Ready Set Reiki®️
A podcast about Reiki and Energy work. From the curious beginning to the seasoned Master Teacher. Welcoming all those who work with energy.
Join Reiki Master Tracy Searight as she guides you on a journey through this landscape of energy work. Each guest offers an in-depth unique perspective sharing their journey which had 'a profound effect on their healing and development as a person. Come along on this journey and explore all the possibilities of working with energy.
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www.thefeathersister.com
Tracy Searight is an Educator, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, Grandmaster, Sound Practitioner, Author and Podcaster.
Find her on Feather Sister with Wellness living
offering training in 10 different systems of Reiki
Training in Chair Yoga, Yin Yoga and Restorative
Ready Set Reiki®️
Episode #101 Heather Criswell's Healing Journey: From Revolutionary Preschool to Reiki Practitioner – Embracing Holistic Wellness, Energy Flow, and Inner Harmony
Ever wondered if Reiki could transform your life and well-being? Join us as we sit down with the inspirational Heather Criswell, a dedicated wellness advocate and author. Heather takes us on her remarkable journey from establishing a groundbreaking preschool to founding a holistic wellness center. You'll gain profound insights into how she seamlessly weaves Reiki into her daily routine, backed by scientific principles championed by experts like Dr. Joe Dispenza. Heather’s firsthand experiences reveal how Reiki can create a positive energy flow and foster emotional well-being in any environment, from classrooms to therapeutic settings.
Heather shares compelling stories and clears up misconceptions about Reiki, highlighting its potential to change cellular structures and contribute to overall health. Through her wellness center's evolution, which features holistic treatments like Japanese acupuncture and detox foot baths, Heather illustrates the incredible ways alternative therapies can aid in serious illness recovery. She also opens up about the critical role of inner dialogue and self-acceptance in her personal healing journey, emphasizing the harmony between external accomplishments and internal growth.
Heather offers new Reiki practitioners invaluable advice on honing their skills and trusting their intuition. She recommends key resources for further learning, such as works by Dr. Joe Dispenza and Dr. Bruce Lipton, and introduces the Conversation Academy for mastering effective communication. This episode concludes with touching reflections on the power of authentic conversations and the importance of teaching children self-regulation. Join us on Ready Set Reiki to explore the transformative potential of Reiki and embrace a holistic approach to well-being.
check out more at www.readysetreiki.com
Ready Set Reiki is a journey
From the curious beginner to the Season Master Teacher
All Energy workers of all systems and all levels.
Thank you for watching.
Speaker 2:This is Ready Set Reiki, a podcast about Reiki, the universal energy life force, from the curious beginner to the seasoned master teacher, welcoming all systems, all lineages and all levels. Reiki is a journey and not a destination, and on this Ready Set Reiki Journey, we refer to ourselves as guides rather than hosts, as we two are traveling, supporting each other and learning on this Reiki journey as well. And with that said, I'm your guide, tracy C Wright, and today joining me on the journey is Heather Criswell. Now she is an author, a force of nature, boasts two groundbreaking books how to Raise a Happy Child and Be Happy Too, and Wise Talk from the Other Side. At age 21, she founded a revolutionary school empowering over 30,000 students.
Speaker 2:In her 35-year career, beyond education, she champions holistic well-being, established a wellness center, wisencide, and now, as the founder of Conversation Academy, heather coaches, speaks and trains on navigating difficult conversations, gracefully eradicating conflict and fostering understanding. Conversations to her, are transformative acts of love, shaping lives and communities. With her belief in love-infused dialogue, heather arrives to change the world, one conversation at a time. Welcome, heather, to Ready Set Reiki.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be on this podcast. I was so looking forward to it, so thank you. Thank you for hosting it and allowing me to be a this podcast. I was so looking forward to it, so thank you. Thank you for hosting it and allowing me to be a guest, wonderful, so let's begin the journey together.
Speaker 2:So tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3:Well, I have been on a journey and I think that Reiki was always in me and I just wasn't aware of it. And you know, I say this a lot to people, especially as mothers or somebody that cares for somebody when you go to care for somebody, just instinctively we put our hands on that. You know, we send energy, we send love. So I don't think Reiki is so far off from what we instinctually do and so and especially working with thousands of children, that's been my life is just nurture, nurture, love. You know, support, boo-boos, emotional, physical, all of that kind of stuff. So, like in my bio I, I started off owning a preschool. I got super, super tired and started a wellness center. I went to massage school and we learned, just like literally it was a three hour class on energy, you know, and I just fell in love with it because I just found it so fascinating, especially working with different people in the country, like ParkMath and Santa Cruz. You know they show how the heart connects in to everything that we do in these energy fields. And now I am with Dr Joe Dispenza and you know I just went to one of his retreats last year seven day retreats and just knowing how to tap into that energy is so powerful. So Reiki for me just kind of sealed the deal in that space. You know, I was like more comfortable practiced.
