Forging Fathers Podcast

This weeks guest is Andrew Horn. Andrew is an Austin based entrepreneur, writer and relationship-centric leadership coach. Forbes recently called him “Dale Carnegie for the digital age” and that’s a fun way to think about what he’s up to. These days, he spends most of his time coaching, writing and leading men’s retreats . His executive coaching clients have built companies worth more than $4B in collective valuations. Before his career in the transformational arts, Andrew was focused on building mission driven companies. His latest,  Tribute.co made it all the way to #256 on the INC500 in 2021. The organisation has brought in 8-figures while helping more than 6,000,000 people to share appreciation-filled video montages with friends, family and coworkers around the globe. He is currently writing a book called Social Flow which helps anyone to transform social anxiety and nervousness into confidence and connection in every conversation. He frequently speaks for organisations like Mastercard and Google and loves to help meeting planners to supercharge the conversations at their events.

Today I'm speaking with Gregg Denning, In this episode, Gregg and I discuss the power of living deliberately and exploring alternative ways of life. We discuss the lessons fatherhood has taught us, how we parent our children in the modern world, what it takes to be a great man, husband, and father and why it's so important to be surrounded by other great men. Gregg is an entrepreneur supporting other men to level up in their family, fitness and finances and "Be The Man" and we dive into his story from humble beginnings to travelling the world with his wife and 7 children. This is a great conversation, I hope you enjoy. Check Gregg out here: https://www.instagram.com/greg.denning/

Connor Beaton is the founder of ManTalks, an international organization focused on improving the lives, relationships, and leadership of men. Connor is also an international speaker, author of the best selling book Men’s Work, host of a top ranked podcast and works with men who are looking to lead themselves and their lives more effectively. Since founding ManTalks, Connor has spoken on stage at TEDx, with Lewis Howes, Gary Vaynerchuk, Danielle LaPorte, and has been featured on platforms like the United Nations, Forbes, Huffington Post, The Good Men Project, CBC and the National Post. In this podcast we talk about Connor's book "Menswork", his work with men, what his has shown him, and some of his own challenges through life that led him to where he is now. Go and have a listen. It' a great conversation.  I hope you enjoy.

In this episode I'm speaking to Ross Geddes (the owner of Finnieston Clothing) about the upcoming Mantra Men's Retreat in November and how Ross is funding 10 spaces for men who otherwise couldn't afford it to attend. This is huge! Ross tells the story of when he came to the retreat last October and had such an incredible experience. "A total human upgrade" as he describes it here, and now he feels it's the right thing to do to pay this forward for others. He's supporting 10 other men who need this work but finances are the barrier to them accessing it. He's supporting them to have the same experience he had, in their own way, and perhaps start on their own journey of self improvement. This all came from Ross changing how his company Finnieston Clothing operates, from being purely profit driven to being purpose driven. He now uses the profits to fund community projects that help enrich the lives of people and communities. I'm filled with gratitude and totally honoured to have supported Ross this last year and can't thank him enough for his kindness and generosity. Check out Ross at: https://finniestonclothing.com/pages/manifesto https://finniestonclothing.com/pages/project-one https://finniestonclothing.com/ https://www.instagram.com/finniestonclothing/ And see our video and more about the scholarship scheme here: https://www.mantramenswork.com/retreatscholarship

Mark Walsh teaches embodiment, trauma education and anti-decadence.  He is the author of Embodiment, Working with the Body in Training and Coaching, and Embodied Meditation. Mark hosts The Embodiment Podcast (2 million+ downloads), and led The Embodiment Conference (1000 teachers, 500,000 delegates). Seeing a theme yet? He founded the Embodied Facilitator Course, and the Certificate of Embodiment Coaching. Mark has certified over 2000 embodiment coaches, and taught workshops in over 40 other countries.  He gained an honours in psychology (despite been an alcoholic at the time), and has taught widely in the corporate world - where he pretended to be a grown up for years - including with blue-chip companies (e.g. Google, Unilever, Shell, Axa, L’Oreal). Mark has worked in war zones (including founding a trauma education charity in Ukraine), and entertained over 50,000 children. He has headlined International Coach Federation events, lived with the circus and in slums, taught celebrities, and kissed a princess. Mark is an aikido black belt, and also has 28 years of experience in other martial arts, yoga, bodywork, improv comedy, conscious dance and meditation. Embodiment is his obsession, life’s work, and frankly, at this point he couldn’t get a job doing anything else. He dances like your dad at a wedding, impresses cats with his stroking, and offends pirates with his swearing. Mark's now tired of writing in the third person. It’s getting weird. Links ⁠https://www.instagram.com/warkmalsh/⁠ ⁠https://www.facebook.com/mark.walsh.9256⁠ ⁠https://embodimentunlimited.com/⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfgLCTiNzVpIeL_j7Icxh8w

