How to get calm for free
What Do You Get for Your Money?
With over one and a half million five-star reviews, Calm is one of the most popular meditation and relaxation apps available. But is it right for you? Here's what features you can expect on the free version of the Calm app, as well as a look at its premium content. Now you'll know exactly what you get for your money when buying the Calm app.
What Free Features Does Calm Offer?
The Calm app is totally free to try. Unlike some free trial apps, you do not need to enter credit card information to access the basic features. There are, however, several reminders on the free version that upgrading to premium is always an option. Anything you cannot access will feature the image of a lock.
Download: Calm for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
Meditations
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First up, several meditation tools are available on the free version of Calm. From the Discover menu, navigate to the meditation section and then select the Less Guidance option. This provides access to the open-ended meditation timer, which can play the sound of a bell at regular intervals.
You can select the bells to sound every minute up to every eight hours. It can be used during active meditation, or you can use the regular bell sounds throughout the day as a reminder to focus on your breathing and awareness.
The app also offers several multi-day programs for meditation, and the intros are free to play. For example, the intro to 7 Days of Sleep, titled Understanding Sleep Challenges, is available to free app users. The rest of the program does require a premium subscription, however.
Breathing Exercises
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Breathing exercises are another feature on the Calm app, and one is available to try for free each day. You may learn how to practice box breathing, deep belly breathing, or extended exhale, for instance.
Beginner-friendly and straightforward, these exercises can help you relax and destress by focusing on your breath.
The simple animation is calming, too.
Sleep Stories
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Lastly, you can get a sense of the app’s Sleep Stories by listening to Blue Gold for free. Narrated by Stephen Fry, this 25-minute narrative journey through Provence is a soothing, pleasant way to relax.
You'll get to try out the appeal of hearing these bedtime stories for listeners of any age. Nearly all other sleep stories are locked for free users, however.
"How Are You Feeling?" Self-Checks
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The self-check-ins are also free to access on the free version of Calm. These prompts help you gauge your emotional well-being at the moment, as well as focus on reasons to have gratitude. You can record daily check-ins and track how your moods change over time.
Additional Free Content From Calm's Website
For more free features, look to the Calm website. The Calm resources page includes a whole trove of free content.
There’s a selection of guided meditations, many featuring the same narrators whose soothing voices fill the app. Relaxing music, content for children, and even some of the famed sleep stories are available, too.
Wonder, narrated by Matthew McConaughey, is a pleasant starting point. It’s another way to get a feel for the app’s premium content without committing to any payments.
What Paid Features Does Calm Offer?
Access to all meditations, original music, soundscapes, the Sleep Stories collection, and masterclass discussions require premium access.
All Guided Meditations
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Premium subscribers can make the most of the Calm app's selection of over 100 guided meditations. The Daily Calm presents a 10-minute guided meditation on a different topic each day.
In addition, a selection of courses for beginners helps ease newcomers into meditation practice. Several meditation series, with a focus on everything from mindfulness to pain management, are also available.
Original Music and Soundscapes
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Tailored specifically for the app, the Calm music selection features a wide range of songs for any mood. Use the Relax or Sleep categories to find wind-down tunes. There's also a selection of calming music for focus. Gentle piano pieces, ambient pieces, electronic, and curated lo-fi beats are all available.
There's even a selection of popular songs created or remixed specifically for Calm, featuring artists such as deadmau5, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, and Keith Urban.
Soundscapes are relaxing tracks of background music to use for sleep, focus, or relaxation. Falling rain, ocean surf, and forest ambiance are just a few of the available soundscapes.
Sleep Stories
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The full selection of Sleep Stories include readings from Jane Austen and Shakespeare, as well as plenty of original tales. You can take an aural journey around cities from all over the world, or enjoy one of the popular train ride tales.
There are also plenty of sleep stories aimed at children starring sleepy sloths, classic fairy tales, and even minions. Adults are welcome to enjoy these tales, too!
Masterclass Discussions
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Similar to podcasts, Calm's masterclass discussions feature multipart audio content on a range of topics. Experts share their wisdom in a series of eye-opening and compassionate lectures. You can hear about how a psychologist and neuroscientist is rethinking depression, or learn more about mindful eating with advice from a medical doctor.
How Much Does Calm Cost?
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A single yearly subscription to Calm costs $69.99 USD, and a lifetime Calm membership is available for $399.99 USD. Keep an eye out for occasional sales or discounts on subscriptions.
You can pay for premium access to the Calm app with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal, as well as most major credit or debit cards.
The first seven days of your purchase consist of a free trial.
At $99.99 per year, Calm family plans are also available for up to six users. These can go to any friends and family members, and they do not have to live in your household. Each member gets their own account.
In addition, students can get discounted access to Calm through Amazon Prime Student. After a three-month free trial of the premium service, Amazon Prime Student users can get a yearly subscription to Calm for $8.99 USD per year.
