8 ms·
Meditate in front of your computer with Calm
- buckbova 13y agoI like the images. Seems like something you'd see on those wall screens of the future. Is there a business model for this, possibly subscription based in the future? They have job postings: http://www.calm.com/jobs http://www.calm.com/jobs "We're a small start-up with a big mission: to reduce stress and increase calm in an increasingly stressed-out world. We're just starting out, and we're looking for talented and driven folks to join us. On offer is a competitive salary, meaningful equity, great benefits, holiday when you need it and the chance to make a real difference in people's lives. We're based in San Francisco's SOMA district and all roles are based here in our office."
- ebahnx 13y agoI tried the 2-minute session, and it really felt great. Also had the same concern about long-term business model though.
- TheAlan 13y agoTheir IOS app is subscription based. You pay for different themes on the guided meditation such as sleep or anxiety.
- natural219 13y agoWow, I love the irony.
- thatthatis 13y agoPerhaps I'm having a dumb day. Where's the irony?
- natural219 13y agoIt's a startup. Startups are notoriously hustle-and-bustle.
- bpp198 13y agoCompanies like this still need to be made by talented people. I know the founder of Calm, he's extremely laid back and great to work for. You have to believe in the vision of a company to work there and this will be no different for Calm. It'll take the right kind of mentality to succeed at a place that puts reducing stress at the forefront of its mission.
- fderp 13y agoYes, it's completely impossible that this company has its own corporate culture, they're probably exactly like every other startup (to a laughable stereotype). Working 500 hour weeks, literally paid in peanuts, and if you go on a date instead of pushing a bugfix they crucify you.
- bduerst 13y agoIs it weird that the visuals are the part that has me most excited about this site? This would be awesome on chromecast.
- dirkk0 13y agoThat was my first impression, too.
- akman 13y agoiOS app has subscription-based guided meditations
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- gxespino 13y agoTwo minute session was perfect. What a great way to break off, clear your mind, and re focus for the second half of the day.
- peterwwillis 13y agoI was told recently that some study showed the brains of humans lighting up much more when reading using a video screen than with paper, and that essentially digital displays are a stimulant of sorts. Anyone see a study like this before? If it's real, wouldn't it be better to meditate in front of a non-digital interface?
- avenger123 13y agobaby steps, baby steps..
- mbrubeck 13y agoIn the guided sessions (as in most other meditative practices I've seen), you're instructed to close your eyes. The imagery is just there to set the stage before and after the meditation; the guidance is audio-only.
- unicornporn 13y agoI'd really like to hear more about this. If anybody knows where to find it, please reply.
- unicornporn 13y agohttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563204000202?np=y https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756320... ?
- sergiotapia 13y agoYou close your eyes during meditation.
- aik 13y agoThat's awesome. Just yesterday I did a web search and Hacker news search for this exact thing, and now boom, you've delivered! Great UI, awesome background activity, relaxing music, timers -- exactly what I was looking for. Well executed! On the practical front: How are you a company? What's your mission? Purpose? Business model?
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 13y agoHmmm interesting, so what are you searching for today?
- jeremydavid 13y agoIt certainly looks a lot better than the Million Dollar Homepage :)
- RankingMember 13y agoI like this, as I do anything that fights the flood of stress and insanity that is a lot of (at least my) daily life. Business-wise, I could see this being a gateway drug for selling meditation accessories, but it'd be hard to sell the sessions themselves. Advertising would be a no go, as putting it anywhere you'd make money on it would negatively impact the product itself.
- RankingMember 13y agoActually, integrate this with some kind of consumer-grade portable EEG to monitor progress and I'll be the first person to give you my money.
- rd108 13y agowe're launching this with www.brainbot.me -- ping me rohan@brainbot.me for details!
- RankingMember 13y agoI'm quite happy to see that wheels are already in motion on something like this. Pinging you.
