Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Maria-Katharina Richters is a Certified & ICF ACC Accredited Artists Transformational Coach, Art Therapist, Artist and a soon-to-be Mindvalley certified Business Coach. Despite her naturally creative spirit, Maria lost the connection to her art as a teen, burying her anxieties and insecurities with years of addictions and difficulty knowing herself. After years of this cycle in 2009, she required the tools that would help her remember her power and win a renewed and deepened spiritual connection within herself changing her life around and in 2017 founding Art of you Coaching & Art Therapy, the Awakened Artist Academy, the Born to Create Podcast and in 2023 launching her Signature Program ‘Master Your Ego - Master Your Life’ helping professional artists amplify their artist power, acquire true w(h)ealth & elevate business success to the next level.
Can you tell us about your background and experience in the art world?
The first thing I can remember that I truly enjoyed was painting. When I was a child, I would rather paint in solitude in a corner, than play with the other kids. I was introverted and I loved it. Painting was my go-to. My family is artistic, my mom is musically gifted and my dad is as well, my stepdad, who I grew up with from age 6 was an artist for a living, he painted and made sculptures, many of which he was contracted to create for a park in Valencia and for public places in the place we lived in, in Spain. My grandmother painted and was very good at it. She was inspired by nature, especially the sea and sky from where her holiday home was situated, on a small island in Germany. My strongest subjects at school were art and language, so art felt like my natural language and form of expression. Art can be so much, and for me, my art was painting and music, but music came later in life, the more I admitted to myself that it is a big part of who I am. My mum encouraged my creative development wherever she could.
My father is very much incorporated in the Art World in Hamburg and very connected to artists, gallerists and collectors. When I moved back to Germany for my grandmother and for a fresh start, after spending years trying to find success with my studies I chose fashion, he involved me to meet the gallerists, art collectors, and artists of the Hamburg Art Scene. My own experience with the art world with my art only started in 2017, my work has been based around commission work, so I would create pieces of art for people who wanted a portrait of themselves or their pet. Right now I am working on a project of painting spiritual portraits of people who I coach for a session on their pivotal moments in life and revealing their purpose, which is interesting and very intriguing for me to combine my art with art therapy and coaching together. It has been a journey for me to accept and acknowledge myself as an artist and I feel the fact that I started painting so early and being an artist was part of my DNA from the beginning of my life, I only came back to it ‘very late’ considering.
My experience of the Art World is through the lens of a coach, having coached artists in the art world and as an artist learning about the art world myself, taking my own art more seriously over the years, rather than through the lens of a Mentor, working with clients on sharing how to do things from their experience. I have an awareness of the art world and am in it, surrounded by artists everywhere, interviewing artists on my podcast and working with artists on their next level in their relationship to their art and that includes business as well as personal life. I am part of art groups and art classes and for a year and a half I ran art classes where I taught art, so I have gained a lot of experience in teaching art, but in a way that feels unique to the painter, so they learn how to bring out the painter within them. Working with artists over the years in my coaching I have come across a lot of similarities across the board that have given me insight into the art world at a deeper level.
I am a coach, so my work relies on helping the client navigate the realm of their internal world and move towards their desired outcome in the most true to them way. I am a spiritual mentor and so I consult the problem through the spiritual lens and coach the person. Artists are all different, that is why everyone will have different things they work on and the work will be different with everyone, so coaching is an important tool to be able to truly hear the person and address the issue at hand at the best possible potential, which mentoring can have its limitations in. The art world is big, define art world, there are painters, musicians, sculptors, writers, dancers, actors, producers, DJs, and the list goes on… I got into the sector of helping painters with their visual art find their way of making a viable business with their art through the power of coaching, right at the beginning when I started off as a coach because I was asking myself the question, who would I love to spend more time with, who would I love to see succeed, and who can I ‘understand’ the most? It would be artists, of all kinds. Having grown up with artists and creative minds and being one myself I understand the vast and nuanced internal world and struggles of an artist and that is why I love to help artists to move to the next level in their life, to unravel internal knots, to declutter the mind, and to be in their power, because artists have so much to give to this world and oftentimes because of that immense power there is a big internal opponent that makes it extra hard for artists to channel their genius, which is where I come in.
