Karen Liebenguth, 49, is a green space life coach and mindfulness trainer. This means ‘coaching while walking in nature’. She is a woman of grace and sensitivity.
What is your name?
Karen Liebenguth
How old are you?
49
Where do you live?
London
What do you do?
I am a life coach, MBTI facilitator and mindfulness trainer. I work with private and organisational clients and specialise in coaching while walking outdoors because I believe that’s where insight, creativity and change can happen most naturally.
Tell us what it’s like to be your age?
It feels exactly where I am at.
What do you have now that you didn’t have at 25?
Self-awareness, for sure!
What about sex?
I like sex but all my life I’ve always loved cuddles better, sensuous kissing and falling asleep spooning.
And relationships?
I long to be in a relationship because I have much love to give, I like intimacy and sharing life with someone I respect, appreciate and love.
How free do you feel?
Much freer than 25 years ago but still not as free as I’d like to be from old conditioned patterns… it’s work in progress…
What are you proud of?
My work – Green Space Coaching and Mindfulness Training. Having had the stamina and belief in myself to get it going and to turn it into a successful livelihood.
What keeps you inspired?
My own work, nature, sunflowers and calendula flowers that I grow from seed, my Buddhist practice, the women I live with, my close friends, my teachers.
When are you happiest?
When I’m out and about in nature walking or cycling – on my own or with a close friend.
And where does your creativity go?
I feel most creative when I’m in nature. That’s where I have my best ideas. My creativity also goes into my many pots of plants on our small roof terrace. It looks rather abundant which feels deeply satisfying and delightful.
What’s your philosophy of living?
Living a decent, simple and abundant life. Decent as in being able to afford all the things that are precious to me – going on retreats, visiting my family in Hamburg, Germany, walking weekends in nature. Simple as in sharing a house with four other women and only having stuff that fits in one room. Abundant as in living a full and meaningful life with many things in it that I enjoy.
And dying?
Without death no life, without life no death. I like that with each death always something new arises. Life and death are a continuous flow of becoming and ceasing, a process…
Are you still dreaming?
Of course! I still dream of finding a lovely man that I can have a healthy, accepting and respectful relationship with – one based on true love, ie free of expectations (a tall task). And I still dream of a cottage in the countryside with that lovely man, a horse, a dog and a cat… Makes my heart smile…
What was a recent outrageous action of yours?
I shared my grief about the loss of my father (he died in 2006 and I never met him), of the lost sisterhood with my sister (we never got on and have become estranged over the years) and the loss of my last relationship (with a man I truly loved but we couldn’t work it out together) in front of a group of 20 people (as part of a professional development course). I felt vulnerable, scared and liberated at the same time.