- dialsquare1886 13y agoThis is already available. http://www.heartmathstore.com/category/emwave-desktop/emwave-desktop-anxiety-relief http://www.heartmathstore.com/category/emwave-desktop/emwave...
- rd108 13y agothis uses heart rate, not brain activity
- KingMob 13y agoFormer neuroscientist and current meditator here (even went to the Mind and Life Summer Research Institute to combine the two once). While it's nice to want objective measures of meditative progress, there are two caveats: a) Once you start meditating, you will probably notice subjective improvements that will be of more importance than things like vertex electrode amplitude. b) This is still early days for brain science. Our tools (EEG and fMRI) are way cruder than the populace at large believes, so take their results with a grain of salt.
- amouat 13y agoMust have some money behind them to snag that domain name!
- mckee1 13y agoYeah I was just thinking that. It must have cost a crazy amount.
- kewalter 13y agoIn an interview last year with the creator, Alex Tew, Jason Calacanis guessed $50-75k and it sounded like that was a little low. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTJXiyyytQ#t=227 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYTJXiyyytQ#t=227
- scotthtaylor 13y agoFrom the founder of http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/ http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
- joemccall86 13y agoI hate to be "that guy," but this doesn't work for me in IE11.
- brandonhsiao 13y agoThe video jumps between loops. It's sufficiently distracting while I'm meditating that it makes me not want to use it.
- gxespino 13y agoDid you close your eyes?
- webwanderings 13y agoAgree, noticed the same. The clouds are very quickly repeating. Hoping they'd innovate here further.
- kolemcrae 13y agoThey have an iphone app, they might simply charge for that... Id love to get this on Android.. Also a full screen option would be nice.
- noir_lord 13y agoThis is exceptionally well executed. The ogg and mp4 files are lovely as well :).
- taybin 13y agoVery nice. Although I feel I already enter a meditative state when I'm in front of the glowing screen anyways.
- joosters 13y agoMeditate on our webpage while reading thousands of words of 'Terms of Use' and 'Privacy' pages. Calming!
- smokinjoe 13y agoWhile it probably wouldn't be a trivial feature, I would love this to be integrated with Chromecast in some way.
- lindig 13y agoThis is similar to http://www.getsomeheadspace.com http://www.getsomeheadspace.com which is based on a subscription model and a mobile app. The app is free and provides 10 sessions of 10 minutes each. If you like calm.com, try www.getsomeheadspace.com for a very good alternative.
- chazu 13y agoI subscribe to headspace, have been for about two months now. I find it extremely helpful. There are a wealth of different programs with different areas of focus, and about a years worth of content with daily use. I highly recommend it.
- zz1 13y agoAlso a Headspace subscriber. If you're interested, subscribe and then, instead of using their site/app, you can download the whole program via a torrent (5 GB).
- plg 13y agothe voice sounds like Catherine Keener http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001416/?ref_=tt_cl_t6 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001416/?ref_=tt_cl_t6
- TheyCalledHimBo 13y agoMy knee-jerk reaction to this was at first laughter, followed by a deep sense of loathing as I dug deeper into whatever this site is supposed to be. This is fucking appalling. In some respects I might, -might- be able to get behind the idea of "meditation" as "SaaS" but for the most part I find this borderline insulting.
- oldstrangers 13y agoI think you might have some stress in your life.
- JeremyMorgan 13y agoYou didn't try it, did you?
- gxespino 13y agoI think you of all people could benefit the most from something like this.
- angersock 13y agoWhat do you have against Serenity-as-a-Service?
- theknown99 13y agoFor me, it'd be like "virtual-parent.com! No need to be a parent to your kids, just point them at this website and we'll be their parent for you". If you want less stress, or to calm down, the last thing you should be doing is staring at a computer screen. Go outdoors. Exercise. Meet real people.
- angersock 13y agoFair enough. I would totally use Nagios on my kids though.
