iMantra is an app for the iPhone and iTouch that can help you learn new mantras, practice mantras, and calm your mind and thoughts.

The mantras in iMantra are separated into four categories: Buddhist, Kundalini, Hindu, and Universal. The mantras have been chosen to provide a variety of results and can be used for many purposes.

*** NOTE to users who have upgraded to version 2.2:

There is a bug in this version that can make the audio stop playing if a slider bead is moved. Please upgrade to the 2.3 version which is now available! We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this. 

Also, in 2.3 we changed the auto-hide controls behavior, and now you need to actually move a bead slightly to get them to fade. We are working to change this for the next release, so that they will fade after you start a mantra or chant.

iMantra Selected as "Staff Favorite"

On January 12th, 2009 iMantra was selected as an Apple Staff Favorite, and as such was selected to appear on front page of the app store. Here's what it looked like:

We're honored to be picked for this, as it means that the app store folks appreciate and recognize the love and work that we've put into this app.

How to Operate iMantra

You can choose to chant in two different ways. In either case, you will first touch the info icon (the small letter i in the lower right corner of the screen), and select the mantra category, and then the desired mantra. You can also select the number of malas (set of 108 mantras) and the number of beads on the mala that you wish to perform.

To work interactively, you slide a bead from right to left on the screen, and when you have pushed it far enough a mantra will be spoken. You can speak along with the mantra, or just listen. Either way the mantra energy will resonate in your chakras. Note that the bead that you are able to move, the one that you should move, is slightly see-through. If it seems that you are unable to move a bead, check that you have pushed the see-through bead far enough to the left.

The second way of practicing is to touch the Buddha's bowl, with the word "chant" on it. When you do this, the beads will move away and the mantra will be spoken over and over, until the number of malas have been reached.

Click here to send an email to our support department.

Disappearing Screen Controls

So that you can practice your mantra with as little distraction as possible, the screen controls fade away as soon as you start a mantra, either by sliding a bead, or by touching the Chant word.  To bring the controls back, just touch anywhere on the upper part of the screen. 

The screen controls include the music volume slider, the mantra volume slider, the image picker, and the record button. 

No Sound?

Make sure that the beads are moved towards the right side of the screen. Also, you must also turn up the overall volume on your iPhone using the buttons on the side of the phone, and you have to turn on the ringer switch on the phone. 

Customizing the Screen Image

Touch the Image button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to bring up the image picker. This lets you choose any image from your photo library. Touch the image, and it will be used as the screen background.

To return to the default Medicine Buddha image, touch Image to select the image picker, and touch the cancel button. The original image will again be used for the screen background.

Recording Your Own Mantra

You may record up to nine of your own mantras, in addition to the supplied mantras. To do this, touch the Record button in the upper left-hand corner. The recording screen will appear. 

Now select which mantra slot you wish to use, by touching one of the numbers, 1-9. When you are ready, touch the Record button, and when you see it change to the word "Stop", begin speaking. Speak into the microphone on the bottom of the phone -- you do not need to hold the phone to your ear. Press Stop when you are done.

To listen to what you have recorded, just touch the Play button. You can repeat this process to get the mantra exactly right.

When you are pleased with the mantra, you can name it by touching the field beneath the word "Mantra". A keyboard appears, and you can enter the words of the mantra, or any other name.

You may also enter a description for the mantra, which will appear when you go to select it from the mantra selection screen. 

When you are done recording mantras, touch the Done button to return to the main screen.

Selecting a Mantra

From the main screen, touch the small letter "i" in the circle in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. The mantra selection and mala setup screen will appear.

Touch the word "Type" to see the available mantra types. Then, touch the word "Mantra" to see the available mantras within this type. As you select them, you will see the description for the mantra on the top part of the screen.

Setting up your Mala

From the mantra selection screen, touch the word "Malas" to enter the number of complete Malas that you wish to practice. This is the number that you see on the main screen, where it says "1 of 2 Malas". In this case, the main screen says that you have completed 1 full mala rotation, and that you selected 2 malas to complete.

Now, touch the "Beads" word, and you can select the number of beads on your mala. This number is used to keep track of where you are in the mala, and as you reach the end of the mala, you will see the king bead appear.

What is a Mantra?

A mantra is a sound that is used to uplift the mind and calm the body. Mantras can be spoken, whispered or chanted. Chanting uses the science of sound vibration to change our state of consciousness. Chanting is used by many cultural and religious traditions, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sufis, Hindus, Sikhs and Native Americans. Sound therapy has been validated by western scientific methods since the 1970s when Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Medical School studied how the body responded to chanting practices from different religious traditions. He termed the healing affects of chanting the "Relaxation Response" and identified its benefits as lowered heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate.

List of included Mantras

Click Here to view a list of included mantras. Please email us with your suggestions for mantras to be added to iMantra.

Mantra Practice

The period of 40 days has been widely recognized as an auspicious period both in the East and the West since ancient times. A traditional way to do an extended mantra practice is to choose a number of repetitions per day, and to do that for 40 days. The mind likes to have a beginning and end to a practice, a sense of completion, such as comes with a 40 day (or longer) practice.

1.  Fixed time per practice session: Mind finds comfort in knowing that it will do the practice of one round of 108 repetitions (or some other number of rounds), and that each round will take a predictable amount of time.

2. Same number of rounds: Mind also likes the predictability of doing a certain number of rounds done per day. Mind may resist at times, but once it gets started in the practice, mind likes the habit.

3.  Specific number of days: Mind also likes the plan of knowing how many days or months a practice will take to complete. This can be very beneficial in stabilizing a noisy mind, which is a common complaint.

Malas

A mala is a set of counting beads with 108 beads. Only 100 are counted, with the other 8 considered an offering to the divine, however you personally hold that. You might choose to do 1, 2, 3, 4, or more rounds of 108 mantras per day, counting with a set of mala beads.

It has been said that there is freedom in discipline; choosing to do a regular practice frees the mind from wondering what practice will be done that day. It is also important not to do the mantra practice with rote repetition, but rather, with feeling and awareness.

By running your own experiment for 40 days, you can decide for yourself whether or not the practice is beneficial.

The Planetary Mantras

These mantras were released in version 1.1, make sure you download the update.

The nine planets are transmitters of universal, archetypal energy. The qualities of each planet help to maintain the overall balance of polarities in both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic universe – “as above, so below..."

The planets’ influence plays an important, often neglected, role in our lives. They are often responsible for the phase our lives go through. For example, if a planet is weak during a specific period, it will emit negative energy. In order to neutralize this effect, we would need to strengthen our weaker planets. Performing the mantra for the planet is one way to strengthen a weak planet.

Adepts of both Eastern and Western astrology agree that we are influenced by planetary energies for the duration of our lives. These energies are very real, affecting our relationships, career, intelligence, wealth, luck, creativity and behavioral tendencies, as well as our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

Ancient Vedic astrological traditions, still very much alive today, have developed systems of Yoga whereby the effects of these planetary vibrations can be harmonized to a greater degree. To this end, Nine of the planets - known as The Navagraha - are given particular importance. They include the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Although Rahu and Ketu are not strictly planets as such, but rather 'shadow planets' or nodal points, they are still able to exert great influence over us, and are therefore included in the practice.

The Ascension Mantra

We have included a very special Universal mantra: The Ascension Mantra. We also have included the full text of the Ascension Mantra for you to download, in pdf form.