Exploring Energy Work: Reiki 1 Class and More with Heather Larson

In this episode, I'm sharing insights from the recent Urban Wellness fair in Phoenix, shedding light on my expertise in Reiki, yoga, meditation, coaching, sobriety, and recovery.

I'm also discussing the upcoming Reiki 1 classes in Phoenix and the essential components of the practice.

Join me as I explore the basics of energy work, the transformative power of Reiki, and delve into the sacred teachings of this practice as we navigate the world of Destiny Architecture®.

Reiki 1 Class More

0:00

/1773.631995

1×

Time Stamps:

05:52 Coaching for practical, logical mindset and habits.

09:07 Reiki symbols are sacred and optional to learn.

10:06 2012 memories, journey into Reiki and meditation.

14:02 Overcoming addiction led to coaching and teaching.

19:41 Understanding Reiki before the first class.

20:32 Reiki helps people decipher their energy clues.

26:20 Reiki energizes but may make you tired.

28:36 Join my class Sunday, contact destinyarchitecture [at] gmail [dot] com.

Transcript:

Heather Larson [00:00:00]:
Hey. It's Heather Larson, Destiny Architecture, and it's been a while since I've done a podcast. And I think the last 2 podcasts I released actually were things that I'd recorded in 2023 and procrastinated on. And not that I wasn't busy in life, but, you know, got news back to Phoenix. And and there have been a lot of changes, and I realized that I probably should reintroduce myself and that this makes sense. Hi. Heather Larson. I have this, business called Destiny Architecture, and it's it's funny because, I joined Urban Wellness in downtown Phoenix to have a place to practice what I do here in Phoenix.

Heather Larson [00:00:44]:
You know, like, if if you met me in Wichita, you probably met me at the alternative and holistic fair back when I was in Park City. Then I landed at White Dove, Wichita and stayed there for the next decade, doing Reiki until I completed my yoga teacher training. And then I taught yoga at White Dove, because Dale is awesome. Shout out to Dale. And then, I taught about 10 yoga classes. Exactly ten, I think. And moved back home to hometown, Phoenix, Arizona. So here I am starting over.

Heather Larson [00:01:22]:
It's just we've always called Phoenix the startover city, and I get to kind of start over and rebuild clientele for Destiny Architecture. So the funny part is we had, a little over a week ago, we had our spring fest at Urban Wellness, so it shows this nice, outdoor fair with a lot of practitioners like myself. Thank you for coming by if you came by, and I got a Reiki session for me. I worked on about 9 people that day, so that was pretty awesome. A nice welcome to Phoenix. So I'm at Urban Wellness at Springfest. You know, I I bust out my signage, you know, that the business is called Destiny Architecture. People are like, architecture? What are you doing here? You know, because it's a wellness fest.

Heather Larson [00:02:08]:
You know, we've got people doing Reiki. We've got coaches. We've got a good clean, you know, wellness oriented food. We've got, people selling, you know, incense and things for altars, crystal stones, ghee. Forget the name of the guy that was selling the ghee, but there was a guy selling ghee, people selling crafts, people selling sea moss beverages, upcycled clothes, recycled clothes, upcycled clothes. I I don't know the terminology. I'm not a clothes person. So we have this cool fair with cool vendors.

Heather Larson [00:02:43]:
I've I've got music playing from Wave Lake. Shout out to Wave Lake. Shout out to Sam and Michael at Wave Lake. And, you know, I'm I'm playing my yoga music playlist, you know, because playlist just launched. And and I'm sharing a booth with with my new buddy, David, and and his girlfriend, Courtney, was there because she knew everybody at at Urban Wellness. From years ago, back when it was just Urban Yoga, and that's also where I I didn't really know people, from back then, but I did go to Urban Yoga way back, when it was on was it 7th? No. It was it was off central because it was by the light rail tracks. It's in the central in Catalina, which is like a whole another long story.

