README.md

Stefen’s Relaxation Toolkit

In these trying times, it's helpful to have things to fall back on to help you calm down.

Meditate

• Calm.com is an excellent service for meditations, music, and even bedtime stories to help you relax and… be calm. They have a daily calm meditation that is updated every day with a timely thought or theme, and many specialized meditations to help you meet your goals. Also available on YouTube.
• Bettersleep: For those who have trouble sleeping, this website/app has completely custom soundscapes with individual sliders, bedtime stories, even relaxation routines called “Sleep Moves” to help you get better sleep. This is my absolute go-to of all my recommendations, I am particularly fond of their hypnosis tracks and cute stories. Also available on YouTube.
• Medito: Volunteer run ad free meditation app. A solid choice with no commitment required!
• Deep Meditate: Another stellar app with personalized meditation plans and bedtime stories to help you any time of the day. Available only on an app.
• Headspace is another good meditation app, and also available on YouTube.

Yoga Nidra

The Yoga of sleep takes you through several practices to take you on a voyage through yourself to help you relax and fall asleep at night

• Yoga Nidra for Beginners

Listen

Music/Sounds

• myNoise.net is a website filled with many sound generators which can help soothe you and transport you to different places with hundreds of custom top quality soundscapes.
• Moodist a simple open source website where you can listen to relaxing sounds with minimal fuss!
• Another favorite is Liquid Mind, an excellent series of albums of very slow relaxing music.
• Atmosphere is a free app with a solid selection of sounds you can mix and match to suit your tastes.
• If you enjoy the calming lofi style of music, check out Walking Dog, a DMCA free record label available on Youtube (or wherever you prefer to get your music from)
• If you prefer something more open ended for your meditations the Meditative Mind Youtube Channel has all kinds of nice background sounds.

Polyrhythm

• Polyrhythm Relaxation: Racing Thoughts
• Infinity Vibes

ASMR

• Vito ASMR a long variety compilation. I skipped the intro as it seemed a bit chaotic
• A Sound Bath is something soothing to listen to consisting of "singing bowls"
  • Example of a sound bath on Youtube
• Zen Garden Example: a wooden rake sliding through sand provides delightful ASMR like effect, and singing bowls are included.
• Sarah Lavender Anxiety ASMR
• Whispering Gentleman ASMR

Hypnosis

• A Visual Hypnosis Example: Just stare at the colorful pattern while the minimal music and gentle suggestions help you relax.
• Sleep Hypnosis Technically nothing to see here but to listen

Stories

• Pzziz is an excellent app of sleep stories, soft sounds and is set up for a full night’s sleep or if you just want to take a nap! See also their spinoff apps:
  • Doze A spinoff of Pzziz with a different UI.
  • Mesmerize Another highly recommended app, it has many pre-sets so you can relax faster with less thinking. The visualizations are engaging and the hypnotism is very effective.
• Loona is an excellent app that has special interactive sleep stories where you color in a scene while the story unfolds! They also have regular bedtime stories and music to enjoy as well. Also available on YouTube.
• Similar to Bettersleep, Slumber has a huge library of bedtime stories and several relaxing sounds you can customize to help you drift to sleep.

Podcasts

• The Sleep with Me podcast is always available if you need someone to drone on until you fall asleep. Scoot's quirky personality and creaky voice will lull you to sleep.
• Similar to Sleep with Me, Sleep Whispers is a recorded session of ramblings in a quiet almost ASMR like tone designed to give you something to listen to while you drift off.

Watch

Pluto.tv

Pluto TV has several excellent relaxing channels.

• My favorite is Naturescape: (it is unfortunate it can be interrupted by ADs but the view is nice for being free)
• There are other channels if you just need something mindless on to have in the background making noise. You’ll also find Bob Ross there too!

Twitch.tv

Twitch has several streams I find relaxing to watch.

• More often than not Bob Ross is painting pictures with his almost ASMR like voice.
• Twitch also has Cooking Shows running 24/7 which are surprisingly relaxing and 100% drama free.
• One of the more odd streams called Nothing, Forever is a seemingly AI generated sit-com in the style of Seinfeld which never seems to end...

Youtube

There are a variety of youtube channels which I've broken down into different categories to watch. There's something slightly mesmerizing and relaxing about watching craftsmen put so much into their creations. (Note: These links all use viewtube, to allow you a quieter experience without additional distractions. Should these links not work, please replace youtube.com with youtube.com to see the video from the source)

Restoration Videos

• Odd Tinkering: Electronics restoration with no sponsors or commentary. Just the sounds of repairwork.
• Old Things Never Die: Another silent restoration channel. No nonsense, just the magic of watching something old become new again.
• TysyTube: Restores various items, a good sense of humor in the text only commentary.
• MountainRugCleaning: No commentary, just the sounds of carpets being scrubbed. Satisfying seeing something being cleaned.
• Rescue Restore

Craftmaking

• PearFleur
  • Making Paint: BLUE IRIS
  • Clay Crafting:
• bitter melon bindery
  • Making journals for a peaceful mind ✦ ASMR bookbinding process
• Tellervo: making soap 1hr compilation
• Violin Making
• Diamond Paintings
• Glass Pen & Sparkling Ink

Cooking

• Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home: The adorable teasing between these two wholesome cooks creates a homey atmosphere to watch some delicious food prepared by professionals!
• Emerald marine Chocolate mint tart
• Cozy Winter Afternoon Gentle Narration in an old fashioned kitchen making tasty treats on a cold winter day. Couldn't get more cozy!
• Night Sky Jelly

As many times as I've mentioned Bob Ross there is new content in his style on the Bob Ross Youtube Channel that are worth watching.

Do

• Breathe. Really, just pay attention to your breath. It’s the most basic of tools you have anywhere and anytime to help control anxiety. You’ll find this a recurring theme in nearly all of my other recommendations.
• Physical Basics:
  • Have you eaten?
  • Are you thirsty? Tea is super relaxing if you need to get some hydration in.
  • Don't forget, have you slept?
• Writing down what’s on your mind can help dump out everything onto paper so you can come back to it later while focusing on relaxing in the here and now.
• Coloring something either digitally or on paper can be very diverting and make you feel like a kid again <3
• Talking with friends and loved ones can help you express what’s on your mind and together you can try to solve what’s bothering you.
• A warm bath or a shower can be relaxing. Consider adding scented candles or bath salts enhance the effect!