Kareen was the first Yoga "TV-guru" in Canada and the Northern United States to transform the hitherto "mysterious" Hatha Yoga into an accessible house-hold experience. She was also the first to write an easy-to-read-and-follow westernized Yoga-book for "Everyman", that was destined to become a huge best-seller in 16 languages, due to its practical simplicity.
    Far from being just exercises, the over 100 Yoga-asanas (poses) Kareen taught on TV - all of them highly beneficial for different reasons - had one important element in common. They were not at all about achievement, but rather about an awareness of, and an "unfolding" into, the poses through the means of the breath.
    The practice of Hatha Yoga goes back five thousand years. It was put into written form by a sage called Patanjali three-thousand years ago, in a book called The Upanishads. Far from being a belief-system, Yoga can best be described as a science, art and philosophy that enhances the religious experience of any denomination.
    Because Yoga is concerned with unifying (yoking together) all three aspects of our selves - body, mind and spirit - it helps us to maximize our potential as human beings. Patanjali wrote about the great importance of adhering to the "Eight Limbs of Yoga" -- universal commandments that are not much different from the Ten Commandments written down by Moses.
    The limbs are divided into two distinct parts:                                                                    i) ethical "disciplines, or observances": non-violence, truth, integrity, non-stealing, self-restraint, moderation, non-coveting, and:                                                                      ii) ideal "rules of conduct": purity, contentment, ardour, devotion, austerity, lack of excess, and the study of self. Kareen believes firmly that, only as long as these basic tenets are adhered to, are other forms of Yoga acceptable -- and AS LONG AS they suit you and your personality so well that you practice them REGULARLY.
    Although she herself does not teach the more recent "Iyengar" method, his excellent older book called "Light on Yoga" was always her "yoga bible" as a reference book for her TV show.
     When Kareen first started teaching Yoga at night-school in 1968, they could never get more than 7-8 people to join classes that required at least 10. So, she wrote an article in the local paper to tell people all about the wonderful, life-altering things Yoga had done for her, and an unprecedented 78 people came and paid on registration-night -- in the small town of Agassiz that had maybe 3000 people, including environs. She divided them into three classes and taught them in the local Elementary School gym.
     But soon, she and the Hatha Yoga Teacher Association (HYTA) were asked to come and defend themselves at Vancouver City Hall against the charge, brought by a pastor, of witchcraft. Later, when Kareen went on television, she was strongly advised against saying anything about meditation, much less to use any of its techniques. It was the time of Alan Watts, and a rumour had been going around that he had done mass-meditations on TV that put some mentally labile people into altered states out of which they never returned.
    As a form of compromise, Kareen decided to "westernize" the Yoga-poses for bodies that had not squatted for most functions of their childhood and adult lives (and therefore did not have calves skinny enough to be able immediately to whip into the Lotus position). It was this and other such common-sense adaptations that made Yoga so accessible to everyone in Canada.
    By bringing Yoga down to an easy-to-follow common denominator, Kareen's practical kind of teaching was instrumental in making Yoga appeal to "Everyman". Her Yoga show was seen 5 days/week for 16 years in Canada and the Northern United States, and for nearly 3 years in Germany.
    Kareen considerably enhanced its content through over 1100 interviews with health-care professionals, MD's and specialists, nutritionists, sports-experts, spiritual advisers (of various faiths and churches), vegetarian cooks, and exceptional people such as the 99-year-old lady who could still stand on her head.
    Eventually, Kareen was to tape more half-hour shows than M.A.S.H. (over 1100), and to receive over 227,000 positive viewer-letters - most of which she answered herself. To this day, viewers and their now grown-up "children" still recognize her face, voice, or smile in the street; they are always keen to relate to Kareen just how much Yoga and her soothing and smiley presence had meant to them during difficult periods of their lives.
    Kareen's show spread the word that a combination of easy Yoga-exercising and good nutrition, coupled with the all-important proper Yoga-breathing and easy Yoga-meditation, was excellent therapy for all sorts of ailments and body-concerns. And as an enthusiastic proponent of organic and "natural" foods and supplements, Kareen opened up the holistic world of health for many a mother - young, old or poor -- by telling them about such fascinating facts as turkey having twice the biologically-active protein of beef and chicken and therefore being better and cheaper for the family (since only half the amount needs to be consumed) than the other two', and other practical health-tips.