Daily Inspiration: Meet Jeff Icuss

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Icuss.

Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey, my name is Jeff Icuss, I made an app called breath player, a mindfulness and breathing tool that turns your breath into sound and music to help you focus on your breath.

I’d like to tell you my story: I’ve been playing sax and guitar since I was a kid, and my dream was always to move to Hollywood and write music for movies. And you know what? I was actually able to make that happen!

I spent ten years living in Hollywood, working on a ton of different music projects. But as much as I loved what I was doing, the freelance Hollywood lifestyle wasn’t without its drawbacks. I found myself working alone a lot, and it really started to take a toll on my mental health and my relationships. I was successful but I was also struggling to find meaning in what I was doing. I was a ball of stress. My therapist recommended breathing exercises. This is when I discovered mindfulness breathing. Incorporating this in my every day changed my life and had a profound impact on my mental health.

The way to practice mindfulness breathing is to focus on your breath; as thoughts enter your mind, return your focus to your breath. It sounds easy, but it’s actually quite difficult.

I developed all sorts of personal methodologies. In my head, I’d imagine music notes going up on the inhale, down on the exhale, waves in and out with my breath. It helped so much I wanted to share it with everyone. And that’s when breath player was born.

It’s taken a lot of hard work, but I’ve been able to develop Breath Player into something truly special. I’ve released several versions, and we’re now up to version 3.0 with counting, box breathing, breathing affirmations, breathing binaural beats, to go along with all the music and nature instruments that made breath player great.

I think what really sets Breath Player apart is the reverse input. Instead of following a prompt, which is what you find in most breathing apps, breath player allows you to input your breath and get feedback on it, allowing your breath to be what it is.

Breath Player locks you into your breath instantaneously and opens up possibilities to take a few breaths here and there and practice mindfulness in little bite-sized increments.

Fast forward a year or so, as people were using and enjoying breath player, I noticed that some users would just listen to the music while they meditated.

I saw this as an opportunity to make Aeris (Latin for to the air), a music and noise generator that perfectly fills the air with singing bowls, waterfalls, pianos and all kinds of sonic ambient deliciousness for meditating, sleeping, studying, and working. I think it belongs in every spa, massage parlor, and yoga studio.

What makes Aeris really cool is not only do you have really beautiful sounds, but control over each layer. Plus, the sounds don’t loop, which is important when you’re playing audio for long periods of time.

And that’s not all! I also have a live-stream sound bath project in the works that will feature both Breath Player and Aeris.

Creating these apps and then writing music for those apps has been a dream come true for me. I wake up excited every day.

I encourage you to check out my apps. I’m going to continue to add to these apps for as long as people are using them!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think it’s very hard to work alone and it’s also very hard to find really good people to work with.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I enjoy working as an artist and I am most at peace with my computer open, a guitar in my lap and a keyboard in front of me. I have over 200 TV shows that my music has appeared in. I really enjoy making rock music and scary, suspenseful music, but recently I’ve really been into ambient music coming from organic sources like guitars and woodwinds.

I am most proud of my apps Breath Player and Aeris – for the same reason, they are what set me apart. I think it takes a very unique skill set to pull them off.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My wife, my parents, my teachers.

Contact Info:

• Website: (Breath Player) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/breathe-with-breath-player/id1435169594
• Other: (aeris) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/aeris-white-noise-soundbath/id1532454851