Meditation Timer

shanyin

I would like to get a meditation timer.

Has anyone bought one online or know any popular stores where I can find one?

I searched online and all I found were 'zen timers' which are about 60-100 bucks.

Floating_Abu

I use to have a bell timer (MP3 file) free off the net. Then I would just play that, it timed maybe ... once every 15 minutes or something which gave me an indicator eg. 4 bells to an hour, 2 to half an hour etc.
I never bought the expensive Zen timers.

Another way is simply a light alarm. If you have one of those new age phones they can give quite good selections of tone ie light enough and even bells.

Some people also use other methods eg. an incense stick or just having a clock nearby

etc etc.

Good sitting.

buddhajunkie

Do you have an iPhone, iTouch or any other portable computer?

I bought the "Ultra Timer" for my iPhone for like $4. It allows me to set multiple timers for different, back-to-back time intervals, and to specify different ending tones, including three types of singing bowls as well as custom tones.

Therefore I can designate a session such as: Fix the breath (2 mins), count the breath (8 mins), feel the length of the breath (5), feel the whole breath (5 mins), mindfulness (20 mins). At each interval there will be one singing bowl ring, at the end, there is three rings.

You can also save different configurations so that you have different presets for different types of sessions.


The only big downsides is that the screen saver is disabled and that you cannot "rewind".

mugzy

I have the Zen Timer app for my iPod touch. I like it pretty well, but I normally just meditate without any timers.

Cam

I download meditation timers of the net and put them on my Ipod. I put on my earphones, light up some incense and I'm good to go!

ShiftPlusOne

Meditation helper is a good (and free) android app.

I don't understand the need to spend money on a "meditation timer". What's wrong with an alarm clock or a stopwatch.

I should buy a some 50c countdown timers and sell them as 'Personal Zen Meditation Helpers™' for $100.

Mountains

The Mac OS has a built-in meditation timer in the Widgets applications...

shanyin

Thanks all, but I don't have any portable computer or anything like that stuff.

@Shift

I would like one because I have to set my alarm for each morning and would rather just keep it there than re-set it twice when I meditate.

ShiftPlusOne

shanyin, yeah, I understand that. I meant that you can get an extra timer just for meditation. You don't need anything marketed as a meditation timer... a timer is a timer.

Search for a "kitchen timer" on ebay. You'll find there are plenty of them for under $2.

'course you might want a hand-crafted, mahogany instrument with a hand-crafted bell/gong and so on for $500, but I don't understand the need for that.

genkaku

Get an egg timer for under $5.

Alternatively, just sit for the duration of an incense stick.

shanyin

Yeah those kitchen timers should be fine.

Maybe I should start a company for meditation timers for under $50.

Features: times up to 5 hours, and doesn't go EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! when the time is up.

I'd buy it :P.

buddhajunkie

Cell phone timer?

Also, even cheap digital watches have alarms and/or timers.

shanyin

Thanks, lots of options, I'll manage.

Barra

I used to set the timer on my stove. Now I use a very inexpensive digital stopwatch. I set it for the number of minutes I want and it dings when the time's up!