* Living Magically *

Are you ready to live the life that you dream of?

Do you believe that "what you are seeking is also seeking you"?

Are you fascinated by the world of raw & living foods and their effect on your "whole person" - body, mind, heart and soul?

If your answer is "yes" to all of the above, then welcome, you're in the right place and the adventure has begun!

On this page you will find my blog as I put myself forward as guinea pig to practice what I preach. While I have been eating raw foods and studying metaphysics for 15+ years, I sense that things are about to move to a different level and I believe I can serve you by sharing my thoughts, insights and outcomes as we journey along together. On the other pages you will find the information especially created and sourced for YOU so that you too can take the plunge into living life fully alive - from the cellular level out!

With love and abundance, always,

Tales of Magic and Mastery

This past month has been one long tale of magic and mastery for me. Yes, the call last week was a pivotal point for me and my work and speaking my truth, and I’m still in awe at how guided and perfectly it all unfolded for all of us. Meanwhile back in my own private life, something really amazing had happened just a few days before I ran the call.

As I have mentioned once before in this newsletter, many months ago now, maybe over a year ago, there are many things I feel I have mastered in life but the two remaining ones that I definitely needed to do work around were: Men and Money.

Specifically, in relationships I would either choose men who were not really good for me, or if they were I would back off and end the relationship. Total no-win, obviously! As far as money was concerned I was running a pattern of earning it and spending it all. It didn’t matter how much or little I earned, there were never any savings.

Since I realised these two weaknesses many years ago, I assumed they were two very different “problems”; it was only in the past month that I finally got that they were very much interconnected, and I’m going to share with you why, because it may just help you shed some light on any recurring challenges you may have in your world.

Back... for a Brief Moment...

Yes, I’ve been "away" again. This Living Magically life has got VERY busy!! And I am going through a bit transformation in two key areas of my life, which I may share more about when they are "complete".

Long story short there just aren’t enough hours in a day to write on two blogs and put out two eZines per week –or at least not for me right now!

BUT! I have a plan to change all of that – it sometimes just takes time for something to move into the groove, so to speak!

What will be happening...

I’m going to be changing things with my blogging and my web site.

First, there will be a new web site.

Then, there will be three different blog-style pages on that site.

One of them will be my journal and news.

The second and third will be a surprise : )

It will all make sense once it’s up...

Until then, the opportunities to blog will likely be very limited as all these things take time to create. But when I’m back, things will be very different.

In the meantime, most of the activity is going on at my Living in the Raw blog and on my eZine, so I hope to see you there!

Excitedly yours,

Karen

Whatever Happened to Karen?

Yes, I'm back and "whatever happened to Karen?" seemed like the most fitting title!

It's also a good question. One I am still pondering on myself!

Just before the Christmas break I shared in Successfully Raw eZine that I’d be dealing with “all issues identity”. This was because of a decision I made in November and a photo shoot, actually, which was now bringing up “stuff” that needed to change in order for me to move forward with my big decision. Apologies if this sounds cryptic, but it’s still too early to share what that specific thing was all about (although it’s very exciting and all good). In a few months I’ll speak more about it.

What I will say is that the photo above gives you some clue as to where I'm at right now. I went from favouring the new red one with bold lippy to "returning" to the girl next door look pictured here. As funny as it may sound, my inner journey really did play out in my choice of picture, and the best way to sum the whole inner-trip up is as "a return to love". I will write more about this in my next post.

Perhaps there have been times in your own life where you made a radical decision and then asked yourself: “Am I really up to this? Is this bigger than what I’m capable of?” I’m sure that most of us have. So what happens when deep down inside you believe you can but you have so much to change to make that decision turn into a reality?

This is what I’ve been “contending” with for the past 6 weeks or so. I say contendingbecause at times it has felt like a battle of sorts. There have been all sorts of parts of me coming up with their two penneth worth with an opinion about my decision and while I haven’t ever wanted to change my mind, I have certainly not enjoyed that side of the journey!

Now, a few weeks on I feel as if the biggest stretch is over. The internal shifts we need to make are usually the biggest and certainly this has been the case with me. Although I already think bigger than most people, I have been challenged, both by myself and my commitment, to go much bigger much FASTER than I had bargained on – and like trying to run a marathon after you’ve been used to jogging a bit here and there, it REALLY HURTS!

Still, I am back, I needed some space to do what I needed to do without interrupting the process and this is why I've been quiet. I needed the time to do my stretch, feel the pain, and keep stretching anyway. Now I am into the next stage which is integration.

