About | How it Works | Try iAwake free | My experience (PM 3.0) | The app |  Recommendations | Summary: pros & cons

iAwake produces transformational sound therapy music, which I started using around three years ago.

In recent times I've been increasingly using more of their sound technologies; and so I've come back to rewrite this review in 2020 and share my updated thoughts and experiences.

As you know, the products I write about I genuinely use, and in this post I'll cover everything from how it works to the tracks I'm personally using.

I also give you look inside their new app.

About iAwake Technologies

iAwake products use a combination of brainwave technology, including binaural beats, isochronic tones, and Biofield entrainment.

The goal is a holistic therapy approach that guides the listening toward deeper levels of happiness, joy, peace, prosperity, and emotional freedom.

The company is headed up by two Transpersonal Psychology master's degree holders, John and Pam Dupuy – both of whom I've had the pleasure to speak to: there are privileges to being the leading brainwave entrainment blogger, you know (ha!).

Here's a quick overview of John and Pam's credentials:

• John has worked in the field since 2004. Aside from iAwake, he also the founder of Integral Recovery Institute – a training center for those working in the addiction recovery field. John's book, Integral Recovery received the 2013 USA Best Books Award.
• Pam is a marriage and family therapist who has founded several programs for coping with mental health, life transition, and addiction issues. Pam has studied many spiritual / meditative traditions, including Sufism, Buddhism, Prayer of the Heart/Centering Prayer, and world kirtan.

The Creators

One key aspect of iAwake that differs from other stores is the diversity of the creators of the music. And this is what makes each program in the catalogue quite different in its approach.

For example: there's hypnotherapist Joseph Kao, creator of the popular Profound Releasing, and Journey to the Center of Self.

There's music producer Nadja Lind, also trained in hypnosis and energy medicine, and a graduate from the Sadhguru Inner Engineering program.

And then there's Leigh Spusta, behavioral scientist, hypnotherapist, and Certified Therapeutic Imagery Facilitator and creator of Deep Delta (one of my favorites), iAwake Mini Meditations and more.

In fact, there's so much variety with iAwake that it can get a tad overwhelming.

Hopefully though, I can help you navigate your way around to finding some sound-based healing that works for you.

That said, if you don't want to hang around and would rather get started now, then take a leap of faith and go here to try their free tracks.

How Does iAwake Work?

– Biofield Entrainment

iAwake uses a multi-layered approach to brainwave entrainment.

In addition to binaural beats and isochronic tones, they use Biofield entrainment and Psychoacoustic Entrainment

While the former, particularly binaural beats, has a solid basis in science, Biofield entrainment is more a theory at this point – based on Einstein's finding that all matter is energy.

In the words of Jon Dupuy:

When two energy fields enter into resonance with one another, this is called the universal language of resonance. What happens is an interchange―as two fields interface, they exchange energy and information.

Because we are all made of energy, and so is everything around us, these subtle energy fields can be manipulated – like when we practice Qi Gong or Tai Chi.

Having practiced Wing Chun myself, I have seen Chi – a balance of Yin and Yang, positive and negative, electromagnetic energy which flows through everything in creation – put into action to allow a seemingly weaker force to overcome a more powerful force.

Biofield entrainment works on the electric field of the device you are playing the track on, so even if the volume is set to zero, the electric field manipulation will continue.

– Psychoacoustic Entrainment

iAwake also uses Psychoacoustic Entrainment.

PE uses multi-layered sound frequencies that create musical and organic entrainment effects through the musical soundtrack itself, producing deep, relaxing trance-like states.

Through hypnotic cues and textures of musical phrasing, vibro-acoustic frequencies (low resonating tones), and psychoacoustics (sounds that spark mental and emotional responses in the listener), this technology is designed to create a more organic (natural) entrainment for the listener.

– Binaural Beats

I won't go into too much detail on this here because I do so in many other areas of the blog. But in short: binaural beats is a proven sound technology that can induce relaxing, and even hypnotic effects.

At different frequencies, listening can tangibly affect mood and performance on a number of levels: sleep, anxiety, focus, memory, pain relief, etc.

– Isochronic Tones & Monaural Beats

Isochronic tones are fast pulses, played on and off repeatedly. There's a lot of unfounded claims about their effectiveness but it's said that they are good for entrainment in the higher – but not lower – frequency ranges.

Monaural beats are kind of old school now in that they are an acoustic form of entrainment: unlike binaural beats where an auditory illusion takes place, monaural beats are just tones played directly as they are to the ears.

Unlike BBs, IT and MB don't need headphones when listening.

In a nutshell: iAwake Technologies uses either a single form, or combination of two or more of these sound therapies, in their programs.

To find out which is being used, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page of a product and see the ‘technology' section.

Try iAwake Technologies Free

If you're interested in trying iAwake, the good news is that they have upgraded their free offering to include three track samples.

Here's an overview of each:

1. Heartwave Meditation

This is a track designed for relaxation. At first it feels quite invasive as it immerses you in a coastal setting with waves, seagulls and all.

But then a gong sound emerges and a flute comes in moving the natural ambience to the back. After around three minutes you feel a softness in the center of your chest, just right of your heart and you succumb to the meditation.

2. Profound Meditation 3

This is the iAwake flagship program, which has been developed further over the years. It's for straight up meditation and there's no frills or distractions.

This is pure entrainment with a heavy rain backdrop. I love it. Pure immersion. I actually use this for focus while working too, though if I'm a bit tired it zones me out a little too much.