I work with those limiting belief systems they have created, with the patterns they struggle to shift that may not serve them, with their inner critic, with their imposter syndrome, with their inner entrepreneur, revealing more of their soul, while mastering their ego. I help them with that so they can access their next step through their intuition, instead of me telling them where to go or what to do and I have seen this to be immensely powerful and life-changing. This work naturally emerged when I started coaching in 2017, and I got inquiries through my profile on a coaching site I was on and my website tagline was ‘discover the art of your and reveal your inner masterpiece’. This attracted artists and people interested in exploring their creative side to reveal the best version of themselves and with coaching the client brings the topic they desire and here we are. The self-activation through coaching is very strong, so much so that one's purpose is becoming clear through questioning and reflections and by being a mirror as a coach to the client, so business seems to always be part of it as a natural byproduct of being in one's power.
I have since coached numerous artists on their art business and on deepening their connection to themselves as an artist, visiting places within to gain clarity and certainty about their path and who they are and their role in this world. As an art therapist my work, whether that's in coaching or supervision, revolves around art no matter what direction I look. My interest has always been to help people to see their worth and to shift the layers of doubt about their potential that they may carry. Part of this work is about releasing trauma from the body and there is no better way I have come across than art to do this for you in a safe, potent and effective way. This work compliments my coaching immensely. So my whole world has always revolved around art, even the time when I studied fashion design and set up my own fashion business, it was a way to express myself creatively and an art of its own. This experience has given me a lot of awareness about setting up your own business. After trying myself in the fashion world, I’ve realized that fine art, music and people are what truly moves me, where my soul is on fire and that is the reason I shifted my focus and left the fashion world behind. So my purpose in life and passion for art, in what it has given me, in what it gives to people is what matters to me and where I co-create the biggest shifts for people. Art is a language and it is where I feel at home, so working with artists for me feels like my mission in this world.
What is an artist's transformational coach and what does it entail?
Recently I started a certification in Business Coaching by Mindvalley to uplevel my skill to coach artists with their businesses and I came across this great quote, which really kind of catches what coaching is
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” – Sir John Whitmore
This quote really shows the power of learning about the self and one's intuition, and how that propels you into greater awareness of choice, which is different from attaining more knowledge and information. Being taught and trained on things is eye-opening and really important and powerful, but there is a depth to coaching, that ‘being taught’ often can’t give because it creates autonomy and accesses layers beyond your conscious awareness of yourself, which is unique to you and locks it in powerfully. So as a transformational coach for artists I am creating a space where this depth of transformation can take place, it is cathartic and the power truly is in the process of coaching. My additional edge to it, which allows the access of the subconscious in a more direct way is with the use of art in my coaching. Knowing the power of art and the awareness it can bring, and the shifts it can bring, always has me introduce art into the coaching conversation.
I am the go-to person for the transformations the artist desires, whether that is elevating their success of their art business to the next level or whether it is gaining clarity on their purpose as an artist, the transformations the artist's desire is unique to them and I will be working with them, co-creating the space for reaching their desired outcome for more. In my signature Program ‘Master Your Ego - Master Your Life - for professional artists, we go through additional training on their ego, as a hybrid of a Coaching Mentoring Relationship, bringing them the tools they need to uplevel themselves to be who they need to be in order to attract their desired and up-leveled outcome. Here I bring my years of spiritual work together with the power of Coaching to help professional artists reach their desired outcomes.
What is the story behind the decision to become an artist's transformational coach?