Nathan is a FreeMind Rapid-Change therapist as well as qualified Leadership coach in a number of FTSE 250 organisations. With 24 years in leadership positions, 12 years in leadership development as well as 3 years working 1-2-1 helping people process and reconcile their hurts and pain. He’s also an experienced integration coach working alongside several plant medicines and entheogens. "After being stuck in the so-called rat race, I took myself on a personal quest to understand why and how modern leadership is causing so much damage to itself, it’s people and the world at large. And after discovering the potential of psychedelics in the leadership space I ended up on a personal journey of self-healing and self-discovery. In this I learned how everyone’s lives are trauma informed, and most importantly how to resolve, reparent and remember ourselves through a combination of coaching and therapy practices." With or without psychedelics, his medicine really is about compassionately challenging people's thinking so they can become more incredible than yesterday, he is relentless in this, makes his clients his world and holds their heart through every stage of the journey while helping them to reconcile their past, un-become what they learned to believe about themselves and help them truly remember who they are so they can come back to loving themselves in the way they always wished they had been. This is a beautifully informative and inspiring conversation. I hope you enjoy! http://www.nathansimmondscoaching.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/deeperhealingandbeyond @deeperhealingandbeyond https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nathan-Simmonds/e/B07ZWDYC4T/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk

Jack Villiers is a Leadership Coach, Men's Guide and Public Speaker. His work is focused on enabling people to develop a deeper understanding of themselves so that they can increase their impact, lead authentically and transform the way they relate to others. Jack has spent the last decade working in leadership at some of the worlds fastest growing technology companies like Monzo, Just Eat and MoonPay. During this time he worked at the cutting edge of leadership development, people strategy and culture. Jack is passionate about self-leadership and embodying healthy masculinity because of the impact it's had on his own life journey. He leads men's work with Sacred Sons and facilitates deep transformational experiences for men across the world using relational, emotional and physical practices. For the past few years Jack has been captivating audiences with talks on leadership, mental health, organisational culture, masculinity and overcoming life's obstacles. I hope you enjoy!

Darren Austin Hall is a visionary leader, sound healer/mystic-musician/song-channel, author and spiritual teacher-philosopher. His new book Love's Revolution is out now on Amazon. In the book he weaves together fact, fiction and mythology to tell the story of sacred sexuality in a powerful way through poetry and short story. This book, and this episode, are packed full of deep insight and personal stories that guide us to understand more of why the world is the way it is with regards to sex, intimacy and connection as humans and what we can do to realign ourselves for authentic connection. Darren has a wealth of knowledge on this topic and shares so many powerful reflections throughout this episode that it was hard to keep it under 2 hours. I loved this chat an i hope you do too. I hope you enjoy. insta - @darrendruid web - www.darrenaustinhall.com

John Thompson is an incredibly interesting, intelligent, insightful and intuitive leader. He is the co-founder of Circling Europe, the organisation primarily behind Circling spreading the world this last decade. He originated the 5 principles of Circling, Surrendered Leadership and has trained and certified hundreds of Circling facilitators. John is also an Integral Master Coach and a Master NARM Facilitator (The NeuroAffective Relational Model) He's worked with world class leaders in AI, Collective Intelligence, Sport and business. Previously John ran an elite tennis academy based on Integral Philosophy, authored award winning papers in the field of personal development and started an internationally famous project for street children in Delhi. This was a very honest and emotional discussion around how we can really help people in this world and what methods we can use to support people to find their purpose and pave the way to personal freedom. I hope you enjoy

Anton Mackey is a Devoted Son, Father and Husband. He has been on a journey of self mastery and spiritual exploration for as long as he can remember. A yoga teacher for over 13 years, he leads his own yoga teacher training & leadership program. He is a men’s work facilitator with Sacred Son’s & has created his own Mindset Coaching program. This episode goes deep into emotional mastery, parenting, birth and how we can do more for our families, communities and ourselves! Go and follow Anton @sovereignyogidad and be sure to sign up to his programs on www.antonyoga.com I hope you enjoy

This weeks guest is Cal MacAninch, an esteemed actor, father and adventure seeker. Cal has starred in TV and film but in this episode of FF we go into his most rewarding and most challenging role, being a father. We discuss all the lessons of fatherhood, what acting a father on screen has been like and Cal's incredible challenge of rowing across the atlantic ocean. Cal rowed 3000 miles across the ocean for the the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Rowing Challenge, a race unlike any other. This was Cal's biggest physical challenge to date and he tells the story of all he learned and all the insights that came to him during the immense challenge at sea. I loved connecting with Cal and thoroughly enjoyed absorbing some of wisdom. A power hour of an episode! I hope you enjoy!

