0:02 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Today’s guest is Lee Holden, world-renowned Qigong master, doctor of Chinese medicine and founder of Holden Qigong. From healing his own back injury through energy work to becoming a trusted teacher to millions through PBS, Mindvalley, and global retreats, Lee helps people reconnect to their vitality through movement, mindfulness, and ancient wisdom. He’s a living example of what it means to lead, teach, and scale transformational retreats with purpose and integrity. So thank you for being here. I’ve seen you live. I’ve had that privilege, and it was great. It was fantastic. You have such a great energy about you, Lee, and that’s why it was just an easy decision to come out straight to you and say, I want you on the cover of the magazine.

0:54 – Lee Holden
Welcome. Thank you so much for having me, and what an honor and a pleasure to work with you. I love your magazine.

1:01 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Thank you. Thank you. We’re very proud of it, and we’re very proud of having you on the cover in this coming. I just want to get into, because I know you have a great story on how you started, you know, always there’s something that impacts us in life that makes us pivot to something very different that we were on, like a journey that we were on. How did this journey of yours start?

1:25 – Lee Holden
You know, it’s through adversity that sometimes life gives us a different track. And this injury that I had was a catalyst for the greatest things in my life. So what was my worst catastrophe in my life all of a sudden turned into my biggest blessing. I was playing collegiate soccer. I thought this was the greatest year of my life. I finally was, you know, starting on my college soccer team. And then game number two, I got taken out by the legs. I hurt my back. The team doctor said I was going to be out for the season. And so I was kind of hobbling around campus, barely able to walk. I mean, I remember that next morning after I had the injury, I stepped out of bed and I fell. Because it was so painful. And then they gave me the cortisone shots and the painkillers. And it really didn’t do much for my back pain. It gave me a pretty bad stomach ache. So now I had a stomach ache from the pharmaceuticals and back pain still. And I remember, I had a martial arts teacher when I was a kid who broke a big stack of bricks. And this was really impressive to me as a 10 year old. I was like, wow. And I came up afterwards. I say, how did you do that? And he said, the power of chi. And I was like, what is that? And that question and imagery stuck with me. So when I hurt my back, I said, I’m going to go see that guy. Because he told me chi was for healing. So I said, okay, I’m going to go see this guy. And he showed me Qigong exercises. He did some energy healing, did some acupuncture on me. And I was 95% better after that week of seeing him. I saw him three times. And then I was just like, the next question in my mind was, why aren’t more people doing this? And that became my mission in life. I went to Asia 12 times in my early 20s. I was a ghostwriter for a Qigong master and a meditation teacher in northern Thailand. I spent a lot of time with him training and figuring out how to make these ancient practices more accessible to people in modern life. And that became my mission. I’ve been doing it ever since.

3:36 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
That’s incredible. What a pivotal moment, right? It impressed you so much.

3:41 – Lee Holden
Yeah.

3:42 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And it changed your life so much. It was so life changing for you that you literally changed, dropped everything.

3:47 – Lee Holden
I did.

3:48 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Moved away. How many years were you there?

3:52 – Lee Holden
Oh, well, you know, all my friends were getting jobs in Silicon Valley when they graduated. And I’m like, I’m going to Asia, guys. I’m going to Thailand. And I would go maybe two or three months at a time. And I’d always stop in China or Japan or Indonesia to train with other healing arts masters.

4:11 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So I studied with a lot of different teachers.

4:14 – Lee Holden
Although I had one main teacher, I studied with a lot of different people. So from my, let’s say, 23 to 28, I was back and forth to Asia training.

4:25 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
What an incredible lesson in life and journey that you went through.

4:33 – Lee Holden
Yeah.

4:33 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And it became a career.

4:36 – Lee Holden
It did. I tell people I never really had a job.

4:40 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
I’m only just sharing what I love.

4:43 – Lee Holden
And it shows.

4:44 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Well, thank you. It shows in your work.