As I was sharing I tried to make the fashion business work after graduating from university and I was burnt out from overworking as I was being given opportunities which were great, such as doing Fashion shows at fashion week and taking part in Bloggers Events. People loved my work so much, they were raving about it, that included my fashion Brand Tinkilove and cap Brand Capturelove. I was putting my all into it, taking part in Competitions, and seeking opportunities where I could, In one competition I did, I won 3rd place, which was a wonderful experience, and then one of the jury contacted me personally to tell me I should have won and they wanted to mentor me, which really felt like I just had a breakthrough, because I always wanted to be mentored by someone, someone who is connected to the fashion world and who could open doors for me, and gave me a bunch of assignments.
Unfortunately, I was being fooled and taken advantage of. I couldn’t believe it because I thought since he was from the jury of this competition, he would be legit, but that was his cover. I lost a lot of money, time, and energy and the clothes I made for him and his promised opportunities I was making those clothes for, later to discover my clothes that I made for him were used for another big awards event for Hair sponsored by a big global hair product brand. I was quite low and very burnt out and this kind of was a wake-up call. This gave me the rest, after working very hard. At that time I was still very naive and gullible, I could not believe that there are people who don't mean well and are only in it for themselves and taking advantage of people who were vulnerable. I noticed there was a reason I was being redirected. I knew that this is a reflection of something inside me, that I was not listening to. Years before, I already had a voice in my head telling me that fashion is not for me. I had intuitions but I didn’t want to hear it.
My internal chatter was, ‘I have spent years at university, 2 more years than I should have because of my personal problems at the time with addictions and relationship issues and then I worked another two years on the business, which has gotten me as far as this and now my energy and pockets were drained, how can I possibly turn my back on something I put so much energy into? I now craved authentic connection so much with like-minded people who were genuinely interested in human psychology and spirituality, consciousness, who I could have real conversations with and I also craved a balanced healthy lifestyle where I didn’t have to work weeks on end through the night with my interns for a fashion show to impress people who are not even kind. I was seeking a healthy environment, where my energy would not be lost in.
This realization coincided with my stepdad passing away with dementia, which for me was the turning point of ‘getting real’ with myself. He was the one who taught me art, an ‘original’ way of living, and spirituality, and when he passed away, (and I just made it to his side before he passed), he delivered to me clear communication from the spirit realm. He was so connected to it before he passed, and when he communicated to me how my art is who I am, it made me stop fooling myself and come back to art and do what I love.
My experience of his passing was an intensely spiritual event, I could hear so clearly what he was saying, he gifted me ‘myself’ back and I cried at the realization of it as I let go easily of all that I was holding onto before, the years of work and trouble I went through to get so far. I let it go happily, finally realizing how much I was kidding myself and my soul was freed. A big lesson from this for me was to take notice of my intuitions when they come to knock and the other thing was the awareness of the quality of thoughts, when there is so much in the head of things you don’t really care about, making your headspace so busy, you don’t have time for the people you love, then it is not right for you either. Your mind, the things you think about, the content of it should align with your values and if you don’t have space in your head, I would take it as a sign to reconsider what or how you are doing it.
I had ‘fabrics’ in my head and ‘who to impress next’ and that was not what I cared about truly at my core. Fashion was not as fun to me as art, fabrics were never a passion of mine and I found it tedious to sew and the whole process of it, while others love this and thrive with that I was not aligning with so many things about fashion, which showed how there was something important I was ignoring inside, my love for art. But I was too concerned with who I thought I needed to be than with who I was. These two moments really shifted me from one life into another, like a quantum jump into another reality from one moment to another. In 2016 I went soul searching into what I wanted to do, while I had a family member shouting down the phone to me telling me what I should and shouldn't do and ‘that I would be nothing if I turned my back on fashion’, ‘nothing is as prestigious as that’, ‘art therapist is not a good job’, ‘you can never ‘make it’ with art therapy’, ‘I could only make so much money or that much of a career with that’, and shouting with a high pitched and angry voice at me, because I just realized who I truly was and what I truly wanted to do.
