You Are the Healer

At first glance, Mark “Anup” Karlsson doesn’t look like a go-to guy for spiritual guidance. In his long-sleeve shirt and slacks, he seems more like a businessman out to cut a deal.

But chat with Karlsson and you quickly understand why he gets regular invites from around the world as a seminar leader, spiritual therapist and professional healer. It’s an unusual career – asked what he prefers to call himself, he puts it simply: “personal development trainer” or “life coach”.

The native of Northeast England specialises in diagnosing emotional ills, like a doctor would with a physically ill patient. The difference with Karlsson is that the healing process comes from your own efforts, guided and inspired by him.

 “Things they don’t teach you in school include how to make money, how to love and how to relate to one another,” he says, adding that many of his clients have lost track of who they are following a traumatic experience in their lives.

Though he works in similar way to a psychiatrist – giving advice to clients on how to go about their lives – his coaching digs deeper into spiritual matters.

 That life is stressful is inevitable, says Karlsson, so we need to learn to be honest with ourselves about feelings. “When you suppress you feelings over a long period, such as with pressure from your parents from childhood, it gets you inside and affects you emotionally,” he says.

 While his therapy doesn’t involve any specific religion – though he admits to being “a believer” – he guides his client to connect to whatever he or she deeply believes in. Karlsson doesn’t deny the role of science, but reckons it complements his holistic worldview. “In modern science, I’m affecting the environment I live in, and vice versa,” he says.

 He bases himself in Thailand and offers his services at the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai, but he regularly travels to Dubai and further afield in Asia to give consultations. And clients from as far away as Mexico reach him through the Net.

 With a down-to-earth personality, Karlsson comes across as “one of us”, someone easy to connect with who’s been through all sorts of problems in life too. That impression is confirmed when he reveals that he was once addicted to drugs, but found a new path at a seminar on empowerment.

He graduated and worked as an engineer before his adventurous spirit led him on a journey across the world and through several professions. A sales job in Hong Kong taught him skills in public speaking.

 He also encountered heartbreak that eventually led him to an ashram in Puna, India, and the guru who was to become his spiritual guide. His life has been one of ups and downs and many surprises, but Karlsson attributes his trials to the deeper calling he eventually heeded – of being a healer.

Another instrument in his therapeutic stockpile is tarot cards, which he has been reading for 25 years. He stresses that the cards are not his main tool but rather an aid to see deeper into his clients’ lives and understand them better.

A typical session begins with a tarot reading – not to be confused with fortune-telling, Karlsson says. The reading helps him zero in on the client’s most significant problem and offer advice. Later in the session he may emotionally “ground” the person using Reike.

But there’s nothing rigid about Karlsson’s approach; he prefers to tailor the session to each individual, using knowledge gathered from the ashram in Puna, Reike and meditation to name just a few. He’s given it a name – the MerlinTrinity Healing System – and a website at www.MerlinTrinity.com.

Those who can’t make it to one of his seminars can benefit from consultations with Karlsson via Skype. But he insists that clients first undertake a six-day period of meditation. He is currently serving more than 30 overseas’ clients via the Net.

He stresses that those who typically seek his help don’t have big problems but just need a little guidance to know themselves better. The more dangerous cases, he says, are those unaware that they have problems – a condition he dubs “immature consciousness”. “Normally, women mature emotionally sooner than men, at around the age of 35. But there are also cases in which leaders in society suffer ‘immature consciousness’ and these are very dangerous.”

Asked what he sees as the final goal of healing, he says firmly, “when a person doesn’t need me anymore”.

FEELING STRESSED?
Karlsson is hosting a series of health and well-being retreats at Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai.
>> Awakening Retreat: May 17-22 (Bt113,999 per person)
>> Gathering Retreat: June 7-11 and September 20-24 (Bt129,999)
>> Deep Surrender Retreat: July 26-31 and November1-6 (Bt113,999).
Prices include four/five nights accommodation inclusive of buffet breakfast, set lunch and set dinner, and daily retreat sessions.