Karen Carnabucci of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Karen Carnabucci and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Karen, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
There’s a lot of exhaustion going on in our world today. I notice that some people are able to name and claim this exhaustion while others aren’t able to give themselves permission to talk about this.

I suspect this silence is because it’s much more than saying, “I’m tired.” It’s about having to acknowledge how much energy that it takes to live in our culture today, how much we sacrifice to survive, and the undercurrent of the grief that is running through our culture.

Sometimes it’s too much to feel so we use a good amount of energy to push these experiences away. Lately, I’ve been recommending the book “Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey which is a beautiful and profound discussion of our need for rest and restoration.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Karen Carnabucci. Let me start with the credentials and the titles: MSS, LCSW, TEP, the founder and primary instructor of the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I have a lifelong interest in alternative health and mind-body psychotherapies and have practiced and taught experiential and embodied methods such as psychodrama in a variety of settings locally, regionally and nationally for decades.

Here’s my story:

As early as the 1940s, my mother started a small natural health business, embracing whole foods, brown bread and alternative foods like tofu and yogurt. My parents raised goats for milk, and there were a few backyard chickens, two beehives and a large organic vegetable garden.

Sadly, my mother’s interest in natural health did not protect her from a serious mental illness which painfully affected our family. I resolved to understand why people lost their way and to learn how to maintain health in mind, body and spirit.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I’m done with the achieving, pushing and hustling. Now my work is my offering to my community. It’s an expression of the parts of myself that want to serve. I focus on teaching psychodrama and Family and Systemic Constellations, which are specific methods of change and growth, to people who are searching for alternative ways to grow, change and heal — through the books that I write and the trainings that I offer.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I grew up with a mother who suffered a mental illness and a father who escaped his own pain about my mother’s suffering through overworking. So, in many ways, I grew up as a kind of a wild child — taking refuge in the magical woods next to our house, making art, keeping a journal and writing stories. And imagining and pretending.

When I was first introduced to psychodrama, the method originated by the European-born physician J.L. Moreno, I immediately grasped the healing possibilities of creativity and improvisational play. My involvement with psychodrama and experiential psychotherapies, along with group support, led me down the path of tremendous growth and change, which is why I value and teach these methods today.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
Fads help us feel like we belong. They are pushed by capitalism and insistent and clever advertising with the message of “You’ll be cool if you do this, say this, wear this, drive this.” Foundational shifts start deep within the collective unconscious of humans — and maybe other beings, I don’t know — and build in a slow and a mysterious way. There seems to be a point when the inner movement can no longer be contained and the shift visibly shows up in the outer world.

When I think of foundational shifts, I think of the 100th monkey story. In this story, a young female monkey living on a remote island spontaneously decided to wash a sweet potato in the ocean before eating it. This potato-washing practice spread throughout a group of younger monkeys and later in the next generation of monkeys.

I love this story because it demonstrates that foundational shifts are shifts of consciousness, leading to large groups beginning to see life differently and establishing new values and behaviors.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope that people will tell stories about my humor, my dedication to my values and my creativity. And that I said things that made them laugh.

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