4:46 – Lee Holden
Yeah.

4:48 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Who do you feel was, out of all those years, who impacted you or influenced your beliefs? You know, we know who helped you with your life, but your beliefs, did beliefs truly change? Like, not only as in healing modality, but other belief systems, because, you know, we’re very different than that part of the world. Oh, my gosh.

5:09 – Lee Holden
Yes.

5:10 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Did any frame of your mind, did any of that change for you? Like your belief system, things you thought were like 100% true and now are like a little different. Anything change for you with all that?

5:23 – Lee Holden
Yeah, everything changed, really, because I was in school, I was studying psychology. And one thing that struck me is I got a degree in psychology, I really still don’t know how to help people. I don’t, if somebody added, hey, what do I do about my stress? I’m depressed. What should I do? I would be like, gosh, I studied four years of this. I know all about the, you know, people who came before me. I studied Freud and Jung and different styles of psychology. I know different diagnoses. I know statistical analysis. And I was like, gosh, I really don’t know how I could help you. When I went to Asia and when I started studying Qigong and meditation, after two months, I had all kinds of tools and resources to not only help myself feel better, but also to help people who asked me. I had breathing exercise, I had movements, I had pressure points, I had a whole toolkit full of great resources to help people. And so that was one big understanding, is that the difference between, let’s say, Eastern medicine and Western medicine was the difference between looking at a root cause or just symptoms, and the difference between prevention and just sick care. And so I started studying Chinese medicine really deeply. In my late 20s, became a doctor of Chinese medicine, an acupuncturist, an herbalist, as well as a Qigong teacher. And so I just got deep into energy healing, energy work, and energy medicine.

6:59 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So it became very holistic.

7:01 – Lee Holden
Absolutely. Yeah, and I had clinics, and then I was teaching classes all over the place, and then I… And then I was on PBS. I was on public television and had a show on public television that all of a sudden went national. You know, it was just one little local show that we filmed. But what they do is they film it in such a way that it can go national if they want to.

7:24 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And it did. How do you feel like today? Do you feel it’s becoming trendier? Is it something that people are more, I see it a lot more than I used to. But do you feel like it’s something that’s going to take, is taking off or it still needs some work?

7:41 – Lee Holden
It’s both. Absolutely. It still needs some work. But you’re seeing practices like yoga, mindfulness, breath work, meditation. They’re all coming to the forefront and people are very much interested in energy work. So definitely since the 80s and the 90s, I’ve seen such change and transformation in people’s consciousness. People are interested. People know about it. You know, in the 90s, when I said I used to teach. People had to stretch and breathe and meditate. I got weird looks. Nowadays, it’s very normalized. Although Qigong is not as well known as yoga, it’s on the rise. And I think its accessibility and its effectiveness for what people want is right up there. And it is just such an empowering tool to help people, meet them where they are, help them to get out of pain, tension, tightness, and stress, recharge, and replenish their internal energy. So I think it’s going to become the new yoga. It’s going to become popular because of its effectiveness.

8:48 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
I’ll tell you, my personal experience, I can’t be aggressive with my yoga. It has to be very light because I get hurt easily. I’m extremely hypermobile. Yoga is out of the picture for me. Always has been. I could do, like I said, very, very light yoga, and that’s about it. And I started doing Tai Chi.

9:07 – Lee Holden
I mentioned that to you.

9:09 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And what it did for me, because I’m high strung all day, I’m moving, I’m shaking, I’m like, whatever, right? And I can meditate very easily, not a problem. But what it did for me, I was able to release all that energy that I had all day long while I was doing Tai Chi. And at the same time, breathe that whole hour, because you keep breathing and breathing and moving and breathing. And at the end, we would meditate, right? And it was like, my mind is incredible.

9:41 – Lee Holden
That’s it.

9:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
What a great solution to my wired day and a nice ending to it. So how is Tai Chi different than Qigong?

