The Maine Office of Tourism has partnered with Calm, the world’s most downloaded mental health app, to promote wellness tourism through a collection of meditations and soundscapes recorded in the state’s forests, lakes, and coastline.
The collection is called “Forged by Nature: The Mindful Magic of Maine” and includes a narrated Sleep Story, two meditation series, two soundscapes, and a Breathe Bubble — Calm’s short guided-breathing format.
All of the content is set in real locations across the state, rather than generic backdrops.
That distinction sets this partnership apart from other tourism campaigns that have dipped a toe into wellness marketing.
The Places Behind the Audio
The Sleep Story is set at the Fields Pond Audubon Center, a 229-acre nature preserve in Holden, just minutes from Bangor, managed by Maine Audubon.
The site spans more than 190 acres of pond, forest, wetland, and meadow, and ranks among the most visited birdwatching destinations in central Maine.
The meditations are set in the North Maine Woods and along the shores of Lubec, on the stretch of coastline known as the Bold Coast.
Lubec is the easternmost town in the contiguous United States and home to the West Quoddy Head lighthouse, with its distinctive red-and-white stripes. The area is known for cliffs that drop straight into the sea and for whales that can be spotted from shore.
The soundscapes were recorded at Katahdin Woods and Waters, a national monument spanning more than 87,000 acres designated in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, and at a harbor along Maine’s midcoast.
The monument borders Baxter State Park, the reserve donated to the state by former Gov. Percival Baxter under the condition that it remain “forever wild” — no electricity, no paved roads, and restricted access for motorized vehicles.
The Breathe Bubble, meanwhile, traces a canoe route through that same park.
The Reasoning Behind the Partnership
According to the Maine Office of Tourism, more than half of those who visited the state in fall 2025 said their primary reason for traveling was to escape everyday stress and find a place to rest.
That finding prompted the office to look for a different kind of storytelling channel — one outside the usual tourism-marketing playbook — and explains why it chose to partner with a wellness app rather than run a traditional advertising campaign.
Calm wasn’t chosen at random.
The company has surpassed 180 million downloads of its flagship app, is available in 190 countries and 10 languages, and in recent years has built out a corporate wellness division that delivers content to more than 100,000 organizations.
For Maine, the partnership is a way to put its landscapes in front of an audience already looking for relaxation, without leaning solely on traditional tourism channels.
A Trend Growing Worldwide
The move is part of a much larger shift.
According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy reached a record $6.8 trillion in 2025, with wellness tourism among its fastest-growing segments.
Part of that growth reflects shifting tastes: more travelers are seeking nearby, low-impact experiences focused on rest rather than long-haul trips.
Industry surveys estimate that more than 40% of travelers now choose a destination specifically to feel closer to nature.
In that context, a state with parks that require visitors to disconnect — literally, with no signal and no electricity, as is the case at Baxter — stands apart from the spa-and-luxury model that defines most wellness destinations.
The “Forged by Nature” collection is already available inside the Calm app. But the underlying experience — those places themselves — remains exactly where it has always been: out in the forest, no device required.
