“Excellent. Not too intense. Just right. These tracks are truly a gift of gratitude.”
The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition
When you get to “thank you” on your journey of recovery, you have found your way home. – John Dupuy
The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition is a powerful vehicle and framework that allows you to add a life changing gratitude component to your daily recovery practice. iAwake’s resident recovery expert, Dr. Bob Weathers, and brain entrainment wizard Leigh Spusta have created this extraordinary tool to add power, energy, joy, and efficacy to your daily recovery journey.
- Find light in the darkness
- Transmute pain and despair into hope and peace
- Build and strengthen the foundation of your true sober self and progressively weaken the power of your deceptive addict self to control your life
“This literally blew my heart open and I am so grateful for it.” – John Dupuy
Listen to the Samples Now
Use of headphones will provide the most optimal experience. To fully experience the potential of this program, please get comfortable, close your eyes, and relax for the next 3 minutes. Allow the guided meditation to immerse you in a deep sense of relaxation and peace…
Don’t be fooled – this is not just beautiful music – it is the design and technology infused in the soundtrack that evokes the deep relaxation response, along with Dr. Bob Weathers’ wise and gentle guidance.
The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition guides you to:
- Experience gratitude for your recovery and your life NOW
- Express thankfulness for the blessings of your life in its multifaceted domains and dimensions, to include your relationships, your evolving clarity, and joy at being alive
- Be joyful and glad as you observe your deficits being transmuted into assets
- Feel the light and love increasingly flow through your broken places
- Replace the negativity fostered through the disease of addiction with hope, love, and life-affirming service to yourself and others
- Have gratitude and hope become your guiding light on the journey of recovery
- Recognize and deeply accept the blessings in your life, especially your recovery, and the fact that the universe has given you a new and meaning filled life
- Cultivate joy and flow in the small and large acts of kindness which you are now capable of
Additional Info
About
*The CD version is now available.
Track Details
01 Complete Guided Recovery Meditation [34:24 minutes]
This longer version provides you with a complete introduction and is most useful early on.
02 Core Guided Recovery Meditation [23:01 minutes]
This more condensed version will serve you well in your daily practice, after first becoming familiar with the practice.
03 Music and Brainwave Entrainment [29:27 minutes]
The brainwave entrainment music creates a deeply calming space to relax and integrate the guided meditation.
03 Music and Brainwave Entrainment – CD Version [21:31 minutes]
The CD music-only track is 8 minutes shorter than the digital version, simply so all 3 tracks can fit on 1 CD. It will still provide a wonderful, calming space in which to relax and integrate the guided meditation.
Full package includes:
- 3 tracks (total of 86:54 minutes)
- Tracks accessible on the free iAwake Technologies app for iOS and Android
- Downloadable audio files available in MP3, WAV, FLAC, and ALAC formats
- User Guide (downloadable PDF)
- Ongoing support (responsive email, active Facebook forum, FAQs, videos, audios)
About the Tracks from the Creator, Dr. Bob Weathers
In my previous collaboration with iAwake, The Freedom of Forgiveness, we introduced self-compassion as a hugely practical key to increased self-esteem as well as an effective antidote to shame, which lies at the very core of our impaired self-esteem and so much addictive behavior. Simply put, shame is one of the most painful human emotions, and virtually all forms of addiction have this shame as a common root source. The implication is clear: increase self-esteem by reducing shame, and strengthen the essential resources required for a successful life and lifetime recovery—physically, psychologically, and spiritually.
Which brings us to this current project, The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition. Just as in practicing forgiveness (of oneself and others), so with dedicated gratitude practice, self-esteem can be significantly improved. As the chains of shame begin to loosen, we find we can experience deep self-forgiveness and also move towards forgiving others. This does not happen overnight, but is a lifetime journey that is filled with profound love and gratitude.
And just as shame cannot coexist in the presence of gratitude, neither can addiction. Active addiction and its accompanying shame would have us believe that we are not deserving of happiness, owing to the perception that we are essentially flawed, broken, and defective. The daily practice of gratitude shows us a new way, transforming not only our prior attitudes, but our very life at its core.
In the spirit of practicing behaviors—like self-compassion in iAwake’s The Freedom of Forgiveness—here with The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, we provide you with specific skills for daily gratitude practice. By practicing these meditations, you can redirect the “ship”—most importantly, your dedicated recovery—in a radically more reliable and positive direction.
Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, is a leader in the field of gratitude study. Perhaps the number one thing Dr. Emmons has discovered is: gratitude reduces stress. And what do you think the number one trigger is for relapse in addiction? If you guessed “stress,” you’re spot on! Perhaps now you can begin to imagine just how powerful this gratitude-directed recovery practice can be, reducing our physical, spiritual, and emotional stress on a daily basis.