Speaker 3:When I opened my wellness center I was a massage therapist and I realized very quickly that there was more energy happening than actual manipulation of muscles, bones, tissues, all of those kind of things. And so I realized also too as a massage therapist that it didn't have to work as hard, actually physically grinding to try and get a knot out of the back of someone's shoulder, rather just pouring some energy in that space and allowing the body to naturally disperse it and heal. So that was kind of my journey with Reiki. And once I started with one class and then second class and then became a master teacher, just simply for the fact that I wanted to make it more accessible for people and easier for people to understand that it wasn't this woo-woo thing, that it is actually, you know, quantum physics, it's energy, you know.
Speaker 3:And that's where I started doing a lot of studies with Dr Joe Dispenza, bruce Lipton, greg Brayden, all of those, because they actually do back it up with all the science as well. So that was kind of where I ended up as far as the wellness center and then over time, while I don't practice Reiki on people who are living, I absolutely practice Reiki every single minute of every single day, whether it's on myself, child, my dog, friends, energetic, energetic, remote healing for friends, uh, all of those kind of things. So to me, like Reiki never goes away, it's always been and able to be used in any moment of any day that makes sense right, absolutely, and it's a wonderful modality for massage therapists and even even teachers.
Speaker 2:So my background is an elementary teacher and when I began my journey, you know, in education, I really wish I knew of Reiki. At that time I didn't. What a wonderful thing to bring that in for yourself as you're working with, you know, 2030 students, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you can also set the energy of the room students, right yeah, and you can also set the energy of the room. You know you can set the energy of the projects and things that we're doing, and so it really does set that energy space for everybody to thrive without it costing you any money. No real quote, unquote tools or things that you need. You know we're not shaping rattles and all the things that you don't. You can just energetically do it, you know, and not to discount any other space that does do that. But to me it's just a really simple modality for people to be able to do this very easily.
Speaker 2:Right and you can really just shift the whole environment. Yeah, when I would come in and working with students with special needs and they get upset and just gently coming over and you know, silently asking for that permission, and you begin to see the whole child begin to change and soften and people are like wow, like what did you do? And people are like wow, like what did you do? And they never knew, right, I just tell space.
Speaker 3:That's when they started saying that I was a kid whisperer and I'm like, really it's just energy right, absolutely, you know everybody can do it.
Speaker 3:It's just that when we are completely dysregulated, we can't expect our children to be regulated. And I have a. I have a child that has a pretty strong neurodiverse brain and you know, to regulate, I have to be completely regulated for myself before I can even be in his space, Because, although he has a brain injury, it seems to amplify his senses and amplify, you know, while he's deficient in some spaces as far as academically, energetically, he outweighs, like most people, he can sense it a mile away, he can. He looks at me and he'll say I mean, why does her face not match her energy, Like and I'm like, well, that's called, you know, we kind of go back and forth with that and it's really challenging for him because he's so black and white. Sure, you know, he can pick up those senses very quickly.
Speaker 3:And what I will tell you is doing a lot of studying and working with children. We are moving into a space where kids are coming onto this planet and they're being, quote-unquote, labeled as neurodivergent. Yes, I think that they're very energy sensitive. That doesn't mean that they can't um, that we have to, you know, change everything to be with them. But we have to regulate ourselves in order to energetically match their energy because if we're angry, they're going to be angry. If we're sad, they're going to be sad. They're going to match wherever we're at.
Speaker 3:So I think it's a really good skill to have coming into this future that we are coming into because they're predicting by I mean some say is as close as 2025, some say 2035, that we'll have one in two neurodiverse kids. So you know and to me again, I think there's a lot of overdiagnosis. I'm not a doctor, I've just worked with kids for over 30 years and watch the progression happen. And I think there's a lot of external things that we have going on iPads, social media, TV. You know, things that we didn't have before. So I think we're going to have to start tuning into that energy and hone in our own space so that we can be a model for them as well absolutely.
Speaker 2:I know when I began teaching oh my goodness, gasp, 30 years ago the children it. You see the change. You see the change.
Speaker 3:I try and tell people all the time I'm like unless you've been working with kids for 30, 35, 35 years, you don't see the change. Because I have people in my circle that are teachers and they're like that's normal. I'm like that's not normal. Sure, sure, it's not totally normal, and I know there's a lot of politically correct things to say and not say. I come from Texas, we're very old school. We just kind of say how it is. Sure, I'm speaking from my heart, but there's too many differences that are happening and I mean it goes. It's not one thing, it's everything, it's the foods we're eating.
Speaker 2:It's the media we're consuming, absolutely. Yeah, oh yeah, I mean, it was when, was it 10 years ago maybe? And when the 18 months would arrive? And uh, and they had their iPads. They were playing on their mom's phones. It's like, oh my goodness, like, and the shift started to happen with these students. That just can't be okay. And quiet and stillness. You know, as a child, I was go out, go outside and play, go, use your imagination, come back when the streetlights are on. And now it's this constant overstimulation. They don't even have five minutes just to sit and be quiet without something in front of them to observe.
