We were lucky to catch up with Vanessa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

A defining moment… It was Wednesday, January 8th, 2020. My healing business, Lava to Stone had just launched about 2 months prior and very quickly opportunities lined up to work on individuals. These lead to being invited to attend and work at a retreat in Joshua Tree, which then lead to being invited to do energy work alongside a shaman doing reiki as he lead breath work classes at a studio called Oraya in Beverley Hills. From there I began tag teaming with another instructor for breath work and meditation classes at Oraya. My only job was to do reiki for the students as they were lead by him.

I spent New Years of 2020 watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon with a friend and his daughter and I set my intentions for the year. I asked the Universe to please align me with a new car (mine was 17 years old, a stick shift in the daily bumper to bumper traffic of Los Angeles), my own place to live (I was ready to step into living on my own and away from always having a roommate), and I asked to be aligned with my life purpose. What did the Universe want me to do with this energy work and Lava to Stone? I said my prayers of gratitude and looked forward to seeing how these three things would unfold over the coming year.

3 days later my parked car was totaled in an accident (luckily I was not in the car when it happened but I heard it happen when it did). A new car was now in the works. 3 days after that my roommate told me she was moving out into her own place so I needed to either find a roommate and take over the lease or it was time to go get my own place. There’s my new solo living situation. The day after that, was Wednesday January 8th. My co-teacher and I had a class to lead that night in Beverly Hills. He was leading meditation and breath work, I was doing reiki. 45 mins before I had to leave, he text me telling me he wasn’t up to going to class that night so the class was now in my hands.

I panicked. I had never lead a meditation in my life. I’d been guided by my guides through tons of them and they were always incredibly vibrant, colorful and full on adventures, but NEVER had I had to walk someone else through one, let alone to a group of people who were paying to be in a class. So I had two choices: 1. Tell the studio at the last minute that class was cancelled and to refund everyone because I had no idea what I was doing, or 2. Take this gift of an opportunity to trust in the Universe, push my ego to the side and trust in my channeling abilities… while doing reiki at the same time. I was terrified. I couldn’t do this on my own. I needed someone by my side to feel comfortable enough to even stand in front of the class, and I never said a word other than my hellos. I just did the healings. The men teaching the class ran the show. I wasn’t good enough on my own. Who was I kidding? I’d never taught a class before!

So one of the ways I communicate with my Spirit Guides and the Universe is through music. I have a playlist of a bunch of random songs that I like (over 1,700) on my Spotify account and I use it like a musical tarot deck. I call it “pulling a song”. I ask my guides a question and then hit shuffle and through the music or the artists or the memory it may trigger, they answer my question. So I grab my phone and ask my guides point blank “What do I do??!!” I pulled a song. The song that played was “Show Yourself” From the movie Frozen 2. (I was babysitting a lot at that time) As I played the song the lyrics echoed through my bedroom: “Show yourself, I’m dying to meet you, Show yourself, It’s your turn, Are you the one I’ve been looking for all my life? Show yourself, I’m ready to learn” The words hit me deep in my core and I knew this was all set up for me to step into my power and own the gifts that I have. No more standing in the shadows. It’s time to come out of hiding.

I broke down and sobbed on my bed through the whole song. Once it was done, I stood up, wiped my tears, got in the shower, and said “Alright guys, let’s do this” and the meditation came flooding through. That night I walked into class, introduced myself as if I had been doing this for years, stepped to the side and let the Universe take over. The class went incredibly well and the feedback was so positive that the owner offered me the time slot to do what I want with it every week from then on. I never heard from my co-teacher again.

I took over the Wednesday time slot and turned it into a meditation class where we focused on a different crystal that each student got to take home every week. I still know of some students who to this day has their pouch of stones from all of the classes they attended. We turned that class into a bi-weekly class and as things took off and I became more confident as both a teacher and a healer, March of 2020 quickly came and the world shut down. But those classes, the confidence the owner of Oraya had in me, and the the growth in the students who came to class week after week, planted the seeds for the classes I now teach online, locally and at The Lodge at Woodloch: A Destination Spa Resort in the Poconos. The shift in not only my personal journey, but my career was vital for the work I do today. I learned that 1. The Universe will always respond to what we ask for, but we have no control of the timing or how it will unfold. Non-attachment to the outcome, timing, and the ‘how’ is incredibly important. Looking back, the new car, the new space for home and the new trajectory of my career path were all necessary in that one week and at that speed to prepare me for what was to unfold during the years of covid. 2. It’s okay to be afraid, to doubt and to hand it to the Universe when you have no idea what to do. Feel all the feels and let yourself cry it out, scream it out, and throw a fit. But then you have to process those feelings, breathe through it, release it, and take the next step forward. The unknown is scary, especially when it comes out of nowhere. Take the hand of the ‘you’ who is freaking out and let them know it’s going to be ok. And then keep moving forward. And 3. Trust that all of these puzzle pieces that may not make sense in the moment are all a part of the bigger plan that your soul has signed up for. Just take it one puzzle piece at a time.

