#28 - Leland Holgate Sr. - Willing the Warrior Within

Leland introduction

 

The breath… Is so essential for our well-being. Without it, we don’t survive long at all. And yet…it’s easily taken for granted. It happens automatically, we don’t have to think about it. Ancient cultures knew the value of the breath, and it was revered and utilized. Today we’re so busy with so many things that we forget one of the best medicines we can have is readily available, doesn’t take a prescription and is beneficial in ways that more people need to know about.

 

My guest today is a man who knows about the breath very well. His name is Leland Holgate Sr and he started learning about the breath by accident… Actually due to an accident. As a young man, he was involved in a boating accident, which left him a quadriplegic. Fortunately, the physical therapist assigned to him was also a Yogi who knew a lot about ancient breath, yoga and their benefits to the body. Doctors said there was no cure and we’re preparing him for life in a wheelchair. His military training and sensation He felt during the breath told him something different. 

 

Today Leland is fully functioning and has created the Willful Warrior. A nonprofit helping change lives through the breath work Leland has created over the last decade. He’s a studying neuropsychologist with an upcoming double doctorate. He knows the science behind the breath and I love the way he explains it. The Willful Warrior Welcome Home Method is a breath practice that activates gene expression that up-regulates health in every aspect of the body and brain… It also has a very positive affect on the mind and emotions. When the breath is done properly, there’s a biochemical shift away from the hormones of stress and increasing the happy hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. I completely geek out with him about what’s going on in the body when we do the breath. 

 

Leland’s experience coming from a wheelchair has been invaluable for me.  I met him at a Dr. Joe Dispenza event in Niagara Falls in September 2022. He was a volunteer at the event. Every Dr Joe event I have been to, the volunteers are absolutely amazing. So ready to help with authentic and enormous hearts. Leland is a perfect example of this. I’ve been fortunate to be able to interact with Leland on a regular basis, and when I have days where doubt and fear creep in… I’ve been able to reach out to him and get support from a man who knows what I’m talking about. He’s been in my shoes… Or in my seat I should say.

 

I love synchronicities when the universe provides them. Before we started this podcast something very exciting happened that Leland was able to share. One of the warriors in this community has had MS for a couple years and has been doing the breath for a couple months. Right before we started the podcast Leland got the news that she had just gotten an MRI with a die test and the doctors say her MS is no longer visible. In remission! I love how he got this news right before we started talking and what a beautiful sign it is… Knowing the symptoms in this body are definitely helped by doing the breath work. 

 

I got involved with The Willful Warrior and started doing the breath after I came back from the Dr Joe Cancun event in December 2022. As of right now I’ve been doing it a couple months. The biggest thing I’ve noticed with this technique is I get to a place where I completely leave my body… I feel like I’m floating out of my wheelchair…being pulled up to the sky. It is an amazing feeling and I know without a doubt my body is receiving the upgraded chemicals, and I am up regulating my genes. Leland talks about when he was first paralyzed. He would do the breath and feel more sensation 1 inch at a time. Reiterating that you got to notice the  little things and those add up when you continue to do the work.

www.thewillfulwarrior.org

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