Other Meditation and Relaxation Apps Like Calm
If Calm isn't quite right for you, don't fret. There's no shortage of meditation and relaxation apps that offer similar content. In fact, some apps like Medito are free to use forever. It all depends on what you're looking for in your meditation experience.
Another wildly popular meditation app, Headspace also offers a variety of courses for meditation practice. A yearly subscription to Headspace is $69.99 USD, and monthly subscriptions are available for $12.
99.
Should You Subscribe to Calm?
Free to try, the Calm app is a multipurpose meditation and relaxation tool. Even total newcomers to mindfulness practices can start learning with the free version's straightforward practices and breathing timers.
People who are more practiced at meditation may find the free selections a little thin, however. If you want to access meatier content like guided meditations or original music, then paying for the premium version is a must. Anyone who is serious about making meditation a daily practice (and doesn't mind the price) should consider a paid Calm subscription.
Calm meditation app free for Kaiser Permanente members
- Kaiser Permanente is offering Calm's service, normally $70 a year, for free to all of its members.
- The hospital system has been using Calm in a clinical setting for about two years, said Dr. Don Mordecai, a psychiatrist and Kaiser's national leader for mental health and wellness.
- Calm rival Headspace signed a deal last month to offer its service for free to all New Yorkers.
Calm co-founders Michael Acton Smith and Alex Tew
Source: Calm
Kaiser Permanente is trying to give its 12.4 million members a little bit of calm.
Starting Tuesday, the health-care provider is allowing patients to download the Calm mediation app for free as part of a way to help customers manage anxiety as they deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Calm is the most-popular health and fitness app on Google-powered devices and No. 2 on the iPhone, according to App Annie. Paid subscriptions normally cost $70 a year.
Kaiser, which provides its members a combination of medical care and insurance, said that Kaiser Family Foundation recently ran a survey of adults and found that a majority are reporting health issues related to Covid-19, "resulting in problems sleeping or eating, or increased alcohol or drug use." In March, Kaiser began offering free access to the myStrength app, which includes meditation, programs for managing depression and stress and ways to set and track goals.
Calm was seeing surging growth even before the coronavirus forced Americans to shelter in place and led to skyrocketing unemployment. The San Francisco-based start-up was valued by investors last year at $1 billion, two years after being named Apple's app of the year back in 2017. The app has been downloaded over 80 million times.
Now, it has a whole new set of users, who are counting on the service for meditative sounds and practices as well as sleep stories from the voices of people like actor Matthew McConaughey.
Calm isn't alone in the market. Rival Headspace announced a deal last month with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to offer "free meditation and mindfulness content for all New Yorkers as a mental health resource for residents coping with the unprecedented public health crisis facing the state and the nation," according to a statement at the time.
Dr. Don Mordecai, a psychiatrist and Kaiser's national leader for mental health and wellness, said the hospital, which operates in eight regions across the country, has been using Calm for about two years in a clinical setting to help patients.
Now it's expanding the service to all of its members, who just need to sign up for it on the Kaiser website and can then download the app at no cost.
"Anecdotally, the patients we've referred to Calm really like it," Dr. Mordecai said, in an interview. "We've been quite interested in the potential to use digital apps, and we're talking high-quality apps, and to see how those can get built into a treatment system like ours."
Neither Kaiser nor Calm would disclose terms of the deal.
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10 tips to quickly calm your nerves and relieve stress
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08/21/2020 Normal Importance
State service for psychological support
10 tips to quickly calm your nerves and relieve stress
Stress is a normal response of the body to stimuli.
A dangerous situation is a constant feeling of stress, the symptoms of which are often attributed to banal fatigue. Overexertion can lead to health problems. Therefore, the state of stress must be removed, allowing the body to relax and unwind.
Let's figure out how to quickly relieve stress so as not to experience constant tension?
1. Learn to let go of the situation
Something does not work? Breathe in, breathe out, smile. If the matter can be postponed for later, return to it a little later with renewed vigor.
It will be useful to ask yourself the question: “What is the worst thing that can happen in this situation?” Think about your actions in case of the most negative scenario. For example, you do not have time to hand over the project on time. The client will be dissatisfied. Perhaps he will ask for a refund, leave a negative review. What will change in your life from this? It may be difficult for you to take a new order for some time.
You will have to leave a comment on a negative review, explain to the customer. But these are all solvable problems that will not globally change your life.
As you can see, a stressful situation doesn't seem all that stressful once you figure it out. Using the technique, you will learn to let go of the situation and act calmly even in an emergency situation.
2. Look for new opportunities instead of focusing on the problem
Instead of self-flagellation, focus on what opportunities a stressful situation opens up for you. Did you have a fight with a friend? Of course, this is unpleasant, but you have a good opportunity to call another friend and go to the cinema, to an exhibition, to play sports together. Have you lost a key client? Concentrate on finding new customers who may bring you more profit. Move away from the state of stress, finding new opportunities.
