Welcome to the Ascension School of Healing Arts (ASHA), where learning and healing happen face to face.
Welcome, and thank you for finding your way here. ASHA is a warm, welcoming space in the heart of downtown Ferndale, where Donna Lakes and our team of certified healers offer in-person classes, healing sessions, and community events.
Whether you live in Ferndale or are coming from nearby Royal Oak, Berkley, Hazel Park, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Detroit, or elsewhere in Oakland County and metro Detroit, we’d love to welcome you. Come sit with us, learn alongside others, and take your next step on your healing journey.
Donna attuned me for reiki levels 1&2 and I am so grateful I had the privilege to learn under her guidance. Beautiful soul, Thank you Donna!
Donna has an amazing healing ability! She is also a great mentor and reiki teacher. I’ve had some Reiki 1&2 with her and also did a healing session. She makes you feel so comfortable and relaxed. I would recommend her 1000 times over!
The best Reiki school—transformative teaching, deep healing, memorable experience. Thank you Dev !!!!
I had the pleasure of taking classes with Dev. She is very knowledgeable and very good teacher. I have definitely learned so much from her and im a better healer.
I've taken two classes at the Ascension School if Healing Arts, and had multiple healing sessions with Donna (Dev) so far. Her readings are deep and thorough. The classes are insightful, and easy to follow. I especially appreciated the option to attend in person and online.
My experience with Donna exceeded my expectations. I felt completely comfortable, understood, and she guided my mind to places it had never been! I left feeling energized and with clarity for my healing journey.
I know without a doubt that I was divinely guided to Dev and the Ascension School of Healing Arts. I originally signed up for a Reiki class, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. That class opened the door to the school and led me to other offerings, including the Self-Healing course, which has been nothing short of profoundly life-changing.
The teachings, the practices, and the supportive energy of this school have transformed me in ways I never thought possible. I highly recommend it to anyone who is ready to change their life in the most profound and beautiful way. Beyond the classes, I’ve also gained something invaluable—a community of like-minded spiritual souls who feel like family.
I've been a student of Donna's since 2019. I've completed a wide variety of classes from Reiki to Intuitive Development to Self Healing. I've also been seeing Donna for healing sessions. If you are willing to put the work in, Donna will expertly and compassionately guide you through the process of personal growth and healing.
Great experience, caring, knowledgeable, and professional. Excellent program!
Ive had many healings from acension, it really put me on the right path to remove road blocks that were subconscious in my life. Ive also taken a couple of her courses & left empowered & unstuck. Learned many tools for my day to day to keep my energy safe & listen to my intuition.
For more than 15 years, ASHA founder Donna Lakes has been teaching Reiki, and our in-person Reiki class has become the heart of what we do. Through years of study and practice, and thousands of students taught, Donna has shaped a class that is gentle, grounded, and deeply supportive, whether you’re curious about Reiki for the first time or ready to become a practitioner.
In person, you learn to feel the energy for yourself. You practice hands-on with guidance, ask questions as they come up, and build friendships with others on the same path. It’s the kind of learning that stays with you long after class ends.
Beyond classes, our certified healers offer in-person sessions designed to calm the nervous system, release what’s weighing on you, and bring clarity. A few favorites:
You’ll also find flower essence therapies, Acu Aroma Reiki, and more on our full services page.
If you feel called to do more than receive healing, ASHA offers pathways for personal growth and professional training.
Our Empower Me Pathway is a supportive way to reconnect with your own inner strength and step into your personal power.
For those ready to become healers, our certification programs build your skills step by step:
Explore Empower MeYear 1 CertificationYear 2 CertificationReiki CertificationSelf-Study Courses
You don’t need to book a session or sign up for a course to be part of ASHA. Our community events are open to the public, welcome all experience levels, and are a gentle way to meet us, meet others on the path, and see what feels right for you. No prior experience needed, just come as you are.
Here’s a taste of what gathers at our Ferndale school:
New events are added all the time, so check the calendar for what’s coming up and reserve your spot.
Ascension School of Healing Arts
195 West 9 Mile Rd, Suite 101
Ferndale, MI 48220
Phone (248) 270-2815
Email asha@ascendmylife.com
Addison Township fills the rural northeast corner of Oakland County, where Addison Oaks County Park spreads across 1,140 acres around the Buhl Estate, a Tudor manor built in 1927. Reaching ASHA means a long drive south to West 9 Mile Road in Ferndale, in the southern part of the county.
Auburn Hills grew from the village of Auburn that Aaron Webster founded on the Clinton River in 1821, though the Auburn Hills name dates only to 1964. Students head south from its riverfront downtown to reach ASHA's classroom in Ferndale.
Berkley keeps its local history in the old fire hall on Coolidge Highway, built in 1928 and home to the Berkley Historical Museum since 1993. ASHA is a few miles southeast in Ferndale, a short trip along the Woodward corridor that both cities share.
