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Hangzhou Johnny - John McWhorter

Travel is like life, it isn't always comfortable. Like yoga, it gets us out of the comfort zone. As a traveling yoga teacher/handyman, I've not had a permanent home for some time now, preferring to try and get comfortable with the discomfort of rootlessness. In the last few years, I've lived in Fairbanks Alaska, Paris France and Byron Bay Australia. This blog started when I lived in Hangzhou China. From there I migrated to Shanghai. Now I live in Sydney Australia. In all my blogs, I try to provide you with a laugh, get you thinking and maybe help you make peace with discomfort.
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Joined on: October 24th 2005
Last Login: November 22nd 2008

Blog Entries: 51
Photos: 13
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Hi Friends - Google is a funny thing. I googled my name as a bit of an ego surf and this is the only place I seem to come up. So I hope I can keep this site a while longer, but I've begun blogging at heyjohnnymac.blogspot.com. That's where my most recent stuff is. You can also find me on facebook. I look forward to hearing from you. [View Full Entry]

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Published: November 22nd 2008 | 14 Views | [diary=347362]


Before
Before
It started like this...
Not much to say, just some pix of a job we did in December. The original surface was shiny marble tile, not good for kids, so we changed it and the kids are out there all the time. Enjoy - John [View Full Entry]

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Published: February 17th 2008 | 67 Views | [diary=247089]

during
after

7, January, 2008 Dear Friends Well, Happy New Year. And I say that with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The rebel in me scoffs at the phrase, yet I still greet people with it this time of year. Really, what could be more hackneyed than wishing you a Happy New Year? Of all holidays, this one seems the most contrived. It doesn’t mark anything other than the calendar itself. I imagine those Gregorians must be smirking still, having sat up there in their dank stone castles plotting to get people all fired up about the passage of one more day. I [View Full Entry]

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Published: January 7th 2008 | 46 Views | [diary=233614]


Four weeks into it and being a handyman in Sydney is taking me to amazing places. On week one, I was schmoozing with the guns of the Australia Rugby Union. Week two saw me sharing the halls with John Howard who, before a stunning election defeat on Nov. 24th, was Australia’s Prime Minister for the last 11 years. Then in week three I spent time with Juan Mann, better known worldwide as the Free Hug Guy and whose You Tube video has become an internet sensation. Week four was relatively sedate, but still found me enjoying lunch amid the sand and [View Full Entry]

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Published: December 7th 2007 | 135 Views | [diary=225786]


The United States may be a melting pot, but with this new job of mine, I’ve found out that Sydney is an incredibly multicultural city. And it doesn’t seem to matter where someone is from, respiratory disease is an equal opportunity aggravation. In the last five days, I’ve logged 300 kilometers, visited 60 homes and heard a dozen different languages. Changing air filters isn’t glamorous, but in the ten minutes it takes to do the job, I’ve met interesting people, learned new things and spread a little joy. An Assyrian-speaker named Shaman told me he was a [View Full Entry]

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Published: October 9th 2007 | 81 Views | [diary=209676]


Ozillations “Things are just different here,” Amy said. It’s become our refrain, repeated every time we find ourselves in what appears to be a familiar situation that turns out a shade differently than it would in the states. It can be something as simple as mayonnaise. The label might say “Kraft Classic Mayonnaise” but the ingredients belie the truth. It’s made with sugar. And mustard. Yuck. “But if I wanted things to be the same, I wouldn’t have come.” That’s the second half of the refrain. Because it is only through experienci [View Full Entry]

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Published: September 30th 2007 | 72 Views | [diary=206809]


Friends - As many of you know, I am a yoga nut. And this weekend I am in Tucson, getting a teaching on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a 500-year-old yoga text, the basis of what many of us in the West see when we see yoga. Lama Marut is a great teacher and today he shared with us the recipe for practicing yoga all day, every day. I’m passing it to you to share with your pals. Don’t feel like you need to do it all, but you might incorporate one idea, just to see if it works. -J Making [View Full Entry]

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Published: April 22nd 2007 | 195 Views | [diary=151041]


FAIRBANKS - I saw my first friend from the top of the airport escalator. Rick was ostensibly waiting for his son to arrive from Anchorage, but since I got off the plane first, we exchanged a juicy masculine hug. That one simple act brought back a memory of the trip we made Chitina. It was one of those ‘light on fish but otherwise perfect’ trips. Unencumbered by slime, I was instead elbow deep in shared explorations of the spirit. A freezer full of reds is a beauty to behold, but the talks on the rocks provide lasting nourishment. I’ve been coming [View Full Entry]

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Published: April 19th 2007 | 69 Views | [diary=150143]


Some of my yoga friends have been hearing about Tibetan Heart Yoga and having experienced a bit of it at Diamond Mountain recently, I decided to come to New York for some teacher training. Besides, with no job, what better way to use my time? Here’s what I’ve learned so far, but please forgive the unrefined and technical nature of this explanation. This yoga style was created by Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally, relying on ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts for sequencing suggestions as well as inner work. And it’s this inner work that really sets THY apart from t [View Full Entry]

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Published: March 19th 2007 | 99 Views | [diary=139758]


For five weeks as I studied Buddhist method and wisdom at Diamond Mountain, I’d been wondering about the 16” mirror ball hanging from the temple ceiling. On Sunday night, my questions were answered with party lights, a smoke machine and a DJ. These folks know how to party. Right there under the images of Buddha and other heroes like Je Tsongkapa, nearly a hundred people shook bootie as the chants of more modern heroes like Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson blasted the temple’s adobe walls. Everyone was dancing. Allegra, who must be close to 80, wore a gold lamé gown and [View Full Entry]

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Published: March 7th 2007 | 73 Views | [diary=135815]




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