The Death of Staying Tame: How to Reclaim the Wild Man Within You
The world thus far has trained you to be tame.
Society has conditioned you as a man, to hold back, to seek security, to play it safe.We’re taught that this path will lead, someday, to great rewards. The success, the money, the things.Little do we know this path of domestication has led us to give away our power. The taboo against wildness, the fear of the animal within, has led us to buy into this game of sacrificing for future rewards.
- We’re afraid of wildness, yet wildness is our home.
- We try to control nature, yet we come from it.
- We wear masks and costumes to pretend that we aren't really animals.
Yet our quest for domination is rooted in fear. And ironically the more we seek comfort and security, the more uncomfortable we become.While technology and civilization has brought us many benefits, it has come with a price.Our temperature controlled environments make us more uncomfortable whenever we go outside. Our supermarkets make us more reliant than ever a food supply we can’t control. Our GPS systems make us feel like lost infants without them.Our desire for not being at the mercy of nature, has led us to actually being more fragile. And our fear of the animals that we are, has led us to feeling like we’re not at home on the planet that we live on.
At some point we have to ask, when is it time to break the taboo against wildness?
When the weirdo is the man actually moving on the playground and the normal one is the one sitting in a chair for 12 hours a day, isn’t this a sign that something has gotten totally out of balance?We’ve sacrificed our freedom, our bodies, our sense of brotherhood, and our connection to our own planet.All in the name of success, or whatever it is.But unfortunately these are just the obvious costs.
The true costs of being a domesticated man
As men, we often don’t realize just how much we’re constantly holding back. We walk around repressing our instincts to climb, to crawl, to express our sexuality, or to simply take a few moments to look up at the sky and marvel at our own existence.The wildness within us is tamed by not speaking our minds because we're afraid of what someone might think. We dumb our gifts down to quantifiable commodities in jobs without meaning, rather than embracing our unique, ineffable medicine we have to give to the world.We walk around like head transportation vehicles, cut off from the wisdom of our bodies, and the ability to listen to the guidance of our guts.When our vehicles (bodies) are just machines, we treat them as devices that need annoying maintenance. Even sleep is seen as an inconvenience.Monetized and compartmentalized. That is the cost of a culture that worships the head and sees the body as a sack of meat that must be lugged around.
It's time to reclaim ownership of our minds
I gu
ess what I’m trying to show you, is that many of the problems we’re facing in our culture are the result of a mindset.Beliefs shape our perspective, and thus our actions in the world.The domesticated mindset exalts the “respectable” and tame man, and sees the wild man as primitive, an interesting and novel spectacle to be put on display.Now, at this point in the story you might be expecting me to say “screw civilization, it’s time to return to the glorious caves and wilderness we’ve so foolishly forgotten”But that would just be another radical overcorrection.Whether we like it or not, we can’t go back. We must go forward.We must learn to reclaim, to integrate, and find a new way of operating in the world.I believe that way is by boldly owning, embodying and even, celebrating the wild man within you. Not in a naive, romantic sort of way.But really truly asking, how do we reclaim the wild and integrate it into where we are now?
Who is the modern wild man and what does he look like?
The modern wild man lives in the inbetween. He rides the edges of society and the undeveloped world. He’s at home surrounded by tall buildings and even taller trees.He hasn’t abandoned society to become a resolute monk, though he does take regular retreats to unplug completely from the hustle and grind.The new wild man is more like a hybrid human. He’s always looking for ways to learn from the way we thrived as hunter gatherers.He experiments with embedding those practices and lessons into the fabric of modern living.Because we’ve engineered movement, seasonality and crucial aspects of our biological blueprint out of our lives, he’s been forced to become an architect of routines, habits and habitat. The wild, hybrid man seeks to consciously shape his own environment, his own rituals, and his own lifestyle on his own terms.He knows that the wildness is always just underneath the surface. So most of his work isn't finding or creating wildness, but reclaiming it.[bctt tweet="You can take the man out of the wild, but you can never take the wildness out of the man."]