How does this affect you?

1. Hopefully something I’ve shared already might help you in some way, either right now or in the future
2. The results of what I’ve been going through (and still am) are essentially all about YOU! Quite simply I have made the commitment to make this year the most wonderful year ever for those who read my work, subscribe to my eZine or work with me within a program in terms of raw food support and you’re going to love what happens next.

So where am I at right now?

Still aching a little! Still adjusting to the new way of thinking and doing, but most importantly committed. I take 100% responsibility for the choice I made and will do everything I can to honour it, while asking for help, being deeply grateful for everything and everyone in my life and staying present, and staying calm, focused and committed. Even though this might all sound a bit "intense", I really did need something this big and juicy as I felt I had hit a ceiling with my growth before. From around August onwards, when I moved into my new home, almost every day I felt as if I was constantly outgrowing myself and that was also a bit painful, though mostly plain frustrating. I really needed something big to scare me a little and stretch me because I was not getting what I needed from myself or the coaches in my life.

Just as I felt “good” albeit a little wobbly before I started exercising, after a few weeks of integration (working out with a trainer) and seeing the fruits of my labours, although I ached and groaned at times and wondered if it was all worth it (especially when sometimes my body looked more wobbly a week or so before it got really toned up), I made the decision because I knew I was ready, had nowhere else to go but UP and now of course, 9 months in to regular training, I couldn't think of ever going back. And just as my body is shaped very differently to how it looked those 9 months ago, a few months from now you will see a different Karen Knowler showing up in many ways and on many levels, and a different focus appearing to help YOU get the most out of your raw food journey.

Thank you for asking about me! I have missed you all and am very glad to be back. Unless something really big pops up that I really have to share then I'll be posting on here at the end of every month as a Living Magically check-in and other manifesting info as and when I have something juicy to share! (The rest of the time you can find me on Living in the Raw blog and in Karen's World within the Successfully Raw eZine)

Have a fabulous January, don't forget to pick up your FREE New Year's eBook on Living in the Raw and I would love to hear your news too!

 

What's Going On For Me Right Now...

I've been quiet, but not intentionally... The big US trip and the subsequent catch up have kept me busy, and when I haven't been working I've been reacquainting myself with my sofa and my bed : )

Below is my Karen's World update from Successfully Raw today. As you'll read at the end I'm going to be recording details of the changes I'm making and what comes as a result of that. My intention is to be having a little more of the LBD times (see picture, left! - yes it was one of those taken in LA and well worth every effort!!) and less of the Karen-tied-to-her-computer times : )

Here's the article...

Times they are a changin’.

Yes, right now the world over it’s no secret that big things are afoot. You don’t need me to remind you that these are strange times we are living in, and nothing feels 100% certain – many are wondering what safety really is all about.

Since my trip to the US I am also part of that change. As mentioned in this week’s intro, I’ve been changing on the inside and the out. My clothes are different, my office is different, my way of doing things daily is different. There is more organisation, less hurry; more time out, less feeling chained to the computer; bigger projects planned to help many more people rather than focussing on just helping a few.

Some of these things are really tangible and visible now, others will take time to show up. I have flowers on my desk today, a massage booked for later and this week I get to see my son’s school play on a weekday afternoon. I feel so lucky to be able to manage my time in this way, but I’ve always qualified that with “well, that’s because I work so hard all the other hours of the day!” And it’s been true. For literally a decade I have worked morning, noon and night on what I do and still it’s never felt enough.

Why?

Because I know there is so much for me to do that every day feels like just a tiny part of my work has been done. I have often wondered just how long this is going to last! (As I’m sure you have if you’re self employed also!)

As for where this conversation is going!! My answer is: The same place all of us probably need to go – to doing less but helping more. I know for me, next year my offerings are mostly going to be geared towards helping hundreds of people at a time – there’s too much quality info resting here in my brain and I’m not reaching enough people with it. I also want to remember what it’s like to have a night off, to have the luxury of wondering what on earth to do!

Of course, all of this is really about making decisions, about being a stand for what we do want rather than what we don’t. When we know what we do want we can start to figure out ways to make that a reality - and then as if by magic new ideas and answers start to fall into our consciousness and our solutions soon become very clear.

The flip side to this is giving permission. For example, I’ve known for years that I needed to work less hours AND intellectually I knew ways I could make that happen, but did I do it? No! Why? Because I have got into such a pattern of working round the clock that I find it incredibly hard to just stop!