This person really giving me a hard time, where before I would have listened to that, made myself small or screamed back at the screaming voice, this time, I was so sure about what I wanted and so connected to who I was, that no narcissistic person could have an impact on me anymore. I am saying this from having grown up with a heavy case of narcissism in my family, which my mother and I were already speaking about this when I was a kid, this ‘term’ did not appear to us recently as part of this important wave of awareness about narcissists, because it is an invisible to others battle for the ones who are victims of it. Putting all these major life-changing redirecting moments together, 2009, when I learned the tools at the Kabbalah Centre that would help me get out of an abusive relationship, 2011, at a low point with my addictions where I remembered the tools I learned in 2009, that helped me to get out of my addictions and in 2016, where I was met the first time ‘consciously’ with my true self, and facing my ‘inner’ and outer reflected ‘demons’ to truly stand up for what I want and really know who I am, putting me on the path of truly becoming who I always was, I could say, that this is altogether the story that mattered to make me want to be an artist's transformational coach.
Admitting to yourself you are an artist and going for that path is bold, especially when you have limiting narratives put on you by the world and your family for instance, and perhaps are in a people-pleasing cycle, or an empath to a narcissist. Now, all of the challenges I went through that opened my eyes, were happening because of me, my energy. Even if my energy was in effect of what was my environment, it is still my energy and only I can shift it, nobody else can and I can't expect for life or people to change, I have to become aware of my internal world first to then change it and grow to be a ‘bigger, higher frequency’ person. A narcissist is the same low energy as a low self-esteem unconfident person, just two polar opposites, but that is why they attract each other, because both are very low in confidence, just two different ways of dealing with it. So I wanted to help the people that I could relate to, the artists, who didn’t admit to themselves they’re artists, or to people who lost the connection to themselves and who wanted to reconnect to themselves to truly start living.
Believe it or not, getting to the place of knowing who I was and what I wanted, allowed me to love myself from the inside out where I didn’t need approval anymore from the outside, or recognition, and because I was now sure of my path, the narcissistic personality in my life couldn’t throw me off anymore neither, which meant I was able to be more love and actually improve the relationship with them. However, I did a lot of therapy for that as well, art therapy to be precise, which helped me to release the memories, which are the unconscious triggers in my body from my cells and consciousness and balance my internal world. My passion for teaching about the laws of the universe and the correlation your body/soul has with it in the experience of life in a day to day, as well as the experience of self-love coming through your creativity and the healing effects of art, has put me on a clear mission to work with people in this field and help them to be themselves and stand confidently in their lives while excelling with their art and uniqueness in the world. I truly know that the world needs fulfilled people, people who know themselves and are connected to themselves and are radiating love.
What led you to recognize the connection and understanding of how art can impact mental well-being?
When I overcame my addictions, I did everything to fulfill myself from the inside out, engaging with new things and hobbies that would put me into a frequency of joy, because like attracts like, the same energy attracts the same energy. I would exercise, do yoga and I would draw and paint. Creativity is not just drawing and painting, it is also the energy that you create when exercising or doing yoga, the energy of creation is everywhere. When you channel your creative energy into deciding proactively to do things that are good for you, that is the energy of creativity having a healing effect. But that was not all, in 2016 after my stepdad passed away and I realized I had to do art and everything that brings me joy I engaged with all my curiosities I had a whole lifetime, which I always put on the backburner because of my focus that I had to ‘work hard first and finally live and do the things I love once I reach my goal with fashion’, which just delayed life and never got me there. So I learned how to DJ, did an acting course at Pinewood Studios, did an art course to get back into art, and to create a portfolio to potentially apply to art school. Engaging with curiosities and learning new ways to be creative and channel creativity was so invigorating, it changed the quality of my life instantaneously. It gave me fulfillment and life.
