(If wanting to be hosted, please read my entire profile and send a personalized request, responding in particular to the items in the My Home section. A cut/paste request from someone who has not read my profile will receive a simple "no" response.)

What I love about Couchsurfing is that it brings together people who would not otherwise ever meet, and allows our journeys to intersect in ways that enrich us both. Those can be journeys of literal travel or of personal development (which can of course also influence each other).

After a long pause for covid, I am looking forward to welcoming surfers who are visiting Chicago, both those who share many common interests and those who are very different.

Over the past 10 years I have been on a huge personal development journey. One large part was the transition of coming out as gay in my late 50s, navigating the end of my marriage and eventually moving from California to Chicago to re-invent myself in so many dimensions. That also included leaving a career in IT project management to be both retired and to focus on discovering a less analytical, more embodied and present-in-the-moment shape of spiritual path. I do a little bit of yoga, meditation. Learning something about tantra has helped me a lot. I have begun doing some massage and tantra work with clients.

This personal journey was supported midstream by an amazing multi-month travel journey around the U.S., sleeping in my minivan and staying with CS hosts. In that season of my life, finding a welcome in the network of CS gay nudist hosts really helped me land. In this new season of couchsurfing I look forward both to still enjoying that tribe and also to reconnecting with the rich larger world of hosts and guests who are straight and wear clothes.

I also spent 2 months of summer 2024 couchsurfing in Europe, as a new iteration of personal self discovery.

My life otherwise is a mix of daily routine (walks by the Lake, my personal practice, socializing with a few friends, keeping up long-distance with my children) mixed with occasional travel for retreats, family visits, and new adventures.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Besides all the deep meaningful reasons above, I have received the kindness of hospitality, which makes travel affordable for those of us who aren't so rich, and I want to be paying that forward to others.

Interests

• yoga
• hiking
• swimming
• massage
• spirituality
• nudist
• lgbt
• tantra
• gays

Music, Movies, and Books

Although I enjoy reading and sometimes watching movies, I rarely listen to music or have the TV on. I prefer to enjoy the simplicity and peacefulness of a quiet home.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Several different kinds of amazing:
* I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon 5 times during my life.
* During travels I have spent many nights sleeping in my minivan in Walmart parking lots or highway rest areas.
* I did the hard work in therapy to navigate well the wrenching process of coming out as gay at age 60 and starting a new life, successfully maintaining positive relationships with my children and former wife.
* I have begun to escape from the prison of controlling life through my mind and ego alone, discovering the resources of my body and surrendering more and more to what is.

What I Can Share with Hosts

An interest in listening to stories and learning from others. A willingness to share my experience. (But happy to be on my own as well.)
My informal skills with massage and what I have learned with tantra.
A few handyman skills if there are projects that need assistance.
I have a considerate and helpful attitude that makes me a low-impact guest.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States