Moving forward into 2009 I want life to be very different. Correction – it WILL be very different. I have already made some big decisions that will help that become true, but also you will hear about a very different way of doing things that maybe you might like to model or adopt.

The first step is putting me first.

Now that’s a novel idea! Anyone else out there who'd like to commit to saying the same?

There'll be more to come, in fact this is part one of a series of updates on the bigger shifts I am making to change my life, starting from the inside out... Stay tuned!

The "Raw-Drobe"

From Successfully Raw eZine published today:

It's no secret that eating raw changes more than your blood chemistry, but have you yet had any weird goings ons with your clothes choices since being raw?

If you've been into raw food to a high degree for six months or more chances are the answer is a resounding "yes" - although you may or may not have any clue as to why.

Sure, you may be leaner than you were six months ago and that invariably means buying a size or two smaller, but I'm not talking size here, I'm talking everything but size, in fact.

Before I get into my own stuff around clothes I want to share with you a real life case study of how this first showed up for a client a year or two ago. This is what she had to say:

"I've got something to share but it feels really odd to say it and I don't know how it can be connected to going raw, but deep down I feel that it probably is..."

"Go on..."

"Well, usually when I go to get ready for work in the morning I just go to my closet, pull out a sweater, blouse and trousers and get dressed. I don't think anything about it, I just pick whatever's there and put it on. But this past week I have found myself standing in front of my clothes feeling really particular about what I choose. Certain colours feel very wrong or very right. I can't just pull anything anymore, it's like suddenly my clothes mean more but I don't know why. It has to feel right or I can't put it on. Am I going crazy?!"

Now, while there's a whole lot going on here I'm going to keep it really simple. When we eat live food we eat higher vibrational food, and generally more colourful food. We come alive from the cellular level out, we become more conscious, more aware, more sensitive. Knowing that everything in the Universe is comprised of energy, by making different energy choices in the food we bring into our body, we become more sensitive to other things we bring into our world, but especially in or around our body. This is where clothes come in. Clothes also have their own energy. There's the colours for starters, and then there's associations and memories, or the feelings they evoke in us. We get to play out who we are through our choice of clothing, but when we're "asleep" they just don't seem to matter so much, we don't know who or what we are playing out as we are typically unconscious of it.

Vision Boarding this Weekend - Will You Join Me?

Whether you came here fresh from my eZine or an altogether more random way, welcome to my weekend open house invitation to play, get healthy and get excited!

As mentioned in my eZine this weekend I am sans Luke, my Duracell battery of a son, who is going to stay with daddy for a week. While the urge to go out and boogie is as strong as ever, I need sleep more and I’m sure I can wait til next week! Well... maybe ;)

So for this weekend, a different kind of fun is afoot. I’m going to share with you my plans and then I invite you to carbon copy them, do any parts of them that appeal to you, or simply to print it off and save for another time. Whatever you choose, I’m diving straight in now as I can’t wait to get started:

(NB: If you are new to vision boards or vision books, please read here first)

Saturday morning

Working out first thing, taking care of errands and shopping for the following:

• 4 large bags of organic baby spinach
• 8 cucumbers
• 2 bags carrots
• 2 boxes strawberries
• 2 large bags of oranges
• 2 large pineapples
• 3 bunches of celery
• 3 lemons
• 2 bags of apples
• 2 avocadoes
• 1 box tomatoes

Then, off to the stationers for:
(I already have these but you may not...)

• 1 large artists book OR 1 large sheet of card OR a few small sheets of card
• Glue stick
• Sharp scissors
• A pile of glossy magazines
• Stickers or craft supplies

Saturday afternoon

1) Make lunch comprising: 1 large green juice (my favourite, Green Goddess Elixir Juice, can be found here) followed by something light and raw food/s that you desire (a juice will suffice for me, but I may have some raw ice-cream on hand for later in the day!)

2) Get all materials together – book or card, scissors, glue, magazines and coloured pens or crayons. You may also want to bring in some stickers or craft materials.
I’ll be using a book like before, but if you’ve chosen card simply adapt as necessary to split your sheet/s the way you want to.

3) Get ready to settle down for the serious business of .... DREAMING BIG!

4) I shall get my book, open to the first white page and...
I’ll leave this blank until the end, when I can see what I have created and wished for, but when I come back it will be the title page of my book and/or a few carefully chosen words and will have a handwritten card to myself pasted into the middle of the page or inside front cover with whatever pledge or words of support I choose to give myself in order to make what follows on the following pages come into my reality. (Have never done this before, but cool idea don’t you think?!)

