Episode #14 feat. Jeffrey Batstone

What happens when an Enneagram 7 psychotherapist who has spent his life running from grief finds himself howling in the desert, realizing he needs to trade his "rock-hard" exterior for a fleshy, fertile heart?

In this fourteenth episode of Follow Me to the M-R-O-P!, host Brian Mueller sits down with Jeffrey Batstone for a profound conversation about his 2016 initiation at Aravaipa Canyon. Jeffrey shares how he arrived at the rites as a curious young father and therapist, only to be "manhandled" and turned upside down by a wild God. He reflects on the archetypal symbol he received during his solitude—a rock cracking open with water pouring out—and how that image has evolved over a decade from jagged stone to a soft, open solar plexus.

Episode Highlights

• The Cracking Rock: How an archetypal image of water pouring from stone guided a decade of inner transformation.
• The Dropkick of God: Embracing the hard, meaningful, and gentle process of being turned upside down.
• Birthing Grief: Moving through physical postures to release decades of unwept tears and howling madness.
• Locking Horns: The powerful moment of pushing against a brother before finally allowing himself to fall apart and be held.

Links & Resources

• Choosing Presence (Sponsor): https://choosingpresence.org
• Practicing Presence App: https://choosingpresence.org/app
• Illuman MROP page: https://illuman.org/mrop
• Adam's Return by Richard Rohr: https://amzn.to/3PzVESH
• Falling Upward by Richard Rohr: https://amzn.to/4uUM64P
• Breathing Under Water by Richard Rohr: https://amzn.to/47qLNVp
• From Wild Man to Wise Man by Richard Rohr: https://amzn.to/3PKkHmj
• Dr. Jeffrey Batstone: WaterWays Psychotherapy: https://waterwaystherapy.com
• Brian Mueller (Host): https://brianmueller.com

Credits

• First and foremost, thank you to Jeffrey Batstone for sharing his journey and his heart with us today.
• Thank you to Fr. Richard Rohr and the men of Illuman who have stewarded the Men’s Rites of Passage since 1996.
• Thank you to Jim Heaney and Jim Taylor for their dedication to Choosing Presence.

Music Credits:

• Slow Mo Dreams by Soundroll
• Becoming a Legend by Vens Adams