I am from Massachusetts in the United States. I am living in a house in San Pedro, Lake Atitlan, until May, attempting to become fluent in Spanish.

I spent the last three years working as a Wilderness Therapy Field Instructor in Colorado & Utah (USA), leading teenagers and young adults on rights of passage inspired backpacking journeys, supporting them in their therapy. I also teach yoga and meditation, do reiki, and practice as a trauma-informed mind-body coach.

My goals are to grow into myself as a leader and healer, learn more about herbalism, holistic health, therapy, and natural healing. I want to learn Spanish. I would like to take more agency and get involved in politics, environmental protection, and promoting access to clean water & healthy food. I also have a goal to hold space for every type of person without letting my judgments impair my ability to show compassion for all people. To love others who I deeply despise and want nothing to do with.

3 disclaimers:
1) read my home section if you want to be hosted
2) My profile is long. I wrote most of it years ago and I do not expect you to read it all.
3) An increasing number of ppl are using CS for sex. It is one thing to meet up with someone you met thru CS, with the possibility of a romantic connection, but I have heard of people arriving to a host’s house, who then started coming on to them and wanting something sexual from them. If that’s your intention while hosting someone, that’s pretty fucked up and can make ppl feel extremely uncomfortable. I know ppl who won’t use CS because of that, and that really sucks. If you are hosting someone because you want a romantic connection, you need to indicate that before, or look elsewhere, such as dating apps. CS is not that. It provides a forum to support travelers, make traveling more personal & help others trust strangers.

ABOUT ME

Some of my past experiences: I worked as a backpacking guide for teenagers and young adults in treatment. I traveled through Israel and spent time volunteering on agriculture-based communities, “kibbutz.” I hiked el Camino de Santiago. I took a yoga teacher training and reiki course, and have been teaching, guiding, coaching, blah blah blah. I worked on a farm, landscaped, and worked with a guy who has severe autism. I volunteered at hospice centers, led autistic elementary school kids in mindfulness practices, and helped an old lady cross the street. I am studying somatic therapy and eventually want to be licensed.

I like to meet people. I like social gatherings of all types- potlucks, music festivals, warm nights by the fire, dance parties. I plan to travel forever and meet l people from other parts of the world- part of why I love couch surfing. I am into sports and hiking/camping. I love cities and all they have to offer but deeply value my time in nature. I am flexible and enjoy meeting many types of people: as long as you have a good heart, or are down to go sing karaoke, I can get along with you. Sometimes I go a little crazy, sometimes I chill. Other times you may find me up in a tree. Many people see me as a wild and free hippy, who runs naked through the woods, eating plants and mushrooms off the ground, which is true. I also enjoy a warm cup of tea, staring at plants for extensive periods of time, and some fresh sips of natural air. I do love a juicy dialogue & debate, countering each other’s views and failing to find truth.

PHILOSOPHY

I think many of our current problems stem from lack of community. Our current capitalist system has led to a hyper individualized society that has left many communities dry. When we lose the ability to have deep conversations, can’t make eye contact & are disengaged with our community, we ignore and eventually lose a huge sense of ourselves. Many issues: poverty, sickness, old age, food & housing security, agriculture, environmental, but also psychological and mental health issues: lack of meaning, anxiety, depression, loneliness, all can be alleviated through stronger communities that hold each other in check, inspire each other and provide more opportunity for self growth and connection, supporting each other where needed. I’m constantly impressed by the community couch surfing fosters, the generosity of strangers, the enjoyable travels and close connections built through using couch surfing. From the generosity and appreciativeness of strangers I’ve hosted, to those that have hosted me, couch surfing reminds me that community exists, there’s many people who want to take care of others with no expectation of being paid back, and that we can foster more of a sense of community in this crazy world.

