The Calm App

Greeneyedlady21 · ‎01-06-2015

I was wondering if anyone here uses it and if so what do you think of it? There's a free 7 day trial and its then $60 for a year. Only $5 a month which is very reasonable. I believe you can also cancel it at any time. It's supposed to help with meditation, stress, anxiety, sleep, mindfulness.

I'm going to do the trial but I'd like to hear about any experiences.

"This isn't a Wednesday night, this is New Year's Eve"

Alison Wonderland · ‎02-05-2018

I've been using the Calm app for about 2 years now and I absolutely love it.

You don't even need the trial to use some of it, so try it before you sign up for the trial.

Calm features:

Calming 'white noise' sounds and visuals - rain, ocean waves, a lake, a fireplace, music, etc.)
Meditations grouped by theme (Calm, Focus, Anxiety, Sleep, Mindfulness, etc)
Sleep Stories - bedtime stories for adults and kids, some read by famous people. I LOVE them.
Meditations and Sleep Stories for kids or college students
Master Classes - longer meditations and classes on health and mindfulness

I often use the sounds alone to sleep at night. Sometimes I pull Calm on up my work computer and just listen to the sounds of the lake and the birds in my headphones while I work. So relaxing.

The meditations are great. I don't do well with the "imagine you're on a beach" guided meditations and these aren't those. They have a lot of guided meditations and also some without much or any guidance. If you subscribe, there are some meditations where you can choose a time - 5 minutes, 10 minutes for what works best for you. They also have short Emergency meditation that I use in the parking lot before I go into a doctor's office because my white coat syndrome always spikes my blood pressure before an appointment.

The sleep stories are a wonderful addition. They have stories read by Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Stephen Fry, Clarke Peters, Joanna Lumley, Bidi Irwin, and the audio from Painting with Bob Ross. Some stories are classics (The Velveteen Rabbit), essays on nature by John Muir, or stories written just for Calm. I really like the Train stories read by Erik Braa and anything read by Welshman Stephen Lyons. They also have some special Nap sleep stories that lull you to sleep and then wake you up in about 25 minutes - the perfect nap time for brain recharging without waking up feeling more tired.

I rave about it to all my friends.

If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

twinkies · ‎03-11-2010

I do not have it but it sounds interesting! cathy from ma

Greeneyedlady21 · ‎01-06-2015

@AlisonWonderland Thank you so much for all your information, so helpful. I'm going through an extremely difficult time since the death of my Mom two months ago. I am doing other things to help myself. I thought this app could help too. Every little bit can help.

"This isn't a Wednesday night, this is New Year's Eve"

butterfly123 · ‎06-27-2013

@Greeneyedlady21

I don’t want to sway your decision. You may want to look at Headspace and Insight as well.

More information may be found at Mindful dot org.

Alison Wonderland · ‎02-05-2018

@Greeneyedlady21 wrote:
@AlisonWonderland Thank you so much for all your information, so helpful. I'm going through an extremely difficult time since the death of my Mom two months ago. I am doing other things to help myself. I thought this app could help too. Every little bit can help.

You're welcome, @Greeneyedlady21. I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I think something like Calm can be very helpful. I started using it when work stress was getting out of control and I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and found it very helpful. It's also fantastic for insomnia, which can be a side effect of stress and depression.

Alison Wonderland · ‎02-05-2018

@butterfly123 wrote:
@Greeneyedlady21
I don’t want to sway your decision. You may want to look at Headspace and Insight as well.

More information may be found at Mindful dot org.

I enjoyed Headspace a lot, too. The meditations were good and I liked the voice of the instructor leading the meditations. I did not find the app as versatile as Calm, which offers more than meditation, but it's a good one to try.

@Greeneyedlady21, now that you've told us more about why you want to try one of these Apps, I'll note that Headspace does have a special meditation set on grief and for sadness, which you might find especially useful. You can download the app and try some of the meditations from it for free.