Speaker 3:And being stimulated to your point. You know, there's a guy on social media right now. He's called the Unschooler and he does these segments of the. Have you seen it? No, I have not. So he does segments of all the things, right, and so he breaks it down. These, these cartoons and stuff that we're watching, or our children are watching, that seem very innocent, are so fast paced that their brains are just boom, boom boom yeah, and they're seeing changes every two.
Speaker 3:Yeah so we wonder why we can't get them to focus on reading or focus on anything really right it takes a little bit of focus and concentration.
Speaker 3:So you know, in our house, while I I say to my son, for us it's reiki. You know I said just do a little bit of reiki. But you know I'll put him. I have a created this meditation station for him so it's got like a singing bowl, like a tuning board and you know some of his crystal pyramids and, um, a heart he can put to his heart all of those kind of things to help regulate and calm down this energy field, because it's just vibrating like this.
Speaker 2:Sure yeah, yeah, you're always having that kind of well. I used to call it in the beginning the time out, but now like a time in area where you can just relax and even I teach yoga as well, having that for kids, that little station there that when you need to decompress you can go over, sit down, look at a book, maybe color, to kind of get that sense of. I need to just calm down and relax. I need to get out of this particular, you know situation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and reframing it as taking care of yourself, like your body is telling you you're moving too fast, so we need to take care of ourselves, instead of the frame of go sit over there, you're in trouble. Yeah, yes, yeah, right. And so they start learning that when I feel like this, I should probably do this. You know, getting punished for feeling just sure, yeah, yeah, very good, that's the goal. I mean, it doesn't always happen in our house.
Speaker 2:I promise you that Sure, sure, sure. So would you say that Reiki found you or you found Reiki?
Speaker 3:I would say I found Reiki in the sense of the actual experience of it, the actual methods, all of those things. But, like I said, I think Reiki has always been in me and, like you know, when they were kind of going through the tuning process and everything, I remember sitting there thinking I don't really need this. Like you know, it felt like a lot of dogma to me that I didn't actually need. Um, of course, I thought through it and, you know, had the experience, but I had this inner knowingness that this is in you and I truly believe that it's in all of us and, like I said, with moms in particular, we instantly put our hands over somebody's knee or on their shoulder or on their head, like we intuitively do these things, but it's kind of washed away or out and thankfully, I think that there's enough science that's starting to bring a language to this.
Speaker 3:Dr Joe just released a movie called the Source and they show specifically people meditating. Now, whether you call it meditating or specifically reiki energy, whatever that is for you, what they were doing was changing the cells of these individuals that you know, and they have petri dishes of cancer and the the cells. The cancer couldn't get in the cells it. So it's it's. It's amazing that they're bringing actually the science to it, because when I learned Reiki which was 2002, you know there was no science behind it and again, going back to I didn't need the science for me, I intuitively felt it. But it's very helpful now to show people like my husband that's super analytical, you know super logic thinking. I'm like, look right here, look, you know, I made him watch the movie the other night. I'm like, look, it's proven. Now Are you okay with this? Like, but my point being is that you know if you really had struggles in your life of trying to logically put some logic behind it. Now we have a lot of data to support that.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. So, as you are continuing incorporating Reiki into your daily life, you've been doing it for a number of years now. What is a common misconception about Reiki?
Speaker 3:Well, I had some Christian friends of mine actually just aiming for it and they were really I mean, they've been my friends for 10 years and it was. It was really challenging because they literally said you know you're going to hell for this. And.
Speaker 3:I couldn't wrap my head around it, like at first I laughed. My husband and I were both there at dinner and I laughed and I was like, oh my gosh, you guys are so funny, you're so ridiculous. And they started crying and I was like. I looked at my husband and I'm like they're funny. And he's like what is going on? You're like you're going to hell, we're never going to see you again.
Speaker 3:And it was really when I opened my wellness center. Initially it was for massage therapy but became it also became a very alternative based, you know, wellness center. So we did Japanese acupuncture, we did these biomass that help kill cancer cells, we did detox foot baths. We did all of this stuff back in 2002, when it was not cool and people thought you were the devil, right? So you know, I think it's come a far way. Now there's. There wasn't a wellness center, not to say that I created it, but there just weren't wellness centers in 2002. Nobody knew what it meant, sure, but it is like this one-stop shop, right? You could get Reiki, you could get massage, you could get a foot bath, you could get Japanese acupuncture, you could get a Easter therapy. But what we did is we put people through these circuits and lo and behold, people that had lung cancer were recovering, people with breast cancer recovering without chemotherapy, and, you know, people with autoimmune like people were recovering and it was amazing to watch and so it was kind of this undeniable thing, right, um.
Speaker 3:So that's been the hardest part is, you know, being early in the game, if you will of like. So if I kind of learned to be very quiet and, with that being said, with my business, I had to kind of tell people because that's what we do, but I would kind of get them in the door with massage therapy. I do a little Reiki on them in the therapy and they go crazy, you're the best massage therapist ever. And I was like, no, I'm kind of not, you know, and I mean I really I am not a Western massage therapist.
