuse that to live in their Shadow selves. But they showed up as Warriors, Lovers, and Kings. So, yes, for some, it will stick.

I love the MENding. I love the work that I do, but this work, this Boys to Men’s work, would make a world of difference if our world were to embrace it.

Another man left that weekend equally transformed. I got a refresher course in my B.S. and my shadow parts and I, too, have made a commitment to be a better man, more passionate, more loving, more grateful.

I can’t wait to do this work again.

TANTRA. Written, lived and performed Derek Dujardin

Tonight, I’m going to tell you all about my sex life.

(Cough)

This will take about six and half minutes.

Two years ago, I broke up with my girlfriend. We were together almost seven years and I loved her very much. Sex wasn’t a problem for us. In fact, it was probably one of the things that keep us together for so long. But ultimately, our relationship wasn’t sustainable. We broke up.

Her first rebound after we broke up was with some guy who was a Tantric master. He takes her to heights of sexual ecstasy.

How do I know this? Well, my ex and I get back together for a sleepover, and I will tell you, she’s a completely different woman. And I ask her, what happened to you? And she says: (breathy, three heavy breathes, then) “Tantra. Did you know that the vulva can be stimulated from ten different directions?”

No, I didn’t know that. (Clear throat, cover crotch)

As funny as that is now, at the time, I was crushed. Because I wanted to be the guy who opened her that way. Not someone she had just met. After that, my sexual confidence just cratered.

That was first time Tantra kicked my ass. And it wouldn’t be the last.

And men, you might want to listen up because Tantra may be looking to kick your ass too.

So, a few months later, I meet this beautiful flight attendant in Seattle. She actually picks on me and asks me out to dinner. We date for about a month. Let’s just say my confidence gets restored.

Then she invites me to take a week long Tantra course with her in Hawaii. But here’s the catch: She needs a commitment first.

I tell her the truth; I just broke with someone who I was with for seven years. I can’t rush into another relationship. She says “Fine, I’ll take the class by myself. Hmp!”

Well, she’s not by herself for very long. At the class she meets a fellow student and they practice tantra— on each other—for like five days straight. I innocently call her up and ask “how are you enjoying your tantra class, honey?” And she says: “Exalted. The best sex I ever had. Met a German man named Hogart, I’m moving to New Zealand with him. I’ll never go back to having sex the old way again. Did you know the vulva can be stimulated in ten different directions?”

Yeah, yeah, I think heard that somewhere. (Clear throat, cover crotch)

Tantra kicks my ass for a second time.

A couple of months go by, and I met this really charming woman at a seminar. We go out on a date and she tells me she an intimacy coach. She actually teaches tantra. In fact, she’s goes to India and takes month long courses on tantra.

And, I will tell you, for the first time in my life, I’m on a date with an beautiful woman, and I’m actually afraid I might have sex.

I was afraid we would be in bed together and she would say something like: “Did you know the vulva can be stimulated in ten different cosmic dimensions?”

But we didn’t go there. We end up being really good friends. I’m a slow learner, but I finally figure it out: The Universe is trying to tell me something.

So I start reading books on tantra. I took tantra classes. Did this so I could be technically better at sex. And tantra definitely helps with that. But there’s all this other stuff about Breathing and Energy—and God.

God?

Maybe that’s part of my problem. I never brought God into the bedroom before. Unless it was “Oh, God! Oh God! Oh Gawd!’ while making my goofy face. (Fake orgasm with goofy face on stage.)

By the way, that was the Upper Middle Class Nerd Orgasm. Pretty much the only one I know.

Alright. Back to God. For most of my life, I had this concept of God as Pissed Off Old Grandpa. But over time, that changed into a loving, accepting, supportive God. Except, in the bedroom, God was still a pissed off old Grandpa. And, there’s nothing sexy about pissed off old Grandpa’s in the bedroom. No offense, sir. (Gester to the oldest guy in the room.)

But seriously, after reading these tantra books and experimenting with the energy, I’m starting to see sex and relationships in a whole new way.

Tantra is about connecting and achieving union. Sexual energy is just an access point to that. It’s not just treating a woman like she’s a goddess. It’s about loving her as Thee Goddess.

In Tantra, they even have these names of reverence for the genitals. The penis is called the “Jade Shaft” and the “Scepter of Light.” Isn’t that so much nicer than Pecker, Prick or Dick?

They call the vagina: “The Precious Gateway”, “The Golden Doorway” and “The Flower Heart.” Isn’t that cool? The clitoris is called the “The Jewel in the Crown.”

Hmmm. Just imagine the empowering pillow talk Barry White could have using words like this?(Barry White impression) Baby, oh yeah baby, I’m gonnaput my Jade Shaft into your Flower Heart and then fiddle with the Jewel in the Crown until you feel like the Queen of the Universe.

Then I had a serious revelation. Are you ready? Here it is: I believe part of this violence towards women problem stems from how we raise our children to think about sex. And it goes beyond the words we use.

As a boy growing up, I had no enlightened role models around sex. Who does? Our culture has a lot of shall “nots” around sex, but not very many shall “dos”. We don’t have giant stone statues of Gods and Goddesses and Divine Beings getting on with each like they do in India.

We have my mom saying things like: ”Sex is dirty before marriage. It’s sacred after marriage. So keep you pecker in your pants until your married. End of story.”

As a culture, we teach that sex is dirty, profane and degrading.  So, is it any wonder that we have generation after generation of boys who grow up to be men who gravitate towards sex that is dirty, profane and degrading?

What if we taught boys that sex was sacred?

What if at puberty we had a sacred ceremony, a rites of passage, where Older Men told Boys something like this:

“Son, that stirring inside you is your masculine God energy awakening within in you. That desire to procreate is also the desire to create. To learn. To love. To build your body. To dominate in a sport. To lead. To achieve. That isn’t just hormones to be denied, but nothing short of the masculine side of God expressing itself through you.

And son, one day you will meet you opposite and your complement. And she will test you in every way imaginable. But if you are able to stay open to her, the rewards will bountiful beyond measure.”

What an empowering gift that would be to young men? And what gift to women!

If sex becomes sacred to boys, will not grow up to be men who will not use sex as a weapon against women or themselves.

As said, at the beginning. It seemed like Tantra was trying to kick my ass. Now I see that Tantra just waking my ass up.

In my relationships, I’m endeavoring to see the Goddess with in them. And maybe in my looking, I’ll see God within myself.

That’s where Peace and Love, can really start to Get It On!

———-The End———-

Post Script: After I did this piece, I got a lot of attention. Female attention, which was great. Except I wasn’t able to handle it with the level of integrity that was required or was respectful for women. I felt like a rock star. My inner teenager teamed up with my libido and I nearly undid all the good that I had built in doing this show and working with V-Day.

I realized that part of my motivation in doing this piece was to get dates! When I saw that, I got some help. I actually stopped performing this piece for a year in a half until I could get my inner character in alignment with my outside persona that I was showing to the rest of the world. I’m still not perfect, I still have my bad days, but I’m way better than I used to be. I’m finally at the place where I can start performing this piece again and know I’m doing it for the right reasons.  Today, I have to remain present to the fact that a lot of women project on to me positive traits they want in a man. And I have no right to take advantage of those projections. While I do embody many of those positive traits they project, and perhaps they are more of reflection how I’m being, nonetheless, my daily practice is to grow into image that they see and who I know I can and will be. Thanks for reading.