The Art of Empathy

“Karla McLaren illuminates the rich, textured landscape of emotional intelligence. And in “The Art of Empathy,” Karla wisely explores the most important of all human feelings”-“empathy, the glue of all positive human relationships.””-“PETER A LEVINE, PhDAuthor of Healing Trauma, and Freedom from Pain ” Empathy and emotional sensitivity are important parts of our psycho-social makeup. They function, for the most part, in the background of our conscious awareness. After four decades of study, Karla McLaren has come up with lots of ideas for accessing those aspects of ourselves in constructive and organized ways. A natural empath, she has combined her own experience with current advances in neuroscience, psychology, and sociology to create this indepth, down-to-earth handbook for making empathy an active force in our lives. She includes specific mindfulness exercises to deal with issues such as grounding, boundaries, emotional honesty, and recharging our emotional selves. Whether your customers are highly empathic by nature or more emotionally constrained, this book provides lots of suggestions for making communication and interaction with others easier and more fulfilling.” -ANNA JEDRZIEWSKI, Retailing Insight -October Issue -

“Karla McLaren’s unique, empathic view of emotions surprisingly revalues even the most ‘negative’ emotions and opens pathways to understanding the depths of the human soul.” -MICHAEL MEADE Author of The World Behind the World

Karla McLaren illuminates the rich, textured landscape of emotional intelligence. And in “The Art of Empathy”, Karla wisely explores the most important of all human feelings” “empathy, the glue of all positive human relationships. ” “Peter A Levine, PhDAuthor of Healing Trauma, and Freedom from Pain” Empathy and emotional sensitivity are important parts of our psycho-social makeup. They function, for the most part, in the background of our conscious awareness. After four decades of study, Karla McLaren has come up with lots of ideas for accessing those aspects of ourselves in constructive and organized ways. A natural empath, she has combined her own experience with current advances in neuroscience, psychology, and sociology to create this indepth, down-to-earth handbook for making empathy an active force in our lives. She includes specific mindfulness exercises to deal with issues such as grounding, boundaries, emotional honesty, and recharging our emotional selves. Whether your customers are highly empathic by nature or more emotionally constrained, this book provides lots of suggestions for making communication and interaction with others easier and more fulfilling.” ANNA JEDRZIEWSKI, Retailing Insight -October Issue -“Karla McLaren’s unique, empathic view of emotions surprisingly revalues even the most ‘negative’ emotions and opens pathways to understanding the depths of the human soul.” MICHAEL MEADE Author of The World Behind the World” Empathy and emotional sensitivity are important parts of our psycho-social makeup. They function, for the most part, in the background of our conscious awareness. After four decades of study, Karla McLaren has come up with lots of ideas for accessing those aspects of ourselves in constructive and organized ways. A natural empath, she has combined her own experience with current advances in neuroscience, psychology, and sociology to create this indepth, down-to-earth handbook for making empathy an active force in our lives. She includes specific mindfulness exercises to deal with issues such as grounding, boundaries, emotional honesty, and recharging our emotional selves. Whether your customers are highly empathic by nature or more emotionally constrained, this book provides lots of suggestions for making communication and interaction with others easier and more fulfilling.” -ANNA JEDRZIEWSKI, Retailing Insight -October Issue -“Karla McLaren’s unique, empathic view of emotions surprisingly revalues even the most ‘negative’ emotions and opens pathways to understanding the depths of the human soul.” -MICHAEL MEADE Author of The World Behind the WorldKarla McLaren s unique, empathic view of emotions surprisingly revalues even the most negative emotions and opens pathways to understanding the depths of the human soul. MICHAEL MEADE Author of The World Behind the World

Empath Karla McLaren is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and pioneering educator whose empathic approach to emotions has taken her through the healing of her own childhood trauma, into a healing career, and now into the study of sociology, anthropology, neurology, cognitive psychology, and education. She is the author of The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You, the online course Emotional Flow: Becoming Fluent in the Language of Emotions and The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill.

Karla has taught at such venues as the University of San Francisco, Omega Institute, Naropa University, Kripalu, and the Association for Humanistic Psychology. Additionally, as a prison arts educator with the William James Foundation, she has utilized singing, drumming, and drama to help men in maximum security prisons explore and heal long-held emotional traumas. She is currently developing new forms of Empathy and Social Interaction curricula for neurologically diverse populations.

Karla lives in California with her husband, Tino Plank, a Master’s level nurse educator who works in hospice and end-of-life care.