I took the TM (Transcendental Meditation) course 30 years ago and followed the prescribed dosage ever since: meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day. I often say that it was the smartest plan I ever stumbled upon. I was "a closet meditator", discretely practicing alone, until 2004 when my yoga-teacher-girlfriend introduced me to the greater friendly world of like-minded people who participate in retreats, meditation classes, Buddhist philosophy and attend practical teachings with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Adyashanti, etc. With her encouragement, I participated in a 10-day, silent retreat, "meditation bootcamp" in the Vipassana school taught by Satya Narayan Goenka, which was about as close to life as a Buddhist monk as I could imagine. Exploring all along, I feel that I have incorporated techniques and aspects of Buddhist thought, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Zen, Yoga,Taoist, Shamanic, and Western psychology into my inner life and daily practice.

Most of my working life has been lived as a professional musician, playing the upright and electric basses in all kinds of situations, working on transcriptions for Hal Leonard Publishing, arranging, rehearsing, touring, living the musician's life. In 1998 I began working pianos: tuning, repairing, appraisals, and teaching others to do this at The Museum of the American Piano. I love living in NYC, enjoy all the fullness that this great town has to offer: good friends, great art and music, international food, lively and interesting people. I look forward to working with the "Real Happiness" program for the next 28 days in a focused way, and watching and sharing the results here with everyone.