In 2017 when I started my art therapy course to become an art therapist, that is when I truly got to know the healing of art firsthand. The method I learned, LOM & PM, translating to Solution oriented and Person-oriented Art therapy originates from Switzerland, by Bettina Egger and Jörg Merz. I was taught by the student of the original creator of this method in Hamburg by Art Therapist Britta Kuhlmann who teaches this method as one of the few ones in Germany. Bettina Egger, developed this method as a Gestalt psychotherapist, after doing a course at Arno Sterns Training “Formulation’ at Der Malort. Arno Stern is the founder and attentive observer of the ‘formulation’, which he calls the natural occurrence within every child and adult’s evolution of their DNA through the process of painting. He discovered shapes that occur in every child, non-dependent of their culture or upbringing, from the inside out. Those shapes have different shapes at different stages of development, starting with the ‘scribbles’ to then creating a ‘spiral’ to the ‘dots’ or the ‘house with the chimney’ and so on.
It is a vital part of the human being's DNA development which happens through the expression of one's creativity, letting the hand move colors on paper. The eyes play an important role, there is no surprise they are called the windows to the soul. When the child is left to draw without judgment and as a form of play in a room that is protected from outside influences and there is no communication about the art, the art can run freely and this is healing to the child, which he says is all you need in order to be a healthy human being in this world. Arno Stern explains that the Formulation likens the process of development of a plant when its potential for being a plant is actualized on its own by the right conditions.
Bettina Egger took the inspiration of this method and took it further, into a therapy form, where you would speak about the painting, while it is being created as those moments are powerful to pick up on and would lead to discover the effects certain images have on the mind. She figured out ways how to influence healing of trauma in a particular way that allows the client to be in conversation with the painting and therefore themselves, taking notice on the impact an image has on one's internal feeling state and using that to process trauma, help the self actualization process, release anxiety and depressive states from the body and support the grieving process. She did what Arno Stern does not believe in, however both have a deep purpose with the technique they both truly believe in and both tools are very powerful. I didn’t know what I was getting into with this art therapy method before I started, I just wanted to learn how to work with people through the medium of art but the power of it was something I could have never imagined possible before trying it myself.
I went onto this deep healing journey with art therapy, processed old trauma, released myself from anxiety, panic on flights and fears of public speaking, healing relationships and I continue to go every time I have something going on that I know I could process much better with art than without. I want to explain what it does, because it is very abstract. I imagine, if I didn’t ever do art therapy and changed the effects my internal subconscious images had on me and my decision-making and the way I felt, the amount of subconscious ‘baggage’ accumulated over time , never processed, I would still carry with me now, and pass onto my children. This, despite of me focusing on walking through fears and releasing myself from a lot, because the subconscious is a heavy load, that if not taken care of can make you feel about to explode, implode or in other words cause a lot of anxiety or subconsciously hold you back from experiencing certain things in life.
I definitely had the mindset to walk through fears when they show up, through the experience I had in 2011 where I had a choice, continue the same path of fear and escapism through drugs and alcohol or start walking through my fears and chose the path of courage, even though it is hard, and it got me very far, but I still experienced anxiety, which art therapy took care of. I think that people have to know that you don’t have to live a lifetime with anxiety or have haunting memories be present and as active as if they just happened and a lot of times our subconscious hides things away very well for us that we probably wouldn’t ever know that it is having such a huge impact on one’s life, but art reveals this for you safely, like no other tool I have ever known, because art is in everyone, and everyone is innately creative, just like Arno Sterns Discoveries with ‘formulation’. Every child has this need for this important tool which is drawing or painting, and this doesn’t actually ever go away, which is why writing is so therapeutic, because it is pen on paper, it is creativity. So if you have children let them do this as much and as long as they can and want to, because it has insane health benefits. An adult has the same needs, so if you can get yourself to an art therapy class or a creative class, do something creatively because the health benefits this has on you will impact your entire life, it is not just a hobby it is not a luxury it is the seed level of all creation and the most necessary thing for human beings in this world.
Who do you work with and what process do you have in place to create the results your customers want?
