About Regenerative Men

Regenerative Men is a movement of men who have decided that their presence in the world should be generative rather than depleting — that the ultimate thing a man can do is increase the quality and quantity of life in and around him.

We organize into small groups of six to eight men, meeting in person on a regular cadence, built around real projects, real commitments, and men holding each other to what they say they will do. There is no ideology to adopt, no program to complete, and no one telling you what kind of man to be.

A regenerative man increases life around him — in his home, his work, his community, and the living systems that sustain us.

Who it is for

This work is for the man in the quiet middle — not the extremes, but the wide center of men who are competent yet questioning, present yet stretched, surrounded by colleagues yet not deeply known. If any of the following describe you, you are who this is for:

• The man who senses the gap between his effort and what it is producing.
• The man who wants other men in his life at more depth than the schedule has allowed.
• The man who has a project he keeps almost starting.
• The man who is ready to be held to what he says he will do.
• The man who knows there is more to life.

Why a group, rather than alone

Much of a regenerative man's practice is solitary. So why a group? Because the obstacle is rarely what a man knows or is willing to do — the obstacle is the man himself, and the self cannot fully see, regulate, or hold itself accountable to its own development. A group of six to eight men is the smallest unit that does the three things a man cannot do alone:

• Co-regulation. Human nervous systems settle in the proximity of other trusted, regulated nervous systems. Sitting in a room with other men does biological work no book or app can.
• Reflected sight. A man cannot see his own patterns without others whose perception he trusts. The group becomes the mirror that shows him what he has been carrying as if it were just the way the world is.
• Consequence. A commitment made in front of men whose respect you want is a different thing than a private resolution. This is not willpower. It is structure — the same structure lasting movements have always used.

The Four Tenets

The tenets are the binding ethic — four short imperatives meant to be sat with, argued over, and tested in real situations.

• Increase life. If your action is increasing the quality and quantity of life, you are on the path.
• Start Here. Your current position, including overwhelm or burnout, is a legitimate starting point.
• Deep Time. Take the long view. Think of what you are leaving behind.
• Be Connected. Stay with the people, the place, and the consequences of your work over time. This is what makes regeneration different from extraction.

The Five Fields of Action

The tenets are the ethic; the fields are where it gets applied. They nest outward, and the inner ones are the foundation for the outer:

• Self — your inner life: body, mind, spirit, nervous system.
• Others — your closest relationships: spouse, children, parents, the men you call when something is wrong.
• Community — The wider group of people you count on where you live, work, and play.
• Place — the community and landscape you actually live in.
• Wider Systems — your industry, capital, influence, and work, where the patterns get set.

What it asks of a man

• Two to three hours, twice a month, in person.
• One real project at a time that he is willing to be held to.
• Honesty about what he has done — and not done — since the last meeting.
• Engagement with other men's work as seriously as his own.
• Confidence: what is shared in the group stays in the group.

What it is — and what it is not

It is a working group with projects, accountability, and men who push you when pushing serves you. It is a serious, apolitical commitment to leave things better than you found them.

It is not a men's rights group, a religious or political project, a therapy circle, a self-help program, or a place to process grievances about modern life.

Stand by what grows.