*Please read the My Home section of my profile before sending a Couch Request, as with my work I am more likely to host you seasonally depending on the time of year you will be visiting*

Acting as an impetus for creative rupture and evolution into a better version of myself!

In my 20s I travelled the world on epic odysseys and lived in Asia teaching English and yoga and studying Tibetan Buddhism. In my 30s I did a deep dive into Chinese Medicine and met my husband in the same field. We both live and practice in Vancouver, BC with our cat Tashi and enjoy trying local food options both here in the city and abroad.

I'm into breaking down self-created and social barriers, practicing contentment in the here and now and cultivating non-attachment/letting go of expectation. I love crazy travel schemes to far-away places by unconventional means and pointing out the absurdity of our existence in this unlikely universe. I enjoy turning awkward social situations into beneficial interaction. I'm into taking responsibility for my own happiness and inspiring people while learning something from them at the same time. I draw great incentive through the wisdom of yoga which speaks of tolerance and self-discipline, and aim to assist/empathize with others.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

My favourite way to meet locals, make international friendships and experience local culture and food + receive the best tips while travelling. I love to host others and show them around the city where I live/give them food and activity recommendations.

I have hosted many CSers in flats where I have lived in Shanghai (China), Melaka (Malaysia), Boudhanath (Nepal), and Nelson (Canada) and have had the pleasure to surf in Singapore, China, Germany, Czech Republic, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Honduras, Mexico, the US, and Canada.

Interests

-cracking durians
-nerding out on Chinese herbal formulas
-bagging peaks near Vancouver during the hiking season
-hitchhiking, riding on the back of motorcycles
-herb foraging
-sharing smiles, truths and local food
-writing songs, poems, raps, memoirs
-libraries
-treehouses, tiny houses, cabins, yurts
-integrity
- Asian food of all kinds! Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Singaporian, Thai...the list goes on!

• writing
• books
• sketching
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• hiking
• art
• travelling
• foodie
• spanish
• acupuncture
• chinese medicine
• mandarin
• tibetan buddhism

Music, Movies, and Books

Films: Baraka, Buddha's Lost Children, Dead Man, Departures, Gadjo Dilo, Latcho Drom, Once, The Secret of Kells, Travelers and Magicians, The Fountain, The Vertical Ray of the Sun, Wardance, Whalerider.

Anime: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Tekkonkinkreet, Origin: Spirits of the Past, Paprika, Avatar the Last Airbender (pseudo-anime) and all Hayao Miyazaki's films.

Musicians: Beirut, Hope Sandoval, Joanna Newsom, the xx, The BJM, Amadou et Mariam, The Arcade Fire, Smashing Pumpkins, Sufjan Stevens, Nusfrat Fath Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Lucky Ali, K'Naan, Neil Young.

Authors: Shantideva, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Herman Hesse, Milan Kundera, Douglas Adams, Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Vladimir Nabokov, Charles Bukowski, William Blake, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Stephen Hawking, Rudyard Kipling, Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dzongskar Khyenste Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

-organized open mics in Boudhanath, Kathmandu featuring local Tibetans and Nepalis, as well as European, Australian and North American talent!
-climbed the 7200 steps of Mt. Tài Shān in 30 rupee sandals from Haridwar and watched the sunrise above the clouds at 4am.
-stayed for 10 days in the Sahara, riding donkeys, eating dates and carrots, belly-dancing, and sketching portraits of children.
-co-hosted an incredible CS board-game/pool party in Singapore that attracted nearly 100 people!
-swam in the Ganga and taught yoga on the opposite sandbank to foreigners and Indians alike!
-trekked to Everest with only a guitar on my back.
-taught yoga to young monks in Lumbini, Nepal, birthplace of the Buddha.
-hitchhiked from Saskatoon to Montreal then to NY-PA-MD-VA-TN-GA-AL-MS-LA-TX-NM-CO-WY-NE-SD-ND-and back to Saskatoon in the summer of 2008.
-hitchhiked NM-AZ-CA-OR-WA-BC-SK summer of 2009.
-witnessed a solar eclipse March 2005 at a beach rave and climbed the Chimera in Olympos, Turkey.
-travelled solo through China from Shanghai-Suzhou-Changsha-Zhangjiajie-Guilin-Yangshou-Hongkong summer 2007, was the only foreigner on the train in Hunan and in the National Forest park!
-stayed in Prem Nagar ashram, Haridwar for Vaisakhi harvest festival 2006 when over 10,000 people crowded the ashram from all over India and was 1 of 6 foreigners there!
-received tika from an elephant inside the Sri Meeknakshi temple in Madurai on my 22nd birthday.
-meditated in the National Redwood forest on the CA/OR border
-studied and practiced at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Boudha, Nepal for 4 years, between 2008-2011 attended lectures and seminars with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Patchok Rinpoche, and more.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can trade you acupuncture or a yoga lesson for: living in a ger/yurt, cooking Viet/Indonesian/Thai/Baba Nyonya/Middle Eastern food, learning capoeira, parkour, break dance, acrobatics, violin/fiddle, accordion, Sanskrit, Hindi, Tibetan, Nepali, Spanish, Mandarin, butoh, kung fu, tai chi, herbology, botany, Ayurveda, tarot, permaculture, natural building, tree-house building, how to shimmy a coconut palm.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Yoga instruction, Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, China, Israel, Malaysia, Nepal, United Kingdom

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