10:29 – Lee Holden
You know, Tai Chi is a form of Qigong, people don’t realize it, but Qigong came first. Qi, energy, Gong, to work with. So it’s a practice of energy work. Then Qigong branched into three different styles, martial arts style, medical style for healing and more of a spiritual style to connect with the divine. So Tai Chi was in the category of the martial arts. So every movement in Tai Chi has martial and self-defense application. The difference is Qigong is much easier to learn because you don’t have to memorize a whole set of movements.

10:29 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Right.

10:52 – Lee Holden
And it’s more geared towards, let’s say, health and healing and energy work and cultivation, where Tai Chi, the movements are martial. But now most of the time, people use Tai Chi for the same reasons as Qigong, to cultivate energy, to create flexibility, and to really drop into a moving meditation practice.

12:58 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Okay. Yes, thank you for clarifying that. It’s true. I remember when I was doing it, they would teach us in sections because there were so many movements to, like this whole element of one part of Tai Chi. The other thing I want to ask, there’s a lot of energy work across the board, and they’re called different names, right? So in your world, what’s the difference between, you know, what you speak about, and let’s say what the yoga people speak about, what is the same but just called different, or is it really, is it different?

13:00 – Lee Holden
You know, sometimes they say in Asia, they say same, same, different, which I love. It’s, you know, there’s some similarities for sure. You know, in yoga, they’re working on the prana, the energy, and Qigong, they work on the qi, which means energy. The way in which they work on the energy systems is different. The theory and the philosophy is very similar, the intention behind the practice. Make sure your energy is circulating, make sure your body’s strong, make sure you’re in alignment with the earth. So there’s always movement, breath work, stretching, but the way in which yoga and Qigong go about it is a little bit different. Qigong is going to have a lot more flowing movements. Flowing movements mirror the movements of water. So in terms of elements, water is the most flexible element. So in Qigong, they say, move your body like water, be like water. Because water is not only soft and flexible, it’s very powerful. Right? If you stand in the ocean and feel the current and feel the power of a wave, when water moves together, we feel how powerful and strong it is. That’s why it was a martial arts. Because these soft internal styles of martial arts came from energy cultivation. So yoga and Qigong, they cultivate energy. Yoga is going to work more on stretching and maybe, let’s say, resiliency, like stretching and strength. And Qigong is going to do stretching, but it’s through flowing movements.

14:08 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So it makes it a little easier.

14:27 – Lee Holden
The positions and postures are more accessible. Like there’s not much like headstands or, you know, kind of pretzel-like movements. It’s more about range of motion, joint mobility, improving the energy to your internal organs, balancing the qi. So you can really use Qigong to address any body ailments. Like if somebody has high blood pressure, you bring the qi out of the head and down into the body. That lowers blood pressure. If somebody has digestive issues, you strengthen and tonify the energy to the internal organs. So you can really tailor routines for specific ailments, or even specific times of the day. Like you were talking about, what do I do at the end of the day when I’ve had a full workday? Maybe I have some stress, I have some anxiety, some stuff on my mind. How do I dissipate, discharge that and come back to a place of being centered and balanced? So we’ll design routines for that, for the morning, for the afternoon, for the evening, help people sleep really well. So it’s a beautiful practice that works extremely well.

17:09 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Yeah. I know the truth behind the next question I’m going to tell you, but I’ll tell you. There are people that are like, oh, that’s for old people. That’s why you see old people at the parks. And I’m like, yeah, you give it a try and let’s see if it’s for old people. What do you answer to that?

