About
“Each of us comes into this life carrying gifts only we are fit to deliver. It is our intellectual, instinctual and spiritual imperative to bestow these gifts upon the world–to share them generously and often.”
Karina is an internationally recognized teacher and facilitator of personal transformation and spiritual development. She is passionately committed to inspiring us to identify and make manifest our unique gifts while aligning our essential nature with enthusiastic integrity. Karina emphasizes engaging gritty, practical application of deep spiritual truth, making wisdom attainable and intense personal growth do-able for those of us who cannot trade in our demanding lives for the meditation cushion or the psychiatrists couch. Indeed, she says, “The time of the monastic lifestyle is over. Kapu (Hawaiian for taboo/secrets) is over. We are being called to live out our spiritual wisdom amid the chaos of our time, amid the messiness of our very real lives. It is a huge calling! And, I’m so excited by it all! Every moment, every interaction, offers up an opportunity to fall back on the old ways which don’t work anymore or to step forward in wisdom, compassion and strength. The twelve-step recovery programs say, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ It’s time to do something new. It’s time for us to answer the call that comes from within and is echoed back to us from the Infinite. We can’t close our eyes any more. We need to stand up, take some long slow breaths, smile and get moving!”
Whether she is labeled as a spiritual mentor, teacher, life coach, priestess, shaman, writer, speaker, psychic, consultant or change maker, her life’s devotion is to provoke and encourage profound personal transformation and spiritual evolution so we might become capable, effective agents for change in the world. Her no nonsense approach coupled with a deep love of humanity is often said to evoke the best and highest in those she encounters. She says, “I’m really a midwife, a trail guide (I don’t love the word ‘coach’ at all). I’ve been there. Believe me, there’s hardly anywhere I haven’t been or borne intimate witness to on the road to self destruction and the path toward wholeness and wisdom. I understand how hard it gets and how rewarding it can be. When you’re in labor, there comes a point when you say, ‘I can’t do it. I just can’t.’ And, that’s when the mid-wife looks you in the eye and says firmly but with tender compassion, ‘Breathe.’ And so, you breathe. And you push. And something new and glorious and holy comes into the world because you didn’t quit. That’s what I do. I remind people they can. And, if they believe they don’t know how, I remind them of that as well. I love what I do. It’s the best job in the world! I get to see others become these amazing, effective people full of compassion and wisdom, so bright and genuinely happy. I can’t think of anything more rewarding.”
Karina graduated summa cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a self-designed major in Women, Spirituality and Power. She worked as a nurse providing end of life care for the elderly for many years. She is grateful for 24 years of recovery through 12-step programs. She will complete her certification as a Fire Walk Facilitator early in 2012. In her healing work, she is a Level II Reiki practioner, Flower Essence Consultant, an adept energy worker and sound/vibrational healer. Karina is well known among her students and peers as a Master of the arts of practical magic and purposeful prayer. An ordained Minister, public speaker and community leader, she has studied religion, psychology, politics, spirituality and metaphysics widely. Her initiations and degrees in several esoteric and shamanic Traditions are a testament that she also studied deeply.
In 1994, she founded and The Center for Spiritual and Community Development and served as its Director until 2001. During that time, Karina was also the proprietor of Magic Circle, a metaphysical boutique located in Northampton, MA. In the years since, she has continued her studies and deepened her practice while raising her two children, writing, teaching classes and offering private consultations at home, abroad and via the internet.
She has traveled widely, carrying her gifts throughout the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom. She has presented at such prestigious venues at Mount Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire and Amherst Colleges. She is also proud to have brought her teachings to such venues and festivals as Rites of Spring, Feast of Light, Feri Camp, Diana’s Grove and All That Matters.
