Hello, friends! Welcome to an exclusive interview as we chat with Karen Leigh, a free spirit and Mama who embraces life’s opportunities and possibilities and feels passionately about teaching others how to step into their power, too! Karen is a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Hypnotherapist with a big focus on working with you to instill deep-rooted self-belief, switching the negative self-talk to empowering self-talk, and turning your self-worth all the way up! Ultimately, Karen Leigh wishes to live among others who live a life that gives them butterflies (the good ones!), and here, she’s about to tell us why!
Karen Leigh, Founder of Soul Sanctuary Glasgow
Karen Leigh, firstly, I’m fascinated to know more about Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how you even begin to embark on that journey into the powers of your own mind. Where did that begin for you?
Yes, it has absolutely been a wild and beautiful journey for me to embark on, and I feel like NLP has found me. I didn’t necessarily go looking for this particular modality. NLP is such a powerful tool for essentially re-wiring our way of thinking and our personal beliefs about our capabilities and possibilities in the world. We often find, after a bit of digging, that we have taken on our peer's or societies limiting beliefs about what we can be, feel, and achieve, which then holds us back in life and likely leaves us feeling unfulfilled. This is where NLP comes in and allows us to get to the root of those beliefs and limitations, essentially letting them go.
Was there a significant time in your life that prompted you to make the changes you made yourself and then go on to help others?
Things really started to change for me during 2020, a time when I’m sure we all found ourselves re-evaluating some areas of our lives. I was a single Mama of two young children, finishing my university degree in Business Management, and suddenly finding myself thinking that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life working for someone else in the corporate world. I also had no idea what I actually wanted to do, so after a little while of feeling stuck, I hired a Life Coach for some support and guidance.
That is very interesting, and I am sure many readers will relate to it. How was your experience with your Life Coach? Did it provide you with the answers you were looking for?
It did, and more. I came away from working with my coach with so much clarity and emotional release. I had been holding onto beliefs from my parents that very much limited me and what I wanted to achieve. As a young child and teenager, I had big, exciting dreams, and I began to suppress them. My self-worth was at an all-time low by my mid-twenties, and this affected every area of my life! After we’d finished our eight weeks together, I had a new-found drive and confidence within me, which was always there, deep down, and something sparked in me that I wanted others to feel too! It felt like an injustice in some way that we were not taught how we can completely change our inner world and live a life that feels good for us!
As a coach yourself now, what do you feel is important in your work to ensure that clients experience profound change?
It is a coach's role to ask thought-provoking questions that allow us to view things from a different perspective and to have breakthroughs and realizations around our thoughts, beliefs, and habits. We often have blind spots where we cannot see a solution to a problem, for example. A coach will work with you to find the solution that is best for you and your desired outcome. It takes some unraveling, unlearning, and re-learning. Ultimately, it is about finding what is right for you! What personal beliefs will allow you to get to where you want to be? What actions, habits, self-talk, and emotions do you wish to tap into that are positive and productive for you?
I say to my clients that the magic is in you, and sometimes it may just take a little help and guidance to pull the magic out of you.
And you are a Hypnotherapist, too?
Yes. Both NLP and Hypnotherapy are modalities that work with our subconscious mind. Since I went down the NLP habit hole and discovered the power that lies within us and how our subconscious mind is the key to that power, it was inevitable for me that I would go on to train in Hypnotherapy, too! I feel people are more familiar with Hypnotherapy and possibly more susceptible to this method. I aim to bring more awareness to NLP and its powerful techniques that allow us to create change.
You talk about living a life that gives you butterflies. Tell us more about that.
For too long, I lived my life according to society's standards, ticking all of the boxes that I was meant to tick. This wasn’t very fulfilling. I had to hit rock bottom and start building myself back up again. I did it on my own for a long time because I wasn’t aware of the personal development movement and alternative healing modalities that we, thankfully, are seeing much more of now. I myself had to dig deep and figure out what I really wanted my life to feel and be like. What personal goals I wanted to achieve. What experiences could I have, and what did I want to achieve in my work? I definitely pushed my own boundaries and left my comfort zone many many times. And with each time came a new-found confidence, which allowed me to dream a little bigger for my next goals. I would say for me, now, living a life that gives me butterflies is living exactly how I want to live, free of the fear of judgment, because my desires and actions come from within, and I trust them. They feel good for me and what I want to create in my future.
So fascinating, Karen! It has been inspiring to hear about your personal journey and I think there is so much value here for others to apply to their own lives. How can we stay in touch with you and find out more about your powerful work and coaching programs?
It was my pleasure, thank you. I would love for your readers to get in touch! I am very active on Instagram. Anyone wishing to follow my journey and learn more about my work can just search @iamkarenleigh. My podcast, Spirit, Mind & Soul, can be found on YouTube.
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