Heather Larson [00:03:24]:
So we're we're doing this Springfest, and and the idea of somebody with architecture. Springfest just didn't didn't make sense to people that are like, what is just the architecture? I'm like, well, let me tell you. You are the architect of your own destiny, and it's the the business name that I had in my head since 2007. Didn't even have the business idea. I just knew that that's what it was gonna be called because I just know things. Right? And so such a every story I have is so long, so thanks for listening. So I'm telling people, look, you are the architect of your own destiny. I just help you get there.

Heather Larson [00:03:58]:
I help you with the plan. I help you with the tools. And the tools are Reiki, because I'm a Reiki master, double Reiki master, eastern and western master. And and then I'm also a meditation teacher, obviously, a yoga teacher, which I I think the 2 should probably go together. I often don't think that that should be 2 separate forms of teacher. Like, if you can teach yoga, you can teach teach meditation, not medication. Meditation is the meditation. And I'm also a certified transformational life coach, which is something that I came to after years of sober coaching addicts who wanted to get sober.

Heather Larson [00:04:36]:
So that's the the roundabout thing that I do and how I put it together. It is is kind of, like, complicated and convoluted. So hence, I wanna make some more content to explain when it is that I do, what it is that I teach, because three parts of what I do is teaching. So the teaching components are Reiki, meditation, and yoga. So I'm I'm I'm qualified to teach you those three things. And so the other component of what I do as a mind body wellness practitioner is coaching, and my coaching can take on many forms. I don't really sober coach anymore. So what I do now is I can coach you spiritually.

Heather Larson [00:05:16]:
As in you have spiritual gifts, Maybe you're new to this world. You don't know what's going on or how to use it or how to direct the energy. Okay? Because I'm I'm an energy worker with all of this. I work with energy. Even as a coach, I'm gonna work with energy. And then the the other form of coaching I do is gonna be less I don't know what word to use. Less airy fairy, less we will like more practical, which is more in line with the sober coaching that I used to do, where I'm gonna coach you around habits. I'm gonna coach you around mindset.

Heather Larson [00:05:52]:
I'm gonna coach you on getting out of your own way. Many other might be a very tiny element of energy work with it, but not really. So if you're not into the energy work and you just wanna get your life together and have somebody help you learn how to hold yourself accountable, help you learn how to change habits in a very logical down to earth way. That's not gonna talk too much about, you know, the airy fairy stuff. You know, I do that. I've always done that. I I came to life coaching from sober coaching, which obviously has to be very practical. And it's not therapy, but it can be very in line with kind of the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy, which is changing your mindset.

Heather Larson [00:06:40]:
So, you know, I think in both ways, I'm getting you in touch with your guests. That's my personal opinion. You know, your mileage may vary, but I think as a coach, I'm either coaching you spiritually or I'm coaching you logically. In either way, you're getting in touch with the gifts you have to share with the world. Okay. So now that I have my spiel out of the way, let's talk about what I really wanna talk about today, which is Reiki 1, because Reiki 1 is gonna be Sunday. And it's the way I'm gonna do it is gonna be different than I used to do it in Wichita. So I used to attempt to do it in a day.

Heather Larson [00:07:21]:
I I don't wanna keep doing that because that can be kind of, I wouldn't say exhausting because one of the fun things about Reiki is that it doesn't deplete the person channeling the Reiki. So if you're a Reiki practitioner, it doesn't wear you out. However, I think the time spent and, you know, practicing and and holding space can be a little exhausting, really, depending on how many students you have and and and what energy the the class brings to the space. I think that matters as well. So the way I'm gonna do it here in Phoenix, I'm going to do 2 hours once a week, help you learn Reiki. I'm also gonna I'm adding a different thing this time. I'm adding an online class that's free. You can get it at destinyarchitecture.com.

Heather Larson [00:08:14]:
That's where I have the courses. So I have 2 courses there. 1 is the meditation for beginners course. That actually costs $44. Go get that. Learn to meditate at your own pace. It'll take you several hours to get through all the content, It'll give you a pretty solid foundation for a meditation practice. Okay? So so do that.