18:08 – Lee Holden
You know, I’d really like to have some comeback with that because I’m like, you’re wrong. You’re wrong. You’re wrong. And you’re right. Because, and you know, one of my teachers was 106 years old. She taught Qigong every day in the park of China. She moved like, you know, with the grace of a cat. She was flexible and strong and jovial. And I was like, hey, if you want to be 106 years old and have the energy of a 20 year old and the wisdom of a 106 year old, you keep doing Qigong because it is called the art of preventing disease and prolonging life. So, yes, you do see people, older people in the parks doing it. The reason is because it keeps them healthy. It’s a practice of longevity. Now, the earlier you start, the better off you are. Because young people, I see young people that are stressed out, they’re anxious, they’re in pain, they don’t move enough, and they don’t know what to do to help heal their bodies. This practice is for you. You know, and people in the Western world, they work all day, they have lots of stress, and then their exercise is also putting stress on their body. So there’s all fiery energy, lots of stress, and then they go out for a run, or they go lift weights. What you need, not that those things are bad, and by any means, they’re great, but you just need balance. You need something that’s going to really calm you down. You’re going to need a practice that helps to integrate your mind, your emotions, your body, help you connect to your higher self or your purpose in life. So I’ve seen a lot of young people drawn to this practice because it is a way to help them connect. Also, young people are on devices a lot. We’re constantly pulled out of ourselves. And what Qigong does is helps you to reconnect to yourself. So you feel good from the inside out. Rather than needing something to help you feel better, you draw this energy out from the inside. And I think one of the things you’re going to love about this practice, it originated by people mirroring the movements of nature, watching how nature moved and mirroring that in and through their bodies. So it was a return to nature. And in modern life, kids and young people are spending way less time out in nature, which contributes to a lot of the mental, emotional issues. So by doing Qigong, you connect to your own inner nature and you feel a communion with nature all around you, feel connected to something larger, which always helps.

19:15 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And this is the exact reason, well, there’s a few reasons, but one of the reasons that I wanted you, I wanted to interview you, because RetreatBoss magazine is about the lifestyle of retreating. It’s not about where you go, it’s about how you grow, right? Every day, that person that takes that moment in time to stop, you know, process, reassess, move, and just take that time for themselves, and live this type of lifestyle where, you know, they’re impacting themselves with that stopping of time for themselves, and then being just a better person after that, right? Enhancing themselves, taking that time to know what’s really wrong with their body or mental state that day. And this is this, I don’t find it’s available enough, at least.

19:25 – Lee Holden
For me to be able to practice this.

19:52 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So you do things online, right, as well?

19:55 – Lee Holden
Absolutely. Yeah, that’s my main way of teaching because it’s just so accessible. People can do it from the comfort of their own homes, and we can just reach a larger audience that way. So I have classes, multiple classes during the week that you can tune into live on Zoom, or you can just watch the replay. And then I have a whole bunch of condition-specific titles so that the practice can help you heal your mind or body in a way that really resonates with you. And then I even have teacher training so people can learn how to become teachers themselves.

20:06 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, very nice.

20:07 – Lee Holden
Yeah.

21:08 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Nice. Very nice. And I think you also do it live as well.

21:17 – Lee Holden
You do retreats or events. I do. Yeah, I love going out into nature and doing retreats and taking people out to nature and be with people in person. I travel all over the world teaching classes, and then I have my own retreats that I do as well.

21:19 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
What do you do besides Qigong during those retreats? Is there anything else that you implement in it to elevate the experience even more?

21:21 – Lee Holden
Yeah. Well, we draw upon ancient wisdom because Taoism and Buddhism are the roots of this practice. So we do meditation, we do philosophy, we do breath work, we do some group activity, we do tea ceremonies, we do all kinds of stuff. It’s really fun. You know, one of the most fun weeks of the year is always these retreats with people learning and growing and having all kinds of aha moments.

21:24 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
If you weren’t doing this today, what would you be doing?

21:44 – Lee Holden
Wow, that’s a great question. You know, I’d love to be a professional soccer player. Maybe I’d be a professional soccer player playing in Europe.

23:29 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Really?

