** update: I'M TEMPORARILY BACK TO MY NOMAD LIFE :) ... will happily host when I am settled again **

CURRENT MISSION

To become the person I want to be, which is fully and authentically me

ABOUT ME

the best compliment I've ever gotten is "One day you have to tell me your recipe for finding friends" -- I have the most wonderful and special friends in the world.

PHILOSOPHY

Give more than you take.

Indifference is complicity.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I think Couchsurfing is incredible, it makes me so happy that something like this works in our world ... all part of the transition to a better world and an amazing opportunity to connect with wonderful and kind people!

I haven't been able to host people in the past for various reasons but now I am living in Portugal in a big house and we have some space so I will be happy to host and reciprocate the amazing hospitality and generosity that I have been shown so many times.

*** WARNING: I live in quite a remote place without public transport, so the best thing is if you have a car. I can pick you up from a bus station of course but I won't be able to drive you around all the time so if you want to explore the surfer areas, it's useful to have a car. If you are happy to just lie by the beach near my house, then you don't need a car :)

Interests

MUSIC.. nothing like a good old jam to connect with people and the Divine. also DANCING - dance to me is prayer. Tango. 5Rhythms. and everything else that involves movement and rhythm.

TRAVEL ! the whole world ! all cultures!

NATURE & most things nature related - hiking, climbing, growing food, cooking food, eating food :)

YOGA - Forrest Yoga in particular.

PSYCHEDELICS - I deeply believe in the value of psychedelics* and consciousness exploration (breath work, meditation, etc.) for personal, spiritual, existential growth and healing. I co-direct the Psychedelic Society UK and facilitate psychedelic retreats with psilocybin truffles in the Netherlands (www.psychedelicsociety.org.uk/experience-weekends).
*when taken in the right environment

GROUP WORK/THERAPY - am currently doing an amazing course as a Holistic Counsellor and I regularly staff a 7-day transformational personal growth process called The Path of Love

• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• yoga
• traveling
• music
• hiking
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• psychedelics

Music, Movies, and Books

BOOKS:
Aldous Huxley (esp 'Island' and 'The Doors of Perception).
Hermann Hesse (esp 'Narcissus and Goldmund').
Erich Fromm 'The Art of Loving'.
Ana Forrest - 'Fierce Medicine'

MUSIC -- I play the Hang Drum (rare melodic drum), which I consider to be the sound of paradise.
and also play the clarinet.

listening -- all kinds from 60s 70s beatles hendrix psychedelic rock etc to reggae to electronic music to bossanova and samba to hip hop to folk music etc etc.. the list goes on and on..

MOVIES -- Before Night Falls.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

jumped out of an airplane.
trekked in the Himalayas to Mount Everest basecamp.
went scuba diving in the Andaman Islands.
hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Madrid.
went to Antarctica !!!!!!

went to Iguacu Falls (Argentina/Brazil) and Salar de Uyuni (Salt Desert) in Bolivia.

Organised TEDxWhitechapel conference in London on January 12th with lots of incredible speakers and performers -- www.tedxwhitechapel.com

Teach, Learn, Share

eager to learn from anyone and everyone :)

I practice Forrest Yoga, do a lot of healthy organic nutritious vegetarian cooking, and play the Hang drum and clarinet...

Countries I’ve Visited

Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States