California Mens Gatherings

Connecting Men at the Heart

You are here: Home / Archives for Default

The Next Spring Gathering

by

The Spring Gathering registration is not yet open!
In fact, we don’t have a lot of information to share yet except that:
– we’ll be there May 23 – 26, 2025, so save those dates
– it will be held at Pathfinder Ranch in Mountain Center, CA (outside of Idyllwild)
– it’s going to be a sweet time with terrific men

If you’re not familiar yet with what a CMG Gathering is, you may want to learn more about our organization and gatherings at TheCMG.org/gather before delving into details about this one.

Lastly, if you’re not yet on our mailing list, please join! Membership is free and it’s the best way to stay on top of announcements about our three types of upcoming events − (1) gatherings like this one (2) local events in five CA cities (3) online events. Hop over to TheCMG.org/join to easily sign up for those notes!

ngs (2) local events in five CA cities (3) online events. Hop over to TheCMG.org/join to easily sign up for those notes!

MindSpa: The Healing Powers of Drag

by

California Men’s Gatherings MindSpa Series Presents:

The Healing Powers of Drag 

Date: Tuesday, October 13th, 2020

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location: Zoom/Online

RSVP: Please RSVP/Register in advance with Jamie Simmons

Cost: Requested donation of $5 to help cover CMG’s ongoing online operations.
Donate HERE! No man will be turned away for lack of funds. 

The Healing Powers of Drag 

Join special guest Kyle Celio, also known as “Sue Casa,” as we explore the healing powers of drag. On the surface, drag may have been just a funny, entertaining part of a pre-COVID night out. But dig a little deeper and we may experience drag as transgressive, liberating, a way to speak truth to power, or a direct challenge to toxic masculinity and fem-phobia.

Many of us at CMG have dipped a toe (or a high heel) into drag, perhaps dressing up at a Gathering for the first (or 1000th) time. Drag can be an initiatory experience and bring forward parts of our personality that were previously hidden. It can also be a lot of fun! Kyle, who also happens to be a psychotherapist, will share some of the positive gifts of drag—how it has given him self-esteem, stability, and healing—as well as challenges around integrating drag into his life. You will have a chance to ask Kyle questions and also share stories around the experience of drag in your own life.

  

About Kyle Celio/Sue Casa

Kyle is an LMFT with a private practice in San Francisco. He has been in practice for 17 years, working with all ages and a wide array of issues. In particular, he has been drawn towards working with addiction issues, bipolar disorder, adolescents and couples. He is very curious about the process of self-exploration and helping people understand themselves and further develop their own identity.

Sue Casa is best known as the village idiot. Her success lies in her ability to fail so perfectly. She performs and hosts regularly at various clubs and bars all around San Francisco and is well known for bringing Carrie Bradshaw to life in Sex and the City LIVE! at Oasis. She has also dazzled and upset audiences in LA, Palm Springs, NYC, Ptown, Hawaii, and Fresno.

The CMG MindSpa Series is committed to providing a forum for experiential workshops exploring the connections between Mind, Body, and Spirit. It is usually held on the second Tuesday of each month from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. If you have an idea for a MindSpa workshop or would like to lead one yourself, please do not hesitate to contact CMG MindSpa Curator, Jamie Simmons, at jamie8431@aol.com.

We’d love to see you there! 

All CMG events are drug-free. This event is also alcohol-free if you so desire in your home. Sponsored by the CMG Desert Cities Local Events Committee. All persons identifying as male 18 and older, local or visiting, are welcome. If you would like to propose a local event, please fill out the form found at the Contact Local Events Page.

California Men’s Gatherings and its members stand together with our Black brothers in solidarity: Black Lives Matter. We are with you in this time of pain. We renew our call for racial justice and economic equality. We are committed to listening, learning, understanding, and connecting at the heart in order to bring about the needed changes within our own organization and in society at large.

2nd Online Gathering

by

California Men’s Gatherings presents:  

98th [2nd Virtual] Gathering!

Friday Night Oct 16th, Programming all-day Oct 17th, and 18th

Love/Diversity?

The CMG Summer/Fall Gathering will focus on diversity and what we love about it and what we find challenging about it. How do we relate to our fellow humans who are different from us, people who look and act and believe in ways that are different from ours? Do we love that which is different or fear it? To what degree are we comfortable with differences? Do we seek them out? If not, why not? What do we feel we need to know or do to feel more comfortable with diversity? Are we doing enough to foster diversity and fight against racism in today’s society? What about the differences that can bring us together? How are we the same? From whiteness to blackness and people of color to sexual and gender identities, the CMG Summer/Fall Gathering gives voice to our diverse perspectives, fosters understanding, and promotes love.

To Offer a Workshop, click HERE.

Workshop Offerings ~ Time Due: Friday, September 25th at 11:59 pm.

To Offer an Act in the Talent Show, click HERE.

Please sign up before Monday, October 5th, at 10 am.

Location: Your computer or phone.

Registration will open on the 2nd of October.

We’d love to see you there!

California Men’s Gatherings and its members stand together with our Black brothers in solidarity: Black Lives Matter. We are with you in this time of pain. We renew our call for racial justice and economic equality. We are committed to listening, learning, understanding, and connecting at the heart in order to bring about the needed changes within our own organization and in society at large.

How to Deepen the Love in your Life

by

California Men’s Gatherings presents:  

“How To Deepen The Love In Your Life” with Ken Page, LCSW

for CMG Men, Statewide

Date & Time: Tues Sept. 15, 2020 at 7pm PT   (We know it’s short notice, but we’re excited to have Ken available!  Hope you can make it!)
Location:   Zoom info will be sent to those who register for this potentially capped event.
Event Cost:   Please click here to make a donation to CMG in the amount of your choosing, but if you cannot give, please come anyway!