Speaker 3:I actually taught at National Ballistic Institute in California and I told somebody the wrong bones, like literally in class, because I was teaching and my supervisor was there and she's like, you told them the wrong folks and I was like, oh sorry, you might want to put me in Eastern. So they put me in Eastern and they put me in energy and they put me in business, because that's what I was good at, sure, but my experience was just that everybody was like you're amazing, you're so great, you're so wonderful, but really, the secret sauce was Reiki. Like that was the secret sauce. I mean, I'm a decent massage therapist, but I've had way better massage therapy therapists than me, like for real, for real, very good.
Speaker 2:So owning a wellness center and then now the founder of the Conversation Academy. You coach, you help speak, you train, you help people navigate through their challenges gracefully and helping them with their conflicts. What has been the biggest challenge, or rather struggle, you have faced in your own journey, your own healing journey?
Speaker 3:You know my own healing journey. The challenge that I've had most is the conversations I have with myself and really taking the time to connect with myself, because, while I have things that I can check off the box of I did this, I did that, I did this, it did that, I, you know, did this. It's all very external, but when I look internally, I still look in the mirror and I go, oh my God, you've gained weight. Oh my God, seriously, you were not a good mother today. You were so terrible, like you know, spouted off to him, like he's sensitive, like you know, you weren't a good dog mom. Your dog has a double ear infection. This was yesterday. Your dog has a double ear infection. How did you let that happen? Oh, by the way, your husband's sick. That must mean you're not taking care of him either. Like and oh yeah, your best friend calls and her mom's dying, and so you're trying to do energy work on her mom, like and didn't do it good enough because her mom's mad at. And so you're trying to do energy work on her mom and didn't do it good enough because her mom's mad at her. Like all these these are all conversations that go on in here that are detrimental, like, and.
Speaker 3:So my hardest journey with healing is really keeping those conversations at bay and noticing those conversations and changing the conversation. You know, Dr Joe says that all the time you can't change until you change Right, right, Right. So you know, I used to see a lot of people externally heal me, heal me, heal me, heal me, fix me. You know, fix this, fix that, me, fix me. You know, fix this, fix that. And now, as I'm getting older, I'm really pointing in everything I've learned over time. It's like, okay, I need to come back to you. You know, connect with your heart.
Speaker 3:For me it's meditation, for me it's reiki on my heart basis, getting in, exercising, not to lose weight per se, but really just to move energy out of my body.
Speaker 3:I get stuck in this stuck energy and that's when all of the bad thoughts stop, that's when I go you're not good, good enough, you're never going to lose the weight, you're never going to be the best mom, you're never going to never, never, never, never stop, oh, you know.
Speaker 3:So that's really my mission in life right now is to take that time for myself, to come back to me and know that I can give my body too. I don't need while it's great sometimes to have a practitioner helping you when you're just so stuck in the weeds and muck and the mud, and for us to practice that for ourselves over and over again, because I believe that we're coming into a time where we're not going to be able to necessarily trust what we see on this planet anymore AI and everything that's coming down. We're going to have to rely on the wisdom, going to have to rely on that instinct, that inner moving and it takes time to nurture that and really feel that for ourselves so that we can show up in this world confident and kind and compassionate, not to necessarily only to others, but to ourselves first.
Speaker 2:Very good. So what do you wish your younger self knew about Reiki.
Speaker 3:I wish my younger self knew about Reiki. I wish my younger self would have known how to explain it better to the general public. That you know my mom, back in 1985, she came home and we lived in Texas at the time. She came home with a hands-on healing, healing and my dad and I laughed at her and made fun of her for hours, to the point that she was in tears, because that is absurd. Oh sure, I'm just going to put my hands on you and I'm going to heal you. Oh sure, sure, you know. And this was in 1985, 86, 87, somewhere around in that time frame. And so I wish that there would have been a way to explain it a little bit more so that I as a kid, even not taking my dad's side, could have said oh well, that's interesting you know it wasn't so out there woo, woo, that it was actually really closer and and maybe that's just actual evolution in timing, I don't know Sure, sure.
Speaker 2:So when it's time for you to get an energetic tune-up, what are some qualities that you look for in a Reiki practitioner?
Speaker 3:Some of the qualities I look for are authentic, that they're not in the space of everything's great and wonderful and beautiful. And come into my sanctuary and you know, like I like the authentic of, hey, we're going through this, we're going to get through it, we're going to get through it, we're going to get centered, we're going to get grounded, we're going to get the energy right in here, like that's the kind of space that I like because it's comfortable to me. I like because it's comfortable to me. I like genuine authenticity.
Speaker 3:It's really so when I'm looking for somebody and that's in any kind of body work across the board, whether it's massage or Reiki or sacral or whatever I'm looking for in flexology, looking for them to be authentic, grounded, and also not necessarily that they need to have quote unquote education, but I really would like a lot of experience, just simply for the fact that they kind of know what to expect. And again, you can't really get this. You know, if you're a newbie, it's, it's it's challenging to get the break in. I say, if you're new, give as many free sessions while you're learning as possible.
