CURRENT MISSION

to dive deep into the pool of humanity via my travels and volunteer work. I want to live my life to the fullest and completely embrace the experience.

ABOUT ME

For the majority of my life, I tried very hard to be perfect...it's taken me a long time to finally realize that it's not possible. Now that I realize this, I'm learning to step out from behind the facade and to experience the beauty of who I am--even in my imperfection. And I'm enjoying life so much more without the added pressure to please everyone...including me!

I'm fun, free-spirited, adventurous, caring, and incredibly happy. I love to laugh and truly enjoy every moment of this amazing journey called life. There's not much that I enjoy more than my yoga practice, hanging out with interesting people, and traveling all over the world. I love meeting new people and experiencing other cultures. It's also really important to me to give back by volunteering my time to help others in need. I'm the founder of the Karma Yoga Project-- a nonprofit organization--and I spend about a month a year in Ethiopia working with older orphans.

During a 2 1/2 month journey in 2008 to Northern California, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and Ethiopia, I learned what an amazingly resourcefull person I am. I also discovered some other interesting things about myself: I really enjoy staying at hostel/backpackers and couch surfing. I couch surfed informally during this trip--staying with people whom I had never met in Sydney, Adelaide, and Addis Ababa with wonderful success. For the first time in my adult life, I slept under the stars in the beautiful Australian Outback, taught a yoga class to our group of travelers at a Hostel, slept in a room with about 12 people from all over the planet, hung out with and had a blast with people less than half my age, hiked canyons, chased camels, held a rooster in my lap until it fell asleep, got bit by a monkey in Ethiopia (I think that he smelled the rooster on my hand!), and figured out public transportation everywhere I went (we don't have much of it back home). I've made amazing friends everywhere I've been and I can't wait to do it all over again :-)

Since my maiden voyage, I've traveled to Thailand, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain and Italy and have now been to Ethiopia 8 times to work with beautiful older orphans. While in Italy, my friend Mel and I Couchsurfed in Florence, Friuli, and Milan...wonderful times!

PHILOSOPHY

Wow...I think that I may have already answered this above. But I'll add a bit more. I believe that our thoughts, words, and actions impact the planet and all beings living here. So it's my desire to live my life in such a way to create the least amount of suffering possible and to encourage hope, love, peace, and happiness. I think that we can all do this by being mindful of our thoughts and how these thoughts lead to words and actions which can have either a positive or negative outcome.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hope to connect with local couch surfers to learn more about their experiences and to share my own as well. Whenever possible, I will share my space with someone who needs a place to sleep, and if not that, I will share my time by meeting with CSers and helping them to make the most of their journey.

I am a very open-minded person and truly enjoy meeting all kinds of people--so don't be afraid to connect with me...I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much we have in common :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent 5 weeks with a new friend in Sydney, a couple of days with a friend in Adelaide, and 2 nights with a wonderful couple in Addis Ababa. I've continued to couch surf with my friends in Ethiopia when I travel there to do volunteer work. Staying with these amazing people and getting to know them was probably the best part of my journey. We are all so much more alike than different and someone you don't know now may end up being a great friend for life.

I forgot to add that I couch surfed with my friend Amy in Northern California for a few days before taking off to NZ! Didn't think of it as couch surfing since I knew her, but I did sleep on her very comfortable couch, so I think that it counts! So couch surfed at 4 places on my maiden couch surfing voyage :-)

Interests

I am interested in life and people. I'm interested in what makes people resilient when they've faced significant challenges in their lives. I'm interested in spirituality...learning about what inspires people and gives them hope. I'm interested in making the world a better place for all beings. I'm interested in making the planet healthier and people happier. I'm interested in living my life right here right now without missing opportunities based on fear.

• culture
• beauty
• yoga
• meditation
• traveling
• billiards
• volunteer work
• surfing
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

I enjoy movies...mostly the ones that don't make it to the big theaters, documentaries, and I have to admit it, the happy ending romantic comedies that make me smile.

I love so many different kinds of music from the Beatles to Ben Harper, Michael Franti, John Mayer, Gavin Degraw, Murry Kyle, Damien Rice, Chris Pierce, and Bob Marley to name a few.

I read all the time! I actually love fictional books set in India (maybe a past life thing!), Buddhist philosophy, etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have to go to yoga! This section will have to wait :-)

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you something about yoga and meditation :-) I would love to learn about you--I love to hear people's stories. When we share stories with each other, I think that we begin to see that we are more alike than different--no matter what our age, gender, or culture. And when we experience this, then war becomes obsolete and peace prevails.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Qatar, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

•