My Story
My name is Will McCandless, and I’m from the San Francisco Bay Area. From a young age, I felt a deep connection with nature, plants, animals, and the earth. I always preferred being outside exploring the natural world rather than sitting in a classroom.
As a teenager, I was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety and began taking medications at the age of 15. At the same time, I experienced several concussions from skiing and skateboarding. These experiences eventually led me to explore alternative approaches to healing, including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture—my first introduction to holistic health.
After high school, I joined a gap-year travel program that took me around the world. I spent time in New Zealand connecting with the Māori community, lived in a village in Fiji, and visited sacred sites in Australia where I also learned about permaculture. These experiences expanded my perspective and deepened my appreciation for different cultures, traditional wisdom, and the healing relationship between humans and nature.
During this time, I began feeling a strong desire to come off the antidepressant medications I had been taking. Without proper guidance from the doctors who originally prescribed them, I attempted to taper off on my own. This led to a very difficult period in my life and resulted in a manic episode where I experienced severe insomnia, racing thoughts, and intense shifts in perception.
During this time, I sought support from different healers and began exploring energy healing practices such as Reiki. Some practitioners suggested that what I was experiencing might be connected to a spiritual awakening. However, when I later returned to my therapist, I was given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and placed on additional medications.
This period of my life was incredibly challenging. I fell into a deep depression and struggled to understand what was truly happening within me. Many people describe experiences like this as a “dark night of the soul,” and that phrase resonates deeply with my journey.
Over time, reconnecting with nature helped bring me back to myself. Surfing, dancing, being outdoors, and foraging for mushrooms reminded me of who I truly was beneath the labels and confusion. Slowly, I began reclaiming my sense of identity and inner balance.
During this time I had several profound spiritual experiences that shaped my perspective on healing and purpose. One experience during a breathwork journey gave me a powerful message that planted a seed in my mind: one day, I wanted to help others find their way back to themselves as well.
Later in my twenties, I was living and working on farms in Humboldt County in Northern California when my health began to deteriorate again. I had unknowingly contracted Lyme disease from tick bites, though it went undiagnosed for nearly two years. I began experiencing mysterious symptoms that no doctor could fully explain.
At first I was told the issue was mold toxicity and followed the recommended protocols, yet my symptoms persisted. Something inside me knew there was more to the story.
I began diving deeply into my own research and connected with a wide range of practitioners and healers including nutritionists, Eastern medicine doctors, acupuncturists, shamans, Taoist teachers, biohackers, and other wellness practitioners.
During this time I explored many healing modalities including nutritional therapies like ketosis and fasting, herbal medicine, supplements, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, breathwork, plant medicines, and detoxification practices. Despite trying many different approaches, I still did not fully understand what was happening in my body.
Eventually I finally received answers: Lyme disease, mold toxicity, and parasitic infections.
That diagnosis changed everything.
Healing became my full-time focus for several years. I explored many different therapies including colon hydrotherapy, bee venom therapy, IV therapies, sauna detoxification, fasting, prayer, meditation, and various detox protocols to support my body in restoring balance.
During an Ayahuasca ceremony, I received a message that deeply shaped my path forward: that I was being broken down in order to be rebuilt, so I could learn how to detox, clear illness, transform from the inside out, and eventually help guide others through similar journeys.
Since then, I have dedicated my life to studying health, healing, and the body’s natural ability to restore balance.
I trained as a Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and traveled to Thailand where I became a certified Universal Healing Tao Qigong instructor under Grandmaster Mantak Chia. I have also studied at Shaolin Temple Europe in Germany with Shi Heng Yi, further deepening my understanding of mind-body cultivation practices.
My journey has also taken me to the Amazon, where in 2025 I completed my first Master Plant Dieta with Shipibo Maestro José López Sánchez, immersing myself in traditional plant medicine practices and learning directly from indigenous wisdom traditions.
I am continually learning, growing, and evolving in my understanding of health and healing.
Over the years I have shared this work through workshops, retreats, private coaching, and educational programs both in person and online.
My passion is to share the knowledge I’ve gathered through both personal experience and years of study. I aim to help others reclaim their health, reconnect with their bodies, and step into a life that feels vibrant, meaningful, and aligned with who they truly are.
The healing journey can be complex, but I believe there are always answers available when we are willing to search for them.
My role is to help guide and support people as they find their own path back to health.