- snogglethorpe 13y agoI agree that "real" experiences are awesome and sometimes people spend a bit too much time in front of their computer or staring at their phone.... But the vitriol of the grandparent-comment seems uncalled for. Computers/phones/etc are not some sort of evil presence that infect everything they touch, and apps like this can have their place too. In the right context, they might do a lot of good. [E.g. I love various simple "sounds of rain" apps on my phone -- they can reallllly help me concentrate when I'm trying to study in a cafe and the background noise is somehow putting me off. It's like a blanket of calm...]
- benched 13y agoUnusually well done, especially the guided sessions.
- alexobenauer 13y agoSwitching between the scenes is terribly slow; a thumbnail based selection would be a smoother experience.
- volaski 13y agoApparently, they raised $415K investment http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/26/relaxation-resource-calm-com-launches-iphone-app-that-helps-you-chill-grabs-415k-in-angel-funding/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/26/relaxation-resource-calm-co... I wonder how they will pay it all off
- sehr 13y agodoes anyone else feel this is a bit.. ridiculous?
- Permit 13y agoWe should keep in mind that we don't have access to all the available information the investors had. Previous successes by the founders, a kick-ass business model or solid traction could all be valid reasons for such an investment. Our valuation of the company is based on partial information, and is likely less accurate than that of the investors.
- guiomie 13y agoI do.
- iguana 13y agoIf the app is useful, a premium version could be made, as well as a company branded version for an entire company, etc. HR is tough to sell to, but that doesn't mean impossible. It could be a nice corporate perk.
- andrewcooke 13y agowhat kind of meditation needs (or is helped) by this? i kind-of do mindful meditation (i'm no expert) and this would be just one more piece of sensory data to acknowledge and then largely ignore. if you're doing "concentrative meditation" (i'm using terms from wikipedia) then i would have thought this would be distracting. is this more like new age tv?
- nabla9 13y agoThis is more like using suggestion to enable relaxation.
- thucydides 13y agoGood question. The site's 10 minute guided meditation right now does not sound like the forms of Zen meditation I'm familiar with, and it doesn't sound like mindfulness meditation. What is it? And is it evidence-based? I practice Zen-style breath-counting meditation (susokukan) now. No doubt many different kinds of meditation are beneficial, but I suspect they have different effect sizes. Probably some do nothing for you at all. The most unexpected consequence of breath-counting is how dispassionately I see my random intrusive thoughts during meditation, whether it's anger at someone, a happy memory, or a worry about some future task. It sounds crazy to non-meditators, but it's actually hard for me to not to laugh during meditation sessions at how ephemeral and "unreal" these thoughts are... and how quickly all emotions, sensations, thoughts move in and depart like blips on the screen of mind. After breath-counting for half an hour, I feel a much deeper, more substantial calm than if I'd done something like listening to relaxing noises in the same time. It's a calm of mind that bleeds into the rest of the day, because meditation gives practice at seeing the shape-shifting nature of thoughts and human identity. Does the kind of meditation practiced on this site have similar effects?
- dbtc 13y agobreath-counting meditation sounds really interesting, where did you learn about it? Any recommended resources?
- 13y ago
- snake_plissken 13y agoI love the music. Also for what it's worth, the voice made me feel like I was in Michael Bay's The Island. Somehow was that strangely meditative.
- imranq 13y agothis is pretty calming
- Shorel 13y agoDo you plan to add binaural beats? It seems to me they fit perfectly with your vision.
- enraged_camel 13y agoOn the iPhone, calm.com takes you directly to the App Store page without even prompting. You can try going to the deeloper's website from there, BUT that takes you to their Facebook page. From there it links back to calm.com. Worst. Experience. Ever. And I haven't even downloaded the app yet!
- bduerst 13y agoLucky. On Android it just says the app isn't ready yet. My guess is they want to herd users to the mobile app right away, rather than manage both the app and optimized website for mobile.
- lelandbatey 13y agoWhat's annoying for me was that I was redirected to the "sign up for when the app is released" page, but if I fake the user agent I get a very nice, very usable calm.com that works out of the box with my phone. Why, why must you force me towards your app? At max, serve the web page first, then suggest the app to me.