I help professional artists reveal their true artist power, amplify the impact they make with their art in the world and create true W(H)ealth by Mastering their Ego, with the “MASTERING METHOD”, elevating their business success to the next level. My signature Program launching this Summer ‘Master Your Ego - Master Your Life’ is a combination of 1. Training on the Ego, to become the master of it rather than the slave of it, which most of us are when we don’t intentionally want to become the Master of it, and 2. Personal 1on1 Artist Power Sessions to dive deep, transmute old triggering patterns and move towards the vision the artists have, for which we create doable action steps. There is an Art Business Consultation aspect but the client chooses through their intuition, because they know exactly what is right for them and their intuition tells them, so I help them to crystallize their own inner guidance.
My primary work at Art of You, my Coaching and Art Therapy Practice, offering Coaching Services, Art Therapy Services, as well as Coaching Supervision for Coaches is always based in ‘Transformational Art Coaching’ for artists and seekers of creativity, where I combine the power of art as explained above with art therapy tools and coaching, a powerful tool of communication to help my clients to access their true self deep inside, uncovering their values, deepest desires and their subconscious triggers still active holding them back, so we can transform them and transmute them safely and powerfully and clear their path most powerfully and efficiently. My work is always heart-centered and soul oriented, so straight to the point. I am interested in the root cause. I don’t want to quieten symptoms and put a plaster on it, I want to work on getting to the seed level of things to truly create long lasting change.
Your work is rooted in spirituality, what does spirituality mean to you?
Spirituality to me means to believe in the energy of the world before the physical. It is to connect to something beyond the 6 senses. It is about being aware of one's energy, with the concept of ‘like attracts like’ energy. I am not religious, I don’t belong to a particular religion, I love everyone and I think all religions are talking about the same thing in different ways, however I am not religious because I can see ‘separation’ in a lot of the communications, so it is not for me but I respect everyone's beliefs. Spirituality is rooted in unity and in thinking of oneself as a soul that wants to share and grow in this experience of the world and that is ‘unconditional love’ and it takes responsibility and doesn’t blame anyone outside of oneself. Spirituality is seeing one's ego and being aware of it to make better choices that are for the better of everyone and not just for the self alone. I enjoy practicing spirituality through teachings from Kabbalah, but I also receive teachings from Buddhism, these two teachings I most resonate with. I have certainty in the light in everything, I believe in reincarnation and in karma, but karma not in the sense that people like to see it. Karma is not this force of revenge or punishment, it is just the energy you put out that you attract because you are that energy.
I think our souls are here on this earth to help each other to transform and rise out of the ego into ‘being love’, by becoming unconditional love oneself. How we do this is by transforming ourselves first instead of blaming outside sources and being in one's ego, not changing. Spirituality is being honest with oneself and becoming a master of one's ego, because if you are not a master of your ego you are a slave to it by default and you will have to be the energy and the behavior of people you want to see in the world first. Great example is when we don’t feel respected in a relationship, but because of that we don’t respect them, we have to be respectful first and respect ourselves first, before that can be reflected to us. The same applies with everything. No matter what has happened in this life, if we don’t get this, we won’t ever be creating the desired outcome, because we push away responsibility. We have to love ourselves first, talk lovingly to ourselves, accept ourselves, be patient with ourselves, be honest with ourselves first, before we can expect someone else to be like this to us. We have it the wrong way round, we don’t look at our internal world but focus too much outside to find others at fault.
Becoming aware and always questioning oneself is important to truly step out of our ego self.
Spirituality is taking responsibility for one's own life and its content, and to steer it with the tools we have into love and healing. When we give away responsibility, and say ‘It doesn’t concern me’, ‘ it is their fault, I have nothing to do with it’ , or ‘ I have no part to play in this’, we are disempowering ourselves and giving away responsibility. Spirituality for me used to be the idea of loving everyone without loving myself first, because I just lacked deeper understanding. I thought it was about being selfless and not having boundaries, or without knowing who you really are. I let everyone in, and I didn’t love myself. I even said once or more often verbally ‘I hate myself but I love others’ and thinking that this was a selfless spiritual way to be. I was still full of pain and self hate, as you can see. I thought spirituality was ‘going where life takes me’ ‘I’m riding the wave of life’, I thought I was super laid back, but I had no backbone, I was not grounded in myself, I had not acknowledged my power or known there is a power within me, but what I realized is that I was not aware of the power of my mind, I thought I was a victim or the effect of life and my thoughts just happened to me, I believed them all, I didn’t realize how I was steering my life the whole time without knowing it, steering it through my negative unconscious thinking, my thinking rooted in insecurities and in powerlessness.