Blabbers: We are all interdependent thus we are all in this together. We can view elements of nature, how a river flows, how trees grow, how eco systems develop as a model of how to live our lives and form society. Time spent observing our natural surroundings is very relaxing and important, and can lead to personal transformation. Being more accepting of others and loving others coincides with loving yourself. Light and darkness are codependent in there existent. Keep two eyes open, the scientific mind and the spiritual mind, the rational/logical mind and the metaphorical non-rational mind. Breaking through the dichotomy of opposite forces in the world is transformational. This less you judge, the more you love. If you want to go fast, go by yourself, if you want to go far, go with someone else. Learn something from all religions. Having meaningful experiences abroad can remind you of where your home truly is and what your role in the world is. Evil prevails when good people do nothing, so for god sakes, let's do something! Question everything. Live life, be genuine, be merry, speak for what you believe in, after it's all said and done, make peace, fuck shit up, have fun, and eat the mushroom.

My life is a journey through the mysteries and wonders that our world has to offer, and I actively double fist life to transform duality. I am fascinated by the human mind, how it differs across people and cultures. I would like to be the example that I want to see in the world and love making close connections with others and seeing others show their true self. I am fascinated by supernatural activity, and always find that when I open myself up to these conversations, more people have had these experiences than we tend to realize, and I often have more synchronicities while traveling. Acceptance of your subjective experience through ordinary phenomena (and higher forces) can help us understand more about our world and how to live in it, and are necessary for conscious change. We can make objective attempts to understand aspects of the universe, but truth exists and can only be understood and felt subjectively. I think religious stories, myths, and dreams hold power in their universality and archetypal significance. How people interpret them differently, and deepen our understanding of the world when we see the many layers of these stories and find their relevance to our life. I hope to normalize the strange, so that we feel comfortable to talk about all aspects of ourselves, unthreatened by the judgment of others. It would be cool if schools taught children various forms of faith and religion, showing them multiple ways to connect with god, nature, themselves, and others. This would help society a lot and help people live more meaningful, less stressful lives.

I think that one of our biggest mistakes is our need to define (control) things, put objects, or disciplines of studies, into rigid categories, and objectify our relationship with everything, failing to see the interconnectedness of everything. Our focus on objectivity, rationalizing phenomena, and the dogma of science has created a culture that devalues the subjective experience, our path to salvation and truth. Catharsis leads to breakthroughs and art. Be nice and good, value your experience & remember that objective science simply helps to fill in the gaps. Embrace the divine feminine and masculine within and everywhere. "Be the example you want to see in the world"
Make humble and mindful use of the earth’s gifts. Do not waste, do not harm the land or people or animals. What comes from the earth must go back!

Follow the dream, let the dream follow you, drink the beer, let the beer drink you, sometimes you need to see to believe, sometimes you need to believe to see. I believe that I see my beliefs and I see that I believe my visions and that these visions are staring across a vast ocean that is merely the physical manifestation of my unconscious and that an ego-shadow reckoning would allow oneness to stop trying to see, but to be itself.

"The human experience is too far out to get your head around. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is the point of it all? Philosophers, scientists, mystics, astronomers, and anthropologists all agree on one mind-blowing fact: we are all children of a living Cosmic Mystery and miraculous Mother Earth. This is our birthright. The cells in our body are one with the earth, made of the same stuff as everything else on our planet. Our atoms were forged in the same cosmic furnace that birthed our sun.

Our earthly nature grounds and roots us and connects us to one another. Our cosmic nature lifts us up and expands us, pointing us to greater and larger horizons. When we incorporate and balance these two awesome and mystical forces inside each of us, we become our full selves and discover meaning and purpose in our lives.

We embrace and honor our earthly selves by acknowledging the unique gift of our individual seed and the soil that nourishes us. We honor our cosmic nature when we love and serve something greater than ourselves. Our earthly body becomes real living food when we live our particular gift in loving service to the world!" - Dr. Bronners

Other favorites quotes:
All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, finally it is accepted as self evident.

The biggest embrace of love you’ll ever make is to embrace yourself completely. Then you’ll realize you’ve just embraced the whole universe, and everything and everybody in it.”

