Aussie men embark on the adventure of a lifetime – Blase Grinner

Interview and Article MICHELLE R PRICE

Sunshine Coast local, Blase Grinner, has a surprising amount of energy considering he has three kids aged three and under. He and partner Melinda recently welcomed a baby girl after having two boys. After working as a tradie for 10 years and playing rugby league for New Zealand and later Queensland, Blase has dedicated the recent years of his life to helping other men live their best lives.

During his construction years he became a Foreman by the age of 24 and found himself giving orders to men as old as 50. “Those two industries, the rugby league and the trade [construction], were… that hyped-up masculine, or if you look at energy, this tyrant energy, so a very macho culture here in Australia,” he said.

“Through that process of [working in] the construction industry, what led me to becoming a coach, was a gentleman, very, very dear to me, he attempted suicide. I was 22, he was 18. Slit both his wrists, got 26 stitches and he survived.

“I wasn’t very spiritually aware, or consciously aware of my emotions and went on a wayward spiral, so drugs, alcohol, pornography, prostitutes, gambling… anything that I could do to numb or avoid the pain that this caused me.”

Blase adds here that his father left when he was just seven, “So from a very young age I was always aspiring to older men as a mentor and these men didn’t fit that role effectively for what I needed and so that was that search and that yearning for older men in my life.”

During his career in construction, Blase came across Mates in Construction (MIC), which focuses on the prevention of suicide.

Blase became what is known as a ‘Connector’, which meant, “Men on jobsites knew that they could come to me and I could connect them to a counsellor… and they could confide in me.”

Blase realised he had a natural talent for leading men, saying he also made the effort to learn about their families and find out about their passions. Because of that, many of those men confided in him about problems they were facing, so he began to try to help them without realising he was coaching them.

Blase had to re-sit the Suicide Alertness Training and during that time experienced something of an awakening. “All of that stuff I buried for years, pertaining to this gentleman’s suicide attempt, all came up for me to examine and… heal.”

He began to ask some big questions: 1. Who am I? 2. What’s my purpose on this planet?

By doing this exercise he discovered that ultimately, he is a soul undefined by the earthly jobs and/or sports he enjoys. He also realised he loved bringing people together and that men seemed to trust him.

As he went through this intense transition, he found out his partner was pregnant with their first child. Blase said that brought up a lot for him including being the provider, money and commitment. “What I found was that I was going through a lot and I was comfortable enough to talk about my emotions… but I didn’t have… a community of men I could talk to because I’d let go of all my old mates, so I created a community.” The Conscious Men Brotherhood (CMB) was born as a result of this work and its membership grew to over 500 men in little more than two years.

Blase wants to help as many men as possible live their lives boundlessly and without restriction. He also stressed that it is not the role of a woman to father the ‘inner boy’ of her partner.

Blase admits that adjusting to using social media took some time, after years of watching his sisters post selfies on Instagram. Around four years ago he challenged one of his mentors to prove social media was worth it, “And he was like, ‘Man why don’t you flip your mindset?’ He goes, ‘You’ve got a lot to say, and use social media as a tool’.”

Blase said, “That tool has now allowed me to coach men online across the world and also travel the world doing this as well.”

He added that the computer screen also acts as a barrier, allowing men to step into men’s circles a little more confidently than they would if they were face to face. Blase said, “It allows men to spectate and look at people like myself on our newsfeed on social media and see if they resonate with that… and then take that step to come face to face.”

Blase said he has discovered a couple of things about men. One is that many of them crave connection with other men as well as nature. He said, if we sit some men around a campfire, they will feel right at home. It awakens their nature as hunters, he added.

This brings us to BlokesVenture. This threeday ‘rites of passage’ will be held on the Sunshine Coast in November, 2021. Blase explains that BlokesVenture is based around Carl Jung’s Archetypes of Masculinity. Jung developed four main archetypes; King, Warrior, Lover and Mystic. Blase came up with a fifth, the Jester, which incorporates the playful energy. He also calls in the four elements plus one more: water, wind, earth, fire and spirit. Blase said ultimately, he wants men and boys to feel like they are part of a tribe.

Blase has also created the Mind Fit Gym, which aims to take men on an 18-inch journey from their head to their heart to help them uncover their values and vision.

www.blasegrinner.com https://coach.blasegrinner.com/blokesventure3day