Michigan's most populous village, Beverly Hills, offers walkers the Douglas Evans Nature Preserve on Evergreen Road, while the Hidden Rivers preserve is a wildlife habitat ringed by branches of the Rouge River. Ferndale, where ASHA teaches, is a short drive to the southeast.
Bingham Farms is a small wooded village of 1,124 residents at the 2020 census, with the Franklin Branch of the Rouge River running through it. To reach ASHA, residents head southeast to Ferndale, a short drive from the village.
Birmingham is home to the John West Hunter House of 1822, the oldest house in Oakland County and part of the Birmingham Museum campus. Heading southeast on Woodward Avenue brings Birmingham residents to Ferndale and ASHA's classroom on West Nine Mile Road.
Amasa Bagley settled Bloomfield Hills in 1819, and the place was called Bagley's Corners and Bloomfield Center before it took its present name in the 1890s. From the city, Woodward Avenue heads southeast and reaches Ferndale, home of ASHA's classroom.
Bloomfield Township, established in 1827, is the oldest township in Oakland County, and its Johnson Nature Center keeps woodland trails and a visitor center. Ferndale lies to the southeast, where ASHA holds classes on West Nine Mile Road.
Brandon Township is rural hill country at the north end of Oakland County, and the Ortonville State Recreation Area, roughly 5,400 acres of wooded high ground, starts at the edge of its village of Ortonville. ASHA's Ferndale classroom lies well to the southeast, a long drive down through the county.
Clawson covers just 2.2 square miles, surrounded by Troy and Royal Oak, and its Fourth of July celebration dates to 1933. From downtown Clawson, ASHA's classroom in Ferndale is only a few miles to the south.
In Commerce Township the Huron River once powered the Commerce Roller Mill, built in 1837 to process lumber and grind flour. Residents drive southeast out of the lakes area to reach ASHA in Ferndale.
Farmington, a compact city entirely surrounded by Farmington Hills, keeps the 1867 Governor Warner Mansion as a museum and the Farmington Civic Theater, opened in 1940, on Grand River Avenue. To reach ASHA, residents drive east from the Grand River downtown to Ferndale.
Farmington Hills holds Heritage Park, where 4.5 miles of trails wind through 211 acres between Ten Mile and Eleven Mile, and The Hawk, a community center with its own theater. Ferndale lies east of the city, with ASHA's classroom on West Nine Mile Road.
Fenton is a Shiawassee River town that spans three counties, and its 1938 community center downtown was designed by Eliel Saarinen. ASHA is a long drive southeast in Ferndale, toward the southern end of Oakland County.
Ferndale is a walkable city just north of Detroit, known for the DIY Street Fair, the Funky Ferndale Art Fair and a downtown built around Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue. ASHA's own classroom is here in town, in Suite 101 at 195 West 9 Mile Road.
Franklin counted 3,139 residents in the 2020 census, and it sits between Inkster Road to the west and Telegraph Road to the east, with 14 Mile Road as its northern line. ASHA's classroom in Ferndale is a short drive southeast of the village.
Groveland Township is a full six by six mile square of northwest Oakland County that has never lost land to a city or village, and its Groveland Oaks campground sits on Stewart Lake. To reach ASHA, residents travel from the county's northwest hills down to Ferndale in southern Oakland County.
Hazel Park calls itself The Friendly City, and Green Acres Park hosts the yearly Hazel Park Art Fair. ASHA is just to the west in Ferndale, on West Nine Mile Road.
Highland Park is an enclave city inside Detroit and the birthplace of the moving assembly line. Its students can study Reiki with ASHA in Ferndale or join the live classes online.
Highland Township holds Haven Hill, the former country estate of Edsel Ford, whose natural area of 721 acres became a National Natural Landmark in 1976. From these western Oakland County hills, the trip to ASHA leads to Ferndale in the southern part of the county.
In Holly, a village in northern Oakland County, the Holly Dickens Festival takes over downtown each holiday season and WaterWorks Park is a starting point for the Shiawassee River Heritage Water Trail. ASHA teaches southeast of the village in Ferndale, a long drive to the southern end of the county.
Holly Township includes Seven Lakes State Park, with about 230 acres of water spread across six lakes, and the Holly Union Depot, built in 1886. ASHA lies far to the southeast in Ferndale, a long drive from the township's lakes.
Huntington Woods, nicknamed the City of Homes, holds the western grounds of the Detroit Zoo and the Rackham Golf Course, a Donald Ross design that opened in 1925. ASHA's Ferndale classroom is close by to the southeast.
Independence Township is home to Independence Oaks County Park, with more than 12 miles of trails and a swimming beach, and to Pine Knob Music Theatre, which Pollstar ranked the most attended amphitheater in the world. Ferndale lies southeast of the township, a drive down from its hilly lake country to ASHA on West Nine Mile Road.