23:39 – Lee Holden
No, I think, you know, really, if I wasn’t doing this, I would be working, I think, as a psychologist, using meditation, breathwork, and Eastern techniques to help people. You know, I’d be doing Eastern psychology because I feel like people have the answers, the knowledge within themselves. Once you bring that forth, there’s an empowerment that happens for people to really find emotional well-being and to really live life more joyfully with open hearts and kind and compassionate souls. And I really feel like that is what makes big impact in the world globally, is when people can shift away from stress and survival mode, move into their hearts and be kind and compassionate. All of a sudden, the world looks different. The way we treat the world is different. And the amount of joy that we can cultivate is extraordinary.

24:07 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Absolutely. And if we were to go 20 years back, we’re now 19, wait, 30 years back, 1995, right? I think you’re right.

24:08 – Lee Holden
I think that is 30 years ago.

24:12 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Yeah, yeah, it is.

24:16 – Lee Holden
You know, we wouldn’t be mathematicians, I think.

24:22 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, that’s for sure. It’s 1995. And I just want you to bring yourself back to that moment, that year. Think of 1995. I don’t know where you were, what you were doing. But bring yourself back to 1995. I’m sure something happened that year that probably affected you in a negative way.

24:24 – Lee Holden
What would you say to that person from 30 years ago? Gosh, I would say, keep training, study this ancient medicine even more. Because at the time in 1995, I was going back and forth to Asia, but I felt insecure about my choices because I wasn’t making money. I wasn’t being quote-unquote responsible. I didn’t have a real job. All my friends were at the time in Silicon Valley after graduating, and that was the dot-com boom. So people were making lots of money, and I was feeling like a bit insecure and maybe even a little envious of people with all this financial abundance. And, you know, I kept coming back to my training, and I kept coming back to my practice and what my heart was telling me. And I was like, I just love this practice. And then, you know, 1996, 1997, 1998, I saw people getting very stressed out, having, even though they were young in their 20s, they were having all kinds of health issues. And I was even helping them. And, you know, then there’s this dot-com bust, and the bubble broke, and all these, you know, young people that were millionaires also had no money, and that was stressful for them. And so I was like, you know what, I’m really glad by 1999, 2000, I was really glad that I was, had all these incredible adventures, and all this incredible training and met, you know, people that normally wouldn’t have, you know, masters in Japan and experiences of healers in Indonesia. And these were, these were the riches that I was cultivating.

24:36 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Yeah. Let’s have some fun. What is something that people don’t know about you?

24:39 – Lee Holden
They’d be like, what? That’s great. Let’s see. Well, I’m an avid mountain biker. I mountain bike all the time through these redwood forests of Santa Cruz. I am a stand up paddle boarder. So I love getting out in the, in the, in the woods and in the water. And I am a dad of four daughters.

25:31 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, constantly.

25:32 – Lee Holden
Constantly, you know, like I know how to braid hair.

25:35 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Right now, one of my pinky toes is painted red for my four-year-old.

25:57 – Lee Holden
So I have twin 17-year-olds, a 14-year-old, and a four-year-old.

25:59 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So are you a protective dad?

26:02 – Lee Holden
Because they’re all girls. You’re like, oh, my God. You know what? I’m not a protective dad. Like people are like, oh, you need a shotgun. And I’m like, you know what? You need to talk to your kids like they’re adults and real people.

26:05 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Like they have boyfriends now.

26:07 – Lee Holden
And so like I was like, I wonder what I’m going to be like when they bring boys over. And I was like, you know what? The best way to do it is to be cool because you want them coming over. You want this to be a safe place for them to come and hang out and spend time with you. So now, you know, the boyfriends are over and I’m making, you know, dinner and we’re all having dinner together. And then like last night we were playing card games after dinner with the two boys and my two 17-year-olds and, you know, just having it. So I’m really, I really had to get over myself and being like, protective, because in being protective, I feel like you can push your daughters away as a dad. And in being more inclusive, I feel like they trust you more and trust your opinions. And they even listen to what you have to say more, when you’re more inclusive.

