Meditation brands like Headspace offer free services as coronavirus anxiety rises

As coronavirus anxiety rises among consumers, many popular meditation apps and wellness brands are making their services free and adding more offerings. This week, meditation apps Headspace and Simple Habit opened up their memberships to non-paying customers. Simple Habit, an audio wellness app that counts 4.5 million members, has also introduced a collection of plans dedicated to the stress caused by COVID-19. Offerings include topics around self-care, mindful communication with family and easing fear, the company says. “We recognize that many people are now being required to stay home, resulting in loss of income and financial uncertainty,” said CEO and Founder Yunha Kim, in a statement. “For those impacted by this difficult time, we’ll be offering free premium memberships now through the end of April 2020.” The company has heard from thousands of impacted customers, including teachers, students, construction workers and those in the restaurant industry, Kim says. In addition to free subscriptions for health care professionals in public health settings, Headspace, which recently partnered with Hyatt on a wellness offering, has unlocked a new “Weathering the storm” collection in its app that includes support around meditation and sleep. Wave Meditation, a music-based app, this week began partnering with brands to curate and promote anti-anxiety music and meditation playlists, according to co-founder Mason Levey. Wave is currently partnering with yoga brand Y7 Studio and plans to launch a free playlist. As relaxation products expand, brands built around wellness are also increasing their services. Talkspace, a New York-based online therapy company, says it will give 1,000 free months of therapy to medical personnel. After analyzing its non-identifiable data, the company says it has seen an increase of 30 percent in coronavirus-related terms from patients as of March 12.

Meditation brands like Headspace offer free services as coronavirus anxiety rises

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