For teachers: Free $60 Calm subscription to help kids manage stress and learn mindfulness

Aug. 20--Teachers can get a free subscription to the Calm app so they can teach mindfulness in the classroom.

The company behind the popular app is offering the $60 freebie to kindergarten through 12th grade teachers with hopes they will teach stress-reducing techniques to children who are worried about life pressures. It's especially relevant here in South Florida since the Parkland school shooting. The offer includes unlimited access to the program's library of guided meditations and relaxation exercises, including Calm Kids content.

Sign up to get a free gift certificate at Calm.com/schools.

After the Parkland massacre in 2018, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other psychological and emotional problems. Therapists have been teaching students, educators and school counselors meditation to help deal with fear and heal from emotional trauma. The Calm app offers similar techniques and has a broad array of content that can be used to ease anxiety.

Mindfulness exercises for children ages 3 to 17 include "That Safe Happy Place" and "Meditation for Falling Asleep," created and voiced by author Mallika Chopra, the daughter of New Age guru Deepak Chopra. Calm also has lessons on breathing, scenes of beaches, lakes and mountains paired with relaxing sounds and music, as well as sleep stories narrated by Matthew McConaughey, Stephen Fry and LeVar Burton.

"Over the coming year, we will be steadily adding to our Calm Kids library, equipping teachers with an ever-expanding supply of content crafted for the unique needs of their students," the company said in a blog post. Parkland teachers can use the help.

The San Francisco-based company's goal is to sign up 100,000 classrooms this year to help more than a million children thrive, not just survive, according to a news release.

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