What I just described is the problem humans have, they think they are powerless, they think life happens to them and that spirituality is being selfless. It is not. It causes resentment, it brings challenges that are very uncomfortable and the worst part is, that you have the key all along to change things. Spirituality takes responsibility, it is not meditating on a mountain far away from people, nothing against that, because I love that, but spirituality is truly tested and strengthened in relationships. It is all easy to be spiritual when you are alone, but when you are challenged with being faced with people, that is when spirituality is really needed, being able to choose through the soul instead of reacting through the ego, communicating truthfully and kindly and being able to see the part oneself has to play in this ‘challenge’ if there is one, and being open to being wrong and to allow yourself to not respond straight away, I mean there are so many triggers when it comes to people, that is where spirituality is truly needed.
You talk about creating true W(h)ealth for your clients, what does that mean and why is that important?
I don’t look at success in business without looking at the health of the person, because I don’t agree that true wealth is only materialistic or one sided. It is not true wealth if you don’t have health, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or physically. I am again, not going for perfection, but I am looking at the whole picture and not just focusing on business success, without looking at the impact on one's health. Health is wealth, so for me mental health is at top priority, that is why I talk about wealth with an ‘h’ in it because I am not interested in pushing for performance without truly understanding the driver in this, without looking at how it affects the person mentally and spiritually and not spending time processing what comes up. Is the drive rooted in a seed of love or fear, does it come from a fulfilled cup or from an empty ‘needy’ cup? I am not a believer in pushing things away, having toxic positivity or suppressing emotions. Even if it takes a little longer to achieve a certain outcome, then that is fine, because you can’t delay spiritual transformation. When your body and subconscious brings forth and releases some stuck emotions that are now triggered from within through the personal development that you are currently doing, then that has to be taken care of, so that you can release it for good and transmute it, therefore clear your energetic field and step into your new reality.
Health and wealth go hand in hand, what it may mean to people may be different and diverse, so getting to a true understanding of what wealth means to you is important, but what I come across what it truly means to people is time with their family and being present in those moments with them, because again, pain in the world is not created and also not resolved without relationships. It always comes down to relationships, that is why I take a holistic approach at generating wealth, or in my case w(health).
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
My greatest career achievement can only be measured by the success I create with my clients. The results are so varied, from a client finally getting pregnant after years of wishing, to clients finally creating a business with their artwork as a painter and converting a pessimistic look at the world into seeing the opportunities and being grateful for what they have, feeling in their power, to helping people out of depression into creating again, to accompanying grieving individuals, to helping clients with strained family relationships heal their relationships, to new visual artists gaining clarity on their art business and mission, to clients coming to me for burnout in their therapy practice and creating a new business while wanting to create a relationship in their life and finding that relationship, to people healing their past and feeling they can create again, the results are endless and all of these results and many more I haven’t mentioned are my career achievement, because that is what this is about, the work I do, to help people live a more fulfilled and fulfilling life, feeling free inside their bodies. Creating one's business and finding one's purpose never happens without the healing of the personal stuff, the relationships, one's health, and whenever we free up these challenges, past hurt and open new doors inside, it frees up space and an upleveling to create or enhance and uplevel one’s business success.
So, what’s the next big goal or project and how can someone get in contact with you?