Heather Larson [00:08:31]:
But also there's a free course. Most importantly, if you're listening to this, you're probably in Reiki ones. You need to go, register, get the free course at destinyarchitecture.com, and it's the Reiki bonuses. So what this is gonna be today, I'm gonna add to it over time. But what it is today is there are supplemental materials there for all of my Reiki students. Doesn't matter if you're a Reiki 1, 2, or 3 student. There's nothing in there that you can't see, because, again, the Reiki symbols are sacred. So you get symbols at different levels of Reiki.

Heather Larson [00:09:07]:
Not in Reiki one. You're not gonna get, all these symbols. But there are certain things that are sacred in Reiki, and the symbols are that. So I'm not putting these symbols out for the world to see, but they are there are other supplemental materials that they're not in the book. They're not really something that may wanna I wanna spend time on in the course, and they're not vital for you to read in order to work as a Reiki practitioner in your own life and if you wanna work with others. It's not stuff that you would 100% need to know, but it's stuff nice to know if you're driven to continue learning about Reiki, about the history, or about anatomy. Because I know that for me, that Reiki, working on myself and working on other people, way, way back when I started practicing Reiki, it was 2012. And what was I doing it? Oh, I was that's into it.

Heather Larson [00:10:06]:
What was anybody doing in 2012? Life was so different then, but I was I was working in broadcasting. And so I I didn't yet work in the addiction field, and I didn't yet work as a coach or you have a teacher or anything and I'd never learned anatomy. So you don't have to learn anatomy in order to understand Reiki, but if you get into Reiki and and working on yourself and others and you don't know anatomy, you're probably gonna be inclined to become more curious about it. So there's some anatomy charts in there. And, you know, the first thing you're gonna find when you log into this free Reiki bonuses class at destinyarchitecture.com is some information about Reiki 1, and that information is gonna help you just decide, like, is this path for me? You know? Like, if you are drawn to energy, yes. It's for you. If you have been into things like tarot, astrology, moon cycles, you know, I cover a lot of these things from time to time. If you like meditation, if you're inclined to meditate and you think that that's for you, you're gonna love Reiki.

Heather Larson [00:11:16]:
Reiki is very meditative. It's very relaxing. It promotes healing. If you're into yoga, if you're into chakras, yes, Reiki is for you. There's also a little bit of commitment to Reiki. Like, you actually need to practice it. And I can't tell you how many times somebody has told me over the years, the last 12 years, how many times a person has come to me and said, yeah. I know I'm supposed to practice self Reiki every day, but I never do.

Heather Larson [00:11:44]:
You know? I know I was supposed to study Reiki, and I and I know I'm supposed to adhere to the 5 Reiki precepts, but I I don't really think about it. Okay. So that and that's that's literally everybody does it. There's a phase of every Reiki person's life where you just take you you have you didn't sell freaky that day. You forgot what the precepts are. Like, it's just part I think the part of the process. Although my teachers, like, beat it into me. Like, you have to do this every day.

Heather Larson [00:12:12]:
You have to recite the Reiki precepts every day. You have to perform self Reiki every day. Like, you have to do this to be, you know, a Reiki student or practitioners. So so that was sort of beaten to me. I don't I don't know how much, you know, beating that into people, is helpful. So there is some commitments. Reiki 1 is the most basic level of Reiki. So you will have the ability to practice Reiki on yourself, maybe the people closest to you if they're interested, and if they're interested, your pets.

Heather Larson [00:12:48]:
So you're not getting all the symbols. You're not able to do distance, Reiki. You know, you're just building a foundation. Now, a cautionary tale is that reiki too is something that is life changing. There's usually some sort of healing crisis that comes along with Reiki 2, which is a whole other story. So Reiki 1, super soothing, simple, is is the entryway into the system of Reiki. Reiki 2, you're gonna have some rocky stuff happen. Okay? That's just that's just to be expected.

Heather Larson [00:13:25]:
For me, breaky 2 was where I got sober. Like, it it made my alcoholism intolerable. Like, there was a major life change that had to happen, and that's the one that had to happen. Like, I had to get sober. And so Reiki kind of upset that balance enough to bring that to my attention, that it's time to get sober. And that was 2012, and I actually didn't get sober until July 1st 2013. So it's been almost 11 years that I've been sober. I could not do the work that I do today in any capacity.