Keego Harbor lines the east side of Cass Lake, which is both the biggest and the deepest lake in Oakland County, and its population has stayed near 2,760 since 1960. Students head southeast from the lake to reach ASHA in Ferndale.
Among Michigan cities only Omer has fewer people than Lake Angelus, which shares borders with Pontiac, Auburn Hills and Waterford Township. ASHA's classroom is southeast of the city, in Ferndale.
Lake Orion is named for its lake of 506 acres, about 80 feet deep at its deepest, and keeps a limestone arch bridge built over Indian Lake Road in 1891. ASHA is south of the village in Ferndale, a longer trip down through Oakland County.
Lathrup Village is a planned city of 1.5 square miles laid out by Louise Lathrup Kelley, one of the very few women developing whole communities in the 1920s. Because Southfield surrounds it on every side, the short drive southeast to ASHA in Ferndale always begins on Southfield streets.
Leonard is a village of 377 people in Addison Township, standing at 1,007 feet, and the Polly Ann Trail passes through it on the old Pontiac, Oxford and Northern railroad corridor. From the far northern edge of metro Detroit, the trip to ASHA runs a long way south to Ferndale, just north of Detroit.
Lyon Township, centered on New Hudson, grew about 60 percent between the 2010 and 2020 censuses and keeps 800 acres of wetlands inside Lyon Oaks County Park. Reaching ASHA means a drive from southwest Oakland County across to Ferndale, in the south of the county.
Madison Heights became a city by popular vote in 1955, and its Red Oaks park complex of 139 acres combines a county waterpark, a nature center and a dog park. ASHA's Ferndale classroom sits just to the southwest, a short trip from the John R corridor.
Milford is a Huron River village whose riverside mills made it one of the first Michigan communities with electric lights, in 1892. ASHA lies east in Ferndale, a longer drive across Oakland County from the village.
Milford Charter Township contains General Motors' Milford Proving Ground, the first proving ground in the auto industry set aside for vehicle testing, and Camp Dearborn, a park of 626 acres that the City of Dearborn owns. Residents travel east across the county to reach ASHA's classroom on West Nine Mile Road in Ferndale.
Northville keeps the Marquis Theatre downtown, a stage more than a century old that reopened in 1978 for live children's theater, and Fish Hatchery Park on the grounds of a former fish hatchery. Ferndale lies east of Northville, and ASHA's classes meet there on West Nine Mile Road.
Novi has the largest Japanese community of any Michigan municipality and hosts the largest Japan festival in the state each October. Students drive east from the Twelve Oaks Mall area to reach ASHA in Ferndale.
By land area no Michigan township is smaller than Novi Township, whose roughly 70 acres hold a single subdivision, Brookland Farms. Its residents drive east toward Ferndale to reach ASHA at 195 West 9 Mile Road.
Oak Park grew roughly sevenfold in the 1950s and 1960s, from about 5,000 people to more than 36,000, and Shepherd Park offers an outdoor pool and an ice rink. Nine Mile Road, the city's commercial spine, carries residents east into Ferndale and to ASHA's classroom on West Nine Mile.
Oakland Township carries part of the Paint Creek Trail, which opened in 1983 as Michigan's first rail trail, and keeps farm buildings from the 1840s in the Cranberry Lake Farm Historic District. Rochester Hills borders the township to the south, and ASHA's Ferndale classroom lies farther south beyond it.
Orion Township's Bald Mountain Recreation Area spreads trails, inland lakes and trout streams across 4,600 acres of some of the steepest ground in southeastern Michigan. Ferndale lies south of the township, beyond neighboring Auburn Hills, and ASHA teaches there.
Ortonville grew around Amos Orton's mills on Kearsley Creek, and his 1856 mill still stands as a museum after spending part of the 1920s making electricity for the village. Sitting roughly halfway between Pontiac and Flint, the village is a long drive northwest of ASHA in Ferndale.
Oxford is a village inside Oxford Township with a two block downtown of shops, restaurants and taverns, and The Oxford Leader has been published there weekly since 1898. From about 30 miles north of Detroit, residents head south to reach ASHA in Ferndale.
Pleasant Ridge covers 0.57 square miles on an ancient beach ridge that rose out of what surveyors called the Great Swamp, and nearly all of it lies within a National Register historic district. Woodward Avenue runs through the city, and a short trip southeast along it reaches ASHA in Ferndale.
Pontiac, the seat of Oakland County since 1820, was founded in 1818 where the Saginaw Trail crossed the Clinton River and carries the name of the Odawa war chief Pontiac. Woodward Avenue, which the Woodward Dream Cruise follows between Pontiac and Ferndale, leads southeast to ASHA's Ferndale classroom.
