In these current times of war and recession, anxiety is a widespread malady, affecting the 4% of adults worldwide. It's hard to deal with it by yourself, it can be frustrating or overwhelming. There are many meditation apps, most famously Calm. With its special features and plans, Calm might be yourt solution.
What is Calm?
Calm is an app specialized in mindfulness and meditation, helping either experienced users or newcomers who wish to heal from life's stress and find inner peace.
Featuring hundreds of calming exercises, breathing techniques and sleep stories (narrated by celebrities like Harry Styles and LeBron James) Calm stays on top (with Headspace) as one of the leading apps in mindfulness.
Calm's features
Calm offers several useful features to help users with anxiety and stress-related issues, using methods that have previously proven to be successful. These features are:
- Bedtime stories, to help conciliate a peaceful and relaxing night of sleep
- Guided sleep meditations, a tool to avoid spiralling in negative thoughts when trying to sleep
- Music such as Soundscapes, to relax with peaceful and calming sounds.
- Meditations, for sleep, beginners, work, inner peace, anxiety, emotions and personal growth.
- Breathing exercises fit for any situation
- Calm masterclasses taught by professionals in the field.
Why should I have Calm?
- Calm offers a multitude of options fit for everybody's needs, helping you in managing anxiety and improving your sleep quality.
- Calm's features are unique amongst mindfulness apps, offering special tools such as Bedtime stories, particularly useful for users with children.
- According to a survey conducted with approximately 1,500 parents whose kids have used Calm, almost 97% of these parents believed that the sleep stories on Calm contributed to enhancing their children's sleep routines.
- Calm is also an excellent choice for beginners in meditation. Many aspects of the application are designed to educate users on mindfulness and introduce them to easily accessible meditation techniques.
- Soundscapes are great for concentration during or after stressing moments, providing a somewhat immersive natural experience.
Calm's plans
Calm offers both a free and a paid plan. These plans include several features, obviously the paid plan is more feature-heavy and has its own privileges. Let's check them out.
The free plan includes:
- Daily meditations
- Breathing exercises
- Mood tracker
- Sleep stories (some of them)
- Music tracks
- Guided meditations (some of them)
These features are specially generous considering it's a free plan, something most mindfulness apps do not include. Calm also offers a 7-day free trial that lets you check out the following features:
- The remaining guided meditations
- The entirety of the sleep stories
- Exclusive tracks for sleeping and relaxation.
- Exclusive masterclasses by experts in the field.
After the free trial ends, all of these features are, of course, paid. The prices are rather expensive, but Calm offers a 15% discount if a team of 5 or more joins in the same plan. By paying for the entire year instead of monthly, you also get a monthly 38% discount, which is a bit more convenient in the long run.
Students can get a discount using Amazon Prime Student, accessing a 3-month free trial, followed by a discounted subscription. Calm Business offers help on topics such as burnout and specific support for employees.
If you are a huge fan (and I mean HUGE) of Calm, you can get a lifetime subscription, which isn't cheap at all.
Some fun extra features
Calm has these little nice features such as Daily Calm, a 10 minute guided meditation updated every morning and focusing on a different topic each day. Although Daily Calm is a premium feature, free trial users can access Daily Calm Highlights, a selection of the most popular daily sessions. The Daily session changes every day, but premium users can revisit meditations using the History section. The mood tracking feature lets you track your mood patterns while using the app.
Calm also offers Calm Kids, featuring age-appropriate tools for healthy growth and development.
Is Calm something I should have?
Calm is more than just an app, it's a lifeline for anyone seeking refuge from the storms of modern life. With its wide fan of features and tools, Calm is a steadfast companion of your self-improvement journey. Whether you're taking your first steps on the path to mindfulness or deepening your practice, Calm is the ultimate companion for cultivating a calmer, more balanced lifestyle. Its price for premium plans are definitely a drawback, with a significant lack of features on the free plans, thus deserving 3/5 stars.