This might mean finding weird and interesting ways to move like a human animal throughout the day.He makes a practice of squatting, sitting without furniture (much to his wife’s dismay), and crawling down the hallway when no one is looking.You can often find him climbing trees, much to the shock of old ladies.Generally though, by moving like an animal, he’s always doing things that other people find strange.Though he doesn’t often express it, he finds the way they live even stranger.
The wild mind leads to a wild life
As much as possible he tries to eat with the seasons, buying locally grown, organic produce and grass fed meat when available.Secretly, he dreams of what it would be like to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, or on a farm where he can just get away from everything and live a simpler life.However, connecting with and building a tribe of other men is a priority to him.He sees it as his duty to help other men uncage, knowing that the men around him are suffering, just like he was.He helps them by showing them that they can start small, and rewild themselves from wherever they are.So, the uncaged man makes the initiative to invite his friends on hikes, movement sessions and retreats. He challenges those around him to play a bigger game, and to step into their deeper purpose.
Wildness is his superpower
His wildness is a gift to all of those he meets, because little do they know, it’s the source of his true power.Nature nurtures him, and making a practice of being surrounded by nature recharges and energizes him. It gives him the fuel he needs to live in the service of others.Sometimes this means cutting through the bullshit of the domestication game of trading time for freedom.He's not afraid of calling out those he loves when he sees them playing small, or sacrificing their happiness for someday. This might not make him popular in the moment, but they often thank him later.
He celebrates his masculinity, and never hides it
The uncaged man sees his masculinity as something not to be feared or shunned, but as something to be celebrated.He understands that women have been suppressed by a male dominated culture for too long, but he also sees the fallacy in trying to act like one gender must be elevated above another.He knows that patriarchal society hasn’t just suppressed women, but also put men in a box, a place where they are expected to be like unemotional automatons.By reclaiming his wildness, he has reclaimed his ability to feel fully, to be in tune with and embrace the full spectrum of emotion.He knows that feelings aren’t an obstruction to his purpose, but are a gift — a valuable guidance system for his most aligned action. By feeling more he is more connected to the Why behind his purpose. This why is fuel that propels him to serve the world in a deeper, more meaningful way.This of course, is a messier, more chaotic way to live than acting like he doesn't feel anything.But there are other gifts to feeling completely. Feeling fully, he embraces both the light and the dark, and by owning his shadows his life is not run by them.The uncaged man knows that by courageously confronting and owning his darkness he will eventually find freedom, strength and power within the shadows.
We're not done yet... The Greatest Gift of Wildness
Reading all of this, you might think “I’m in, let’s do this.” But you haven’t even heard about the best part yet.When you reclaim the wild, uncaged man within you, you no longer view life completely from the realm of the mind.Not only will you no longer feel trapped in your own head, but you no longer see life merely as a series of problems to be solved.Life is so much more than a problem to be analyzed, dissected and figured out.Life is an adventure to be lived.[clickToTweet tweet="Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved. Wildness is the vehicle for freedom." quote="Life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be solved. Wildness is the vehicle for freedom."]Wildness is the greatest vehicle for adventure there ever has been. When you break the taboo and awaken the beast sleeping with you, you realize, that all the freedom, adventure and purpose you’ve been looking for was......right here, all along.It wasn’t something you needed to earn, or sacrifice to uncover.Of course, the game of earning, building and becoming can be a fun game to play.But at any moment we can return the freedom and joy of the wildness that is us.We don’t need to find nature. We are nature.By reconnecting with the wild, we rediscover… ourselves.
A Roadmap for Uncaging as a Man
Though the wildness is always right underneath the surface, domestication has fucked us up to a pretty significant degree.We need to figure out how to rehabilitate ourselves from captivity. We need to learn how to band together as men again in a way that celebrates and honors both the masculine and feminine sides of the spectrum.And of course, there is the real, practical concern of:How do I live more like a primal being, even while I’m in this civilized world?In the next post I’ll be sharing with you some of the most potent ways you can start on this journey, from wherever you are.And of course, I’ll be unpacking all of these things even more in-depth over the next few months.Uncaged Man is my mission, and I plan on doing this for a long time. There is a lot of work to do. And I hope you'll help me spread the word to help more men uncage.I think there are some buttons somewhere around here for that. ;)
For now, I’d love to know: why do you want to uncage?
