There’s a quiet ache many parents feel — the ache of watching their son drift farther away from his essence. Not because he’s broken, but because the world is loud.
Between the endless scroll of social media, the pressure to conform to social expectations, and the confusion of navigating politics and identity, young boys today are growing up in a storm. And somewhere in that storm, many of them forget who they are. They lose touch with their wild, curious, fearless selves — their essence.
For years, I’ve been asked:
“When are you going to create a space for boys?”
“Can you create something like what you do for adults, but for teens?”
“Can you mentor my son?”
I’ve heard these questions from friends, parents, and even strangers who’ve come across my work. Until recently, the timing didn’t feel right. But now, something in me has shifted. The call has become too loud to ignore. And Initiated was born — not as a program, but as a rite of passage. A return.
This isn’t about fixing boys.
It’s about remembering.
My Own Journey Back
I didn’t come to this work because I had it all figured out. I came to it because I didn’t.
My self-awareness didn’t arrive wrapped in clarity or wisdom. It arrived through trauma. Like many boys, I didn’t have the tools or the support to process that trauma at the time. I buried it. And for years, I chased identity through achievements — in sport, in success, in perfection. But underneath it all was a boy who had never been held through his pain. A boy who had never been seen.
Healing didn’t happen overnight. It happened through movement, stillness, grief, community, and eventually, a reconnection with the very essence I had once abandoned.
That journey changed everything — not only how I move through the world, but how I guide others.
Why Boys Need a Different Space
As parents, we offer love. We give advice. We try to teach. But often, our sons don’t hear us. Not because they’re stubborn, but because our words come from the same place they’re trying to grow away from — home.
Sometimes, that same advice needs to be heard in a circle of peers, from a mentor who isn’t their father or mother, in an environment that feels new — but ancient.
That’s where Initiated comes in.
This is not a camp.
This is a container for remembering.
Through conscious movement, breathwork, nature, fire, sweat, storytelling, and sacred brotherhood, we peel back the layers that have formed around these boys. The ones telling them who they should be. What they should look like. How they should act.
We’re not teaching anything new.
We’re simply reminding them of what they already are.
Their essence never left. It’s just been buried under the noise.
A New Chapter in My Purpose
I’ve coached Olympians, professionals, and everyday warriors. But Initiated is different. It’s deeply personal. It feels like a continuation of my own healing — and a chance to offer what I wish I had when I was 14, 15, 16…
This is my purpose now. To guide boys into their own self-awareness before the world molds them too far away from it. To give them the tools I had to find the hard way. To remind them that strength comes from presence. And that manhood isn’t something you earn — it’s something you embody when you return to your essence.
If you’re reading this as a parent, mentor, or seeker — know this: the time is now. For our boys, for our future, for the sacred return.
Let’s initiate the next generation — not with pressure, but with presence.
– Armando Hart