Heather Larson [00:14:02]:
I couldn't couldn't be the writer that I am today. I could not be the teacher, the yoga Reiki meditation teacher that I am today. I could not be a coach. If I had alcoholism, I would, I wouldn't be coaching people if I haven't gotten sober because I wouldn't have been a sober coach if I hadn't gotten sober. So, you know, it just reiki is either long story short, a reiki is either a part of your life path and part of your healing or it's not. And so if you feel called to it or you're still questioning it, just get the free course, destinyarchitecture.com. Go to the courses tab. Get get into the course.

Heather Larson [00:14:43]:
Start digging through the material. It's not a lot of material. So, like, in the in the amount of time you could watch a Netflix show, you can dive into this material for free, get the answers you need. And if you still have questions, just email me, destiny architecture atgmail.com. So let's talk about the kind of Reiki that I teach. Okay. So when I started on the Reiki path in 2012, I did, through my teachers who learned it through the International Center For Reiki Training. They learned what I now call the Western Reiki or Usui Reiki, under William Lee Rand.

Heather Larson [00:15:26]:
Okay. So over time, I wanted something else, and and thankfully, my teachers did as well. And so my teachers started learning through, Franzina at the International House of Reiki, and he is out in Germany. I don't know. Don't really recall that city, but, so he's German. But he teaches a more traditional, but not that William Lee Rand didn't teach a traditional form of reiki because he did. He taught, you know, Yusui Reiki. And then he went off in the weeds with a bunch of different things that I just I won't mention it.

Heather Larson [00:16:05]:
I'll just not mention it. So Francina became more of just the ultimate Reiki student who's kind of a Reiki historian. He he digs deep into whatever historical documents he can find and studies with, you know, whoever he could find, I think that's that's got a better lineage. That's probably everything I just said is probably too broad. But, anyway, my teacher started training under Franz Dina in the International House of Reiki. And so that, is something that I got into. I can't remember what year I will have to dig up all these certificates. So I'm now a Reiki master in that system as well.

Heather Larson [00:16:49]:
So I call myself a double Reiki master. This has been an amazing path for me. And what I realized, it felt like 2 Saturdays ago at the Urban Wellness Springfest, because I'm working on 9 people, is that I've worked really hard, for 12 years on on something that I I don't really have a great name for, but I I part of my Reiki is energy reading and I and reading energy. So I'm a traditionalist with Reiki. I like to stick with the traditions. You know, I I do Western Reiki. I do Eastern Reiki. That's it.

Heather Larson [00:17:30]:
None of the trendy stuff. There don't need to be 250 kinds of Reiki as there are now because universal life force energy is universal life force energy. Source energy is source energy. Anything else is a gimmick, a trend, something an influencer does. It's the people you see on TikTok who wave their hands around. That's not Reiki. Okay? That is not at all Reiki. Waving your hands around is not something that I was ever taught in the traditions.

Heather Larson [00:17:57]:
So what Reiki is is energy work. Reiki is gonna work with your chakras. We talk about chakras a lot in yoga. So Reiki has 5 precepts. Those line up with yoga's namas and niyamas. And that, longer story, also winds up with Chiati's 10 commandments. I'm not gonna go there today. I'm not gonna go into detail about this stuff.

Heather Larson [00:18:20]:
I wrote a blog about it at some point. You may be able to Google it and find it. I don't even know if I could Google it and find it, but going off on a tangent here. Back to energy work. Okay. So there's this thing called the energy body, and that's when we're talking about the aura, when we're talking about Reiki, when we're talking about energy, when we're talking about chakras, that's your energy body. If you're interested in in things like acupuncture or tapping, you've heard about meridians. That's energy.