Why do you want to reclaim the wildness within you?Join the Uncaged Man group and let us know.
In wildness and strength,JonathanP.S. If you’re new here, don’t forget to subscribe to get the next post in the series.
My Morning Routine: How I Uncage Daily
A few days ago in our private little community I asked if people wanted to see my morning ritual.You guys responded with a resounding yes, so I went out to Mt. Tabor and recorded this video for you.Of course, there are many layers to it, and I could create several hours worth of video content to unpack all the details of the routine.Perhaps that's something I'll do in a future course. :)For now, hopefully you at least get the basics of it from watching the video:
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Morning routine summary:
- Ground and shake - 5 min
- Standing check-in meditation - 3-5 min
- Deep squat breathing practice - 3 min
- Controlled rotations of all joints - 5 min
- Incantations to unleash your greatest self - 5 min
Total investment: 20-30 minValue: undefinable
The benefits of daily uncaging practice:
- It ensures that even if I don't get outside again for the rest of the day, that at least I uncaged once. It helps me sleep better at night knowing this. And it helps combat Nature Deficit Disorder.
- Getting my feet on the ground right away helps restore the negative charge to the body. Grounding is actually one of the most potent anti-inflammatories.1
- Mobilizing all my joints gets the stiffness out of my body and hydrates the tissues that have poor blood supply. Since doing daily CARs I wake up with less "old man" feeling.
- Daily incantations remind me of why I practice and helps put me in a powerful state to tackle my day, and create momentum toward my most important goals.
- Being outside just feels good. Enough said.
Of course, you don't have to do this whole practice, and some days I don't.If I'm strapped for time, I will do just get my bare feet on the ground, shake a little and do the joint rotations.The point is to do it every damn day. So just do whatever you can, however you can.Pro tip: Find a trigger that helps you anchor this habit. This is basically just something you already do each morning, that will remind you to install your new habit. You make it easier because you're essentially piggybacking off of something that requires no current effort.For some, that might be doing shaking and joint rotations after your morning cup of coffee. For me, it's taking my dog out to the bathroom in the morning.I hope this helps you uncage and awaken the primal beast within you.Let me know how it goes!
Over to you: What's your morning routine like? Do you have one?
If so, what is it? If not, why not start one now?
How to Cure Your Nature Deficit Disorder
There are only two things that never fail to put me in a great mood:The first one is obvious: sex. Even "okay sex" is still sex.The second is time in nature.It makes sense when you think about it. Both are highly immersive experiences that pull you out of time, and its myriad problems, and drop you into the present moment. Both include large amounts of pleasurable and fascinating stimuli.They're also both things every human could probably do with a bit more of.But present moment, now-inducing experience is not even the best part about time spent in nature. So, if you think you just "don't have time" go outside, or you fail to make it a priority, there's good news:By the time you're done reading this, you won't be able to ignore or put off spending time in nature.To better understand this claim, let's look at why this habit is so powerful. Time in the nature or the wild is what author Charles Duhigg of The Power of Habit refers to as a Keystone Habit.In other words, it's a habit that has a domino effect on many other habits.Here's just a small handful of the benefits of nature exposure (it's almost like we evolved for it, funny idea, yeah?)
- Put you in a more positive mood
- Increase your ability to focus 1
- Help combat depression and ADD 2
- Help you think creatively
- Boosts your levels of Vitamin D
- Bolster your resilience to changes in temperature
- Expose you to a wider variety of movement challenges that keep your body strong and healthy
- And even makes you a nicer person (yes seriously) 1
When you add up all those things it's easy to see why spending more time in nature is when one of the most important habits you can develop.The best part though is that it's completely FREE, and therefore available to EVERYONE.