Speaker 3:You know so that you get comfortable in the space, because a lot of people are uncomfortable closing their eyes and just not knowing what's happening, whether it's massage or Reiki or body work, whatever that is. It's really uncomfortable for a lot of people, but so so setting that stage for them will help the process and help them be more open to the experience Wonderful.
Speaker 2:What advice would you give someone who's just entering a profession of Reiki?
Speaker 3:who's just entering a profession of Reiki. Oh, again, I would. I would say that it's really important to practice, practice, practice and to also listen. Listen to what's going on in your body and ask your body is this for me or is this for them? Is this for me or is this for them? I had a client one time on the table and I was actually doing massage. But again, reiki was always infused in my massage. Always I always called Reiki in before I started to put my hands on anybody at any time.
Speaker 3:So I was massaging her feet and I was just kind of in this daze and trance because I was like just in the flow of, like you know, good energy and love and I just kept hearing I want McDonald's, I want McDonald's and I'm like number one, I hate McDonald's. There's actually a really funny there's actually a really funny like video on Instagram of this mom like we don't eat McDonald's. It's got chemicals, it's not even real food, food anyway. That's always been my stance. I mean, even since I was a kid, that's been my stance. So I hate mcdonald's and so I'm like massaging and I'm like, okay, get back to energy, get back to love, like, and all I keep hearing is dogs, dogs. I'm like, is this for me? And I got no answer. So I go up to the to end the massage and I always kind of tell everybody something that I got in the massage just energetically, and I call it kind of my reiki tune-in, my energetic tune-in, and I said, you know, I just want to let you know. She goes. Oh god, are you gonna go fast? And I was like okay, and she's like I am so hungry, I just want McDonald's. And I was like, of course you did, of course you just want McDonald's. So you know there is energy that's taking place and there's there's information in that field that is is coming to us and so be aware of that.
Speaker 3:Um, you know one of my other clients, her daughter, had passed away, um young, and she had a hat, uh, like bucket hat, with a daisy on it. And I said I it was at her head and I was just doing energy work with her head, um, and I just saw this daisy bucket hat and he said, does a daisy bucket hat mean anything to you? And that's exactly the hat she wore the whole time. So you know, we have a really cool ability, if you are a practitioner, to really hone in and I'll tell you from a business end that's what people keep coming back for, because they want that personalized. They want to know that it's real, that it matters, that it's changing things and that this is not. There's no way I could have known that you want a McDonald's. There's no way I could have known that there was a bucket hat with a daisy on it no way. So just be open to those lines of communication that are happening, not just energetically through our hands, our heart, but the actual information that's coming through.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, you are the author of two groundbreaking books how to Raise a Happy Child and Be Happy Too, and Wise Talk from the Other Side. What books do you recommend? And this can be Reiki or anything along your journey that has helped you, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 3:Well, dr Joe Dispenza is my guy. He is my guy, my guy, my guy. So I always recommend him. First, he is biology of belief. I'm sorry, not by that. That's Bruce Lipton. He is a supernatural, the placebo, breaking the habit of being yourself. So I love his whole book series.
Speaker 3:Now what I will say is they tend to be very dense. If you're not a scientific person, I would take the clip notes somewhere and do that so, but it is good information and and of course, he's on YouTube everywhere. You can find him on anywhere. Actually, dr Greg Braden is actually one of my favorites too. He, um, he talks about the energy fields. Um, dr Bruce Lipton is all about the biology of belief, how he was a pioneer in epigenetics. That we don't. Actually, we come with a genetic profile, but it either gets turned on or off, and so you know it's. It's a very interesting, empowering way to live because it puts the power back with ourselves, and that's where I think Reiki is really beautiful that it empowers us to show up on the planet in a in a very authentic way we practice and work with.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. So, as founder of the Conversation Academy, with you coaching and speaking and training, what other services do you offer? Do you offer classes, events, trainings?
Speaker 3:events, trainings we do. So I do bi-weekly. They are masterclasses that I do and basically in those masterclasses what we do is I have like a 15 minute kind of tools and techniques and easy button to conversations, especially conversations that are challenging. I really believe that one conversation can change our lives and you know, this conversation can change millions of people's lives if they tune in and they started doing Reiki and experiencing a whole different life. Right? So it's literally one conversation and in these masterclasses I do on a bi-weekly basis it's 90 minutes. I do about 20 minutes of tools and techniques and then we do a hot seat.
Speaker 3:So you jump in and you say hey, you know, I'm going through a divorce. I don't know how to have a conversation with my son. I I want to get a raise. I'm not sure how to do that. I want different days off. I'm not sure how to do that. My husband and I aren't connecting. I don't know how to have that conversation without him getting angry or me getting angry. So it's really conversations that are in conflict, business conversations between partners. I'm going to dissolve this partnership. I don't know what to say or how to say it. It's really a really easy way to get the scripts that we need to actually have these conversations, and with the scripts also comes the energy alignment.