Vanessa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Vanessa Hernandez and I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. I have been intuitive my entire life, but my awakening journey officially kicked started at 16years old while on a vacation with my family in Oahu, Hawaii. There I met my first love and our two souls coming together activated my gifts. After that fateful trip my synchronicities and whispers from the Universe began. I began seeing specific numbers everywhere I looked, my premonition dreams became much more regular, I always knew who was calling the house line (this was before caller ID existed), and I began to see energy of spirits and guides all around me. I also met my first Spirit guide who was by my side for a solid decade until it was time for me to start to meet the rest of what I call my Spiritual Team.

My career focus originally began as an actor and print model, but during those years in schooling and the industry my intuitive abilities continued to get stronger. In 2012 I was doing a show in Lancaster PA at the Fulton Opera House Theater. At that time it was the longest running theater in the country and incredibly haunted; as was the apartment the company had housed me in. During my time there my mediumship abilities activated. I suddenly had the ability to connect with and communicate with those souls who were no longer in human form. That was a wild ride. After returning to New York City I took a deep dive for the next couple of years into finding workshops, circles, healing spaces, spiritualist churches, reiki practitioners, any kind of community with others who had had experiences like I had had. A whole new world opened up for me. I began listening to HayHouse radio (as close to a podcast as we had back then) and learned so much from the hosts and authors featured. I began exploring tarot, mediumship, strengthening my intuitive abilities and learning different energy healing modalities.

Later that year my grandmother passed away. She was a very magical woman and always supported my gifts and my experiences from a young child. I never felt crazy talking to her. If anything I wished I had the experience that she would share with me. I wish she were still here to share in all that I get to experience now. When she crossed over she joined my team and has been part of my guidance ever since.

I moved from New York to LA in 2014 continuing my focus for acting and immersing myself in new communities, classes, workshops and mentors during my free time.

August 2015, on the super full moon, I was hired to play the role of a Mayan Priestess for a Dos Equis event and was given a character name and a salt lamp to use as my crystal ball. I had never done readings for strangers before but my job was to just “make stuff up”. I was under no pressure to actually tune in and give a reading. My first guest appeared in my magical and mysterious room. They sat down in front of me and I began to play the part. Making up some kind of prayer I began to chant it to the “Goddess of the Moon”. We placed our hands on the salt lamp on my table. Suddenly I began seeing visions, images and montages of scenes like a movie. I started describing what I was seeing and repeated what thoughts were randomly coming into my head. My guests resonated with every single detail that I thought I shared. I thought that maybe they were just tipsy, too much free alcohol upstairs. Word spread quickly and the next thing I knew I had a line wrapped around the entire basement of people waiting to meet with the ‘Great Mayan Priestess’. For the next three hours I channeled accurate readings back to back. I had no idea what was happening but I also knew I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. It was an incredibly powerful evening. After that night I fully embraced what I thought was just a fun interest, and was now becoming a lifestyle choice. I found more teachers all over Los Angeles, more communities, more classes and continued to work hand in hand with my own personal guides.

From 2017-2019 another big shift happened in my journey and I dove even deeper than before into the world of different soul to soul energetic bonds/relationships. I immersed myself in the studies of crystals, pendulum work, tarot and oracle card readings, and channeling. I was focused primarily on my own journey and dabbled here and there on doing mini readings for family and friends.

2019 I shifted career focuses, became reiki certified and started building my own healing practice called Lava to Stone. From retreats, to classes, to one on ones I dove into the deep end and put all of my trust in the Universe down this new path. When covid hit in 2020 and most of us were stuck at home, I leveled up again receiving my Reiki Master certification and beginning to do all of my in person work remotely. Through word of mouth my business took off and I eventually made my way back up to the Bay Area. I spent another year there continuing to build my business, and expanding my offerings from distance energy healing for all ages as well as animals, channeled messages/readings, and mentoring, to inner child healing and past life healing.

In January 2022 the Universe pulled it’s magic once again and I found myself through a string of what felt like random events (though looking back it was clearly divinely orchestrated) landing in the middle of the woods in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. I am now the Reiki Shamanic Energy Healer at The Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa resort. It was just ranked as the #1 All Inclusive Resort in the US by USA Today. At The Lodge I teach a variety of classes including guided meditation with hands on healing, energetic self care, working with crystals, how to manifest/co-create with the Universe, as well as do one on one healing sessions for guests. I was also recently their Guest Speaker for a weekend focusing on Inner Child Healing.

Along with The Lodge at Woodloch, Lava to Stone continues to thrive. I am blessed to have clients all over the world who allow me to be a part of their healing journey. I teach online classes and workshops as well as in person workshops in the community, and do private circles for those who have their own group they would like to share the experience with.