“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” —Thoreau
So, how do you know if you have a deficit of nature in your life? And what exactly is "Nature Deficit Disorder" anyway?The term was coined by author Richard Louv. He describes it as such:
"Nature-deficit disorder is not a formal diagnosis, but a way to describe the psychological, physical and cognitive costs of human alienation from nature, particularly for children in their vulnerable developing years."
You might have NDD if...
- You feel like an alien on your own planet
- You often find yourself feeling sad in the middle of the day for no apparent reason
- You get the classic melting screen face at the end of the workday, yet keep glued to it anyway
- You have tons of friends on Facebook and Twitter, yet you feel very isolated and alone
- You feel like your life, and in particular, your exercise routine has lost excitement and is too predictable
- You're afraid of being outside, touching things, or in general going off any premade paths
- You find yourself pacing back and forth in your apartment like a caged animal
If that sounds like you, don't worry. You are not alone. I used to feel this way... until I decided to finally do something about it.
How I've been curing my own case of NDD
I swear it wasn't always this way...As a kid I never had any trouble getting outside. Sure, video games were cool, but so was riding my bike, playing in the creek and trying to build tree forts.Getting older, it's easy to think that I just don't have the time to get outside, or that it's too cold/wet/whatever.These are all just excuses, of course. I sometimes spend hours on pointless email checking, social media or watching MMA videos on youtube. And yeah, the weather is a real thing, but that's what gear is made for. As a friend of mine likes to say "there's no bad weather, just bad gear."So, what I've been doing is tricking myself into thinking that nature time is productive, and making it a part of my daily practice.Particularly, I've done three main things to force and even trick myself into getting outside:
- Making a walk a part of my morning ritual. This way it's automatic and not left to chance. Once the habit is built up for at least 30 days, you're pretty much riding on autopilot.
- Using Productive Meditation to trick myself into getting outside as a way of getting shit done. This is something I picked up from the ever-inspiring Cal Newport. The idea is simple: pick a well defined problem or project you need to get clarity on. For me this might be outlining a blog post, or figuring out the narrative for a product I'm working on. Set a time you'll walk or move outside for, and then discipline yourself to continually return back to the core problem or question, even as your minds drifts or wanders. This is similar to the way you return to your breath in meditation.
- Replace gym time with outdoor training. I mean, why the fuck not? If I'm going to exercise, I might as well reap the benefits of fresh air, anti-fragility and mood improvement. Plus, with the gymnastic rings I always have a portable tool for strength training, pretty much anywhere.
The key I've found is to not try to find more time to get outside, but to embed time outside into the things you're already doing.
“Nowadays almost all man's improvements, so called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap.” —Thoreau
So, how can you get more time outside and cure your own NDD?
Simple ways you can cure NDD now:
- Make contact with the earth part of your morning ritual. Use the cue of making your morning beverage to get outside and put your feet on the ground before you start your day.
- Find a walking partner. Nature time can be as simple as a morning walk with a walking partner. Find a friend that's willing to walk with you every day, the wilder the better, but parks are great too. No excuses if you don't have time to get on the trail.
- Get megadoses. Take regular "megadoses" by going out for multiple day trips to the coast, the forest or the mountains. Cabin, tent or tarp under the sky, just get out however you can.
- Practice the art of productive meditation (trick yourself to get outside by using nature to make you more productive)
- Take meetings, calls, or interviews outside. Sure, there will be some noise, but it beats the stale air of an office.
- Make your education time your movement time. Take your audiobooks or podcasts outdoors while you walk, run, bike and play.
- Make nature time your "gym time" -- climb trees, crawl around like an animal, balance on stuff, etc. If you want to throw in some serious strength training, hang up a pair of rings on a tree.
- Use Pomodoros to remind yourself to take movement breaks. 25 minutes of focused work, five minutes of movement outside. You'll also increase your focus at work. You can download this simple app to make it easy.
- Just do whatever you can. If all else fails, go out in your yard and just hold a squat for a couple of minutes. If you don't have a yard, fine. Find a patch of grass, or just look up at the sky. Find and hug a tree. Kiss one of your house plants. Just do whatever you can. Everything helps.