Speaker 3:So the idea behind all of these master classes is we're going to do three things every single time we're going to find out what we're wanting, we're going to get in energy alignment with that and then we're going to find out what kind of action we need to take and we're going to reverse those scripts until you've got it down, so that you understand what to say and how to say it. And they work because they come authentically from you, from what you're wanting, and we're not really trained in that space. We're trained to say what other people are wanting and whether or not we'll do it. You know, and a lot of people say, well, that's really selfish, but at the end of the day, you can invest in yourself on the front end or you can pay on the back end, because if you're not clear and authentic and saying that, hey, I really love you, I just don't want to go to the movies. I don't enjoy the movies. Versus going to the movies and being like okay, here I am again.
Speaker 3:She always likes to go to the movies, but I hate going to the movies. I want to go to dinner. She doesn't want to go to dinner, she doesn't want to eat. Like, how do we have these conversations. Some are like that, like that, and some are much harder, like how do I ask, how do I talk to her? You know? So it's important for us to hone these skills because, again, nobody can understand you until you're clear for yourself and until we're in energy alignment. I go to my kid and I say you need to pick up your room right now. Right now, like it's not gonna work. And I don't care how authoritarian we are, I don't care how kind If I went to him and I said can you pick up your room please?
Speaker 3:That's not going to work either If I say look, we have a commitment to each other. What was that commitment? Your commitment was that you bring me the thing. My commitment was you go to the pool. So until that happens, I can't take you to the pool. You understand that, right, got it Moving on. So it's simple, but it just takes a little bit of this again, and I think that going, you know, piggybacking on our conversation about you know, attention, we too, as adults, are, you know, and I feel it myself. I'm like get in the car. We got to go, we got to be there, we got to get there. Yeah, you know, and so we have to hone that in for ourselves too.
Speaker 2:Okay, very good. So where can someone find you if they are interested in connecting with you online and in person?
Speaker 3:So online it's theconversationacademycom. Heatherchriswellcom is also a sister website, and you can find me on social media Heather Criswell Conversation Academy pretty much anywhere. I do a lot of different podcasts and so I pop up in the most random places. I'm like what is this?
Speaker 3:So yeah so it's super simple. But you know, when we practice these conversations more and more, practice them over and over with ourselves and each other, we help humanity evolve like and we help each other learn and really know each other. Because, at the end of the day, even I always ended my massages with Reiki and it was always a very clear of you know, I honor the divine in you, you honor the. You know I did. It's not a mistake, basically, but I honored the divine Right and I'm so grateful to have known these people Because, at the end of the day, I've had a lot of people pass away. At the end of the day, I've had a lot of people pass away and then, at the end of the day, that's really all we have is our relationships.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, heather. That ends our first part of our journey together, and I'm going to continue to guide you into the second part, which is social media questions that are sent in by listeners and Reiki students. So let's begin that first question. You touched on it a little bit, but we can go a little bit deeper. So, number one how can one conversation change your life?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's interesting because this kind of dawned on me over time and this took the Convers Academy took a while to be birthed, because it's it's this culmination of all of my experiences along the way when I think of preschool. Children are the best teachers of communication in our world. Right, and I'm talking young kids, I'm talking, you know, below five. Once they get older. It's another, another story. I'm in that world with a teenager right now sure so once they get older.
Speaker 3:But the younger ones, they know and they feel. They come in and they say I'm so beautiful, right, miss heather, I'm so beautiful, you know, and oh, oh, you're so beautiful. Wait, why are your legs so big, miss he Heather? Why are they so big? My other legs aren't that big, they just aren't. They aren't that big. But why are yours? You know?
Speaker 3:So we have all these kinds of conversations that are true, authentic, real, not meant to harm. There's no three-year-old that says when you have big legs, they're trying to hurt your feelings. So we learn very quickly how to be authentic. Now we hone those skills as we get older to be a little bit more compassionate, a little bit more self-aware, all of the things that we are when we're kids. But the wellness center then taught me how to listen without words. So listening to the body, listening to the mind, listening to the spirit, feeling the energy around the room. So I learned very quickly to intuitively feel and hear without words being exchanged.
Speaker 3:And then, over time, as I authored a couple of books and really the written word, what I realized is all of this comes back to one conversation. So one conversation with my dad. He said to me hey, there's this preschool for sale. We want to go look at it, you know. And then we get there and he's like it's a dump. It was an absolute dump. And he looks at me, he, he goes you do something with this. And I was like, yeah, I can totally do something with this. One conversation changed the trajectory of my life. I was going to school as an elementary ed teacher and then they told me that I'd be making twenty seven thousand dollars a year and I was like, how will I I ever make a living at that? Like ever, because every raise would be inflation.
