Karen attended the Virginia School of Massage (VSM), graduating in December 2003. The VSM curriculum concentrates on Swedish, Deep Tissue, and Myofascial techniques. She is Reiki II attuned and has taken CranioSacral Therapy (CST), Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Heart Centered Transformation, Visceral Manipulation, Integrative Reflexology, Touch for Health, and courses for geriatric and cancer patients, as well as dealing with brain trauma. Light Touch Therapeutic Massage incorporates any and all of these skill sets depending upon the particular needs of the client.

Karen is particularly interested in Manual Lymphatic Drainage, having taken a total of seven classes from both the Upledger Institute's Lymph Drainage Therapy (LDT) and the Dr. Vodder School of Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD). She began the LDT certification process in September 2005. Karen has worked on clients pre- and post-surgery to help reduce the surgical swelling and to improve the immune system to better fight infection as well as many other applications. She particularly appreciates working with cancer patients who have had lymph nodes removed in order to reduce their potential of developing lymphedema. Karen is certified to both bandage and perform lymph drainage on lymphedema patients through the LDT program.

Since April 2008, Karen now almost exclusively concentrates on her own massage practice. Karen has held other massage positions. She is a Virginia School of Massage bodywork instructor for lymphatic drainage techniques. Previously, she has assisted in Swedish, Deep Tissue, and Myofascial bodywork classes, and taught Swedish and Deep Tissue classes. Karen worked for about 3 years as a contract massage therapist for Martha Jefferson Hospital, performing primarily chair massage on outpatients as well as staff. She also worked at the Boar’s Head Spa for about 2 years. Although not a paid position, Karen still is a teaching assistant and was a study group leader for the Upledger Institute's Lymph Drainage Therapy program.

Karen is also interested in working with dogs and horses. She has taken several animal communication classes. She has successfully used Reiki for epileptic seizures (both during seizures and to fend off upcoming seizures) and LDT for glaucoma (to reduce the swelling and soften the tissue of the eye) among other ailments on dogs. Having four Golden Retrievers of her own, she gets plenty of practice using LDT for promoting wellness, working on each dog daily.