5) Next page: Completely up to you what you choose to go on your first montage page but here’s some possibilities:

• Health
• Fitness
• Raw Diet &/or Lifestyle
• Love/ Relationships
• Friends & Fun
• Family
• Hobbies/ Passions/ “Things I’d Love to Do”
• Money & Financial
• Career
• House & Home
• Body & Image
• My Inner Self
• My Outer Self
• My Christmas/ Birthday List
• My Dream Job
• My New Office
• Where I’m Spending Christmas/ New Year
• Etc.

As you can see, you are only limited by your imagination on this one.

6) For me, I will be starting with an overarching theme for the next 6 months, random images of what I want to show up in my life. Here’s a photo of one I made a year or two ago to show you how these pages may look.

7) My next page will likely be all about clothes. Right now I am MAD passionate about clothes, even more so than usual. Usually I have more than a penchant for shoes, but right now they’ve been superseded by clothes, having realised in just the past three weeks or so that most of my clothes no longer feel right – ugh! (I’ll be sharing more about this soon).

8) Beyond that, I’m not going to predict. I want the process to flow, and I encourage you to do the same. You may find that your imagination and permission takes you in all kinds of unpredicted directions – a very good thing!

Now, this whole process may take as little as a couple of hours or an entire day! It depends on how clear you are on what you want and how many pages you create, but those of you who are old hands at this may find yourself done and dusted by tea time!

Speaking of which, I heartily recommend my Successfully Raw Recipe of the Week – Happy Juice – at this point. Whether it’s for drinking while making your vision book or as a celebratory toast at the end, that matters not. This drink will make you feel happy at any time of day.

For dinner, I have no clue what I’ll be eating Saturday night, but it may be nori rolls or crudités and dip. It depends how much ice-cream I did or didn’t eat during the afternoon : )

Early to bed with a DVD methinks this week. Very rarely do I do this and I LOVE to do this providing I get into bed before 10pm. I’ll have to see what’s new in Blockbuster tomorrow morning...

Sunday – start with a green juice and then a trip to the gym. Sunday mornings at the gym may sound like a bind to many, but to me they’re a luxury! Usually I am knee high in wooden cranes and tractors, or watching Charlie and Lola drink pink milk while snuggling Luke on the sofa.

As for the rest of the day, it depends on whether I get my VB finished on Saturday, BUT I do have some good old fashioned de-junking to do. My office is looking very organised right now but there’s still a little more to do. Once that’s done, who knows where the mood will take me? Maybe I shall go dancing after all : )

Talking of dancing, here's Jo, me and Katie before my birthday night out two weekends ago. Yes we boogied hard that night - all the way to 3am - or was it 4?! Either way, even though I may have been the oldest birthday girl in the club, we had a ton of fun and I can't wait for more.

PS: Click through to see who our mystery camera man was that night...

 

Announcing "The Rawkathon"

A little departure from the norm today, somewhat, to let you know about this HUGE online event taking place this October... I'll be back with a Journal entry very soon - there's plenty to talk about! But in the meantime, you definitely won't want to miss out on this...

Today is a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT DAY!

My friend and colleague Kevin Gianni (of Raw Summit fame) today unveils to the world "The Rawkathon". If you thought Raw Summit was fantastic, this will blow you away.

Long story short this week-long online 100% FREE event features 14 raw and living foods experts from the USA and one from the UK...

Guess who?

That's right! There I am in the middle, VERY excited to be part of this.

Just look at the amazing line up Kevin has brought together...

This event will FOR SURE be way bigger than Raw Summit. Where Raw Summit comprised of teleseminars played one per night for a week or more, this event comprises of HOUR LONG VIDEOS, played two per night for a week with a bonus session from Happy Oasis, founder of the Raw Spirit Festival.

Now, while this is exciting enough, what makes this event TRULY special is that the interviews go way deeper than the usual "what do you eat?" and "why did you go raw?"

Obviously having given an interview myself I know that Kevin put a LOT of time and attention (and love, actually) in to creating something really different here, and the questions he asked were the type that can only evoke fascinating and oftentimes DEEP answers. At least this was the case for me.

I actually ended up sharing some stuff about me that only a few of my closest friends and clients know about me. I just felt moved to do so, and hope that what I shared is helpful, inspiring and comforting. Hopefully you'll get to find out!

Signing up for this event is, to me, a no brainer! Even if you only get to see ONE of the 15 interviews, I have no doubt it will be worth every minute of your time.

