From Self-Punishment to Self-Compassion

What You’ll Learn

• Why stopping a behavior and truly healing are not always the same thing
• The difference between taking responsibility and continuing to punish yourself
• How shame, repetitive thoughts, and escapism can keep old patterns alive
• Why intellectual understanding alone may not be enough to create lasting change
• How meditation and breathwork can help you reconnect with your body and quiet the thinking mind
• What it means to experience self-compassion instead of simply understanding the concept

Getting sober, changing a behavior, or understanding your patterns doesn’t always mean you’ve healed from what’s underneath them.

In this episode, I’m joined by Leif Bjelland, longtime recovery advocate and founder of Heroic Breath, to explore the difference between taking responsibility for your past and continuing to punish yourself for it. Leif shares how his own recovery from alcoholism eventually led him beyond sobriety and into meditation, breathwork, and a deeper understanding of self-compassion.

Leif and I discuss the shame and repetitive thought patterns that can keep us stuck, why we often turn to busyness or other forms of escape to avoid what we’re feeling, and how embodied practices can help us move beyond simply understanding our patterns. This episode is an invitation to stop using your past against yourself and begin experiencing compassion, forgiveness, and healing in a new way.

About Leif Bjelland

Leif Bjelland is an entrepreneur, longtime recovery advocate, breathwork facilitator, and founder of Heroic Breath. More than 10 years into his own sobriety journey, Leif draws from his experiences with recovery, meditation, and breathwork to help others move beyond intellectual understanding and experience greater self-compassion, healing, and connection with themselves.

Get complimentary access to The Release, the first full-length session of the Heroic Breath Reset with code “freedom100”: heroicbreath.com/freedom 

Connect with Leif on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leif-b-038a21242/ 

Follow Leif on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heroic.breath/ 

Follow Leif on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570276557095