Lava to Stone continues to be a nest for others to come to where we hold space during what can be a very confusing, unnerving, exciting, fascinating and magical experience of the unknown in this awakening journey. Whether it’s through receiving guidance from their Spirit Guides during an energy healing session or we’re tending to the wounds, the beliefs and the programming they are still carrying from the past that needs some attention and love, every session is another step forward down their path of the awakening journey.

At Lava to Stone we bring your shadows to the light, break toxic patterns and cycles, and connect with the root of your pain to align with your highest potential. Utilizing our connection to the Divine, we dig deep onto your personal story, locate the root of your issue, and tend to it with unconditional love, compassion, non-judgment and light.

Something I hear from my clients, students and guests often is that my energy I bring to the space (in person and via zoom) is incredibly warm, loving and accepting. I create a space where my clients feel safe to explore, speak about and work with their shadows that are often uncomfortable to face. I see the light within all of my clients and walk beside them as they begin to see more and more of their own light that they carry. I’m also a mentor and healer who is constantly doing my own inner work, so I’m just as much on the journey as they are.

I am so proud of how committed my clients are to their own healing journey as well as how far I’ve come in mine. It is such an honor to witness. We learn from one another whether in session or in life, and I am forever grateful to connect with so many people from so many different walks of life. If we’re going help heal this world, it has to start with us first as an individual. Our personal energy not only affects others, but it travels across the world if we direct it. Science has proven that. Do the work on yourself and you will be amazed to see how that energy ripples out to your household, your community, your neighborhood, your coworkers, your city, your state, your country, and the entire world.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Before choosing the healing arts to be my profession, I was a dedicated actor. My dream was to be on Broadway. The stage (and eventually the screen) was where I felt I could really dive deep, push my ego to the side and allow the energy of the character to come through. That’s when I felt the most alive, when my physical vessel embodied the role that was written, took the words off the page and brought an entire new world to life. I loved how I could be a part of something where I took the audience on a journey. Gave them a chance to escape their every day stresses and run with their imagination. And sometimes, if I was lucky enough to be working with an amazing playwright or screenwriter, I could help the audience member receive a message or healing to their own journey simply by letting the work work through me. As an actor you have to be present, you have to really listen to what your partner is saying, and you have to live as if you were the actual character, because during those moments, you are. You are embodying their energy.

I went to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts on a full ride scholarship, where I ate, breathed and lived theater. That carried me into my time in Brooklyn and further into my time in Los Angeles. All of my years where I was passionately immersed in my craft, I was equally as curious and immersed in spirituality and honing in my intuitive abilities. My craft. At the time I saw them as two different parts of me. Two different roles. Two different worlds. Little did I know I would be using all of the training from acting in what I do now.

In 2018 I made some very big decisions in my personal relationships that forced me to really create boundaries, honor them, use my voice, step into my power, and own my truth. It was the hardest yet most profound year for me and had been building to that point for many years. Once that had been done my entire world changed around me. I began to really work on self love and self worth, finding my true voice and not apologizing for who or what I was anymore. No more letting others decide my fate and no more choosing to conform to those around me in fear of being rejected (both personally and professionally).

When we do the inner work, it shifts our vibration. The Universe is constantly responding to the vibration we carry; the vibration that we are. When it comes to energy, like attracts like vibrationally. Any two energies with a matching frequency will magnetically be drawn together. And every thing is energy. So whatever we put out energetically speaking is what we draw into our personal realities. (This isn’t the only way that life and the Universe works but it’s one very big way). So as my internal reality (my vibration) shifted, so did my external reality, because the old me drew in one kind of story. The newer version of me attracted in different vibrations, a different reality. During this process over the year and a half of stepping into this new vibration, many things in my life fell away. They had to. They vibrationally matched the old me, not the new me. My acting career and the drive for it fell into that category. Never in my life did I ever think that I would even consider not pursuing an acting career. It had been my dream since I was 8 yrs old after seeing Bette Midler star in the film “Gypsy”. Suddenly I wasn’t driven anymore. I wasn’t getting called in for auditions and when I did get an alert that I received one, I felt a huge wave of anxiety take over me as well as discomfort and sometimes even irritation. It wasn’t fun anymore. It was painful. But I also didn’t know what else I could do. All of my studies and training were acting related. I stressed about it a lot but I didn’t have the guts to just walk away. So instead I sat in the discomfort praying I’ll book something that will pull me out of this strange discomfort. Acting used to give me so much joy… now it only brought anxiety and self doubt.

