Calm Turned "Brain Flossing" Into a Feature. It's Called Shift.

From TikTok trend to app tab

If your For You page has served you “brain flossing” videos, you already know the sound.

Music that ping-pongs from one ear to the other, promising to clear the mental clutter.

Calm just gave it its own tab.

What Shift includes

According to Calm’s October 27 release, Shift has three parts:

Calm says it’s the first of several tracks it will make with the New York duo. It’s available only to Calm Premium subscribers in the U.S., at $79.99 a year.

Sound that bounces between your ears is a vibe, not a treatment. Calm doesn't claim otherwise.The WellWham perspective

Why Calm built it

Calm says it added bilateral audio to its music library in 2022 and that it’s now one of the top search terms in the app. It also says Google searches for “bilateral audio” are up more than 5000% in the past year. Both figures are Calm’s own.

CEO Dun Wang called the company’s origins “rooted in making meditation accessible,” adding that Calm “never intended to be a meditation-only app.” Calm describes Shift as one of its largest expansions into a new category since Sleep Stories. It also calls itself “the #1 app” for sleep and stress, which is its own ranking claim.

Calm says it worked with outside consultants certified by the EMDR International Association while building Shift, to make the content suitable for everyday, self-guided use.

Our read: wellness apps are chasing the For You page

This is our analysis. Calm’s CEO says Sleep Stories became one of its most popular offerings. Shift is Calm betting that a sound trend from social media can become the next one. It’s not alone. Universal’s Sollos added “engineered” focus and sleep tracks earlier this month. It’s a smart business move for an app that charges by the year, and the artist tie-in with a song that already went viral on TikTok tells you who it’s for.

The reality check

Calm isn’t claiming Shift treats anything, and you shouldn’t read it that way. Calm describes bilateral audio as “inspired by a technique therapists use.” That technique is EMDR, and the EMDR International Association says EMDR therapy “should only be offered by properly trained and licensed mental health clinicians.” Listening to bilateral tracks on your own is not EMDR therapy. If you’re dealing with anxiety, trauma or trouble sleeping that won’t let up, talk to your doctor or a licensed therapist. Shift is also behind the Premium paywall.

The close

Brain flossing started as a TikTok trend.

Now it’s a $79.99 a year tab. The headphones are still on you.

Sources