Heather Dempsey recalls being a nature baby while growing up in Bucks County. “I was always in the dirt, collecting caterpillar nests and fishing with cups, so I always had that connection,” she recalls. During middle school, she discovered the power of crystals and immersed herself in other aspects of the energy realm—the Law of Attraction, reiki and more. Dempsey carried that love of nature and New Age healing into adulthood, which eventually led to her holistic life coaching and energy healing practice, Heart Space Happy Place.

Dempsey owned a day spa in Bucks County before moving last year to the Lancaster area. While operating the spa, she started learning about life coaching and how to apply her energy therapies to coaching. She also practices yoga and now offers private and group yoga classes. As one that always held vast interests in many different modalities, she believes that makes her practice unique.

“Instead of being one person that knows just one thing, I can introduce clients to 20 different things,” Dempsey says. “I don’t claim to be a master of all of the areas I study, but I enjoy investigating options thoroughly, and my style allows clients and I to explore a multitude of modalities. This helps us discover what resonates most for them so we can go deeper in that direction.”

Dempsey is aware that her field of energy work and New Age healing isn’t always taken seriously. Therefore, she’s become well versed and trained in each of the vast modalities she offers. She’s certified through Jack Canfield’s Success Principles, Byron Katie’s coaching program The Work—a way of identifying and questioning thoughts that cause suffering—and many more. Dempsey offers coaching for individuals and businesses.

“I want to train from people who have done serious, official research and have a lot of credibility,” she notes. “I feel that having these credentials reinforces that this isn’t some little hobby; it’s my career.”

Her popular Heart Space Bliss is a sampler of most things she offers: reiki healing, crystal healing, aromatherapy and sound therapy. Another popular service is

Emotion Code, a therapy that releases trapped emotions. “The average person has 350 emotions trapped in body,” Dempsey explains. “If you got separated from your mother in a store when you were 3 years old, a feeling of abandonment may have set in and you subconsciously attract others who abandon you. The practice of Emotion Code is releasing emotions so we don’t keep reliving and experiencing bad behaviors and patterns.”

The process is done through muscle testing and comparing those results to a chart to determine where emotions are trapped, and then releasing them energetically with a magnet.

Dempsey strives to provide a personalized experience in a cozy, casual and non-judgmental space. She enjoys the diversity and opportunities her work offers. “There’s nothing rigid about it. It’s really customized and free flowing, based on each person and where they are in the moment. Also, seeing people’s transformations is really moving,” she says happily.

Heart Space Happy Place is located at 2nd St., Columbia; Sway Yoga, 336 Locust St., Columbia; and Spa la Vie, 3031 Columbia Ave., Lancaster, For more information, call 717-974-4841, email [email protected] or visit HS-HP.com.

Sheila Julson is a Milwaukee-based freelance writer and contributor to Natural Awakenings magazines throughout the country.