Rochester, where the Graham family made the first European settlement in Oakland County in 1817, now drapes its downtown in more than a million lights each holiday season. Ferndale lies almost straight south of the city, and ASHA's classroom there is on West Nine Mile Road.
Rochester Hills is home to Meadow Brook Hall, a mansion of 110 rooms that Matilda Dodge Wilson built from 1926 to 1929, and only three historic house museums in the United States are larger. Ferndale is south of the city, where ASHA keeps its classroom on West Nine Mile Road.
Rose Township counts roughly 45 lakes and ponds, and Rose Oaks County Park gives it 637 acres with five miles of trails and about 200 acres of wetlands. Getting to ASHA takes a drive from northwestern Oakland County down to Ferndale, close to the county's southern line.
Royal Oak takes its name from an 1819 visit by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass, who likened a great oak here to the tree that hid King Charles II, and its farmers market opened in 1925. ASHA is just south of the city in Ferndale, a short trip down Woodward Avenue.
South Lyon sits where three separate railroads once converged, and each fall its Pumpkinfest draws crowds to the historic downtown at Pontiac Trail and 10 Mile Road. Reaching ASHA means a long drive east from the western edge of metro Detroit to Ferndale.
Only downtown Detroit has more office space than Southfield, which counts roughly 27 million square feet and the golden towers of the Southfield Town Center. ASHA sits a few miles east in Ferndale, a quick trip from the city's freeway crossroads.
Springfield Township is where the Shiawassee, Huron and Clinton rivers all begin, and each July the Oakland County Fair runs at Springfield Oaks County Park in Davisburg. Most residents carry a Davisburg mailing address, and from there the trip to ASHA ends in Ferndale, down in southern Oakland County.
Just three Michigan cities cover less land than Sylvan Lake, a lake town that started as a trolley resort in the 1890s and still goes by the Prettiest Little City. ASHA's classroom lies southeast in Ferndale, a drive down from the Oakland County lakes.
Troy, the largest city in Oakland County, grew from the farm hamlet of Troy Corners and keeps ten preserved 19th century buildings at the Troy Historic Village. Ferndale is a short drive south, and ASHA's classroom there sits on West Nine Mile Road.
The City of the Village of Clarkston is the smallest city in Michigan by land area, and more than 100 historic structures line its Main Street district. Independence Township surrounds it, and ASHA's Ferndale classroom is a longer drive to the southeast.
Walled Lake takes its name from a line of boulders under the water that settler Walter Hewitt noted in 1825, and its lakeside dance hall once drew Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey. ASHA lies east in Ferndale, a drive across the county from the lake.
Waterford counts 34 named lakes, from Cass Lake down to one of just 4 acres, and Oakland County's first farm settlement began on Silver Lake when Oliver Williams bought land there in 1818. ASHA is southeast of Waterford in Ferndale, a drive down from the lakes toward the northern edge of Detroit.
West Bloomfield split from Bloomfield Township in 1833, and lakes such as Orchard Lake and part of Cass Lake cover about a fifth of its area. ASHA's classroom in Ferndale lies to the southeast of the township.
White Lake is an Oakland County community served by the 48383 and 48386 ZIP codes, with Highland, Milford, Waterford and Commerce Township nearby. Ferndale, home of ASHA, lies to the southeast.
Wixom began as Sibley's Corners, settled in 1831 by Alonzo Sibley, and later took the name of Willard Clark Wixom, who granted a railroad right of way through his land in 1871. Students travel east from Wixom to reach ASHA's classroom in Ferndale.
Wolverine Lake is a village of 4,544 residents inside Commerce Township, built around a lake created in 1923 by flooding six smaller lakes such as Spring, Mayze and Pork Barrel. ASHA lies east of the village in Ferndale, toward the southern edge of Oakland County.
California students can join ASHA's Reiki classes live on Zoom. Self-study courses let them learn at their own pace anywhere in the Golden State.
We’re at 195 W 9 Mile Rd, Suite 101, Ferndale, MI 48220, just west of Woodward Avenue in downtown Ferndale.
We’re open 7 days a week, 10 AM to 5 PM Eastern. Sessions are by appointment, so please book before you visit.
Downtown Ferndale uses the ParkFerndale system. Most neighborhood streets next to downtown are limited to 2 hours or are for residents only, so for a full session the public lots are your best bet. The dot, the city’s 377-space parking garage at 221 W Troy St, is a short walk away. Paid parking is enforced Monday through Saturday and is free on Sundays.
No experience is needed. Our Reiki class welcomes complete beginners as well as those looking to deepen their practice.
Class dates, length, and pricing are listed on our Reiki page.
Yes. Many of our sessions are available as digital sessions, online or by phone, if you can’t make it to Ferndale.
We welcome students and clients from Ferndale and all of Oakland County and metro Detroit. Browse our community pages above to find your city.
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