Hi! I'm healthy, single, and old enough to want to sleep on a comfortable bed when traveling! I like to leave a place better than I found it. For my work, I help create and facilitate workshops and retreats within topics having to do with community healing, grieving, and strengthening compassion and equity. When traveling, I like to be hosted by locals. I lead an online meditation group and teach/introduce meditation to anyone interested. I enjoy food, music and dancing and write a "compassionate travel blog."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

When traveling, I prefer staying with locals. I enjoy meeting friends-I-haven't-met-yet and possible collaborators. Maybe you love your area and want to show me around? Maybe you'd like to share music, dancing, and a meal or three? Maybe you'd like to host a workshop or retreat in your hometown that I (or we) will facilitate? Maybe you won't be home and want a responsible house sitter? These are all possible reasons for us to have a Couchsurfing experience together :-).

Interests

• writing
• dancing
• walking
• music
• food
• metaphysics
• exploring
• energyhealing
• meditating

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm moved by many genres of music. I'd say one of my all time favorite musicians is Carlos Santana. Billie Holiday is invited to most dinners. Anything with a cumbia beat will get me moving. These examples do not mean I love most all kinds of (other) music any less.

These days I read books with my ears. I enjoy (audio) books, movies and series from documentaries to dramas, that open my heart, wake me up, and lift me to the kind of person I most want to be. Sometimes I watch films just to be with friends, feel cozy, and laugh.

My current favorite (audio) book is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I was also gung-ho into facilitating a book group for a few months with My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem.

Some of my favorite movies (and their themes) have been: What The Bleep Do We Know (metaphysics), I Am Not Your Negro (racial justice), and Amélie (art movie, inner growth process, relational, love). Some of my favorite (more current) TV series have been: Surviving Death (Netflix), Live to Lead (Netflix), Love on the Spectrum (Netflix), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'll give you three: (1) I gave birth to children and have been learning to let them go. I think that's amazing work. (2) I've lived to the age of 64. That's freakin' amazing. (3) I'm on a 6-month adventure in Turkey... heading to Africa, and then Europe. Yep. Amazing.

Teach, Learn, Share

Thoughts and emotions are like weather patterns. A life authentically lived is full of ups and downs and in-betweens. So, my advice to myself (and you, if you want it) is: Breathe. Keep coming back to the compassionate heart. When you don't like where you're at, call it composting... material to use later. Accept all of yourself and your life's process. Something will grow from every experience, every thought, every emotion. We're on a journey. More shall be revealed. Get curious! Hoping to meet you along the way!

What I Can Share with Hosts

cooking, eating, talking/listening, healing, singing/percussion/playing music, dancing, hikes, helping clean and organize, creativity

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Turkey, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States