- bduerst 13y agoWell if it's optimized for mobile already, then I agree - the herding behavior to an app store is annoying.
- webwanderings 13y agoThe fact that I was immediately thinking about the cost (and so do many others here) corrupts the experience right away. But anyways, very nice find for today. Hope it stays as is in the distant future.
- gxespino 13y agoYeah but entrepreneurs have a shitty experience with anything that isn't their own startup. We think and judge too much. It's ok, I doubt we're their target market.
- sergiotapia 13y ago"Now focus on your body. This is you, alive and present." Wow - this punched me very hard. I have a mild case of depersonalization and those words really affected me. I'll use this daily.
- jimmaswell 13y agoI've read about meditation, and a consensus I'd seen was that you're not doing it right if you need an external aid. You're supposed to learn to do it on your own entirely.
- tehwalrus 13y agoWorrying about whether you're doing it right or wrong is much more of a failure than using an unfocussed screen and gentle music/sounds. If you're good, you should be able to successfully meditate whatever is going on around you. I can (just about) do it on the tube (subway) during my commute.
- jimmaswell 13y agoRight, you're supposed to be able to do it whatever's going on, so it's bad to use anything as a crutch.
- KingMob 13y agoWell, that's not strictly true. If by "aid" you mean the video, well, the Pali Canon (the oldest known buddhist meditation writings) talk about kasinas, which are visual meditation objects, though they're not especially popular these days. And of the "Three Jewels" that support buddhist practice, one is the sangha, which can be translated as community, so it's not always true that meditation should be a solitary practice either.. I think guided meditations like this may be useful for beginners, though that being said, I think no stimuli may be better in the long-run than even soothing stimuli.
- crazygringo 13y agoVery cool, and well-executed. Not to mean to nitpick, but am I the only one who thought it felt jarring to hear an outdoor babbling brook, while looking at the surface of the water from... below? Both the videos and audio are spectacular on their own, but I'm not sure they always match up quite well enough. :)
- santosha 13y agoHa, that bugged me a little too. I love being underwater so much because of the sensory deprivation :-)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- OhHeyItsE 13y agothat is a remarkably novel use of such a valuable domain name.
- futurist 13y agoThen there is Vow of Now: http://vowofnow.com http://vowofnow.com Different approach to the same problem.
- leke 13y agoI meditated while my computer crashed trying to load their webpage.
- ThinkBeat 13y agoIf you need to look at your computer to meditate you are doing it wrong. And if you are writings apps to encourage people to need to look at a computer with an internet connections t connect to your site you are not helping. Never though I would hear myself has a luddite
- ThinkBeat 13y agoHow about. Close your eyes. Find the peace within. Learn something you will be grateful for for the rest of your life. It takes practice and some discipline, like anything worth doing, but the rewards to your health, your mind and those around you gives it back 100fold at least. And you will have something you can do anywhere, at anytime. No computer, no internet, no website needed. Just apply within.
- ndnichols 13y agoI don't know what this is doing for music, but I hear nothing from the website and it disables all audio on my Mac. (10.8.5)
- zenbowman 13y agoThis picture sums up my thoughts perfectly: http://anticache.img0.joyreactor.com/pics/post/comics-before-and-after-pc-activity-1093030.jpeg http://anticache.img0.joyreactor.com/pics/post/comics-before... Anyone who has looked into causes of stress cannot avoid the fact that a lack of PHYSICAL activity, a lack of PHYSICAL presence, and a lack of PHYSICAL stimulation is a major, if not the major factor. Trying to get the average person today to meditate on a computer screen is like trying to get your average desk jockey to do an iron cross - it will not happen without years of PHYSICAL preparation. This violates the golden rule: "Computers to make people happy, not people to make computers happy" - GJS
- csmeder 13y agoIt saddens me such a cynical response made it to the top. I will use this app. Some days I walk to a local park to meditate. Some days I go to the meditation class we have at work. However, some days I plan to use this app, even if for just the 2 minute meditation. In my experience, in regards to stress prevention even 2 minutes of meditation is better than none.
