Reevaluating Calm

I wrote earlier that I always thought that apps that are used to help with stress, anxiety, and teach you how to meditate, should be free. I still stand by that statement, but after giving the plan a chance, I have some change of heart.

As you know, Calm is a popular app used for meditation, breathing activities, as well as relaxing music and stories to help you fall asleep.

I originally dismissed this app as everything was locked behind the paywall, except for basic breathing exercises and a few sample meditations. The only thing that made me get the reason for needing a subscription was some of the activities were narrated by celebrities.

I was having trouble finding good meditation programs and sticking to them when I decided to start meditating again so I decided to give Calm’s subscription a chance, making a mental note of when the renewal date was in case I decided to cancel.

It turns out there are tons of features behind the subscription wall. It is mainly centered on the daily meditations such as the Daily Calm, Daily Jay, Daily Trip, and the Daily Move.

I started with the Daily Jay as it contains bite-sized sessions of wisdom when I don’t think I have enough time to meditate and the end of each of them encourages me to reflect on how the story told can be applied to my own life.

Then I tried the Daily Calm and Tamara keeps it simple with making sure you’re settled before she begins to talk about the topic chosen for the day. She also likes to add a quote at the end and most of them are people I’ve never heard of but they are very meaningful.

The Daily Trip takes a different approach and treats meditation as an escape which makes me want to use it more often, however, I still think I like Tamara’s way of doing things better. But my hat is still off to Jeff for the way he views meditation, plus he has ADHD like me, so it makes me understand exactly the way he makes it.

The Daily Move, I try to do everyday with Mel, but it also depends on what kind of moves are involved and my PT doesn’t want me trying anything too strenuous that might aggravate my current condition. It’s like a mini yoga session and gives me a time to focus on my body. I normally prefer to do yoga with Sarah Beth on YouTube so Mel’s is more quick and easy when I’m short on time.

I have also tried a few sleep stories. The first was The Astronomer’s Cat. I had finished my last night shift and was trying to go back to sleep at a normal time but kept waking up, so I listened to that story and was able to relax. Then on two different nights, I tried two popular sleep stories and ended up falling asleep before they even finished!

Sometimes on night shift, I try to nap after midnight so I listened to a bunch of sleep stories and, go ahead and get your swords ready to point at me but I did not enjoy the popular Dream With Me sleep story narrated by Harry Styles. I like his accent because hello…. British! But it felt extremely awkward for me to listen to because he makes it sound like he and the listener are floating together through a night sky and that’s more for people who are madly in love with him, and I am not one of those people.

The app has recently introduced quick activities and journey features as well. I don’t know if they’re available for all members and not just those who paid because I’ve had the subscription for almost a year now.

I normally avoid subscriptions as much as possible, but if the features are worth it and have a good benefit to me and my mental health then it’s worth the money.

Does this mean you should go pay for this app too? Well this is my two-cents, it’s up to you. Some people use it for their entire family and I just use it for myself. There are plenty of other meditation apps out there, this is just one of them.

👽Emily