The light of god is the human soul seeking out the hidden chambers of the human heart

The approach to the numinous is the real therapy. And in as much as you attain the numinous experience, you are relaxed from the curse of pathology.

Why fit in when we were born to stand out?

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out- because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out- because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me.

We often forget that we are nature. So when we say we’ve lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.

Should you meet the buddha on the road, kill him immediately…. The only true Buddha nature is your Buddha nature, get rid of all external distractions (don’t actually kill anyone ; )

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've hosted, surfed, and met up with strangers through CS with wonderful success! I truly love hosting others! It fills my cup to provide a warm, welcoming space for others to feel safe and comfortable in a stranger’s house, and expect absolutely nothing from you in return. Truly, no expectations. I love meeting people through couch surfing because I feel like a traveller at heart, and the people I meet through couch surfing seem to carry that same attitude of community, spontaneity, openness, and a flare for adventure and travel. Couch surfing has allowed me to travel more often, and more freely. Someone can just say, "hey, I'm on couch surfing and so are you, I am broke and it's more fun to stay with a local, and I'm traveling here, can I crash on your couch?" and the stranger may just respond saying, "Oh why of course you can, here's food and a blanket, let's be friends!" - What a concept!

Interests

Frisbee, music festivals, laughing- with friends or alone, karaoke, climbing trees, camping, hiking, drinking tea, practicing and studying yoga, drinking beer, eating food such as cheese, foraging mushrooms and wild plants, herbalism and homesteading, I like trying exotic foods but I will never eat fugu, I severely indulge in random excursions
Acceptable activities: rap battle & alien conversations

• music festivals
• festivals
• dining
• cheese
• beer
• yoga
• modeling
• meditation
• drinking
• clubbing
• gardening
• traveling
• socializing
• survival
• music
• jazz
• world music
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• sports
• rock climbing
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: comedies, horror/psych thrillers- campy movies, other good movies like apocalypse now, forrest gump, documentaries, a good nature special always hits the spot- anything David Attenborough.
Music: lClassic rock, funk, jazz, hip hop, reggae, good music, jammy music, so much music, Malian music, bossa samba, jam bands, edm, cave chanting, and other modern pop stuff when i'm "at da club.” Everything that’s good, definitely not music where the singers sound like their whining, exemplified in some modern rap and alternative rock- please stop whining and just rap or sing.
Books: favorite non fiction authors are Vonnegut and Pahlanuik, thought I have a hard time reading nearly as much as I want to, I usually read books about psychology & esoteric subjects

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

climbed a glacier-volcano while backpacking in Ecuador and a few weeks later helped an old woman cross the street, then I saw a coyote in the woods at night and it followed me so I got scared, left my campsite for the night and drove to a cabin my friends were staying in

Teach, Learn, Share

I am excellent at leaving voicemails. If you stay with me, you may be offered what ever I most recently fermented, as well as the best homemade energy bars you’ve ever had.
I can teach yoga, meditation, breathwork, tai chi, energy work, some counseling/psychotherapy techniques, I can speakish spanish kind of. I can share with you stories of my life, like what it was like to group up on an island and live in Israel for seven months : )
I've learned a lot from the great psilocybin mushroom master: for example, that all of the knowledge and everything I need from the universe is right in front of me and inside of me. I write poetry and short stories and love sharing them and learning from others. I can play flute but want to learn to play more instruments, but it seems very time consuming... I have some wilderness survival skills, led backcountry trips & can teach you how to make a splint out of sticks and vines. I garden, landscape, and have worked on farms- maybe I can teach you something? Maybe you can teach me something? Maybe we can make flower crowns and be nature gods and frolick through the meadows and hopefully not get tics- I'd hate to be ticked on...

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am a great cook and am happy to feed you and clean your house. I enjoy good conversations and can speak extensively about many of the things, especially psychology, politics, holistic health, esoteric stuff and my travel experiences. I am happy to lead, or join you in: yoga, meditation, tai chi, exercise, a run. I can play you my flute.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Guatemala, Israel, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Spain, Thailand, United States, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States