Heather Larson [00:18:59]:
We talk about energy and yoga, the Ida and the Pingala, Zenots energy. So this is kind of like the realm where I like to sit. I study the chakras. I study all this great stuff and and and how meditation and Reiki help you move your energy and how prana and pranayama, a k a breath work helps you move your energy. You know, this these are these are things that have been written about for 1000 of years, you know, through yoga. And and Reiki is not as old as yoga. Reiki is about a 101 years old. It started in Japan and kind of, like, floated to the states, you know, by way of Hawaii and missus Takeda.

Heather Larson [00:19:41]:
So much like a whole another history lesson. I'm not gonna go there for this purpose today because I want I want you to understand what Reiki is before Reiki one class kicks off on Sunday. So I'm realizing that I'm reading people's energy, and that's cool. You know, it's it doesn't take away from the the tradition of Reiki. And also why I got into coaching is because Reiki sessions often do turn into coaching sessions. Because when I do Reiki on somebody, and whether that's in person or distance Reiki, because I do work with people who are nowhere near me, by phone or by video call. I do distance Reiki with people. And and and so your energy reveals things to me via Reiki.

Heather Larson [00:20:32]:
I don't know if I could do this without doing Reiki, the energy reading portion of it. And and so I help people kind of decipher through the things that their energy tells me, kind of what's going on in their lives that maybe they've got a block about, and maybe they're trying to get relief around an issue. You know, that's where Reiki comes in and really helps people, helps clear the aura, helps, you know, helps the chakras spin at a balanced and optimal level as does yoga. Right? The pract physical practice of yoga or even just sitting in a chair and meditating or sitting around and breathing, all these things are good for your energy. But your energy kinda leaves clues, and it leaves me hints. And I'm gonna ask you questions in a Reiki session, or I'm gonna share my impressions in a Reiki session, or I'm gonna do both. So Reiki session is is usually pretty conversational. Although I have no problem if people lay on my table and snore, that's a great compliment as well.

Heather Larson [00:21:35]:
So what do you learn from this in Reiki 1? Well, I wanna share, I wanna start sharing the things I've learned over the years about reading energy and about working with energy because I've done it for a long time. Not gonna say I've, like, perfected the art. Like, I'm not gonna be one of those those, influencers online who are like, here's how you read your energy in 3 quick easy steps. You know, most people think this about energy work, but they would be blown away to know this. You know, like, that that kinda cheesy crap. Like, let's that's not cheapen what I do. What I do is important, and I think it's a vital service that I provide to the world for those who seek it. I mean, we need Reiki.

Heather Larson [00:22:19]:
You know, we also need yoga. We need to meditate. We need to breathe and do breath work. We need coaching. We need to coach each other. Every single human on this earth can coach another person, but that's a whole another story for me. So what you're gonna learn in Reiki 1, you're gonna learn the basics of energy work. You can take that as deep as you want to take it.

Heather Larson [00:22:42]:
Whoever shows up to the class is who I'm gonna tailor the course around. You're gonna learn a little bit more about self care. You're gonna learn the 5 Reiki precepts, which is kind of a basic guide for living to live in gratitude, to live it with with some rigorous honesty and kinda have a little moral code that helps you better channel in spiritual energy. And you're gonna learn how to shield. You're gonna learn how to shield out the negative energy. You're gonna learn how to start having boundaries. Everyone who's ever come to be learned Reiki needs to learn boundaries at some level. Nobody's a boundary expert, but I I people who seek this kind of work tend to call themselves empaths, highly sensitive people.

Heather Larson [00:23:30]:
They tend to allow in too much, in that regard. If you're an over giver, you're allowing too much in. A lot of people come to Reiki as I once did. I came to Reiki highly codependent. Again, that that part about the addiction, about the alcoholism, there was codependency there too. And this learning to take care of myself, meditate, raise my self awareness and, you know, conduct something in yoga that we call Svadhyaya, which is self study, which I think a part of Reiki, even if it's not written down. Right? These these are things that help raise your awareness. And I I think most people come to Reiki a little burned out, like burned out over givers who need to learn to turn inward, do the scary thing, and turn inward and start taking care of yourself.

