Chris Leverett is the founder of Asgard Academy, a hub for holistic and spiritual education that emerged from his lifelong passion for energy work, earth-based spirituality, and transformative learning. With a background spanning aromatherapy, pagan traditions, and a deep commitment to hands-on teaching, Chris has built an academy that prioritizes authentic, practitioner-led training.
In this interview, he shares his journey from running a wellbeing center in London to launching Asgard Academy in Glastonbury, his philosophy on holistic education, and the importance of fostering a heart-centered community of learners.
Can you tell us more about your background and what led you to found Asgard Academy in 2019?
My journey originally began in the early 2000’s when I trained as an Aromatherapist. I had a great teacher who would inspire me by giving me little nuggets of information about other therapies or would refer to ‘energy’ things – the aura, the chakras and the like. It was from her that my inquisitive self started to explore many different directions – holistically, spiritually etc. At the same time I was diving into the pagan world much too – looking into a variety of magical practices including Druidry, Celtic Shamanism, Ceremonial Magic and Natural Witchcraft. Over the years I’ve devoured as much as I could information wise and have constantly been described as a ‘jack of all trades’ (and probably hinting at being the master of none – haha) but I would much rather have a toolbox full of a variety of techniques and tricks to call upon as and when I need them. I’ve been working as a therapist full-time since 2009 and have been teaching since 2011. For many years I would make a point of learning something new (sometimes learning something in each season!) and I’ve come to realise that its all the same thing. Its all energy, it all comes from the same place, but each person connects to it in their own individual way.
I had a Spiritual and Wellbeing Centre in North London with my partner where we offered a vast array of treatments and were teaching workshops and classes pretty much 5 nights a week and most weekends. Then out of the blue, the COVid lockdown happened, and we suddenly found ourselves unable to teach our students. We had battled with our insurance company with regards to online training (which we weren’t huge fans of) as some things, like massage and other physical therapies you absolutely cannot be taught online! So during COVid we ended up having to close our centre and we ended up relocating to Glastonbury in Somerset and opened our shop Sons of Asgard. This is taken up the majority of our time however I missed the teaching and development aspect of what we were doing with people before.
I’m a very, very firm believer that we need more holistic/spiritual therapists in the world, but ones that are properly trained and haven’t just completed a quick few hour course! And so, the Asgard Academy was born! It started off with moving our Tarot for Beginners Class across and its just gone from strength to strength. We’ve recently moved onto a new more automated platform and have over 150 classes with at least another 150 that we’ve taught before that I am slowly working my way through turning them into an online version.
Although I am talking more about our holistic and wellbeing classes my passion lies with anything that comes from the Earth. I love earth-based spirituality, essential oils, crystals, herbs and anything that is energy based. Our courses reflect this, hence the huge variety of subjects available!
What makes Asgard Academy unique compared to other institutions offering similar teachings?
This is a great question and one that has a few reasons behind it. Without removing the passion, drive and intention behind other providers motivations, I absolutely wanted to make sure that the courses we teach are ones that we also practice. Unfortunately, I have been to more than my fair share of workshops and classes taught by people who aren’t even in the wellbeing / holistic / spiritual sector and to say they have been below-par (and VERY expensive) is an underestimate. As I said before, we absolutely need more genuine, heart centred holistic and spiritual therapists in the world, but I do think we also need to make sure that this training is 1, affordable for people and 2, once completed, the certificate actually means something.
Its sad that there are huge training providers out there who use AI to write their courses and no practicing therapist has even cast their eyes over it. There are also other providers who claim their classes are ‘certified’ but after completion, it turns out that the certificate means nothing. We wanted to make sure that our student can do something with their qualification (assuming they’ve chosen a practitioner level course) and that they have the opportunity to get guidance from a practicing therapist. Any of our courses that are a ‘practitioner’ level, the cost of the course includes a practical day with myself or one of our more experienced students who are now therapists, but 9 times out of 10, students will spend their practical training day with me.
