Calm, the subscription-based meditation app with more than 12 million users, has launched a new meditation series that the company hopes will help college students study, sleep, and stay mentally fit.  

The platform for co-eds includes more than 100 guided meditations and other exercises and was developed specifically with the college student in mind.

Calm College has partnered with eight schools—Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, NYU, and the University of Southern California—where students, faculty, and staff can get the app for free.

“Our hope is that students rely on Calm to be a personal trainer for their mind at any point in the day, when they’re out and about, in the library, or on a quick break from studying. Calm can be right there in their pocket to help them out,” said Nate Macanian, a mindfulness teacher and head of Calm College.

“College students are already using Calm, and we’re hoping to capitalize on the trend of practicing meditation on college campuses . . .  Within a few years I want to walk across a quad and hear someone say ‘that meditation on compassion really resonated with me.’”  

Related: Meditation App Roundup: Calm, Enso, and Smiling Mind

Calm College, still in a beta version, is available to students at schools not partnering with Calm at a 25 percent discounted subscription price.

Macanian said that Northwestern plays Calm on LCD screens around campus and that the university is granting free subscriptions to their students. Other schools are working to familiarize their mental health counselors with the app.

Related: Making Money with Meditation

“Counseling centers are in an absolute crisis mode, with students showing up with worse and worse conditions,” Macanian said, adding that universities are now more willing to invest money in preventative care, including meditation programs.

Macanian, acknowledging that meditation isn’t a direct replacement for a therapist, said research shows three reasons students don’t reach out for help sooner:  time, cost, and stigma. He sees potential for the app to address all three.

Thank you for subscribing to Tricycle! As a nonprofit, to keep Buddhist teachings and practices widely available.

This article is only for Subscribers!

Subscribe now to read this article and get immediate access to everything else.

Subscribe Now

Already a subscriber? .