Meditation pro designs a mind strengthener

Along with the bags of herbal balls she’d give me each month, Nyerongsha advised me to take up meditation, to counter my “heat and wind’’ imbalance.

“Visualize green trees and rivers,’’ she would say. “No fire.’’

As a pill-popping Westerner, I took the good doctor’s herbs, and ignored her advice.

I reckoned that a meditative practice represents a major lifestyle adjustment, making it too much hard work.

But since my spiritually advanced Milton neighbor, Andy, scored a new meditation aid for the iPhone and iPod Touch last week, I thought I’d give my “om mani padme hum’’ routine another shot.

The app, Meditate ($1.99), is a meditation timer, designed by Amber Star, founder of the popular Zencast (www.zencast.org) audio program.

Meditate (www.simpletouchsoftware.com) tracks the number of times you sit down to practice and the duration of each session - much like any physical fitness app that times your workouts.

Meditate reminds me of another soothing app I wrote about recently, Bowls (www.oceanhousemedia.com/products/bowls), for its photorealistic looks and high quality sound. Meditate has a cool, glassy design and backgrounds you can change by shaking the iPhone. Meditate chimes a bell to signal the end of your sessions and the beginning of “cool down’’ periods.

Another, more sophisticated iPhone app by Star, Meditator ($3.99), adds the sounds of the forest and the ocean to your sessions and stores your preferred meditation routines.

While some seekers will recoil at using an electronic aid to meditation, Star said there is no shame in using technology.

Star said that a simpler technology - the bell - has been a part of meditation “since meditation began.’’

“People who jog need sneakers,’’ added Star, a member of the Boston CocoaHeads developer group (cocoaheads.org/us/BostonMassachusetts).

“This is something which helps you to go deeper with your meditation.’’

Travel

A nifty, in-room touchscreen service at the Eliot Hotel

ICE (www.intelityice.com) is an all-in-one touchscreen service for ordering up everything from room service and rental cars to dinner and theater tickets.

The Eliot Hotel on Commonwealth Avenue, which already enjoys a reputation for high touch service, recently made ICE available to all of its guests.

Got a craving for chocolate-covered strawberries or a table downstairs at Clio?

A few taps on the “ICE-19’’ touchscreen in your room, and you may end up with some explaining to do back at the home office.

You can also access via your iPhone, laptop, or another handheld device to download trade show itineraries and the like, if organizers have chosen to share that information with your hotel.

Back in your room you can also use ICE to punch up pay-per-view movies, dim the lights, and crank up the A/C, all without fussing with a single remote - that is if the hotel has incorporated the services into ICE.