# Samatha — A companion for TMI practice

> A companion for TMI practice (iPhone/iPad app by Alexis Girard.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/samatha/id6779424479 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Alexis Girard](https://appshunter.io/developer/6779424481)
- Category: Health & Fitness, Lifestyle
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 8 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France)
- Released: 2026-06-16
- Data updated: 2026-09-10
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/samatha/id6779424479/reviews.md

## What is Samatha?

Samatha is a quiet instrument for practitioners of The Mind Illuminated (TMI), the meditation manual by Culadasa (John Yates, PhD).

It is not a content library. It is the tool you reach for twice a day: a sit timer with a hand-tuned singing bowl, an honest check-in, and the traditional ten-stage painting — alive, interactive, and centered on where YOU are.

THE SIT
• Wall-clock timer (survives locks and calls), gentle start and end bowls
• Mindfulness bells: halfway, every 5 minutes, or random — the honest startle test for subtle dullness
• Six-point preparation and four-step transition, straight from the practice
• Your last note to yourself, shown exactly when it helps: before you sit
• Live Activity on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island
• A sit can never be lost — killed app, reboot: everything is restored

THE HONEST STAGE LOGIC
• After each sit, check what you actually experienced — each observation votes
• A sit's lived stage is the median of its votes; in doubt, the lower one
• The app NEVER promotes you. After three consecutive diagnosed sits above your stage, it points you to the book's mastery criteria — you confirm, honestly
• Going back a stage after a pause is one tap. That's not failure, that's practice

THE PATH
• The traditional ten-stage elephant painting, fully interactive
• Every stage: what to practice, what to avoid, the signs you're there, obstacles and graduated antidotes, mastery criteria
• A safety card for destabilizing experiences — because a serious tool carries the book's guardrails, not just its techniques

YOUR JOURNAL
• Every sit, monthly sections, full CSV export anytime
• Automatic, private iCloud backup — your data never touches our servers (there are none)

Free. No ads. No account. No tracking. Independent app, not affiliated with Dharma Treasure or the authors. Original text throughout.


## Version history (last 1 release)

### 1.0 — 2026-06-16

No release notes.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-10.*