The reality is, we didn't get to spending 90% of our waking hours indoors over night. Domestication creeped up on us and before we knew it, the things we thought were advancements actually turned out to cause some serious damage to our health and wellbeing.So, having patience and a progressive transition to outdoor exposure is key. Go easy on yourself. Even 10 minutes of moving outside is a great place to start if you're currently doing zero.
Using technology to undo the damages of technology
I find it very amusing that I'm typing shit into a computer to help inspire and empower you to spend less time on screens.It does bring up an interesting point though. We can use technology to reverse and undo some of the damage it's caused. We can use it to connect with likeminded folks and find local training partners. We can set reminders on our phones to get up and move. And we can even block ourselves from using screens with clever apps so we aren't slaves to our devices.Technology is amazing. I love it. I love connecting with you. I've learned so much through the amazing and vast resources of information that have been enabled by it.But we must wield it consciously, lest we become slaves to it.If not, we aren't the owners of the devices. The devices end up owning us.Please share your thoughts: What's your biggest struggle with getting outdoors? Are there any strategies that have really worked for you?Leave a comment and share with the tribe so we can all benefit from it.
Sources:
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448497/2. http://www.pnas.org/content/112/28/8567.abstract3. Study: Weinstein, N., Przybylski, A. K., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). “Can nature make us more caring? Effects of immersion in nature on intrinsic aspirations and generosity.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1315-1329.
photo courtesy of chancellor
How I Get Strong with Gymnastic Rings (Rings One Review)
Personally, I like to train outdoors as much as possible, and in the forest if I can.The fresh, oxygen-rich air is enlivening.There are no distractions (especially if there's no service). It's just you and the movement.Standard american gyms make me feel caged. I can sense an almost allergic reaction coming on as I approach them. As soon I leave one, I suddenly feel liberated.Don't get me wrong, I see the value in indoor spaces for training, but my heart and soul longs to be moving in the wide open spaces of the wild.Which brings us to a conundrum, how can you do strength training outdoors?Sure, there are many movements that can be done without the presence of any equipment. But often the stimulus becomes too weak once you've adapted.On the flipside, it's simply not practically to lug around a bunch of weights or machines with you everywhere you go.This is why I love the gymnastic rings.I was introduced to them in 2008 by my martial arts teacher. He brought them to the park to use as part of a conditioning circuit he often ended our classes with. Almost immediately, as if I'd been reunited with a long lost friend, I felt a deep kinship to this unwieldly and torturous apparatus.Soon my teacher and two other dedicated students made a habit out of hiking into the San Gabriel mountains (barefoot of course). We'd scan the landscape for a tree with a sturdy looking branch, then mount the rings for a strength training session. Hearing the stream bubbling past, feeling the earth under our feet, I had a curious primordial feeling that this wasn't much different than the way our warrior ancestors trained. Maybe they didn't use gymnastic rings, but they were surely out in the wild, training and practicing their skills to hone their warrior abilities.Knowing this made my heart sing.Unfortunately when I moved to Oregon it became hard for me on hikes to find trees with branches low enough to hang the rings on. The lowest branches in the forest are often 20 to 30 feet from the ground.Luckily though, I've recently found some trails that have great spots for hanging rings. Maybe even the perfect spot. So, I've been getting more ring time in the wild.Practicing more cold exposure this winter has also made me more resilient to going out to train, even when the weather would rather make me want to bundle up next to a roaring fire.
Here's some of what I've been doing on the rings:
Obviously the portability of the rings is a huge plus. They fit nicely in a small backpack. Or you can just carry them in your hands, like my teacher often did.
But there are even more awesome benefits to rings training:
- The adjustable height allows you to easily scale exercise difficulty. Pushups on the rings too hard? Try elevating them to hip or nipple height and you'll find a variation you can do.
- The instability makes any exercise you could do on the ground instantly harder.
- You can easily chain movements together to create movement flows.
- They make you feel like a total badass.