As mentioned before I am launching a premium Program this Summer, ‘Master Your Ego - Master Your Life - the Professional Artists W(h)ealth Elevation’ and like it says it in the Title, it is a program designed to upgrade one's business success through the mastering of one's ego. So there will be training on the Ego in a Dashboard, and questions for you to answer and reflect on around your ego, to help you become the person you need to become to attract the next level of wealth in your business. When we are not aware of our ego, that is when problems occur and when we stall. Being aware of one's ego helps you to master your life, your relationships, so it is all incorporated in this program and accompanied by 1 on 1 Artist Power Coaching Sessions & Art Healing Sessions. The result of this is better health mentally and physically and the unlocking of next level art/creative business success and abundance financially, energetically, being the true creator of your life.
If you are interested in working with me, don’t hesitate to book an Awakened Artist Consultation Call, a complimentary consultation session to gain clarity on your challenges and your desired outcome and create a strategy for you and see if we are a good fit to work together. You can book this session here:https://calendly.com/artofyou/awakenedartistconsultation If you are interested in joining the MASTER YOUR EGO- MASTER YOUR LIFE Program for Professional Artists W(h)ealth Elevation, I can put you on the waiting list before launching in summer. There will be early bird prices.
In order to be put on the waiting list please email me on maria@art-of-you.com with sharing your desire to be put on the waitlist and share a bit about who you are and what you do and what you want to work on by mastering your ego for elevating business success and w(h)ealth in your life. If you have any other questions please email me on maria@art-of-you.com or send me an inquiry here through my website https://maria-katharina-richters.com/contact-me/,
Apart from your artwork and business, can you share a bit about your personal interests, hobbies, and any pets or family that you have? How do these aspects of your life influence or inspire your art?
Sure, I am an artist myself, I create for my enjoyment and wellbeing first, but also sold some work, especially commissioned work and I love music, so in 2017 I learned to DJ, and this year I am learning how to produce music, because I love electronic music and want to find more ways to channel this love for it and who knows maybe one day you can hear my music on the radio. I have three dogs, Dave, Lea and Apollo and live with my fiance, my twin flame, we were best friends before we got together and are now running on 10 years this year. Our relationship started in a ‘hopeless place’ like the song from Rhianna, but because of that soul love, I felt at home with him, like I knew him many lifetimes, like he was the same soul, but a different body, which is why I say twin flame, because this got me to research twin flames through continuing on pulling cards on this matter in 2010, which at the time the topic of twin flames was anything but widespread, I could only find one source online that helped me to understand the concept and it was true, the only way we found towards each other was by loving ourselves and focusing on ourselves, then magnetically we would move closer. The relationship has been anything but ‘easy’ . We faced a lot of challenges, but each time we come together to work on ourselves and on being more loved and grow as individuals and in love for each other.
This inspires my work all the time. The challenges and the overcomings because of being faced with this kind of love, has helped me to become more loved, my soul has grown bigger and I have a lot more to share and give to the world. Love is commitment, because when the s*'*t hits the fan, it is easy to look away, walk away, or jump out or into another relationship, but it is harder to take a look at oneself and heal the uncomfortable that has been brought to the surface by being in reflection to our partner, so my relationships inspire my work all the time. I have painted my dogs and fiance quite a few times and there are yet more paintings to follow I am sure. My mum is a wonderful pianist, she plays intuitively and sometimes comes out with such amazing melodies straight from the heart, since a child this always moved me, there is so much emotion and truth in what she creates, she inspires me to make music and to learn how to create electronic music and I want to collaborate with her. She already played melodies on a track I did as ‘therapeutic art time’ in 2011 when I took myself out of Londono for ‘rehab’ for a while. I used music as a way of therapy, healing and processing what happened.
My personal interests other than art and music have always been love and learning about consciousness, spirituality, human psychology, quantum physics and everything to do with loving more and helping the world live through their hearts. Maybe this may sound boring, but those things are my absolute passions. Oh, and I forgot food, restaurants and traveling which of course is a major love and hobby, as well as doing yoga since I am 21 and HIIT and going to our favorite Spinning Classes at Rocycle in Hamburg. Exercise invigorates me.