In The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, we suggest concrete guidelines for your taking just a few minutes each day (no more than 10-15 minutes, to be precise) to “fight the power” of shame and other stressors by displacing them with heartfelt gratitude for who you are, and for all the blessings you have in your life. Is our personal recovery worth that small investment in time each day? We surely believe so. The palpable emotional and spiritual benefits which accrue with this daily practice are definitely their own greatest reward!
Is this gratitude practice worth your time and effort? Absolutely. Because at this stage in your life, your recovery is your number one focus. More important than your job, your career, your relations, your family, etc. If this sounds radical, remember: if you do not embark on this journey of sustained recovery, you will, guaranteed, lose all of the above.
Put your recovery first, be grateful, and the other issues and dimensions of your life will be greatly improved and enriched and become another subject of your daily gratitude practice.
The Story of the Development of The Gift of Gratitude from the Creator, Dr. Bob Weathers
Owing to my first-hand acquaintanceship with personal shame, and the huge impact it had on my life (including fueling an active mid-life addiction), I felt impelled to find deep-level antidotes that might be effective for managing, and hopefully reducing, the over-achievement and placating of others which plagued me. I needed skillful means for accepting myself as I was, not as I imagined others needed me to be, in order that they might love me.
My previous project for iAwake, The Freedom of Forgiveness, summarizes the self-compassion practice that serves as one central support for gradually lifting the burden of shame and unrelenting self-expectation which had driven me for an entire lifetime. But as valuable as forgiveness practice proved to be for me (and still is), I realized something more was needed. This is where The Gift of Gratitude comes in.
What I discovered, quite organically and over time, was that when I stopped to “count my blessings” every morning, there grew for me a second significant counter to the shame and self-judgment which had been my daily companion deep into adulthood. I began to put together, from the inside out, that anyone who experiences as many blessings as I do, and intentionally notes them—even through thick and thin—could not be so bad or flawed or unworthy after all!
Psychology talks about cognitive dissonance, where we come to believe something that we practice owing to sheer repetition. The old saying, “garbage in, garbage out,” comes to mind. And I was, in many ways, quite expert at that by the time I finally encountered gratitude practice as an alternative. In fact, I might replace the earlier saying with an updated version, after over a decade of daily gratitude practice: “Grace in, grace out.” What do I mean here?
Our brains are wired to be on the look-out for trouble. (Evolutionary biologists call this our built-in “negativity bias.”) But what if, at least in the case of those suffering from chronic shame or low self-esteem, this is a case of a potentially good thing taken to a not-so-good extreme, so often including our various attempted antidotes via addictive behaviors? Speaking personally, my pervasively negative mindset ended up being too heavy a burden for me to bear; hence, I fell into regularly numbing out and/or getting high, through alcohol and other drugs, to escape such pain. Can you relate?
Whether you have suffered as severely as I did or not, might it serve you to consciously train your mind (and change your brain!) to counterbalance any over-negativity with a healthy dose of positivity? If so, gratitude may be just the ticket for you. It surely has been for me.
A daily dose of gratitude helps reduce stress, certainly reduces shame, and increases joy and engagement in life. The “cherry on top” is that this practice, which includes a daily inventory of all recovery-oriented behaviors and attitudes, may serve you, as it has me for over ten years now, as a valuable foundation on your own path of committed sobriety. I can vouch for it, and hope you might find the same out for yourself. Blessings to you as you move forward in building this orientation more deeply into your own life, including your working it creatively into whatever recovery program you currently are engaged in.
How to Use
Download the iAwake App
First, download the FREE iAwake App, login with your email and all your tracks will be right there. You can stream them, but we’d advise downloading them (from within the app) to ensure an interruption-free experience, and to be able to listen offline.
How to Use The Gift of Gratitude from the Creator, Dr. Bob Weathers
Here is a sample of the guided meditations contained in The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition:
“I am grateful on a physical level, first and foremost, for any progress I am making in my recovery from addiction, also for my overall health, exercise, wholesome diet, sleep, and for all regular acts of ‘courageous self-kindness’ which I employ for reducing stress and adding joy in my life…including this daily gratitude practice!”
“I am also grateful for all forms of material security, especially after any ‘wreckage of the past’ due to addiction. Such security manifests in everything from a roof over my head and food to eat, to any source of employment I have been able to sustain or regain, plus those personal possessions which bring me the most enjoyment and appreciation.”
“I am grateful, in terms of relational security, for those who love me most, through thick and thin (including my past addiction), and with whom I now rebuild and share my most heartfelt vulnerability and closeness.”
