What if the craving you feel for a drink is actually a craving for relief, regulation, or connection, and there’s another, more healing way to get it? In this episode, your host Anna Donaghey is joined by breathwork practitioner Jon Paul Crimi, whose powerful personal story weaves together addiction, grief, emotional numbness, and a breathwork experience that profoundly shifted his life. They discuss why most people reach for alcohol (it isn’t what you think), how drinking becomes our “solution” for regulating uncomfortable emotions, and the striking similarities between addiction and the universal longing for a shift in state. Jon Paul breaks down what breathwork really is (spoiler: it’s not just box breathing!) and shares how circular, connected breathwork specifically offers a physiological and emotional “reboot” making space for release, self-connection, and even joy. Anna shares her first-hand experience with his class, highlighting how breathwork can offer real, lasting relief that alcohol promises but can’t deliver. Whether you’re sober-curious, in recovery, or just looking to break free from unhelpful patterns and cravings, this conversation points to practical, science-backed ways to rethink your drinking. Highlights: 00:00 Welcome & intro to breathwork 01:01 Jon Paul’s story: addiction, loss, and seeking relief 04:13 When drinking goes from fun to just problems 07:29 The emotional “arrest” that comes from early drinking 08:25 Grief, trauma, and the search for tools 11:05 Why our brains equate alcohol with relief 14:15 What finally made sobriety stick 19:26 How breathwork entered Jon Paul’s life 12 years into sobriety 22:44 The first breathwork class: from scepticism to transformation 28:01 How breathwork helps regulate cravings, states, and emotions 30:17 Craving isn’t the enemy, it’s information 34:10 Breathwork vs. psychedelics: power inside YOU 35:48 What actually happens in a circular breathwork class 39:00 “Turning off your brain” and moving into your heart 46:08 Using breathwork for current and past pain, grief, and shame 52:16 Cravings, choices, and living an extraordinary life. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk About Jon Paul Crimi: Jon Paul Crimi is a world-renowned breathwork facilitator, teacher trainer, and recovery advocate - known for a zero-filter, East Coast approach that strips breathwork of its "New Agey" reputation and replaces it with something practical and results-driven enough to win over sceptics, CEOs, and everyday people alike. He started out as an actor, celebrity fitness trainer, and sober coach in Los Angeles, carrying his own struggles with alcoholism, addiction, and low self-worth long before he found a way through them. Almost by accident, around 15 years ago, he wandered into a breathwork class and had a transformation so profound in that first session that it reshaped the entire direction of his life. He's now 26 years sober, and that lived experience - not theory - is what sits underneath everything he teaches. His method is trauma-informed at its core, built around somatic release, nervous system regulation, and processing the emotional weight people carry without always knowing it. It's also gone mainstream in a way few breathwork practices have. He runs weekly live classes, digital workshops, and his Emotional Detox course. You can find him, and all of it, at: https://breathewithjp.com/