When it comes to the practical days, the most we ever have is 4 students at once although the majority of our days are run on a 1-2-1 or 1-2-2 basis. I don’t think the Asgard Academy is better than other providers – I just want people to know that we do it with heart. We do it with feeling. The Academy isn’t there for money (yes we all have bills to pay) – instead, it’s a way of passing on knowledge and creating a community of like-minded folk.
One other thing that we offer, and something that is really important to us – is that twice a year we open up applications for students to apply for an Asgard Academy Scholarship where we give away £2500 worth of courses to those wishing to re-train as a holistic therapist. We offer this at both the Winter and Summer Solstice and so far (although we didn’t do applications this Summer due to moving across to a new platform) we’ve ended up giving away 5 scholarships each time. We started this in 2022 and so far have given out over 20 Scholarships – all students have to pay for is their materials. All their online and face to face training is completely free!
Finally, and this is something that has been recently implemented – we’ve begun listing our selection of entirely free workshops! These are open to all students, either new or existing, and all you need to do is create a free account on the website. You will then be able to enrol in any courses showing as free!
Asgard Academy describes itself as a community space. Can you elaborate on what kind of community you have fostered at the Academy?
I love the community we have created. The new platform we use to host the courses and the entire Academy lends itself really well to letting our students interact not only with the tutors but with other students too. We regularly hold ‘Student Days’ whereby our students spend a day with us and also get to meet each other and of course, enjoy a treatment or two from each other as well. We also reach out to other students when we need case studies or practice bodies for other students.
I’m always at the end of an email or text message. I recently celebrated a big birthday and was overwhelmed by the love from my students, one of which sent me a lovely gift and a really touching message in a card. She’s taking the training she’s received and is taking control of her future having started her own spiritual and holistic business. It’s things like this that fuels me to do what I do – empowering others – and guiding them to do the same for others around them too.
I love our students and I love the community – they are amazing!
The Academy offers a wide variety of subjects. What are some of the most popular courses you offer, and why do you think they resonate with students?
Statistically, our most popular class is our Energy Basics course, but that’s probably because it is free! To be honest, the question made me look through the enrolments to have a look at the popular classes and its all our foundations classes that are popular. Introduction to the Chakras, Crystals for Beginners, Aromatherapy for Beginners, Introduction to Natural Witchcraft. I think this is because our beginners classes, although they are aimed at those who are just starting out, are absolutely packed with information, tips, techniques and practical work.
What are the biggest challenges and rewards of running Asgard Academy?
Honestly, until recently, the biggest challenge was most definitely with the old website – nothing was automated. Everything after the student paid for their class had to be done manually, enrolment, confirmations, assessments… it was becoming unmanageable with the amount of enrolments we were having. Now with the new website this has taken lots of the pressure off.
Now, the biggest challenge is making sure people know that we aren’t just churning out courses for the sake of it or letting them know the classes are written by actual people and practitioners rather than AI or by a company that has no experienced within the spiritual, holistic, magical or wellbeing sector.
The reward, for me personally, is when I see students taking their training and doing something with it. Seeing students starting their own business and going out into the world, working for themselves and taking control of their future is amazing. I love it. It makes me super proud to see and I get so much joy helping people develop their business to offer exactly what it is they want.
On an energetic level, I’ve never been one for ‘this is what you should feel’ or ‘this is exactly what this is’. I love helping people find their own answer or solution – I am there to facilitate them finding that ‘I’ve got it!’ moment – and I love that too. Knowing they’ve got to that answer without just being told or given the answer.
What are your aspirations for the future of Asgard Academy?
I would love to be able to reach more people, to develop and enhance our courses and let people know that there are real people behind the classes – there is no AI written courses and no huge corporation – at the moment I am the only tutor and maybe this will change in the future and other tutors can also host their classes on our platform. Who knows. I would love to see it go from strength to strength and if anyone gets just a little something to help them from one or more of our classes our courses, then my job is done.