“I am grateful, in terms of self-esteem, for all those opportunities today which help me express my gifts, particularly within a new recovery-oriented lifestyle; for those individuals in my life who offer the strongest support (again, through thick and thin) for my expressing these gifts; and for my experience of pride and satisfaction at being able to manifest genuine competence in exercising those gifts, especially when it comes to sustaining a successful recovery, one day at a time.”
“Finally, I am grateful for the ongoing opportunities in my life to grow, to build new skills, and to change ever for the better, including the chance to live to my very highest potential, now that I am in committed recovery, and at last able to truly express my deepest sense of life’s purpose and meaning.”
Having once followed the above instructions for gratitude practice, we encourage you wholeheartedly to adapt and modify them at will to fit you best—and then come back to them tomorrow, and the next day, giving just 10-15 minutes a day to intentionally pause and take personal stock, giving thanks. After no more than seven consecutive days of consistent, daily practice, if you still don’t find any use in it, then…simply…stop.
We doubt you will.
Technology
Brainwave Patterns Targeted
I found it best to target the lower alpha frequency of 8 Hz, matching the Schumann Resonance, which is one of the fundamental Earth frequencies. When in resonance with this targeted rhythm, the listener can experience a sense of connectedness, in the flow of and in balance with life, from which a natural feeling of gratitude can emerge.
Alpha waves can amplify your clarity and imagination and boost your performance and creativity. They are even said to be the “artist brain waves,” where new ideas and solutions are sparked and you connect to your inner playful state of clarity and wisdom. Alpha helps you become fully present in a state of multidimensional awareness, which increases problem-solving capacity, and you may even experience a sense of deep connection, belonging, and flow.
Soundtrack Details from the Creator, Leigh Spusta
The sounds and melodic/harmonic choices that I used are a reflection of Dr. Bob’s soothing energy and kind personality. His calm energy allowed me to work more intuitively on the composition. I knew that the music for this meditation needed to encourage an openness of heart and a calm mind. It was my goal that the music and Bob’s meditation should work synergistically to deliver a powerful experience, ushering the listener into the feeling state of gratitude.
I also used a combined approach to create the entrainment music for these tracks. I relied heavily on psycho-acoustic methods, the choice of tones, textures, and melodic phrasing, in order to elicit the psycho-emotional state of resonance with gratitude. The music is tuned to match the Schumann Resonance – approximately 8 Hz – a low alpha brainwave target, and this effect is doubled by the occurrence of natural binaural beat rhythms. This music is designed to guide the listener into a feel good — at home, at rest, yet alert – state of being, and of course this experience is further elicited by Bob’s fantastic guided meditation
Creator
Dr. Bob Weathers is a highly regarded addiction educator, recovery coach, author, and public speaker.
Over the course of his professional career, “Dr. Bob” has provided tens of thousands of hours of therapeutic counseling and recovery coaching to satisfied clients. He has also committed over four decades to teaching, training, and inspiring graduate-level mental health providers at several southern California universities, including helping to develop their nationally accredited addiction studies certificate and mindfulness-based clinical training coursework. His two most recent books on addiction recovery are currently in press with Cambridge University Press.
Leigh Spusta, creator of Alpha Arising, Forgetting Not to Remember, Gamma 40, Deep Delta, Deeply Theta, iAwake Mini Meditations, Solar Infusion, and the sound/entrainment tracks for The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition, The Gift of Gratitude, Morning Ritual, Call of the Heart; In, Out & Through Vol. I; Kundalini (In, Out & Through Vol. II); and Deep Recovery, is a composer, hypnotherapist, and Certified Therapeutic Imagery Facilitator, specializing in the use of sound frequencies to produce deep, relaxing trance states.
His work has become internationally recognized and is enjoyed by thousands around the world. Leigh has worked with several therapists in Los Angeles, producing a variety of therapeutic audio CDs, and has been hired as a consultant and producer working with companies in the United Kingdom. He also works with the HMI College of Hypnotherapy and the American Hypnosis Association as Director of Media Production.
Leigh combines his talents as a musician and his knowledge of hypnosis and related states, in an effort to pioneer new approaches to creating rich, resonant soundscapes for greater efficacy in healing and meditative products. Leigh is the developer of the proprietary PsimatiX™ therapeutic approaches and technologies.
“These wonderfully structured tracks guide the listener through all aspects of gratitude in a way that reinforces the feeling, boosts positivity and wonder, and shifts perspective in a way that eliminates negativity. They are worded very clearly, well paced, and seem to sink into one’s consciousness in a relaxing way. Very effective—and for people who don’t already practice gratitude, it could change their lives.” – Lauretta Goforth
“[The Gift of Gratitude – Recovery Edition] allowed me to accept a long forgotten part of my life and welcome that home to love as well. It was like finding a piece of the jigsaw that was holding back the project, only to learn I was the one standing on that piece all along.” ~ Scott McGreevy