Speaker 2:You know yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, you know. So I took a leap and I left school and went into entrepreneurship. And then there was one conversation that I had with one of my clients. She couldn't pay for her bill and so she said well, I'm going to school for massage therapy. And I said great, I'll trade you massage for your bill. I'm by me because I love massage. I've always loved massage. So she would come and massage my husband and I and she would massage us each an hour each and that would pay her whole bill for a week. No, actually two weeks. That would pay her whole bill for the two weeks for her daughter to be with me, 50 hours a day a week, 50 hours a week, so 10 hours a day, five days a week. And she paid that off in two sessions. So I started thinking, oh, that's interesting, I'm working really hard here. And so I fell in love with massage, anyway, all of those things. But that one conversation changed me. Selling the school, one conversation when I went to work for somebody and she said you're going to make $13 an hour and I worked $13 an hour as a massage therapist and I said, well, that's silly, I can do this on my own.
Speaker 3:On conversation, you know, one conversation my mom is. My mom was dying. Um, um. I had opened the wellness center with a partner and it didn't go well and I had to dissolve that partnership and she was waiting for me to go to the attorney I knew it To make sure that everything was sealed and okay. And I called her on my way to the attorney. I said, mom, it's all done, it's all good, it's worth the good. I bought her out, it's all mine now. And mom said, oh, I'm so glad, I'm so glad. And she passed away that night.
Speaker 3:So you know, there are one conversation that can change our lives, one conversation about our son. With my husband we've gone through infertility and lots of miscarriages and problems and I just looked at him and I said I can't do this. I cannot do this to my body. So we either adopt, or we have a surrogate, or we don't do this. We need our child for this lifetime and so we chose to adopt internationally. And then I said to my friend we're going to adopt internationally. She goes funny, I have a good friend that adopted exactly where you want to adopt from. She's an attorney, she's done all the research on this. She has the perfect adoption. One conversation, one conversation, all the way. I can tell you off the top of my head, 3,000 conversations I've had that have changed my life, wow.
Speaker 3:And when we can look at those conversations, in those moments you start to really appreciate life and the divineness and the synchronicity of life, like who would have known that? My friend knew this friend that had researched this for years, and I just got the easy button here go to them, do this, do that, do this. Easy button, easy button all the way across the board on things that are really challenging and really hard. So we can pay attention to those conversations. And it doesn't even have to be that big of a deal. It could be a conversation that you have with yourself when somebody cuts you off in the road and you say what I'm going to give them grace today. I don't really know what's going on in their life right now. Maybe their kid's sick, maybe their dog's dying in the front seat, we don't know. I'm going to give them grace though, today, because then I free them and I free myself from the hate, from the anger, from the frustration, and that's a conversation that we can have by ourselves, with ourselves, every single day.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that, every single day. Thank you for that.
Speaker 3:Number two what inspired you to create a conversational academy podcast? Well, I have just learned again as one conversation can change your life right, and I think that there are so many beautiful stories out there to be told, and when we share those stories, we remind ourselves of the humanity that exists. I feel like we're really inundated with a lot of social media, a lot of news, a lot of I don't really like the word negativity just because it's just so overused but just this constant bombardment of life's not good Things are hard, this sucks, it's. You know this is terrible. You know that bombardment is. It needs to be turned down.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying that we need to stick our head in the sand and act like nothing's ever happening, but what I do know from quantum physics when we focus on what we are wanting, when we focus on the great things that are happening, we tend to see through that lens and that becomes our perspective of life. We all know it. We know the people that we've been around and they're just negative, nelly, you know, for lack of better word and venting and complaining, and complaining and venting. And again, while I'm not saying that we can't complain, but we can't vent, but why not do something that actually changes the lens that we're looking through so that we can see it as humanity. You know there are times when people are jerks, humanity. You know there are times when people are jerks. There are times when I've been a complete jerk, like you know. I've cut somebody off, I've put my hand up and been like what, what you know? Like, what are you doing? Like I've done those things. You know I yelled at my kid, I've yelled at my husband. You know all of these things. But when I focus in that space, it just grows. It just grows. But when I focus my attention on you know what and I've said this to my son you know that was not a good choice mommy made. However, mommy is a very good mommy and I work very hard at doing my very best. And that wasn't my best. I will do better next. And I worked very hard at doing my very best and that wasn't my best. I will do better next and that's it. It's all we have to say. You know it's it's important to share these stories out with the world, because our scripts become somebody else's scripts that change that. You know.
Speaker 3:My very close family friend said to me you don't understand. I thought about suicide and I said so have I many times, many times. There's been many times that I'm just driving and I'm like, oh, go off the bridge or let's just run into this wall, it's easier. It's not saying that I am not a mental health expert, but what I will say is I immediately go into my brain and say that's not right, you know better. And I start talking to myself. And when we have people that are sharing this on podcasts, sharing this on social media, it becomes more regulated and normalized so that my good friend's daughter doesn't end up in the hospital with a mental diagnosis that she doesn't have. You know, she didn't have that. She just had a moment where things got really, really hard and she moved through that moment and that's the adversity that we experience, and moving through that. We just need to be here for each other, and I think that that's why it's important to have these podcasts, to be here for each other.
