Transmuting karma is distracting. It is also painful on an emotional and even physical level. When you’re working though a blockage it is the only thing that is on your mind. That makes every day activities quite troublesome. I've been a dattle brained idiot for weeks now. Every so often a rather forceful event occurs and I need to spend the next 20 minutes dealing with it. It is not terribly realistic to look for support and understanding in others either, they try to avoid karma and so will repress the emotional damage it has cased. They will tell you to either to “focus”, to “get your shit together”, which is far from helpful, or at best give a concerned nod and the insightful “that sucks”. Now I know why sages go off to the mountains for this sort of thing.