In the early days while my training with the rings was fun and challenging, it was largely an unfocused, haphazard affair.I dreamed of being able to achieve things like the muscleup, superman and higher level movements. But just throwing myself at the movement over and over wasn't getting me anywhere.I tried books and forums like gymnastic bodies, but couldn't figure out a clear, progressive program for beginners.Then, luckily I stumbled upon GMB. Their rings program had just come out and I was all over it.The trail, my garage and my back porch became my strength laboratories. Now guided by the intelligence of a smart program, and the helpful coaching of friendly GMB coaches, I was actually seeing progress.As I said above, I recently fell back in love with training with the rings. I think they're an amazing tool. However, I see almost everyone make the same mistake with the rings:They just blindly start "doing stuff."
Don't make the common, dumb mistake with the rings
Basically, they're making the same, dumb mistake I did. Find something you think is cool, and just keep trying it, hoping you'll get better by sheer volume of attempts.While this might work with some things, it's a dangerous gamble on the rings. If you're not strong enough and jump into an advanced move, you will often pay with elbow and shoulder injuries (ehem, like I did).Because of the brutal nature of the rings, it's absolutely critical that you follow a well thought out, and progressive program that can be tailored to where you are starting. Just because you see someone doing an iron cross on Youtube, doesn't mean you are ready to jump in and try it. What you don't see is the the thousands of ring pushups they did and various other progressions for years before they even begin approaching a move like the iron cross.So, with all that said, if you are interested in getting started with the rings, do yourself a favor and check out GMB's Rings One program (they also have an advanced Rings Two for those with a solid foundation on the rings).Start your journey on The RingsThis is what I used, and I know it works.And if you don't have a pair of rings yet, I highly recommend the wood rings from Rogue. I've owned several pairs over the years, and these are the best I've found.That's it guys. Get out outside, and train wildly!P.S. Soon I'll be back with a guide to warming up for the rings, and a basic beginner workout you can do to get started. So, stay tuned for that. Or if you're ready to jump in, check out Rings One from GMB.They have a promo going for the next couple of days where you'll get a free shoulder mobility course, and a rings conditioning circuit.Learn more about Rings OneFull disclosure: If you click on the link above and purchase GMB's program, I will get a cut. This helps me make more awesome videos and tutorials like this for you. I only promote products I've personally used and tested, so you can be sure they're top notch. Thanks for helping out!
Doors, Not Windows, Open Spaces, Not Cages
A movement can be a door or a window.An easy example of this is the squat. The squat as an exercise or a resting posture is simply a window one looks out of. It's a nice place to visit, but it doesn't really take you anywhere else. You've arrived at the destination, you see some interesting things, and you move on. Not much participation, exploring or engagement.It's kind of like stopping off the road at a lookout. You check out the view, snap a few pictures, post #awesomeview and continue your journey.The squat as an exercise is similar to this experience. There's a bit more engagement, but it doesn't go beyond the rails of the prescribed pattern of movement. In fact, there is often an obsession with perfectly moving inside the lines. The perfect form, the perfect posture.There is certainly value in mastering a particularly move, but it shouldn't end here.The squat as a door is an entirely different experience. You realize that there is no one true squat, even done as an exercise, not one will ever be quite the same.A good way to break up your squat is to play with reaching in it.
The squat from a door perspective is not one move, but an entire range or category of infinite moves that look like the shape of squatting.Where a squat and ends begin no one really knows!This way squatting becomes a dynamic movement that you use for every day life. Eating breakfast, folding laundry, chopping vegetables and watching Game of Thrones can all be done from squatting positions, dynamic or static.It transforms into a link between other moves. Sit to squat to cartwheel. Squat to bridge to squat to handstand to bridge to squat.Or maybe even squat around a tree?
Move with your squat, in your squat, around the squat, and the squat itself becomes a land of infinite doors for you to choose from.[clickToTweet tweet="Doors lead to new experiences and freedom. Windows are built to look out from boxes." quote="Doors lead to new experiences and freedom. Windows are built to look out from boxes."]It's interesting to look out, but it's much funner to participate.Step out the door. Leave your box. Choose doors, not just windows, open spaces, not cages.Note: Special thanks to Ido Portal and his students for exposing me to this concept at their Movement X workshop. It completely changed the way I look at movement.