This week i am joined by Krishinda Powers Duff. This woman is amazing. She was our midwife for two of our births and we are so grateful for her and all the wisdom she brings to the birth space. She is a Holistic Midwife, Mother, Buddhist, Birth Activist, Goddess of loving light. A being of loving light who has stepped out of the birth trauma machine and into her calling as a Wise Woman, Space Holder and Holistic Midwife. In this episode we talk all things birth, love, sex and death. It gets deep and personal as I reflect on my own experiences as a birth partner and what lessons Krishinda has to share for men going into this sacred space. I hope you enjoy. Follow Krishinda on instagram: @barcelonamidwife4

This week we're joined by my good friend Marc-John Brown. Marc is fellow father in arms, and this week we share our journeys through parenting, healing and life. Marc has been a practitioner of modern shamanism since 2008. With a background in translation and interpretation and as a soon-to-be qualified anthropologist, he has travelled all around the world, spending years in South America and extended periods of time in Asia deeply connected to the Earth’s wisdom and shoulder-to-shoulder with the local Indigenous populations. Marc-John is now an apprentice of the ancient millenary healing wisdom lineage of the Shipibo-Konibo tribe of the Peruvian Amazon, which is strongly allied with a number of profoundly wise and benevolent master plant spirits This is a great conversation, I hope you enjoy!

This week I'm joined my good friend Rory Lamont. Rory is an ex professional rugby player and owner of 'Caim' health and wellness retreat centre. In this episode we talk about his healing journey, why we need elders, his work and how he aims to help the world and his relationship to his own father and so much more. I loved this conversation and I know you will too! Check all of Rory's stuff out at www.welcometocaim.com and @welcometocaim, they come highly recommended.

This week we're joined by Andy Caine. Andy, the founder of "In The Now How ", is a mental resilience and life coach using his own experiences and practices to support others to find their truth and become their best selves in work, life and love. In this episode we learn Andy's journey and the many lessons along the way, his project called "Passage of Men" where he walked from John O'Groats to Land's End to raise awareness for men's mental health and menswork. He attended and instigated as many mens groups as he could along the way and the stories he encountered are heart warming. Check Andy out at @passageofmen and www.inthenowhow.com

This week welcome Ryan McKenna to the podcast. Ryan is a modern day Celtic Warrior embodying ancient knowledge and wisdom, in unison with modernised teachings and techniques to create alchemic medicine to nourish the mind, body and soul. He is a gifted musician, facilitator, astrologist and ceremonialist.  Through his latest offering the 'Sacred Scotland Tour’, he welcomes people from all over the world to Scotland, guiding them to rekindle their ancestral fire by reconnecting to the beauty and magic of the land. Ryan is dedicated to carrying the songs and stories of his ancestors to the future, bringing through all the lessons held within.  In this episode we explore all of this, from the sacred Scotland tour, what our ancestors did, how ceremony and ritual can benefit you to astrology and beyond. I hope you enoy!

This week I'm joined by Tricia Murray. An experienced anxiety coach, trained doula and charity founder, Tricia has helped hundreds of women battle stress and anxiety and improve their mental health. Through her charity work she has been invited to the house of commons and house of lords to discuss the importance of perinatal mental health support. She is someone I respect, and admire her passion for her work.  Here we discuss mental health, stress, anxiety, the parallels we see between men and women, parenting, birth trauma and more. This episode offers us the chance to reflect on how women experience a lot of the same or similar issues to men and how we can collectively support each other better. You can find Tricia on instagram @triciamurrayuk or www.triciamurray.co.uk If you enjoy this episode, remember to share.

This week I’m joined by Ben Wright. Ben is a father (newly expecting 👶🏼), he’s a performance coach and owner for pillar studio in Glasgow. In this episode we talk about health and well-being fatherhood and some of the issues that young men are facing in society today and how we can support them. Ben brings a lot of wisdom, accountability and a no bull-sh*t attitude to his life and work and it's refreshing to hear someone forging the way for himself and others with so much compassion.  Check Ben out at @fourpillars.studio / @ben.wright.fourpillars

In this episode I catch up with good friends Paul Lambie and Bob Cummins about their experience at the Mantra Men's Retreat in October 2022. It was really interesting to hear exactly how the experience was for them, what they gained from the weekend and what how they integrated the realisations and healing effects of the retreat since. With a healthy balance of humour and wisdom Paul and Bob share their stories of the past present and future and how this work has helped them and could help others. This is one of my favourite conversations so far, I hope you enjoy it. And if hearing this makes you feel like you too want to jump on our May 2023 retreat then visit www.mantramenswork.com to book your place. 

This episode we welcome Alexander Cottle. Alexander is a Men's Transformational Coach, NCS L3 qualified counsellor, Yoga Teacher, Meditation Teacher and founder of the ‘Unmasked Man’ - set up to encourage sharing, brotherhood and create a voice for men's mental health. He is deeply passionate and dedicated to guiding men to step into their power and fulfil their potential. Leading through embodiment, Alexander has overcome many struggles on his journey, enabling him to hold space from an empathetic and relatable place. He believes that through true authenticity and vulnerability we can drop into a better relationship with ourselves and our bodies, creating a compassionate and grounded approach to self healing and growth. As part of the Unmasked Man Team, Alexander teaches online and in person men's trainings, events and retreats throughout the UK and Europe. Here we talk about his journey and how understanding and working with the masculine archetypes can support men to navigate life and deal with their shadows.  Tune in and listen to the widsom Alexander shares and be sure to check him out at: @the.unmaskedman