- mikeg8 13y agoThis response isn't that cynical, it's pretty accurate. I've been using Calm for about 6 months now and while it's been very nice and beneficial for my use cases, I truly believe meditation is a solely physical experience that will ONLY be hindered by the introduction of technology.
- tucosan 13y agoHow is this cynical? It is rather cyinical to offer such a service. Meditation like most things in life takes deliberate practise, effort and can be dull, hard and boring at times. This is not meditation but distraction. If you want to medidate, first, don't do it alone. Do it with other people. Go to your next zen dojo, or Yoga school or whatever is available in your area. And then sit together with the people in the dojo.
- was_hellbanned 13y ago
- ozh 13y agokind of disappointed the animated background is just a plain old mp4 movie :(
- theknown99 13y agoIf you want less stress, turn off your computer and go out for a walk, do some exercise, be with friends/family. Can't put into words how horrible this idea is.
- morenoh149 13y agoI met the creator at the launch fest this week. Standup guy!
- androck1 13y agoWould be great if it worked in IE instead of just "Loading..." indefinitely.
- shmerl 13y agoI like this one: http://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php http://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php
- primitivesuave 13y agoSuch an awesome website and startup mission. Back in high school I took a free class put on by the Art of Living (www.artofliving.org) - it was the best thing I ever did. They taught us the Sudarshan Kriya, which is a 20 minute meditation and breathing exercise. For people who practice it regularly, it is literally a substitute for a morning cup of coffee. The Sudarshan Kriya is just one of the many yogic exercises out there, and the yogic exercises are part of a huge ecosystem of meditative processes designed to enrich one's ability to live in the present. It would be amazing to see at least a small subset of these exercises incorporated into this. It doesn't need to have nondescript names like "Sudarshan Kriya" - what yoga practitioners call Pranayama, Buddhists call Anapanasati, and regular people call "breathing exercises". The revelations about how to live in the moment are fairly universal, so it would be more about incorporating these fundamental ideas into an online meditative course. If you're from Calm, just want to say that I absolutely love what you're doing - by far, the best startup idea I've seen in a while.
- comice 13y agoAm looking forward to my meditations being monetized!
- clem 13y agoIt's all about the inner eyeballs.
- luke-stanley 13y agoI would be very interested to see a meditation based currency that might use webcam, brainwave readers, GSR, MRI visits, and duration logs to prove people people are meditating and that it is having an effect.
- benched 13y agoI can't find a pause button, and I found that a little frustrating.
- dbtc 13y agoMaybe it was added after your comment but I see one on the bottom right of the screen after starting one of the guided meditations or the timer.
- gojomo 13y agoDo I get the full benefit if I just run this in a background window?
- holychiz 13y agogreat idea. however, the water stream in the video is moving too fast to be relaxing. any way to slow it down?
- clef 13y agoThere is no need to meditate if you are never distracted.
- KingMob 13y agoDoesn't that assume meditation is just about achieving focus?
- clef 13y agoWell, yes, and if you can focus and be totally present at all times whatever you are doing. There's many definitions for meditation. Some day it's simply being as still and as dead as a rock, some say it's about regrouping all the bits of you scattered all over the place...
- KingMob 13y agoI think the people who hope to be as still and dead as a rock will have a bit of a rude shock waiting for them once they actually dive into meditating. It takes a lot of practice to reach those states. Anyway, as you mentioned, meditation has multiple definitions. There are many forms that are about much more than just focus. Concentrative practices (e.g., samatha jhanas) are all about one-pointed focus, but mindfulness practice (vipassana) also includes awareness of whatever flits about in the mind. In this sense, it's about being aware of all the distractions... Metta practice is one-pointed focus, but directed to cultivation of joyous feelings.
