In 2014, mindfulness trainer and life coach, Karen Liebenguth, 51, launched her Hackney-based business by coaching her clients one-on-one in Victoria Park.
When the coach left her home in Hamburg, Germany in 2001, she began working in Hammersmith as a linguistics and film translator. However, Liebenguth realised that something was missing in her life and decided to take her coaching work outside the office.
“Since my childhood, I have spent a lot of time in nature, it allows me to think more clearly and feel better inside. Nature has always been a great resource for me and helps me slow down and feel more confident,” she says.
Liebenguth works with professional men and women, in their 30s to 50s, who often feel stressed and anxious by the complexity of their life. She sees between 10 to 14 clients a week in Victoria Park as well as providing sessions on mindfulness in the workplace for corporate companies across London.
“When we walk and talk it is very different from us sitting in a consultation room. It is much more relaxed and less intimidating. My clients tell me it is wonderful to be outdoors because they spend so much time indoors working. It gets them out and about and the body benefits because they get a walk while looking at themselves and finding a way forward,” Liebenguth explains.
Word of mouth, clients’ recommendations, and a unique approach to working in nature have helped launch Liebenguth’s career. She will continue in her third year at Kew Gardens providing a six-week mindfulness destress course to increase well-being and mental health.
Liebenguth teaches her clients to develop more loving relationships with themselves and become their own “best friend”. She believes it can make a huge difference in how people respond to life more creatively.
She has helped hundreds of people over the last 11 years of her working career and hopes to make her clients aware of the environmental benefits her coaching offers.
