When he came to the flat Karen showed him his wardrobe and drawer. Within months he was on his way back to England. I would lie in the bath every morning and visualise this man in my bed.' I thought that he would be travelling light - I knew I wanted a Balinese - and so I only cleared one drawer. I knew that one had to go and I cleared it.

At the time I had two wardrobes of clothes. 'By this time I was doing a lot of feng shui work and I knew I had to create space for this new relationship. Height, eye colour, sexual stamina, everything. You have to be specific about these kinds of things. 'After I'd been going to Bali on holiday for four years I decided it was time to get a man to go with the lifestyle.' She grins at this. For instance, she tells this one about how she found true love. It is impossible not to laugh at some of her stories (or to be envious of a lifestyle that involves living half the year in Bali and half in London: she fell in love with the island after a chance visit and was astonished to find a culture in which space-clearing has long been a way of life). The key to Karen's success is the way she manages to promote her esoteric theories in practical ways. 'This one woman wrote to say that she was moving to a new house and that all she was taking was my book, her husband, the children, animals, plants, a bell and some candles. Karen believes that as people sort out their belongings, they also sort out their lives.

Karen kingston space clearing