Heather Larson [00:24:31]:
Start taking care of your energy body. Start listening to what your body's intelligence is trying to tell you. And yes that can be on the emotional, physical, energetic, or spiritual levels. Your body is trying to tell you something. Your energy is trying to tell you something. You're probably taking in too much of, you know, Netflix, social media, news. You're taking in too much media, period, because that's what society teaches us to do. So when people start learning Reiki, I always say cut down on your news and media consumption on the day of class.

Heather Larson [00:25:11]:
Cut down on your crap food consumption. Drink a lot of water. Energy work when you start to learn energy work and start to work with energy, it's gonna knock you on your ass. It's you're gonna you're gonna feel really hungry and thirsty and, like, you need a nap. Okay? So the like, just prepare for that. That happens to most people most of the time. Happened to me. Beginning energy work for me, kicked my butt.

Heather Larson [00:25:41]:
You know? It was just like, I remember one time at white dove, Dale's daughter came to teach us, Seraphic Spears, the energy of Sarah Fadelion. And then I'm going off in the ether here. And it was a all day thing that that era did. And and I I looked terrible. Dale kept asking me, like, are you okay, Reiki chick? Are you cool? Because, like, we were going through different waves of energy. It's like, I can hardly stand that. I looked like I had been hit by a back truck. I mean, like, that is what some good energy work can do to a beginner.

Heather Larson [00:26:20]:
So, you know, again, though, Reiki does not deplete your energy. I think that there's a learning curve to it and that Reiki being an intelligent energy, it starts to work on you. It starts to make you tired, though. I think it starts to, like, force you to slow down and relax. And to do that, it makes you a little tired, like, a little bit crispy. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with that, but, you know, once you get used to it now, like, yeah, I'll work on 9 people, and and it's it's fine. But in the beginning, that would have worn me out. Just because you're you're just kind of learning to be at a different higher frequency, like, in a different higher vibration.

Heather Larson [00:27:11]:
So if this sounds good to you, you gotta register for rachy 1. And you could do that. I've got links to register, on my websites. You'll you'll get there whether you go to destinyarchitecture.netor.com. You'll get to the booking site. And, also, you you can find it on Eventbrite. For for, urban wellness in Phoenix. Reiki 1 is this Sunday, April 7th.

Heather Larson [00:27:39]:
So thank you for listening. Hopefully, I I think I covered anything that somebody might have a question about with Reiki. I I think I might have also accomplished my goals, like, sharing a little bit about myself since I feel like I've got to reintroduce myself now that I'm in Phoenix. So, you know, so I got the f going for me. It's hard to talk about myself. But I'll talk to you about Reiki all day. I'll talk to you about yoga all day. I'll talk to you about meditating all day.

Heather Larson [00:28:09]:
Oh, I will happily talk to you about coaching all day. I'll even talk about sobriety and recovery. I will talk about those things all day, but to I don't know. Telling my story, I've been there, done that. I can't believe I gotta do it again. But but, yeah, you know, here we are, in Phoenix, Arizona doing the thing. So, I think that covers it. So, yeah, thank you for being here and gratitude to you.

Heather Larson [00:28:36]:
Hopefully, I will meet you Sunday in my class. If you have questions, it's, destiny architecture, all one word, atgmail.com.destinyarchitectureat gmail.com. And, yeah, that's probably the best way to get a hold of me because I I'm in front of my computer all the time. So please please come to class. And if it's not the right time, let me know if you're interested in later. I've planned out, much of the year, as far as classes are concerned. And I can also do if $200 for the class this Sunday is too much, we can, do, like, a weekly payment as well. Like, I I can break it up into payments.

Heather Larson [00:29:20]:
You know? I don't want it to be too difficult. So get in touch, destinyarchitecture@gmail.com, or better yet, just register for the class. Pay online, and we'll see you Sunday.

Destiny Architecture® Statement About the Use of AI:

I provide transparency and honesty about my use of AI tools. The Destiny Architecture® podcast show notes are written with the assistance of Cast Magic AI, but still edited by me, (Heather).