Frequently Asked Questions

Nomie is a somatic AI wellness companion designed to help you stop doomscrolling and regulate your nervous system. Unlike traditional mental health apps that rely on text-based therapy, Nomie uses body-first tools — breathing guidance, haptic feedback, calming visuals, digital fidgets, and reflective prompts — to support emotional regulation, focus, and anxiety relief. Nomie blends AI companionship with principles from somatic psychology, polyvagal theory, and nervous-system research to help you feel calmer, more grounded, and more present.

Nomie is not a therapist and does not replace therapy. Nomie is an AI wellness companion that offers therapeutic, psychology-informed tools designed to support nervous-system regulation, emotional processing, and everyday mental wellbeing. Many people searching for "AI therapy" are looking for relief from anxiety, burnout, and emotional overwhelm — Nomie addresses these needs through somatic techniques, co-regulation, and reflective tools without positioning itself as a clinical treatment. If you're in therapy, Nomie can be a helpful daily companion between sessions. If you're not ready for therapy, Nomie offers a gentle, judgment-free starting point.

Yes! Nomie offers a free tier with access to core somatic tools, breathing exercises, and AI companion interactions. Premium features — including advanced personalization, unlimited conversations, and specialized grounding experiences — are available through a subscription. Our goal is to make nervous-system support accessible to everyone.

Nomie works through bottom-up regulation — influencing your nervous system directly through your body rather than trying to think your way out of stress. When you're anxious, your nervous system is often stuck in fight-or-flight mode. Nomie uses rhythmic breathing (which activates the vagus nerve), gentle haptics (which ground you in your body), and paced visual experiences to signal safety to your nervous system. This approach is based on polyvagal theory and somatic psychology research, which shows that body-based interventions can shift your physiological state faster than cognitive techniques alone.

Somatic AI refers to artificial intelligence designed to influence your physiological and emotional state through body-based interaction — not just conversation. Somatic AI systems integrate breathing guidance, haptic feedback, rhythmic pacing, sensory grounding, and emotional co-regulation to help the nervous system shift from stress states into calm. Nomie is one of the first somatic AI wellness companions, combining the warmth of an AI companion with the science of embodied regulation.

Nomie includes a comprehensive toolkit for nervous-system regulation: somatic breathing exercises (box breathing, 4-7-8, coherent breathing), haptic grounding experiences that use your phone's vibration to bring you into your body, digital fidgets and stimming tools for sensory regulation, guided journaling and reflection prompts, emotional reframing interfaces, calming visual environments (like hope scrolling), AI companion conversations for emotional support, and body-doubling features to help with focus and ADHD paralysis. Every feature is designed with nervous-system science in mind.

Instead of blocking or restricting your scrolling (which often backfires), Nomie transforms it. We call this Bloom Scrolling — a new paradigm where the soothing mechanics of social feeds are preserved, but the chaotic, anxiety-inducing content is replaced with calming stimuli, glimmers of safety, and nervous-system-regulating interactions. Nomie meets you where you are: if you're going to scroll anyway, let it be something that calms you instead of overstimulates you. The goal isn't restriction — it's retraining your relationship with your phone.

Nomie isn't primarily a screen-time reduction app, but many users find they naturally reach for their phones less once their nervous system is better regulated. Doomscrolling is often a dysregulation response — you scroll because you're anxious, and the scrolling creates more anxiety in a feedback loop. By helping you regulate, Nomie breaks that cycle. You'll still use your phone, but it becomes a tool for calm rather than a source of overstimulation.

Nomie is designed to support everyday anxiety relief through calming, non-invasive nervous-system tools. When you're anxious, your body is often in a heightened stress state — Nomie helps you shift out of that state through somatic breathing, grounding haptics, and AI companionship. Many users report feeling calmer within minutes of using Nomie's tools. While Nomie doesn't diagnose or treat clinical anxiety disorders, it offers evidence-informed support for the daily experience of feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or on-edge.

