Move over Headspace, there’s a new player in the mindfulness app game and it goes by the name of Calm—and they’re aiming to become more than just an app. Calm is a 14-person mindfulness startup. The founders, Michael Acton Smith and Alex Tew, began the company with hopes of commercializing the countless benefits of meditation.
With little advertisement, aside from Facebook for generating leads, Calm managed to garner 8 million app downloads.
What is Calm?
The Calm app teaches you how to meditate using guided meditation practices and lessons. And there’s something for everyone, from beginners to advanced users. You can choose from 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 minute meditation sessions, so no matter how much time you have to spare, there’s a meditation that will fit your needs!
But it’s more than just an app.
Calm has published a coffee-table book and is looking into offering apparel, tea and candles. They’ve even looked into hotels based on their theme of mediation. With a goal of becoming a brand like Nike for the mind.
Can Our Phones Teach us to be Meditation?
Whether we notice it or not, technology does have a way of controlling our minds and can stress us out. So doesn’t, it seems a little counterintuitive to look to our devices for help with feeling present, aware, and calm?
If we learn to use technology mindfully, yes, it’s a fantastic tool for mindfulness & meditation.
And Calm seems to recognize that. The app is built in such a way that it grabs and holds its user’s attention in such a way that they don’t feel tempted to stray away and use other apps. They’re attempting to help us do something we all need to do, whether we know it or not, and that is: change our relationship with technology.
Check out Calm here and join me as we explore deeper into our relationship with technology on my podcast: listen here.