26:29 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
You know, I’m winging it.

26:36 – Lee Holden
I’m flying on the seat of my pants, but it’s going well so far.

27:08 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Aren’t we all? You know, the teachings come, you know, as a parent myself, the teachings come when they’re young, when they’re older, they’re already by five years old, they have their character, their personality, their values. So when people decide or parents decide to start, you know, teaching their kids at 15, because now they’re the rebellious.

27:12 – Lee Holden
Yeah, it’s hard.

27:43 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
It is because they’re already set in their way.

27:45 – Lee Holden
They already have that value system in place and all of that stuff.

27:46 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
So big time.

27:50 – Lee Holden
Yeah, yep. And I’m always like, whenever they quote unquote get in trouble, I always wait till I’m calm. That’s one thing practice helps you to do is get yourself into a state of calm balance. When I feel agitated, irritated, angry because of some decision the teenagers made, I give myself a timeout first.

28:01 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
I make sure that when I go and talk to them, I’m calm, I’m centered, and I’m clear.

28:02 – Lee Holden
Because I don’t want to just be angry, agitated, and overbearingly powerful to them. So I get down, I sit down, I say, hey, let’s have a talk. Here’s how I’m feeling. What were you thinking? This, that, and the other. And I find that they open up a lot more that way. And they talk to me about what they were thinking, and they apologize, or we come to an understanding. And, you know, I try to work it out together with them, as opposed to just tell.

28:03 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Well, it sounds like you’re a great dad and you have some great daughters.

28:05 – Lee Holden
Yeah, they’re great kids. It’s, it’s been, you know, it’s, it’s such a work on yourself. I mean, I told them, I was like, you know, you’re, you’re raising me every bit as much as I’m raising you. Because I have, you know, you learn as you’re going. And you’re, you’re becoming, you’re growing into a new aspect of yourself as you’re parenting. And it’s some of the most challenging work. But if you can grow with your kids, it’s, I feel like it’s a really empowering thing for everybody.

28:07 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
And oftentimes they mirror you, right?

28:11 – Lee Holden
They do.

28:12 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Right? You’re like, I don’t know if I’m like that.

28:14 – Lee Holden
They absolutely do. You know, sometimes my kids tell me to take a deep breath and relax. And I’m like, wow, you, that’s, that’s what I tell my students every day. You’re telling me to take a deep breath and relax.

28:31 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Okay.

28:32 – Lee Holden
Yes. Yes.

28:33 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Master. Thank you.

28:34 – Lee Holden
Thank you. Thank you.

29:05 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Reminder. What is a guilty pleasure you have?

29:25 – Lee Holden
Chocolate.

31:18 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, God, that’s mine too.

31:27 – Lee Holden
Just love it. Just love chocolate. You know, I would say, you know, dark chocolate, but I mean, I like all kinds of chocolate. And so, yeah, chocolate and I’m a big tea person as well.

31:28 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, nice.

31:29 – Lee Holden
Chocolate tea then.

31:32 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Chocolate tea.

31:41 – Lee Holden
Yeah, chocolate tea is great. I think, you know, I love all the Asian styles of tea, green, oolongs, but my biggest fan of tea is Pu-erh tea. It’s a special tea from the foothills of the Himalayas. It only grows there. And it’s a fermented black tea, but it is very earthy and very healing. It’s great for digestion. So I often in my retreats, I’ll take people through Pu-erh tea ceremonies.

32:52 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, very nice. What would be… Yeah. Something you would tell people who are looking to go into the field that you’re in, or something similar. What advice would you give them to succeed, to reconnect, all of that?