Speaker 2:Very good. Our third question is tell me about your flagship program, the Conversation Station.
Speaker 3:Well, the Conversation Station is a beautiful program that I am bringing into schools right now. I have actually had quite a few requests for in-home as well, but I am not there 100%. So I'm beta testing in schools right now and the Conversation Station is a tool. It's a wall chart that hangs on the wall and it has three different compartments in it, three different steps for kids to learn how to have conversation with themselves and with each other. So we have these classrooms that are chaotic and you as a teacher know, and especially in special needs, we don't have a lot of social emotional tools. Well, a lot of schools check off the box for social emotional tools because there's a poster in the background that says talk to your friend. That's not a social emotional tool for these kids to really hone in and use on a daily basis. So the conversation station is a place that they can go, they can have a conversation with themselves. So they just take it's a little crystal heart, um, selenite heart that they put to their heart, take 10 deep breaths, self-regulate. Then they pull a card. That card has a um word on it. The words are A through Z, some hard like angry, some are easy, like friendship, and it talks about what that word means. How do we, how does it matter to us? So intuitively they can put the right parts together. And then the last step is a little brain that goes on their brain, a squishy brain that says what am I wanting? Heart that goes on your heart, what am I feeling right now, what's the energy I'm bringing to this? And then a star that says oh, my goodness, shine on us. And so what we're doing is we're teaching these kids to self-regulate. We're teaching them to have this conversation with themselves, and when they get in a conflict with each other, they can go to that station. The teacher can simply say once we're trained in this space, teacher can say hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. Go to the conversation stage and work that out, because we're teaching them how to have those conversations for themselves, so that they can learn how to have these conversations in real life. So we don't have people shooting people, we don't have people screaming and yelling at each other. We don't have people you know road raging in the parking lots edging each other out for a parking space, all the things right. We're teaching these communication skills for ourselves first and then with each other, so that we can be in alignment. And when we do this with our 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 rules, it is a ripple effect that will change the world.
Speaker 3:You know, I did it with high schoolers too, and what was interesting about the high schooler I said you know, this is kind of here for younger group. They're like we love this. Like I didn't know, I pulled the letter I for ignored. I didn't know that she felt, we just thought she wanted to be outside. You know, like, at lunchtime, we didn't know that she felt ignored, we just thought she wanted to be outside. You know, like, at lunchtime, we didn't know she was feeling ignored and she's like yeah, I felt ignored, you guys just left me out, and she's like but you went outside. So they had this conversation. That was actually a miscommunication that became healed, so that now we don't have rival gangs, now we don't have kids. You know, social media, media bullying each other, all the things that we're trying to quote, unquote, combat, but we're not giving them the skill set and the tools in order to do that. So that's what this is.
Speaker 2:Wonderful Well, thank you for creating that. It sounds like a wonderful and valuable tool to have in our school systems.
Speaker 3:I am. I am begging anybody that knows, anybody in any school system that is possibly see this in their space. I am begging to have that opportunity to present it to people because I know, I know it would change things. We beta tested it in a school here in Las Vegas and the kids loved it. They came in early to do the conversation station. They told their parents and you and I both know kids don't talk about things in school unless it's really good, right, right, very good.
Speaker 2:Well, that was our last question and, as we were talking, is there anything that you might have forgotten about?
Speaker 3:If you want to touch on one of your books, anything you want to share with our listeners, you can take that time right now and learning about Reiki and energy work and that we are evolving into this space where this stuff is coming out in big ways, and I so appreciate you for sharing this with the world, because it has the power to change lives and experiences and make life a little bit more fun and light and interesting and experiential.
Speaker 3:You know, we're working through this in our own consumerism and just this constant state of wanting more, getting more, you know, buying this and my son even came to me and said, mommy, I want that bike I used to have, and I said, oh, the stunt bike. He goes yeah. And I said, well, you've already had it. He goes, yeah, I just want it again and I'm like you sold it because you don't want it anymore. So you know, this consumerism, we've got to dial down a little bit, come back to the family and work together, and I'm so grateful that you are sharing this information out with the world and that people are open to this and learning from it, and anybody that has any questions I'm happy to answer as well and help as much as possible in this space, because I do believe that one proposition changes everything, absolutely All right.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and I love that you show that. You know you went through the training, you're doing the work and, even though it may not necessarily be a Reiki profession, you are infusing it in so many aspects of your life. You know, with creating your books and creating. You know through your podcast. You know creating the Wellness Center and the Conversation Academy. So it's just being blended so beautifully in your life.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I do. I do infuse Reiki in all of the conversation stations. Very good, very good.
Speaker 2:Or imbue it. That seems to be the new term now imbue. All right, well, very good, uh, and thank you so much. Uh, my wonderful listeners, if you would like your question featured on the podcast, reach out social media or wwwreadysetreikicom and maybe your question can be featured on the show. So I'm Tracy Seawright and this has been Ready Set. Reiki © transcript Emily Beynon.