3. Stealing Flow

There's 6 tracks in the full package – one even has subtle affirmations – but with this free download you'll get a 12 minute workout version to experiment with.

I'm currently listening to the Stealing Flow High Focus, which starts in Alpha and progresses up to 30 Hz Beta. This is another rain backdrop recording with a swirling pad on the back that centers your mind.

Personally I feel like this is too high and for work I want to stay in the Alpha state. My go-to work tracks are things like Zen Focus and Flow State by BBM.

Check them all out anyway as it is a good cross section of what's on offer. I'll offer a few more personal recommendations below.

My Experience Using Profound 3 Meditation

When I wrote the first version of this review I included an experience with the Profound Meditation program.

This was actually an earlier version (now updated) but it's still relevant so I thought I'd leave this in for you.

Twenty Minutes Later…After Listening

Well, that was interesting. I feel chilled, and mentally clean, as usual after a meditation session.

Initially, the relaxing rainfall soundscape was quite abrupt, but my consciousness quickly adapted and my mind did center.

One thing I'd note is that you should pee before you start, as running water can trigger a psychosomatic urge to go.

It's also worth noting that with your first session you may experience some trembling, twitching, racing thoughts or of the heart.

This is basically all part of the release: negative energy, pent-up tension, frustration, aggression, stress, and anxiety from everyday life that we seldom expel from our bodies.

It's this same negative energy that can cause the immune system to weaken, and for us to feel tired, lethargic, and sometimes depressed

Anyway, so the background chatter of my mind settled down pretty swiftly.

It was surprising, as I had thought that it would harder for me to slip into a meditational state while in the back of my mind I knew that I was taking mental notes for this review.

Did it Work?

Yes. It worked really well for me. The meditation experience was better than if I had meditated without.

Overall, I find that iAwake has an interesting approach: Rather than starting off gently, oftentimes the tracks start quite intensely, and you're a bit like “whoah”.

But this is strategic, because it dominates your mind and kind of gets it to shut up – which is exactly what you want.

You then adjust to the sound and come to center.

The iAwake App

Last year iAwake introduced an app. You buy your programs from the website, and then you have the option to install and access them on the app.

I actually prefer downloading the files to my computer from their website. Then I put them in iTunes and transfer them to my phone or iPod if need be.

The app is cool, though. It's just that streaming from the app kills my battery and I don't have the cash to upgrade to one of those fancy new iPhones.

But I know most people like to use the app, and it gets around that iOS annoyance of not being able to download audio files from the browser directly to your phone. Can you imagine that? All that money for a phone and you can't download to it!

The app has 4 basic functions, keeping it nice and simple:

1. Access and play your programs in the app
2. Create playlists
3. Read the blog and FAQ
4. Get support

Here's some screenshots of the app on my phone:

These are programs I have purchased (far left and right) and me playing Beginner's Mind in the middle.

Me listening to a variety of tracks, including PM 3.0, Deep Delta and Journey to the Center of the Self.

My iAwake Recommendations

iAwake products range in price between around $17 and up to $77. There is a vast array of programs to follow, with over 40 separate packages covering the following areas:

• Sleep
• Meditation
• Flow
• Motivation
• Stress
• Depression
• Pain relief
• Heart opening
• Transcendental awareness

If you're unsure of what to try, you might like to follow my recommendations. I have more than is on the list, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Also, these recommendations are good places to start for broad areas such as relaxation, meditation, sleep, etc:

1. Deeply Theta: Great for meditation and creative thinking
2. Deep Delta: Great for listening to before bed, and for a trip during the day!
3. Profound Meditation Program 3.0: Not cheap but worth it if you want to follow a meditation program on a daily basis.
4. Beginner's Mind: Seen in my app screenshot, this features Japanese Flute and thunderstorm ambience for relaxation, creativity and meditation
5. Journey to the Center of Self: A guided meditation for accessing Beingness.
6. Journey to the Depths of Your Soul: Use after #5 for a deeper journey.

Note: Clicking ‘learn more' in the image above takes you to the complete version of PM 3.0.

This may be out of your budget, in which case you might want to look at the starter kit version.

You'll find the starter kit here.

iAwake, in Summary

When iAwake first came along I felt it was a little hit and miss. Some programs I liked and others didn't resonate.

But as the last few years have gone by they've grown into what they do and really done great things.

The effectiveness was never an issue, it was just that the sound design on some of the early tracks wasn't great.

However, they've since upgraded their approach and brought out a number of programs I really love.

If you're dealing with mood swings, anxiety, depression, addiction, recovery, or find meditation difficult, iAwake Technologies is a good path to go down.

The owners specialize in these areas and that's reflected in the program range.

Additionally, some of the higher consciousness tracks (see numbers 5 and 6 in my list) are really good.

With this type of sound therapy music you have to go into listening with an open mind, to truly let go and allow yourself to get lost in the music.

You have to open yourself up to change and positivity to receive it, exactly the same way you do with normal meditation. You must let go and just allow things to be as they are.

Pros:

• Great variety of programs
• Instant download in mp3 and .wav from the website
• Easy-to-use app for iOS and Android, once you purchase from the website
• Solid customer service

Cons:

• Can be pricey, but packages offer good value
• The terminology used can be a bit confusing for beginners. Hopefully I've helped with that.

Download your free iAwake samples here

Free Binaural Beats Download!

Get my relaxing 'Peaceful Calm' theta track now