Many people have achieved success after a series of failures. Remember this. “I have not been defeated.
I just found 10,000 ways that don't work." Thomas Edison quote.
3. Breathe deeply
Deep breathing is soothing. Therefore, in a state of stress, start breathing deeply, with your whole chest. You will feel how your body begins to relax, and the tension goes away.
4. Squeeze the expander
Exercise helps relieve stress. For example, squeeze the expander 50-60 times. You will notice how stress begins to go away, and you can again calmly think, look for a way out of a stressful situation, and make decisions.
5. Think of those who are worse off
You feel like the whole world is against you. But you are sitting in a warm apartment, drinking hot tea, and tomorrow you will not think about the problem that torments you today. Think of those who are worse off. People who have no home, no food, no roof over their heads.
There are a huge number of people in the world living below the poverty line, without access to clean water, etc.
You already understand that you are lucky, and the problems do not seem as serious as before.
6. Sleep well!
What do cats do after suffering stress? They are sleeping. Indeed, sleep helps to restore strength, the subconscious during sleep is looking for a solution to the problem, which "illuminates" you in the morning.
If you're under a lot of stress, go to bed early. Pre-listen to pleasant and calm music to tune in to rest. You will notice how stress will go away, and you will be able to enjoy life again.
7. Treat yourself to food, only gently
Delicious food relieves stress because it gives you pleasure. Just use the method carefully so as not to run into the problem of excess weight. Chew carefully and slowly while eating. So you get more pleasure and better relieve stress.
8. Watch a funny video on YouTube
Laughter relieves stress, and if laughter is stressful, go to YouTube and watch the latest compilations of jokes.
This is the fastest way to relieve stress, which can take less than 5 minutes. The main thing is to find really funny videos that will relieve your tension.
9. Call relatives and tell about the problem
Share a problem with a loved one and ask for help in finding a solution. First, you will speak out, which will relieve tension. Secondly, get a lot of useful tips that will help you find the best solution to the problem. Third, get an outside perspective.
Perhaps your problem is not as acute as it seems! If you don't have anyone to share it with, there are plenty of Q&A services online for advice and support.
10. Paint
Even if you do not know how to draw, draw on paper, draw any patterns or abstractions. While drawing, you will be distracted from problems. The subconscious will get the opportunity to work out a solution that “comes to your mind”. This is a good way to quickly relieve stress anywhere and in almost any situation.
You can always ask for a free consultation from a specialist of the Employment Center, which provides a state service for psychological support for unemployed citizens at the place of their registration. In the Kola region, advice can be obtained at:
Kola, Zapolyarye avenue, 1, building 2 Kola @ Murman - Zan .ru
How to put thoughts and feelings in order: 6 quick calming techniques
May 11, 2017 Health
A difficult exam or an important meeting is ahead, a deadline is approaching, or everything just falls out of hand. When emotions are running high, there are some easy ways to calm down and rethink the situation.
1. Deep breathing
Qigong is not only the least traumatic gymnastics, but also one of the most successful techniques for coping with stress.
Shallow squats are accompanied by waved arms and special breathing. It is easy to master the technique without preparation at any age and already after the first lessons you can feel how your physical and emotional state improves.
Eighteen basic exercises help control breathing and suspend internal dialogue. If you exercise once or twice a week, then in a stressful situation it will be enough to restore the respiratory rhythm and imagine how you are doing the exercise in order to quickly recover and tune in to the working atmosphere.
2. Autogenic training
Autogenic training is understood as a special sequence of exercises with increased concentration on sensations.
First you need to be aware of the heaviness of your own body, and then imagine how heat spreads through it - this contributes to deep muscle relaxation and causes blood flow.
Autogenic training can be done sitting in a comfortable position or lying down. It helps to completely relax, relieve physical and psychological stress, and is also able to get rid of various cardiovascular and psychosomatic diseases caused by stress.
3. Inner silence
Straighten your back, close your eyes, relax and focus on inhaling and exhaling. The erratic flow of thoughts will gradually cease. Within 10-15 minutes, you will be able to continue your business with new forces, recharged with energy.
Meditation is not magic or religion. Its purpose is to calm the mind and restore spiritual harmony. You can always download special relaxation instructions or guided meditations and listen to them at the right moment.
4. The Sound of Music
Favorite music helps to relax and distract from unpleasant thoughts. Find an uplifting song or joyful tune that reminds you of good things and soothes you. Sing along or stomp to the beat.
5. Words of support
Sometimes you want to hear words of support, but a loved one is unavailable or has faced difficulties. Save a few inspirational quotes or books that will lift your spirits, such as On a Healthy and Whole Life by Neil Donald Walsh.