- comice 13y agoImaging entering a state of meditative bliss, realizing we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves and then being interrupted with an advert for a PS4.
- rabbitonrails 13y agolol
- wsc981 13y ago"Today a young man on acid realised ..." - Bill Hicks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0BeLz5blM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0BeLz5blM
- emocakes 13y agoProbably the worst place to attempt to meditate. Try doing it in a room with no wifi, nothing distracting, a room that has nothing to do with work.
- joeevans1000 13y agoI think there is some merit in several minute breaks right where you are working.
- ada1981 13y agoPretty sure this is being run by the guy (Alex) who created the "million dollar homepage" years ago by selling pixels for a $1.
- joeevans1000 13y agocool! to get rid of the annoying logo in the top left paste: $('#logo').hide(); into the console of the dev tools (option-command-i on mac)
- joeevans1000 13y agoby the way, if this resonates with anyone for whom meditation is new and they want to learn more, a great book is Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki that's a great book for anyone, new to meditation or not.
- KingMob 13y agoI second this. Good book.
- kimonos 13y agoI tried it and I find it very helpful! Thanks!
- sauronlord 13y agoStop with the annoying music, faux chanting, and instructions. Bleh. I had high hopes.
- chroman 13y agoI love the music. Would love to hear about a Spotify playlist with this kind of relaxing music.
- adamzerner 13y agoMy two cents: I've been trying (on and off) to meditate for a few years now, with very little success. I just did the 2-minute guided calm, and felt good! This app seems to do a good job with their guided exercises.
- rabbitonrails 13y ago"Those practicing meditation for profit, power, prestige, position ... are not on the correct path." - basic Ch'an Buddhism - http://cgarriott.bol.ucla.edu/nmsm/Meditation_at_Nan_Hua.doc http://cgarriott.bol.ucla.edu/nmsm/Meditation_at_Nan_Hua.doc
- intull 13y agoI found my light-background-music-for-coding website! :)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bitops 13y agoI think the whole website is lovely. I hope Calm does really well.
- pbhjpbhj 13y agoSeems no-one else was annoyed by the auto-play music and closed the tab before they viewed the page? FF27, WinXP
- bakhy 13y agoi would not call this meditation. the form of meditation which is most studied and produces health effects is mindfulness meditation, and it does not involve neither music nor scenery. also cool is transcendental meditation. this is relaxing. not every form of relaxation is meditation. although, i do not wish to belittle the effort of the authors. the site looks beautiful, and i'm sure it will help people alleviate day-to-day stress.
- ZenoArrow 13y agoI remember avoiding revising in an exam hall when I was 16, dreaming up an idea about 'Silence TV', which was a fictional channel for people to watch a blank screen to relax. At the time I thought I was being pretty silly, now it feels somewhat prescient.
- porker 13y agoWhat's a good source for video and sounds like they've used? I have been meaning to record some, but in the interests of laziness... where can I buy/find for free? Thank you :)
- RRRA 13y agoChoppy water is hard to meditate to ;)
- arturadib 13y agoOculus Rift. Please.
- abitsios 13y agoI'm not sure if you could actually meditate with the weight of the thing on your face, but it would be an interesting experience nonetheless.
- thrillgore 13y ago>Give me mystery meat navigation that vanishes on page load >overly stimulating images I like my approach to meditation -- with the laptop in sleep mode
- luke-stanley 13y agoCalm.com's maximum, 20 minutes is quite a short meditation. It takes me about 35 mins for a chance at losing my self in space and getting out of my skull (when the brain really starts doing noticeably interesting stuff). @zenbowman @tucosan I mostly meditate alone on my computer chair and it can work totally fine, I have many friends that do the same every day. I would get rid of the 2 mins, and add 30,40,60,120 mins. If needed, fold out on hover. Sure our devices can be noisey, but just like when sleeping, people can stop the noises. Physical exercise is a great idea, and goes well with meditation. Also there online communities for meditation and practice these days, which is a good way to build reinforcement as we're social creatures.