_______________________________________________________________________________________

We are honored to have enticed New York-based therapist and author Ken Page, LCSW (“Deeper Dating“) to lead a statewide CMG version of his workshop:

“How To Deepen The Love In Your Life”

All of us, single or coupled, are on an intimacy journey − and it’s the most important journey of our lives. 

The choice to engage with our fellow men is an affirmation of love. It means we’ve chosen to be loving to both ourselves and others.  That choice, at its best, involves using tools to live in the world as men with deep, feeling hearts.  We are not meant to be alone and self-sufficient. Without lives filled with love, we wither inside. Intimacy is oxygen. We don’t need to transcend our hunger for love — we need to honor it.

In this combination of lecture and interactive workshop, renowned psychotherapist and author Ken Page will speak about the path to deeper love between GBT men. The workshop is for everyone, coupled, single, or anywhere in-between. You’ll learn:

  • The great key to loving yourself first
  • How your deepest insecurities reveal your greatest gifts
  • Two simple exercises designed to help you bring deeper love into your life right now. 

Come join us for this powerful experiential workshop and lecture.

Ken Page, LCSW Bio:

   KEN PAGE, LCSW, is a renowned psychotherapist, and a leading voice of hope and wisdom for everyone seeking to find and cultivate healthy, lasting love. He is the host of The Deeper Dating Podcast, co-founder of DeeperDating.com, and author of the bestselling book Deeper Dating: How to Drop the Games of Seduction and Discover the Power of Intimacy. He has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, The Advocate and more. Ken is passionate about helping people understand the search for love as one of the greatest spiritual adventures in life, and he celebrates the inclusion of the LGBTQ community into the banquet of wiser relationship advice.  Ken lives in Long Beach, NY with his husband, children, and their pets.

We’d love to see you there!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

All persons identifying as male (whether single, coupled, or otherwise) are welcome.

To see all events we have going on in the near future, visit the Local Events Page on our site.  If you have an idea for an event, please go to the Local Events Contacts Page.

CMG welcomes additional support for planning and carrying out the events we offer.  We are very interested in having additional homes where events could be held.  You need not join the committee to host or work on an event! If you can help in either respect, please reply to this note to learn more!

If this is your first time using Zoom, please check your system requirements prior to the session at the following link: https://zoom.us/test

______________________________________________________________________________

California Men’s Gatherings and its members stand together with our Black brothers in solidarity: Black Lives Matter. We are with you in this time of pain. We renew our call for racial justice and economic equality. We are committed to listening, learning, understanding, and connecting at the heart in order to bring about the needed changes within our own organization and in society at large.

 

MindSpa: Managing Anxiety in the Time of Coronavirus 

by

California Men’s Gatherings MindSpa Series Presents:

Managing Anxiety in the Time of Coronavirus 

   

Date: Tuesday, September 8th, 2020

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location: Zoom/Online

RSVP: Please RSVP/Register in advance with Jamie Simmons

Cost: Requested donation of $5 to help cover CMG’s ongoing online operations.
Donate HERE! No man will be turned away for lack of funds. 

Managing Anxiety in the Time of Coronavirus 

Join Facilitator Jamie Simmons, LMFT, and other CMG men for an experiential MindSpa dedicated to taming anxiety. Our world has been turned upside down with the arrival of Coronavirus in ways we couldn’t imagine a year ago. We’ve lost work, income, social connections, and mobility in exchange for a host of new and threatening “what-if” thought-scenarios regarding health, safety and well-being. Add in a tempestuous political season and a simmering climate crisis (just to name a couple of things from the menu) and it’s no wonder anxiety has become a constant companion for many of us.

Anxiety warns us of potential danger. It’s like an alarm clock ringing, warning us to wake up, pay attention, assess the threat, and take action if needed. We ignore the appearance of anxiety at our peril. But once the alarm clock goes off, it doesn’t make sense to leave it on, ringing non-stop, held close to our ear as we walk through our lives day after day. Chronic anxiety is corrosive to body, mind, and soul. In this workshop, we’ll learn how to mute, or at least turn down the volume of the alarm clock of anxiety when it rings beyond what is helpful. We’ll discuss what anxiety is, how we are programmed to be overly anxious, and we’ll explore ways to reduce symptoms of anxiety and increase peace of mind. You’ll have an opportunity to test-drive some of these anxiety-reducing tools in the workshop. We’ll also draw on the wisdom of the group in order to share and receive your tips for dealing with anxiety. 

  
About the Facilitator
Jamie Simmons is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (California License Number 110655). He holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Jamie is based in Palm Springs and works online with individuals and couples throughout California. For more information about his therapy practice, check out his Psychology Today profile.

The CMG MindSpa Series is committed to providing a forum for experiential workshops exploring the connections between Mind, Body, and Spirit. It is usually held on the second Tuesday of each month from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. If you have an idea for a MindSpa workshop or would like to lead one yourself, please do not hesitate to contact CMG MindSpa Curator, Jamie Simmons, at jamie8431@aol.com.

We’d love to see you there! 

All CMG events are drug-free. This event is also alcohol-free if you so desire in your home. Sponsored by the CMG Desert Cities Local Events Committee. All persons identifying as male 18 and older, local or visiting, are welcome. If you would like to propose a local event, please fill out the form found at the Contact Local Events Page.

California Men’s Gatherings and its members stand together with our Black brothers in solidarity: Black Lives Matter. We are with you in this time of pain. We renew our call for racial justice and economic equality. We are committed to listening, learning, understanding, and connecting at the heart in order to bring about the needed changes within our own organization and in society at large.

Connecting Men at the Heart