The Intentional Athlete Podcast

Join your host, Ross Leppala, and special guest Paul Clifton as he shares his story of a traumatized childhood that kept happiness at bay for him for many years.  It was until many years later that Paul had the realization that he wasn't happy even with all the good things that were happening in his life.  Still carrying with him those open wounds from his youth, Paul sought therapy to h...

In this episode your host, Ross Leppala jams on some ideas around acceptance.  Specifically around the idea of accepting people for where they are at, even when that is different than where you are at. There is a lack of acceptance running rapid in the world today and it's a steaming pile of shit!  It's a bit of a bully mentality to expect others to think, talk and believe like you. &nbs...

One of the greatest shifts that can come from a healing journey is connecting to your own personal power and learning how to no longer give that away.  Nothing will cause us more emotional struggle and hardship during the course of our lives than that of our constant power struggle with it.  Particularly the power struggle of not showing up and speaking out the truth.  Being scared...

Join your host, Ross Leppala, and his life partner, Dr. Vanessa Gale as they talk about some super amazing tools and techniques they have learned during their journey as parents.  These tools and techniques will help empower your children.  Empowered children make empowered choices.  Choices that set them up for success in life and allow them to flow with ease.  Something that...

In this episode, your host Ross Leppala talks about what he thinks is ultimately happening to our kids and why they are continually subjected to bully-like behavior.  It's something many of us have endured and something many of our children endures.  WHY? With all the anti-bully campaigns out there, why does this continue to happen?    The Belonging Blueprint Connect with your...

In this episode, host Ross Leppala talks with one of his powerlifting clients and mental performance guru, Shaina Record.  Shaina brings a lot of great perspectives to the table when dealing with mental adversity and how to be a high performer in life and athletic pursuits.  As she was surrounded by high performers, having to find ways to navigate her self-imposed pressures in order to f...

Even wonder why they call it a healing journey?  When do we become healed?  Is it even possible to become 'healed'? In this episode host, Ross Leppala talks about some of his perspectives on why it's a journey and not a  destination.  What it would take or rather what it would look like to become truly healed.  A concept that to him seems like a fairly far stretched idea w...

In this episode, your Host Ross Leppala is joined by his life coach, Mim Chapman.  Ross worked with Mim back in 2015 when he first sought help to work on his own mental health.  Mim is a true joy and light in the world having worked with countless people and couples with her personal life coaching.  They talk about some of Mim's personal stories and many ways in which she has helped...

Athletes constantly grind on the physical preparations for their sport.  They also often prepare their mind for their field of play.  But what are you/they doing to help themselves as a person?  We see athletes fail and it is often a result of their failure to care for the person.  We are people first and athletes second.  When we see high-level athletes have failed career...

In this episode, Ross sits down with Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Amanda Rizo.  We talk about her healing journey and recovery from some significantly lift limiting aspects from sexual trauma to anorexia.  It was during her therapy in college that inspired her to change her academic focus from music to becoming a therapist.  Seeing the value it added to her life, she wa...

How do you talk to yourself?  How do you talk about yourself?  Have you struggled with this before?  I know that it was a gigantic mess of thought in my head for far too many years.  In this episode, I share about what that does for how you show up in the world and give some practical guidance for how to create the shift in your self-talk today!  The Belonging Blueprint Co...

We often struggle to find our place in the world.  A big part of that struggle can come from seeking external validation, approval from others.  That is a sure-fire way to have mental hardships in our journey of life.  In this episode, world champion powerlifter Ian Bell talks about his healing journey and the significant role of what finding internal validation has done for him in...

We all have moments of anxiety.  Depending on where we are at in our journey, sometimes we are even crippled by that feeling.  In this episode, I share with you some of my experiences and struggles with anxiety in my past.  How I was able to overcome and more importantly, how it's shaped the way I view anxiety in the present day!   The Belonging Blueprint Connect with your host...

Suicidal thoughts are not uncommon.  What is uncommon is our ability to have a conversation about it.  Part of Project Unchain{ED} is aimed at helping create safe spaces for people to talk about their struggles.  In this episode, IPF World Champion powerlifter, Bryce Lewis opens up with me about a dark time in his life where he thought about what it would be like to die.  We al...

Let's have a different conversation.....about race!  Conversations about race are incredibly uncomfortable, which is exactly why we ought to have more meaningful conversations about it.  Why on a mental health podcast?  Because your discomfort is a sign you have work to do on yourself and this is a way to do just that.  So let's dig in and have a different conversation about ra...

In this episode, I get to talk with mental health advocate and professional skier, Connor Ryan.  Connor talks about his personal and ancestral traumas and how reconnecting to his Hunkpapa Lakota roots has played a pivotal role in his mental health and healing journey.  I've really enjoyed connecting with Connor on a few occasions and have personal found some of his perspectives highly be...

We often struggle to be authentic as we do things to gain social approval.  This often results in actions & behaviors that don't align with our most authentic selves.  We become trapped in pleasing others while sacrificing who we are, creating more distance from being free.  Your freedom resides in your ability to be the most authentic version of yourself.  I've come to a p...

Perspective is powerful!  Perspective drives your reality.  In this episode, I'm going to go in on perspective and what that does for us.  How our perspectives shape our reality and what we CAN do to have an elevated experience with our reality by simply changing our perspective.  This is something you are capable of doing as you learn how to tap into that!  As we shift ou...

In this episode, your host, Ross Leppala, chats with his friend Matt Vincent. Matt shares where some of his struggles hit him hard mentally, emotionally, and physically.  How his father's death impacted his vision for his own life and then dealing with his athletic career being cut short after several failed surgeries.  Through that journey, he's found the use of medicinal plants to help...

In this episode, I share a story with you all about a defining moment in my healing journey.  A moment when things got really hard and painful.  A moment that I had to make a choice; continue work on healing myself or fall back into my victim mentality.  It was one of the hardest and most defining moments of my life!  Moving forward from that time has been incredibly impactful in my journey and ho...

Join your host, Ross Leppala, and special guest, Dr. Vanessa Gale as they talk about the experiences that had her living a life limited from shame and guilt.   We cover some of her healing and she shares with you all some various tools that help increase your awareness in ways that will benefit your healing journey.  All with the ultimate intention to help us increase our life exper...

Knowledge is power but wasted without action.  We're going to do both here in this episode.  First, let's learn how our brain formulates some basic thoughts!  Coming from the book, "The Chimp Paradox" by Dr. Steve Peters, we've been provided with an amazing analogy with how our brain develops thoughts.  We're going to cover a bit from that book in this episode as we start learn...

In this episode, your host Ross lays out some of the groundwork around the ideas behind personal responsibility.  It's an important theme if you're truly looking to break free from the chains that hold you back in life.  Personal responsibility is a critical component to ensuring you have a quality and elevated life experience.  Creating a mind-blowing life experience is one of the...

I view a properly implemented self-care regimen as the cornerstone effort a person can make to create a greater life experience. Self-care is generally misunderstood and miss applied leading it to be ineffective and frustrating.  In this episode, I cover a few thoughts that should help you understand the importance of an effective self-care regimen and what characteristics led to wasted effor...

Episode 1!!!  Ross gets real vulnerable about some of his past life experiences that have a significant impact on the content of this podcast.  From being bullied in his youth and at it's worse, suicidal, to now flourishing in life.  Join Ross and his guests as they share with you how you too can create a better life experience.  Breaking free from the limiting thoughts and beh...