Karen Atkins: Taking Care of You in Ten Minutes

Karen is an Advanced Certified BodyTalk Instructor & Practitioner, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Landscape Designer, Certified Wudang Qigong and Franklin Method Instructor, and trained in the Alexander technique. Her latest CD, Vibration Project, is available on iTunes and Amazon.com and comes with a book of uplifting photos and stories. You can learn more about Karen and the Restore Your Soul series online: RestoreMethod.com

1. What is your passion or purpose you are being called to bring into action right now?
I feel a strong calling to support women to learn to consistently nurture and care for themselves using practical strategies, tools and systems.

2. What were the motivating factors or defining moments that inspired you to get involved and share your passion?
After struggling for many years, I reached a low point in my health, vitality and emotional state and I needed solutions to take ownership of my life and build my life back up again.
Through numerous searches and studies for the most efficient and effective tools and strategies, I eventually found relief and then higher and higher states of joy and satisfaction.
After experiencing the benefits this new awareness brought me, I had to start sharing what I found.
There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the light come back into someone’s eyes and the spark rekindled in their soul.

3. What is your mantra or favorite quote you refer to when you seek inspiration or hope and why?
When I was a little girl, my grandfather gave me a wooden heart that he made for me, which had 3 simple phrases written on it in latin:
AMO
AMAS
AMAT

or

I LOVE
YOU LOVE
HE/SHE LOVES

He was an incredible inspiration to me my whole life, as he never forgot his connection to love and the essence of things no matter how hard he had to struggle; and struggle he did.

His mother suffered from schizophrenia and then his wife, my grandmother got it and died a few years later of breast cancer. Later in life, his 2nd wife had dementia and he had drama even in his mid 80s.
Despite these hardships, he always remained positive and loving with everyone around him.
The wooden plaque always serves to remind me to connect to my own inner strength and spirit, as my grandfather did.

4. Tell us about a moment recently when you were standing in your full power and purpose?
The work that I do with women using the Restore Method is so gratifying because, whether through coaching, healing sessions, my blog, workshops or teleclasses, I get instant feedback that the tools I share are making a huge difference in their lives.

5. Why is the work you are doing so important for everyday women?
In today’s society, women have been taught to do do do and take care of everyone and everything else– and that’s great!
But in the midst of all of this doing, we need to find a space to nurture ourselves – a space of BEING and replenishing, or else
we will just burn out and not have anything left for anyone, especially not ourselves.
Despite all of this DOING, I can’t even count the number of women I’ve worked with who came to be complaining:
* I’m exhausted all the time
* I want to be healthier, but I don’t know where to start
* I feel like a failure
* I feel guilty taking time for myself
* I finally have some time now that my kids are more independent, but I feel too tired and unmotivated to do anything for myself
* I wish I knew why I felt so depleted
* I’ve lost my creativity
* I suppressed my own needs in order to take care of my children or my partner
* I’m divorced and I don’t know how to pick up my life
* I feel bad about myself because I can’t fix my eating habits
* After 10 years in relationships with issues, I just want some joy
* I lost weight and felt better then gained it back, now I feel even worse
* I’m not sleeping well
* I’m taking anti-depressants and I don’t know how to get off of them
* I’m at a crossroads and I’m lost
* I’m not happy
* I feel like I sublimated own happiness to be in relationships that weren’t fulfilling
* I’ve worked hard in a job that isn’t giving me what I need
I help these women.
Over the years, I’ve found practices and tools and that address all of these complaints and help women regain their energy, their creativity and their joy.
Women need reminders and options to start taking care of themselves, trusting their intuition again, and giving back to themselves –without any guilt.

6. Why is it so important for women to participate in an event like the Passion into Action Conference?
We need each other more than ever these days. Stress from modern technology, information-overload and economic and environmental struggles can overwhelm even the most resilient of us.
Modern living has separated us so much that many of us feel alone, misunderstood and alienated and like fighting a lonely battle, even if we are in a relationship.
By coming together as a community in such a supportive environment, we get the motivation, sisterhood and inspiration we need to start taking steps toward creating the life we want to live.

7. What are you hoping will be the biggest take-aways for women both at the Passion into Action Conference and your workshop?
I hope that each woman will leave feeling empowered, inspired, energized, more connected to her body and soul and ready to take practical steps towards turning her stress into vitality to create a healthier, more satisfying and joy-filled life.

8. What is your message to women around the world?
You CAN live a satisfying life filled with the time AND energy you need to share with and enjoy your loved ones and your passions, by creating the right priorities (ie. knowing where to focus your energy) and taking at least a few minutes to care for yourself everyday.

Passion into Action Workshop: Taking Care of You in Ten Minutes a Day-Easy strategies for managing stress and rising above chaos in your life

Program Description and Learning Objectives:

One little nag leads to another: a cold that won’t go away, allergies, itchy skin, headaches. For months or years, things have just been “off.” We’re tired, even after sleeping for 8 or 10 hours. Things creak and ache. And we’re busy: the kids need us, our jobs keep us crazy busy, there’s no time to think about the “nags.” We’re irritable; there’s a rolling boil of frustration and anger under the surface that we can’t seem to quell.

Feeling overwhelmed and henpecked is not inevitable. With the right strategies for managing our energy and supporting our bodies, we can experience consistent joy, enthusiasm, good health and peace. Knowing what our body’s signals “mean” is half the battle–you can do something about how you’re feeling.

Karen Atkins is the creator of the Restore Your Soul series, an Award-Winning Songwriter, and a Certified BodyTalk and Wudang Qi Gong Instructor. In this workshop, Karen is going to teach you a few easy practices to help you:

• Manage stress by balancing the nervous system
• Calm the emotions that fire us up and create emotional blocks
• Tap into your own resourcefulness to help solve problems and actualizing your best creativity in a given moment
• Overcome the tendency to stay in your ruts so that you can begin creating the life you really want to live!

Knowledge is power, and for a lot of women, reversing aging, reclaiming our energy and feeling “in control” of our lives can be accomplished by knowing–and doing–the “right things” for just a few minutes a day.