Men’s Health Champions IMD2024

Men’s Health Champions is the theme of International Men’s Day 2024 and for me it prompts the question, what is men’s health and why is it necessary that we focus on it?

In today’s society, there remains a patriarchal messaging that men should “be strong” and “don’t feel” (show emotion) which has an impact on men’s physical and mental health such that they often leave seeking help until the last moment.

Many men have experienced the camaraderie that is developed through playing sports or when working out physically in some way. However, many of these sports or workouts reinforce the aforementioned negative messages by portraying the following as strength:

1. Aggression

2. Control and dominance

3. No display of vulnerability

4. Win-lose mentality

These messages serve to “contract” men emotionally, discouraging vulnerability and authentic expression, while reinforcing a limited and ultimately harmful view of masculinity that values control over compassion and conflict over compromise.

We learn in Tai Chi and Qi Gong (I am an instructor of both) that, beyond the impact on our relationships and society, such messages restrict the flow of Qi which is expressed in poor physical and mental health. Through the practice of Tai Chi and Qi Gong, we challenge all ofthese messages in an embodied way. At the most basic level, we work with the body and the nervous system as our vehicle to access our higher self (the mind). By learning to ‘open’ and ‘make space’ within the body, one begins to start to practise the art of ‘release’ – completely the opposite of what the world tells us, but its value has been evidenced over several thousand years.

What belies the slow, gentle movement of Tai Chi and Qi Gong is how physically demanding it really is as a journey of transforming the physical body and the mind that moves it. Like all authentic internal arts training, real strength comes not from aggression but through release, control is achieved by giving it up, and becoming vulnerable is made possible by the co-creation of a safe space.

As we navigate today’s world where people are expected to be everything to everyone (perhaps my way of saying that there is an implicit societal pressure for us to be politically correct all the time), the definition of what it means to be a man seems to be more politicised than ever before. In the debate around traditional vs. evolving masculinity, gender roles and family dynamics, men’s rights vs. feminism, workplace & economic pressures and more, the increasingly complicated discourse around masculinity will have significant impact on one’s physical and mental health, as well as one’s relationship with others. Finding a safe space to examine our unique perspectives and lived experiences on what it means to be a man is key to managing these stressors and to become better versions of ourselves.

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Jason’s men’s work is informed by Systems-Inspired Leadership, Co-Active Coaching, Transactional Analysis and a host of other counselling approaches, plus nearly 35 years practice of classical martial arts including internal energy arts.

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