Hi I'm Karina McQuillan
It’s great to see you here!
We all wear hats.
Lots of them. Every single day.
The ‘professional’ hat. The ‘parent’ hat. The ‘holding it all together’ hat. The ‘I’m fine, honestly’ hat. We layer them up over the years – the roles, the labels, the versions of ourselves we present to the world – until one day we catch a glimpse in the mirror and think…
Who even am I underneath all of this?
That question – that moment of quiet recognition – is usually what brings people to me.
And it’s a question I know intimately. Because I’ve asked it myself.
My story – and why it matters for yours
Yoga found me when I was around 8 years old, long before I had the language for what it was doing for me. The different limbs of it coming into my life at different times. Breathwork finding me to help me to manage pain after a back injury. Meditation my plan to help me through my first labour, and although that didn’t go to plan, the practice stayed, quietly holding me together through some of life’s most demanding chapters.
I built a career firstly in finance and then in technology and transformation – working as a trainer and moving into business analysis for global organisations, then onto leading international teams on large-scale change programmes. I sat alongside global directors and C-suite leaders daily, understanding not just what drives organisations through change, but what drives the people inside them.
It was through being a leader in a Women’s ERG for a global organisation that coaching became a true calling. I trained formally, going on to hold the ILM Level 7 Certificate in Executive Coaching and Mentoring, and deepened my skills with a master of life coaching and master practitioner in NLP. These joined my certifications in yoga, neuroplasticity and reiki.
I had all the right hats. And I wore them well.
The year my body said enough
In 2017, I was living at full sprint. A demanding corporate role – 50+ hours a week, every week. Raising my children alone. Supporting my youngest daughter through significant mental health challenges that made home life incredibly hard.
The pressure was immense. And I didn’t know how to sit with it.
So, I ran. Literally. Most days. Sometimes 16 miles. Not for fitness – for escape. Alongside that became part of the furniture at my local gym, pushing my body and mind past the point of hearing. But my body, she whispered, then spoke, then screamed at me to stop. I ignored every single signal.
Then my back gave out. Two herniated discs. Severe pain through both legs. A year of recovery, including spinal surgery.
That year cracked me open in the best possible way.
Forced into stillness, I finally had to stop running from what I knew. And what I knew was this: I needed someone in my corner. Someone who understood that the mind keeps us stuck through patterns and beliefs that feel safe – because known is safe, even when known is breaking us. Someone who understood that the body holds everything we’ve ever lived through, and that you can’t think your way out of what you haven’t felt. I had to stand in the face of my biggest fear – that stopping and listening would be unravelling and not knowing who I was.
I needed the me-now, back then.
That’s who I became. And that’s who I show up as for every person I work with.
How I work – and why it’s different
Most approaches to change work with the conscious mind. The goals, the plans, the rational thinking. And that matters – but it’s only one layer.
I work with all three.
- The conscious mind – your goals, your thinking, your choices.
- The subconscious – the patterns, beliefs and stories running quietly underneath.
- The body – which holds everything you’ve ever experienced, and knows things your mind hasn’t caught up with yet.
Because real, lasting change doesn’t happen in one layer. It happens when all three are working together.
My background in yoga, meditation, neuroplasticity and NLP gives me a genuinely distinctive toolkit – body-based, mind-led, and always deeply human. Sessions are not formulaic. They’re led by you, held by me, and grounded in the belief that you already have everything you need inside you.
And yes – we will have fun. Because somewhere along the way, most of us have lost that. And reconnecting with joy, lightness and play is not a luxury in this work. It’s part of the destination.
Is this you?
Maybe you’re navigating change that found you – a career shift, a relationship ending, a chapter closing you didn’t choose. Or chasing change you’ve been putting off for longer than you’d like to admit.
Maybe you’re an executive who is brilliant at their job and quietly exhausted by the version of themselves they have to be to do it. Or someone who simply woke up one day and didn’t quite recognise themselves anymore.
Maybe life looks absolutely fine from the outside. And that’s exactly the problem.
Whatever brought you here – something in you is ready. Even if it’s just a small, quiet voice. Ready for something different. Ready to feel like yourself again. Ready, perhaps, to be seen.
That’s enough. That’s exactly enough to start.
If that’s you – you’re in exactly the right place.
This is where the real work begins. And I promise – it’s also where the fun comes back.
The first conversation is always a discovery call – a chance for us to meet, for you to ask anything you want to know, and for both of us to feel whether working together is the right fit.
No pressure. No pitch. Just a real conversation.
Because the most important hat you’ll ever take off is the one that’s been keeping you from yourself.