Meditation app Calm is seeking a funding round of $150m at a $2.2b valuation, according to Bloomberg. Calm has not publicly confirmed these reports, though the valuation would be more than double that of the $1b valuation after its previous raise of $143m.

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• According to Bloomberg's sources, the fundraising round could allow some early investors to sell, though these terms could change.
• Meditation and mindfulness apps surged in popularity during the pandemic, with Calm as the primary beneficiary. Calm was downloaded 3.9 million times in April, well more than double that of second-place finisher Headspace, with 1.5 million.
• Calm has added an array of celebrity guides and guest "sleep story" readers over the past year, including LeBron James, Matthew McConaughey, and Cillian Murphy.

Note: Inside.com's founder, Jason Calacanis, is an investor in Calm.

CeCe Morken – a veteran of Intuit who's been Headspace's president and COO since April – will be the meditation app's CEO starting in January. CEO Rich Pierson and co-founder Andy Puddicombe will transition to co-executive chairmen of the board. Morken told Forbes she's particularly excited to use data gleaned from the app on meditation habits to refine machine learning tools and make better recommendations to users.

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• Headspace has made its service available for free to a number of groups this year, including U.S. healthcare professionals, educators, and residents of Los Angeles County. It's also provided special meditation sessions for free to residents of New York state.
• Morken has worked at technology companies for the past 35 years and spent 13 years at Intuit, as both executive vice president and general manager of its strategic partner group.

Here are some newly-published guided meditations for you to listen to this weekend:

• Tara Brach – Pathway to Inner Peace
• Buddhist Society of Western Australia – Saturday Meditation Class
• Insight Meditation Center – Who Feels Feelings?
• Master Sri Akarshana – Ho'oponopono for Healing, Forgiveness & Self Love
• Lauren Ostrowski Fenton – Calming Down for Sleep
• Craig Hamilton – Letting Everything Be As It Is

Tip of the Week: Last thing at night, first thing in the morning

It can be difficult to make something a habit. It's funny, because during the pandemic, so many of my days have been so similar, they've tended to blend together. And yet, even with an at-home routine as set as mine, things still fall through the cracks – cleaning, laundry, texting people back, and yes, meditation.

The best way to keep those good habits going is to attach them to other things you know you'll do every day: brushing your teeth, making coffee, taking a shower. Whatever it is, attaching moments of mindfulness to those routines can keep them steady, consistent, and valuable.

I've been trying to keep to a short mindfulness practice every night when I get into bed. It's only a few minutes – but I stay present as I lie down and get under the covers. I recognize what it feels like to lay there and have absolutely nothing to do for approximately eight hours. When my alarm goes off, I can be groggy and disoriented. But, keeping up that mindfulness habit allows me to remember what I did the night before and be present for the first few minutes of my day: stumbling out of bed, opening up the curtains, fiddling with the coffee machine.

It's brief, but these days consistency feels more important than duration.

-Jonathan

Daily mindfulness can be improved with getting just a little extra sleep each night, according to a study out of the University of South Florida. The research studied 61 nurses and found that those who had better quality sleep were more mindful the next day, and less sleepy during the day as a result. Researchers found that mindfulness improved with both better sleep quality and an additional 29 minutes per night.

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• Nurses who showed "greater mindful attention" were less likely to experience insomnia during the two weeks they were studied.
• Subjects answered questions through a phone app three times per day on their state of mindfulness and the previous night's sleep quality. They also wore an Actiwatch Spectrum device to measure sleep patterns.

QUICK HITS

• On World Mental Health Day, Prince Harry said he's turned to meditation to help deal with online negativity since he and wife Meghan Markle announced they were leaving the royal family.
• Many companies are giving access to both meditation apps and virtual therapy services as mental health offerings to employees during the pandemic.
• The NIH has awarded a $7.1m grant to the University of Illinois at Chicago to study opioid alternatives to managing chronic pain for those with sickle cell disease. Among the strategies being researched: acupuncture and guided relaxation techniques.
• As Apple device adoption grows in the enterprise, organizations are looking for ways to seamlessly manage and secure devices while extending the world-class Apple experience users expect.*

*This is sponsored content.