CURRENT MISSION

being in consciousness

ABOUT ME

I am the 2009 Regents Lecturer in Law and Society at the University of California Santa Barbara. I am also an award winning photographer, journalist and writer, professional tree climbing instructor, Grof-certified facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork.

PHILOSOPHY

My personal philosophy is informed by Thoreau, Tolstoy Martin Luther King, Bruno Manser, Julia Butterfly Hill, Arundhati Roy, and the many wonderful people I have met in so-called "third world" places.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm happy to have people come stay with me when I am not also traveling, which is often enough. I have a lovely space, Eurybia Nostos, on an island in Maine, with a dance/yoga/meditation/workshop sanctuary. I also would love to stay with folks when I am traveling, which is often enough.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

As a traveler I have had many opportunities to stay with people whom I met accidentally, in strange or ordinary places, and these are indeed the spice of life. These encounters occurred long before "couchsurfing" becmae a thing.

Interests

I enjoy Dance, yoga, meditation, biking, swimming, holotropic breathwork, healing work, and have many varied interests. I am a pathological bibliophile.

As a travel writer/photographer I have published feature travel and cultural stories about:

* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Frankfurt, Weimar, Czech Republic)
* Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (Paris)
* Mountain Lions (Yosemite National Park)
* Hopping the Riau [Islands] (Singapore, Riau Archipelago, Indonesia)
* Dolphins (O'ahu, Hawai'i)
* The Big Island (Hawai'i, Hawai'i)
* St. Paul's Subterranean River (Palawan, Philippines)
* Climbing Imja Tse (Everest region, Nepal)
* Princely Palaces of India (Rajastan, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Delhi, and Agra, India)
* Tigerland (Sumatra, Indonesia)
* Herstory of the Potomac River (Washington, DC)
* Buchenwald (Germany)
* Baja California (Mexico)
* Dance New York (New York, USA)
* Wudangshan and Kung Fu (Wudangshan, China)
* Pandas (Woolong, China)
* Nomads of Mongolia (Mongolia)

As a war correspondent, human rights and genocide investigator I have worked on issues of people in:

* Penan people (Malaysia)
* Anuak People (Ethiopia)
* Congo (DR Congo)
* Afghanistan
* Lakota (South Dakota, USA)
* Rwanda
* Uganda
* Kenya
* Matabeleland, Zimbabwe
* Mothers and children (USA)

and more.

I have testified at many trials and war crimes tribunals.

I write this above to try to give readers here a sense of my experience in the world. I am very engaged with social and environmental justice.

• culture
• books
• photography
• dancing
• yoga
• meditation
• traveling
• cycling
• swimming
• journalism
• wwoof
• antiques
• truth
• holotropic breathwork

Music, Movies, and Books

favorite books: East of Eden, 100 Years of Solitude; Tolkien series

Fav Movies: L'Equipier, La Fille Sur le Pont, Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources, Unbearable Lightness of Being, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, HAIR, Inception, many many more

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

-- swam with dolphins (Zanzibar, Catalina, Oahu).
-- climbed tall mountains: Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kilimandjaro, Mt. Kerinchi, Rainier and Imja Tse (Island Peak).
-- bicycled by mountain bike across India (1991); through southern India (1006) up and down Thailand; through southern Nepal to Katmandu; around Madagascar (1991); across Zambia (2000); through Zaire and Congo; from Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam; from Nairobi to Samburuland and Turkanaland; from Anchorage to Denali National Park in Alaska; across Mongolia twice (2008).
-- Swam across the Congo River and four of its major tributaries;
-- Swam for Congo (17 miles on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts)

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to teach and love to learn. I am also a Motivational Speaker and enjoy speaking before very large (or very small) audiences, and I have given talks, lectures and presentations all over the world to thousands of people.

As a Grof-certified facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork, healing work is my 2nd greatest passion. I have facilitated and participated in many workshops and retreats. This is consciousness work, and it is my 2nd greatest passion. (yes, i know i am repeating myself).M first greatest passion is my son (soon to be 10 in 2023).

What I Can Share with Hosts

Kindness, fun, a different way of being. I am very easy going, and can as easily and happily share in great conversation and mutual understanding, or keep to myself if my host or guests want or need time to themselves. My first career I was trained as a French chef and worked as the Executive chef at the Hotel Northampton and Wiggins Tavern in Northampton Massachusetts -- i can prepare an extraordinary meal if inspired.

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Macao, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Rwanda, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Kenya, United States