Finding ‘the One’ and Learning The Secrets of Sacred Love “Everybody needs to know a little more about love,” says Karinna Kittles-Karsten, a certified love educator who teaches Western and Eastern approaches to love, intimacy and sexuality. Karinna, a Pacific Palisades resident, has been studying Taoism, western psychology and mythology for more than 16 years. Through Sacred Love, Inc., she helps both individuals and couples over 20 who want to have a more fulfilling and satisfying love life. ‘I get really excited about helping others find the right partner,’ says Karinna, whose husband, Timothy Karsten, grew up in the Palisades. In talks, seminars and private sessions, she teaches people how to use intuitive wisdom in their approach to dating, how to attract the right partner and how to create a healthy, sexually active relationship. She also instructs couples on how to recreate the intimacy and excitement they had in the beginning of their relationship, develop more honest communication and enhance their lovemaking and foreplay skills. ‘Different tools work best for different people,’ Karinna says. “Eastern [methods] tend to address body, heart and spirit. Western is more in the mind. People are gravitating to Eastern because they find more meaning. They feel like they can sink a little deeper.’ By Eastern methods, she refers to practices such as yoga, meditation and Kung Fu, whereas talking and writing to enhance communication skills are more Western approaches to making love a sacred art. ‘The Chinese philosophy is a focus on health and well being–that you’re healthy and that you’re creating health in your relationship dynamic and making it more fun at the same time,’ says Karinna, who studied with Taoist master Mantak Chia in New York. Like many healers, Karinna became inspired to teach others because of her personal journey. ‘I believe I came into this world on this path,’ she says. ‘I was an emotionally curious child, interested in sexuality at a young age.’ At 17, she got a modeling contract to work in Europe and Asia, and embarked on her career as an international fashion model. ‘I had an opportunity to have a lot of romance,’ Karinna says. But the romances ‘lacked a deeper meaning or richness that my heart was calling for.’ Yearning to learn about love and what distinguishes good relationships, she moved to New York City at age 19 and started studying with Mantak Chia through the Healing Tao Association. ‘After eight years of committed study that brought tremendous benefits to my life and love life, one of my teachers came to me and said it was time for to become a teacher,’ says Karinna, who also worked as a model and actress during this time. ‘That’s when the idea dawned for me.’ Karinna served as director of the Healing Tao Center in Soho with Masahiro Ouchi from 1998 to 2000, and established a private practice in the West Village. She also became a certified healing love instructor. Tao, a philosophy and practice of ancient China, utilizes the principles of yin (feminine, receptive energy) and yang (masculine, active energy) and the observation of the cycles of nature to create health, harmony and well-being within the individual, couples, and for the community at large. ‘Part of the process is educating people on how to love themselves and another person,’ says Karinna, who helps people discover what is holding them back from intimacy. For example, if someone is rigid or tense, she looks at the person’s body language and guides them in meditations, including breathing techniques, visualization and movement, that free the person’s mind and body. ‘It’s not just moving the body,’ she says. ‘It’s moving energy.’ Karinna adds that some people believe in ‘relationship myths,’ such as that they are not young or attractive enough to find a partner, or that there are not enough good women or men around. She teaches people to let go of these myths and develop “the sacred lover” within themselves, which will then help them attract the right partner. In private sessions with couples, Karinna guides them through “a ritual of uniting and harmonizing their energies to deepen the bond they have with each other.’ Her sessions are fully clothed, with clients wearing loose, comfortable clothing in order to role-play and learn new sexual positions. She teaches breathing methods that increase desire, stamina and sexual healing, and foreplay rituals and lovemaking techniques that help individuals experience greater pleasure. ‘A commitment to having sex weekly is what keeps you in the flow,’ Karinna says, ‘whether intercourse goes on or not. It can just be play.’ Contact: www.sacredlove.com or call 849-7238.
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