One night, March of 2019, my friend Max (also an actor… a working actor) was over and I was sharing my stresses and fears with him. “What do I do??” He took a look around my room and all he saw were crystals, tarot cards, chakra banners, singing bowls and twinkle lights. “THIS Vanessa. THIS is what you’re supposed to be doing.” Not only is he wise but he’s also a pisces, which means he’s incredibly intuitive. “Nobody makes a career doing THIS Max!” But I sat with it. Could that even be a possibility? What would that even look like?? So I made a deal with my spirit guides. My contract renewals were coming up with my agencies. There was no way they would sign me, I hadn’t booked in forever and hadn’t even had an audition in MONTHS. I was dead weight. So I said, “If they drop me, I’ll go down the healer route and figure things out.” I left it in their hands.

I went to my meetings and every single rep chose to resign me. I had a pit in my stomach and knew I couldn’t do it anymore. I was also mad at the Universe because it was forcing ME to make the decision, nobody else. After some more resistance and procrastination I decided to go home to visit my parents for the month of July. I sat by the water every day asking the Universe for clarity on the next step. It came and I continued to resist it. Until finally one day I remembered something an intuitive had said to me at a Galentine’s event. She had done a quick 3 card reading for me and said “You’re a healer. You heal with your hands. Look into energy healing, that’s your gift”. I pocketed the thought and went on with the chaos and uncertainty of my life. That July by the water her voice came back into my head. I mentioned it to my mom when I got home and she told me that her good friend Laura was a Reiki Master, maybe I should talk to her. We connected and she attuned me for Reiki 1 just a few days later. It was so clear to me after that attunement. I’m meant to be an energy healer and I’m meant to help others on their healing journey. How? No clue. But my job in that moment wasn’t about figuring out the logistics, that would come. My job was to own the decision, and then take that next step. And that next step was voicing it to the people I loved the most. Telling my parents was terrifying. Acting was already a career that wasn’t stable or consistent (yet they were my biggest cheerleaders). But dropping everything I’ve worked so hard for and for decades, to start from scratch and make up a job and career as I went along because there was definitely no template or formula for that world. The chat came with its bumps and uncertainties but eventually, as always, my parents supported my decision and I haven’t looked back since.

Now 6 years later I am a full time healer, mentor and teacher, and everyday I get to be on stage in front of an audience in class, or on camera for my workshops and videos. I use the skills I learned as an actor when breaking down a script and asking questions about the character to dig into the root of who they are and why they want what they want or why they are the way they are. I use these tools while guiding others (and myself) during mentoring and shadow work. I know how to shape my classes and lectures so that everyone is taken on their own journey with the stories and learnings I get to share. I know how to connect with a large or small crowd. I can reach the back of the room or the last row in the theater without forcing anything. When I speak, no matter which direction I am facing, everyone can hear me. I know how to fill the room using all of me not just projecting to the front. This really helps when I am guiding a meditation and moving from person to person doing hands on healing while they lay on the floor. I use my voice training so that I am not losing my voice after back to back days of lectures, readings and sessions. I use my voice over training during guided mediations, crafting my meditations to really take my client on a genuinely magical ride. I understand the energy exchange between audience and the person on stage. I have the ability to move my ego to the side and let the Universe and the Divine work through me. I channel energy and messages the way I channeled characters. I trust that as long as I know what I am saying and I truly believe what I am saying, it will affect others exactly as it is meant to, however that may be. I have no control over how others will respond to what I share, but I know I can hold space and make them feel safe and welcomed in the room. And hopefully they will walk away with a tool or two to add to their tool kit. Or at least a feeling of curiosity to explore more of their own inner journey.

I’m still living my dream, it just looks different than I thought it would. And it continues to evolve as I do. As for acting, I keep it to local theaters, and now I do it for fun instead of for work. Yes I am a healer but I will forever be an actor at heart.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what has helped me build my reputation in this field is trusting that being my true authentic self is enough. Energy is contagious. I’m honest, I’m kind, I’m silly, I’m present, and I see the inner child in everyone. The younger versions of them as well as myself who needs just a little extra attention, acknowledgment and love. I’m this way not just with my clients but everyone I work with or connect with in the spaces that I work in. I’m always reminding others that I am just as much on this journey as they are and we are all humans trying to figure this life out one step at a time. I’m genuinely grateful to work with those who are in my classes, my zoom rooms or on my table, but also for those I get to see in the prep room and other departments at the spa every day. I lean into the gratitude that I have for doing the job that I do and for working in the places that I work, even on the hard days. It’s taken years of inner work to get to this point, and I still struggle with imposter syndrome every now and again, but I continue to work on the pain points that those fears are rooting from. Layer by layer it gets easier and easier. Giving myself permission to take up space and fill up the room without apologizing or dimming my light in fear of others being uncomfortable has been key. Trust myself, trust in the work, and trust in the Universe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lavatostone.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lava_to_stone/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lavatostone
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lavatostone
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lava_to_stone

Image Credits

David Shadrake
Jon Bangle