I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, no doubt I have more than a few flaws. 

But I damn sure walk my talk. 

I’m in this work with you, still addressing my own blind spots, still working to develop myself, grow, and evolve. That’s why I’m honored when I hear my clients and students say that I don’t preach from an ivory tower, that I lead from the rear, that I’m in the trenches with them.

On my journey, I’ve crawled through the mud, I’ve endured the dark night of the soul, and I found the light on the other side. 

But I’m not just here to talk about it. I’m here to create a movement and share the path from the dark to the light with as many men as I can reach.

I am here to get YOU into the life you dream of living.

The early chapters in my story are filled with fist fights, broken glass, blackouts, blood, and prison bars. Binges on anything I could use to numb the pain inside that I couldn’t face. 

I know what it is to have no love for the man in the mirror. I know what it is to carry the weight of hatred.

For years I found myself stuck inside a destructive cycle. I despised the weakness I perceived in myself. But the thought of asking for help or talking about my feelings was laughable.

It wasn’t until the umpteenth time I found myself cuffed in yet another holding cell that I finally realized that if I didn’t make some serious changes my future was going to be an absolute mess. 

I was going to get locked up, kill someone, or kill myself.

The clarity I found at the bottom of my struggles birthed a renaissance. I started reading, studying, questioning, and thinking for myself. I put the bottle down, I got back in the gym. The weights were my therapist. I began to learn how to take care of my body. I ate right and got fit.

My mind was such a chaotic storm, so impossible to manage, that meditation seemed like a good area to focus my efforts on. So I read a few books, then I read a few more. I sought out teachers. And under their guidance felt called to embark on a silent meditation retreat. 

Three days of silent practice gave me the courage to embark on a two week silent retreat, then four; living 24/7 in deafening meditative silence. As time passed, regular meditation retreats became a standard part of my year. 

Through those long periods of silent practice I gained perspective. I learned to contact the source of the barrage of brutal insults from my inner critic. I found the buried pain inside, and I let it begin to unwind. I was contacting deeper layers of myself, allowing long-held knots to well up to the surface and gently come undone. 

It was subtle, but I could feel that the medicine of the practice was real. It was shining through me.

Looking back, nearly two decades later, and I’ve earned a psychology degree, been awarded various exercise science certifications, and completed an esteemed multi-year program to become a professional holistic health practitioner.

I’ve rigorously studied various martial art systems – Muay Thai, Kali, Silat, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and others. I’ve earned the rank of instructor in each. I’ve competed in the ring. I’ve trained with and befriended elite martial artists from all over the world.

I’ve swam Polish rivers in icy winter and hiked mountains half-naked, learning how to control my mind and my body temperature with my breath. 

I spent a week alone in total darkness 24/7. No light, no company, nothing but the subtle sensations of my own body.

I sang ancient songs in foreign tongues in the sweat lodge with Huron tribal elders. I dug my own grave in a shamanic initiation and spent the night buried underground, singing my death song.

I’ve wandered through South America, whacked off psychedelic medicines, walking the razor’s edge of enlightenment and insanity. I’ve lived at a monastery in Asia, I’ve gone weeks without eating.

I’ve taught acting workshops in Australia, and instructed NFL prospects in close-quarter empty hand combatives. 

I’ve lived on a yacht in the Balearic Sea, breaking bread with movie stars at the top of their craft. I’ve worked hard manual labor at a North Philly steel mill, breaking bread with work-release felons. I’ve flown private, and standby. I’ve walked the red carpet, seen the flash of the paparazzi’s cameras. And I’ve done a perp walk, and seen the flash of my own mugshot.

Through these varied experiences, I’ve come to understand that things are not as they appear.

There is an intimate connection between your inner world and the world you perceive out there. 

There is far more to reality than meets the untrained eye, and this ancient truth is worlds away from hippy-dippy or “woo.”

I know that with consistent disciplined practice anyone who really goes for it, no matter their history or present struggles, can realize true freedom and lead a meaningful life. 

I know this because wise elders have shown me the path. And I am walking that path, walking my path, to the best of my ability every single day. 

And I have built The Savage & Saint Collective to give you the tools you need to find your true path – and to walk it with honor. 

That’s why you’re here, reading this, right now. That’s why our paths have crossed.

My journey through life has taught me how to speak two languages, both with my whole body, and both at the same time.

One language communicates that you better bring a fuckin sack lunch if you’re trying to take what’s mine or hurt the ones I love. It says that any obstacle in my path to fulfilling my personal destiny is getting terminated with extreme prejudice. It says that I will not allow you to wallow in complacency. 

The other language says that I see you completely, I see your private pain and hidden struggles. I love you, I see you as my brother, as a part of me, and I want to see you rise to your fullest potential, become happy, healthy, and free, and witness the perfection all around you. 

My unique lived experience has taught me that developing fluency in both of these languages – the Savage & the Saint – is an absolute requirement for remaining consistent on the never ending road of becoming the best man you’re capable of.

This dual fluency birthed my living philosophy of optimal masculine self-governance.