CURRENT MISSION

Developing a deep musical practice that permeates my life. The main focus right now is Indian classical music with the Mohan Veena (an Indian slide guitar) but planning to get into looping to explore layering different instruments...

ABOUT ME

I have a sincere fondness for jumping into new situations/realities without over-thinking the plunge too thoroughly for the uninhibited, specifically unpredictable rebirth this can create. I believe maintaining an elusively elastic and rampantly open mind to be an essential part of my life journey and for now feel traveling to be the number one way for me to experience this flexible and fluid state of existence. Also I like writing fluffy sentences like the one above...

I prefer to only "own" as much as I can carry and have a hard time staying in one place for too long, although I really prefer moving much more slowly nowadays to experience the places and people I cross more deeply. There's not much I find more stimulating than connecting with interesting positive people (especially with music) whose lives I find myself fortunate enough to cross paths with, the connection's what it's all about.

Music-Writing-Service -> what I've found brings stability, fulfillment, and meaning to my life

Quick plotline summary (post-societal departure):
-Hitchhiked around the U.S. for a year and a half after finishing University
-Left the States in 2009 to teach Environmental Science and Green Energy on the island of Saipan for 21 months
-Traveled around SE Asia, China, and Mongolia in a motorcycle infused mad-dash for about a year
-Got to Nepal at the end of 2012 and started to slow down...
-Entered India in May 2013 and stayed until August 2015 exploring, studying, teaching, learning, volunteering, building, and...and...and...India...
-Returned to the US after India to blow my mind with reverse culture-shock
-Escaped the States mostly unscathed, hung out in Mexico and Cuba from Jan-May 2016
-Back to the States for 8 months living and traveling cross-country in a Galactic Astro Van selling jewelry from India
-Spent first 6 months of 2017 moving through various streams of reality in South America, from Columbia down to the southern tip in Pategonia and back up north again
-Another amazing Astro Van summer of festivals
-And now since the last year and a half I’ve been back in India focusing on the music!

PHILOSOPHY

Try to create as much as you consume, or else consume as little as you create.

Do what you can
Where you can
When you can
Then sit back and watch it all come tumbling down

How you do anything is how you do everything

Every once in a while, run as fast as you possibly can for no apparent reason

Always Stay Tuned

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Unfortunately I've never had the chance to host anybody because the only time I've lived in once place since I found couchsurfing it was on a small island in the Pacific that very few people ever visit...But I have had great experiences surfing with people in the States, Laos, and in China.

I think connecting people in this way is one of the best uses of the internet

Interests

I'm interested in meeting all kinds of people and experiencing as many ways of living as I can find and give an honest shot. I'm always interested in getting my mind blown by some crazy people, places, ideas, and scenery.

My main expressive passions are through music, writing, and dancing up a storm. I play the guitar, the mandolin, a little tabla recently, and an Indian instrument called the Mohan Veena which I study in Varanasi, India with my guruji Sanjay Verma.. Music really is my number one love in life, closely followed by wilderness backpacking and climbing. Ohhh them Mountains those Mountains these Mountains...

Stream of consciousness writing helps put the pieces back together, trying to take that deeper lately into some more structured work

I'm very interested in and looking for opportunities to learn more about eco-construction techniques and sustainable agriculture/permaculture as I believe those two things to be major solutions to many of the current material world's struggles and would like to get more involved in projects revolving around these ways of living

I maintain a daily practice of Yoga and Meditation which I feel helps keep me anchored in peace and (ideally) compassion, while giving me the space to at least attempt to positively integrate, in body and mind, the experiences of this beautiful flux and flow of life's wild ride

• writing
• singing
• dancing
• running
• meditation
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• backpacking
• snorkeling
• rock climbing
• languages
• science
• hitchhiking
• mountains
• virtual reality

Music, Movies, and Books

Tom Robbins without a doubt steals the cake, eats it too, then makes another one out of the crumbs left on the table and feeds the world with it. Translation: absolutely my favorite author.

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Can't really even begin to list favorites with music, too much, and too rapidly shifting in taste...but generally I like to play bluesy folky guitar and mandolin myself, with more and more of an Indian tinge, and I listen to a pretty wide range of genres depending on the mood with a lot of 'Eastern' and 'Fusion' sounds finding their way into my ears...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

While staying for five months in a Buddhist nunnery in the remote Zanskar Valley in the northeastern Indian Himalayas I facilitated the construction of a one room passive solar heated schoolhouse, which was by far the most amazing fulfilling experience life has blessed me with so far.

Teach, Learn, Share

My main focus of learning at the moment is Indian classical music on the Mohan Veena

I've formally taught Environmental Science and Green Energy, English, and music in various places...

Love to share the experience of playing music together...let's jam!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Music, great vegan Indian food, stories...

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belgium, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Laos, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Northern Mariana Islands, United States

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