33:03 – Lee Holden
Find what works for you, because if it’s working for you, it’s going to work for other people, and you can share your story. I love this practice because it is a practice of self-healing. It’s a practice of self-cultivation and energy work for yourself. And when you do it for yourself, you’re not only working on yourself, but you have something to share. And when you’re sharing it and teaching, you get to help yourself and help others. And for me, it’s been a vehicle where I’ve been able to travel all around the world, not only learning, but also teaching. So traveling and going on retreats has been my profession. So I end up in beautiful places all around the world. So, as my work. And I think it’s a great thing to do that you’re making the world a better place. You’re helping people, helping people heal, but you’re also helping people connect to nature as their, you know, extended body, because nature is an extension of ourselves. If we’re harming nature, we’re harming ourselves. And if we do energy work, we see connections, not separations. And I love this practice to help us feel connected, inclusive, and whole. I think it’s a great profession because people need it, you know, so as I help people to learn to become teachers of this practice, I get so many thank yous afterwards, because now people, maybe they’re not making as much money as their other career, but they’re much happier. So the currency of energy and joy and happiness is very high. And I think there’s a big movement to holistic practices. So this is a fabulous career choice, and people are making good money and enjoying their life to the fullest.

33:29 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Yeah, what a practice to have all day long, right? Just reconnecting, relaxing, exercising, connecting with others.

33:30 – Lee Holden
It’s work.

33:55 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
That’s not work.

33:57 – Lee Holden
It’s not work, yeah.

34:21 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
In all these places in the world, where do you feel is, you know, everywhere around the world, the one place where you feel really reconnected?

34:26 – Lee Holden
You know, I just went back to Bali, and there’s really powerful energy there. So there’s always, I’ve spent some time there, and it’s been maybe 12 years since I’ve been there last. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is why I love this place. The energy here on this island is very rich, and there’s incredible energy workers and healers there. So I went and did some training and studies with some masters while I was there, and it was really powerful. Really powerful that the way in which they perform ritual and energy work and connect to nature is just part of their daily life. And I feel like in the West, we have to remind ourselves to do rituals and to reconnect, and they just do it every day. Every day, they make an offering to their ancestors. Every day, they’re doing something to connect to the spirit of nature. Every day, they’re doing something to open and awaken their energy systems. So I love that. I loved, you know, being in Asia. I love Thailand. I’ve taught quite a few retreats in Brazil. And I love being in Rio de Janeiro because of the energy there as well.

34:39 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Yeah. You’re on stages. You’re doing a lot of bigger things than just, you know, local, right? What excites you? What’s next for you?

34:48 – Lee Holden
What are you hoping for? Well, you know, I just released a book, and it was the first book I’d written in like 15 years. So that was fun. And that was exciting. I got to do a bunch of TV appearances and podcasts and things like that. So it was just a new vehicle for me to, you know, to write and to put things on paper. That was a challenge. And even doing like the audible version of the book was challenging.

34:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
With your voice?

34:51 – Lee Holden
Yeah, with my voice. Absolutely. So, you know, it took a lot of Qigong principles of slowing down and cultivating energy and made them applicable to life. Like, how do we integrate this into daily life? So we’re not just like, this is my life. And that’s my practice. I brought all kinds of things into daily life to help people reconnect to the moment. So it’s called Ready, Set, Slow.

34:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Oh, I love it.

34:51 – Lee Holden
It’s having a little retreat each and every day, having a mini vacation during your day. It might be one minute over your cup of coffee or cup of tea, a mindful moment. It’s how do we integrate it with our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. So those are the three sections of the books, you know, being able to slow down, increase energy, and deepen our connections.

34:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Where can they connect with you? Connect with me on, come to my website.

34:51 – Lee Holden
I have so many resources there. It’s a really fun place to visit. It’s HoldenQigong.com. And Holden’s my last name. And then Qigong is spelled Q-I-G-O-N-G. HoldenQigong.com.

34:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Perfect. Thank you so much for taking the time today to connect with me and talk about everything Qigong and you.

34:51 – Lee Holden
Thank you. What a great interview. That was so much fun.

34:51 – Catherine Kontos (Catherine Kontos)
Thank you so much. Thank you.