Knowing the Conscious Man Intensive – 2026

We are born as part of nature, designed to meet life with awe and wonder. Yet the prevailing culture that surrounds us tells us a different story: that happiness and worth are measured by productivity, possessions, technological progress, and social status. This fiction leaves many men unfulfilled – trapped in disconnection, loneliness, and a restless search for meaning. Days, weeks, or even years can pass without touching their own wildness or experiencing a deeply authentic, intimate moment with themselves or those they love. Now is the time to stand for inner work. To pause. To listen. To heal. To reclaim the wild beauty that still pulses within us. Embedded in every man’s psyche is the potential for a richer, more soulful, more imaginative life – as Bill Plotkin reminds us: “It’s time to take another look at ourselves.”

The Knowing the Conscious Man Intensive is an invitation into this deeper gaze. Across 3.5 days, you will use nature as a mirror of your inner landscape, stepping into courageous inquiry about who you are and who you are becoming. This work offers more than self-reflection – it opens the door to a more vital, intimate, and conscious way of walking your path. This workshop will ask much of you. If you are drawn to register, prepare to be stretched. Prepare to encounter the questions that can no longer be ignored. Prepare to go only as deep as you are willing – and to discover what waits in those depths.

The venue is the amazing Baanya Biami (Camp of Great Spirit) on land of traditional owners, the Wadawurrung People. Baanya Biami is located 50 mins south of Ballarat, 1hr 20 minutes west of Melbourne or 40 minutes north of Geelong. It is nestled on 150 acres of bushland which is surrounded by over 21,000 acres of the Brisbane Ranges National Park. In the National Park, you will find over one fifth of Victoria’s native plant species, over 170 native bird species and an abundance of native wildlife. There are short and long public walking trails meandering through the National Park taking in the rivers, gorges, and cliff top views.

Note: Several Early Bird places ($300 discount) are available if you regsiter and pay in full before the end of March 2026. Also, if you have completed KCM previously a ‘Reviewer’ discount is available.

Overview:

During the workshop you will:

♦ Encounter Bill Plotkin‘s Nature Based Map of the Human Psyche as a core navigational tool. (The ‘Wild Mind Map’ is a holistic model to reclaim and embody the many facets of our innate human wholeness granted to us by nature yet suppressed by our experience of the prevailing ‘ego-centric’ culture).

♦ Access the four windows of knowing

♦ Open up to deep somatic ritual and non-ordinary states of perception

♦ Cultivate an intimate conversation with your internal world as a reflection of the natural world around us

♦ Experience spacious solo time in nature using nature as the mirror of your psyche

♦ Proximate into a deeper relationship with the wounded and protector parts of yourself.

♦ See your physical body as a manifestation of your inner ‘story’

♦ Experience ‘soul hygeine’ with practices for tending often tighly held parts including grief and shame

♦ Meditation, deep imagination and dreams

♦ Time in Council and lots, lots more!!

Date: Nov 26-29, 2026

18 in stock

Note: This intensive is for men who are willing to:

♦ ask deeper questions of themselves

♦ reach outside of their ‘comfort zone’

♦ open up to possibility

It is recommended that you have previously completed other personal growth programs.

This could include the Awakening the Conscious Man Intensive, Menergy, the ManKind Project etc – we will review your registration.

Logistics:

♦ This is a 3 night residential intensive held in Staughton Vale (50 mins south of Ballarat, 1hr 20 minutes west of Melbourne or 40 minutes north of Geelong).

♦ It is a fully catered workshop for up to 20 participants (with wonder Chef Ashley Mariani – scored 10/10 in previous workshop). There is well appointed accomodation including a mix of private bedrooms, shared bathrooms and cabins. Several camping places are also available if preferred.

♦ Date: 5PM (2PM Arrival & Setup) Thursday Nov 26 – 2PM Sunday Nov 29, 2026

♦ Venue: Baanya Biami (Camp of Great Spirit) – Staughton Vale Victoria – click the link for more information.

♦ Investment: your time and $1295 minimum – a 50% deposit will hold your place. Several early bird places are available up until March 31, 2026.

♦ Guarantee: What you put into this workshop is directly related to what you take out! The intensive will stretch you…in a good way!

^ David Mallard is a uniquely experienced trainer, coach, mentor, guide, adviser and consultant. He has been deeply involved in men’s development work for 25 years and co-founded Melbourne Men’s Group Inc. in 1998 with Dr. Roger Hilton. David is trained in Breathwork, accredited in the DiSC personality profile, holds a Cert. IV in Training & Assessment and has Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He is currently a student in the professional ‘Wild Mind Training Program‘ with the Animas Valley Institute of Colorado. David has extensive senior executive leadership experience in corporate Australia working closely with CEO’s and Boards – in parallel he has facilitated, coached and guided hundreds of men’s group meetings, workshops and seminars. David is also a council member of Soulcraft ANZ Inc.

^◊ Chris Caldwell is a counselling psychologist, supervisor, teacher and group facilitator with over forty years’ experience in the field of healing and personal development. Chris has explored and trained in diverse fields during his practitioner career including the body mind model of Wilhelm Reich, formal meditation and yoga trainings in Australia and India, extensive practice in dreamwork and depth psychology as initiated by Carl Jung and extended into the transpersonal work of Stanislav Grof. Amongst other things, Chris currently teaches transpersonal counselling at the IKON Institute of Australia.