Following The Thread: From Garage Circles to Main Stages

Description: A few weeks ago I found myself standing on the main stage at the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Melbourne. If you had told me six years ago that I would be doing that, I probably would have laughed. More than likely, I would have found a reason why it wasn't possible. At the time, I was running a small men's circle from a garage while studying engineering at university. I didn't have a plan. I didn't know where it was leading. I wasn't trying to become a speaker. Truthfully, I wasn't trying to become much of anything. I was simply following something. Looking back now, that has been the common thread through much of my life. Not a strategy. Not a five-year plan. Not certainty. A thread. A feeling that there was something here worth moving towards, even when I couldn't explain why. This episode began because so many people in Melbourne asked me the same question: "How did you get here?" And the more I sat with that question, the more I realised there wasn't a simple answer. There were men's circles. There were mentors. There were retreats. There were failed attempts, uncomfortable conversations, shaky Instagram lives, moments of deep self-doubt, and more times than I can count where I questioned whether I had anything worth sharing at all. There were also moments where life seemed to open a door and ask me to take a step. Not ten steps. Just one. This conversation is a reflection on that journey. Not because I believe I have it figured out, but because I know there are people listening who are standing at the edge of something themselves. Something calling them forward. Something asking to be lived. My experience has been that we rarely get the whole map. We are given a thread, a direction, a next step. And if we are willing to trust it, life has a way of revealing what comes after. This episode is about following that thread.   Time Stamps: 00:00 Welcome to The Wyrd Way 01:00 Returning to the podcast after a break 01:37 Speaking at Mind Body Spirit Festival Melbourne 02:00 The RAW Men's Retreat and creating transformational spaces 03:27 Why people kept asking: "How did you get here?" 04:03 From fearing the stage to loving it 05:00 Growth through following aliveness and discomfort 06:54 Reflecting on six years of mentoring and transformation 07:24 The first men's circle in a university garage 09:00 Beginning before knowing what you're doing 09:40 Engineering, anxiety, depression, and the search for healing 10:18 Breathwork, meditation, plant medicine, and self-discovery 12:22 Becoming a coach and facing imposter syndrome 13:24 Starting imperfectly and learning in public 15:17 The terrifying first Instagram Live 16:04 Learning to love the parts of yourself that feel afraid 16:55 Becoming versus performing 17:33 Ego, collapse, and coming back into alignment 19:14 Authenticity and owning what you're feeling 20:20 Looking for the next step instead of the whole path 21:25 Stewarding a vision without controlling it 22:01 Treating your creations as living entities 23:01 Business, relationships, and being in conversation with life 24:42 The danger of trying to think your way through everything 25:30 Being in conversation with the universe 26:11 Following intuition, mentors, and unexpected opportunities 27:27 Vision quests, relationships, and life's turning points 28:20 Following the thread of your own becoming 29:02 Leadership as going first 30:15 Six years later: arriving on the main stage 31:04 The role fear has played in every stage of growth 31:41 Greatness, service, and sharing your gifts 32:24 Mentorship, RAW Retreat, and next opportunities 34:01 Closing reflections   Links: RAW: Men's Primal Embodiment Retreat Book a Discovery Call About Dean: Dean Bentley is a speaker, mentor and host of The Wyrd Way podcast. Often called a Viking Priest, he guides deep transformational work through initiation, men’s work and embodied practice. His work helps people face what is real, reclaim fragmented parts of themselves, and live with grounded purpose, truth and creative power.