Yes. Burnout is essentially chronic nervous-system dysregulation — you've been in fight-or-flight for so long that your system is exhausted. Nomie's somatic tools help you practice regulation daily, gradually rebuilding your nervous system's capacity to return to calm. Features like body-doubling help with the executive dysfunction that often accompanies burnout, while gentle reflection prompts support emotional processing without overwhelming you.

Nomie includes specific tools for ADHD paralysis and executive dysfunction. Body-doubling features provide the gentle presence that helps many ADHD brains get started on tasks. Stimming tools and digital fidgets offer sensory regulation for when you feel restless or understimulated. Somatic breathing can help calm racing thoughts and create a "pause" before acting on impulses. While Nomie isn't an ADHD treatment app, many neurodivergent users find our regulation tools particularly helpful for the everyday challenges of ADHD.

Most AI therapy chatbots focus primarily on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) through text-based conversation. Nomie is built around physiological regulation. We don't just talk — we guide breathing, use haptics, offer sensory grounding tools, and introduce nervous-system calming interactions. The goal isn't dialogue — it's state change. CBT works top-down (changing thoughts to change feelings); Nomie works bottom-up (changing your body state to change how you feel). For many people — especially when you're too overwhelmed to think clearly — the body-first approach is more accessible.

Meditation apps are primarily cognitive and instructional — they teach you techniques through audio guidance. Nomie is somatic and interactive. We focus on bottom-up regulation, helping calm your nervous system directly through rhythm, sensation, haptics, and co-regulation. Nomie is built for moments when traditional meditation feels difficult, inaccessible, or overwhelming — when you can't sit still, when your mind won't quiet, when you need something that meets you where you are instead of asking you to be somewhere else.

Simple breathing apps guide you through breathing patterns, which is helpful. Nomie goes further by combining breathing with haptic feedback (so you can feel the rhythm in your body), visual guidance, AI companionship for emotional context, and a variety of other somatic tools. The breathing is part of a holistic approach to regulation, not the whole experience.

Nomie is designed to be safe, gentle, and non-invasive. Our somatic tools (breathing, grounding, calming visuals) are evidence-informed and used widely in therapeutic settings. We don't use techniques that could be re-traumatizing or destabilizing. If you're experiencing severe distress or a mental health crisis, Nomie encourages seeking support from qualified mental health professionals — we're a daily companion, not emergency care.

No, and we don't try to. Nomie is a wellness companion, not a mental health treatment. Think of Nomie as the daily practice between therapy sessions — the gentle support that helps you stay regulated, process emotions, and build nervous-system resilience. Many therapists actually recommend tools like Nomie to their clients for between-session support. If you're not in therapy but considering it, Nomie can be a helpful starting point for exploring your emotional patterns.

Yes. Nomie is designed as a judgment-free, privacy-first space. Your conversations, journal entries, and personal data are treated with care. We don't sell your data to advertisers or third parties. We use encryption and security best practices to protect your information. You can use Nomie knowing that your vulnerable moments stay private.

Absolutely — in fact, Nomie works great alongside therapy. Many users use Nomie for daily regulation practice while seeing a therapist for deeper work. Nomie can help you stay grounded between sessions, practice techniques your therapist recommends, and track your emotional patterns over time. Some therapists specifically recommend somatic tools like Nomie to support their clients' nervous-system regulation work.

Download Nomie from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android). When you open the app, Nomie will gently onboard you — no lengthy questionnaires or clinical assessments. Just start exploring the somatic tools that feel right for you. Many users begin with a simple breathing exercise or meet Nomie through a calming conversation. There's no wrong way to start.

Nomie is available on iOS (iPhone) and Android smartphones. Our haptic features work best on newer devices with advanced vibration motors, but core features work on any supported smartphone. We're focused on mobile because that's where doomscrolling happens — your phone becomes a tool for calm instead of a source of stress.