Of course, I'm hoping you can find a way to see me also, as this really was a deep and meaningful hour, packed with value and lots of coaching info and ideas you can use, but either way, seeing as this event is 100% FREE (yes, how great is that?!), you have nothing to lose in putting your name down on the list and also, potentially, scooping some cool free gifts further down the line... (Sssshhh, I didn't tell you that!)

See you on the other side!

Sisterhood

Sedona brought home to me many things and one of the biggest was the value of female friends (or sisters). Pictured here are two of the best: Lynn and Jo. We had such fun hanging out and chatting throughout the five days in Sedona. Lynn kindly picked us up from Phoenix en route from her home in Tucson and I don't know if we stopped laughing from that moment onwards.

What's also amazing is that I met Lynn only four short months ago on a business coaching retreat of which we are both members. Lynn was already into raw food and it was great to have a fellow raw food lover on the retreat with me, as well as to have a giggle over just about everything.

Very rare is the person that makes you laugh just by being themselves ; ) Lynn is as deep as they come yet is cheeky beyond measure! Hmmm, sounds familiar : )

As soon as we met for the first time we brought something out in each other that very few others ever have. Methinks we have known each other before...

Anyway, I wanted to share this great photo with you of Lynn, myself and Jo outside Raw Bliss Cafe. Those sisters were stalwart in their support of me on so many different levels during those few days. I want to thank both of them publicly for being such wonderful women and sisters to me.

Love you both xox

Introducing Edie

You may have heard of Edie Brickell before, but chances are just as likely that you haven't.

I've been a big fan since aged 18 when I first heard her and bought her first album "Shooting Rubberbands at the Moon"; she later went on to marry Paul Simon, have children and has become a hugely successful singer/ songwriter in her own right.

Edie is regarded by many as a well-kept secret. She has a talent that is understated yet exceptional. I have been listening to this song on YouTube many times in succession since I discovered it a couple of weeks ago. There's so much in her lyrics it's often hard to take them all in in one listening; this has been true for many of her songs. But I'm going to post "Once in a Blue Moon" here for those of you who like understated genius plus a good tune and voice to boot : )

Recent Magic Pre- & Post- Sedona

It's been an amazing few days, or weeks, even, since I last wrote.

I've been asked to write some articles for a popular alternative magazine (said yes), have been connected with a New York literary agent (due a second call this Friday to get into details), have been to the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona and arrived back Tuesday evening. This is just really the briefest of summaries; more magic than I can currently share, but suffice to say, life is still good : )

Raw Spirit was amazing again. It was different to last year - for me anyway. I presented more (two talks and one demo), was videoed three times, and met a lot of new friendly faces as well as some old friends. The Festival itself I'm sure was a success and life changing for thousands as before. There seemed to be some different energies around this year, more noticeable because I have last year to compare it to. Last year was pure magic from start to finish. This year very mixed, though not anything I would label "bad", just different. There were lots of tears flowing as people were touched at a deeply profound level and mostly didn't understand how or why. The high energy of the gathering as well as the food just moved it to happen. It was beautiful in its own emotional way.

For me it has largely been a time of accepting exactly what I have to offer. Although I consider myself a channel in many respects, I often do not realise the value of what I bring. I know this has to change, although I don't ever want to leave being "humble", for want of a better word. I just need to show up more and connect with more people than I have been doing. Thank you to those of you who have not been backwards at coming forwards with feedback; it has made all the difference!

After my Saturday night talk (9pm, indoor main stage) I received a lot of great feedback. My talk was "Living Magically on Raw Food" and the audience were really ready for this kind of talk.

There were some there who had only been raw since the start of the Festival, and others who were longer term, but they each seemed to receive something they needed. The hour passed very quickly and I was blown away by the response. It was total flow and such a joy to speak to what must have been 100 people.

Similarly, my interview with Kevin Gianni was equally successful - you will hear more about it soon. Kevin shared a little about it here (specifically about half way through this video, but the whole thing is worth listening to!). I love Kevin and his wife Annmarie. They really are fabulous people...

There's more to come, but I want to write with specifics. Right now my focus is on launching the new web site (an adjunct to TheRawFoodCoach.com, not a replacement), writing a book proposal, bringing more love into my life (yes, that type!) and generally getting clear on a number of things.

It's a good time, no trips abroad til November now, and so much will occur between now and then it's breathtaking.

Thanks for reading and much love, as always

Karen x