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Cushion Adventures

lobsterlobster Veteran
edited May 2017 in Meditation

For some time I have been seeking the perfect cushion - today I bought the three above. o:) Two portables and a Hinayana type :p Now normally cushions are outrageously priced. Meditation ones even more so. Today I found that flying cushions or traveller cushions may be cheap and perfect. Another possibility is a high quality cushion cover, fiilled with a plastic bag and popping corn or similar ...

Normally I would expect to pay £20 for a cushion. Bought the above orange one for £3 in Primark and the two yoga cushions for £1 each, they come with a carrying handle ... The Primark cushion also comes in waterproof gold but that is little too ostentatious for my lard ass ... O.o

Enlightenment was never so cheap. ;)What is that Mr Cushion? Sitting on the carpeted floor is free? Yep. Right as usual ... and I do the free option occasionally ... the blue thing in the picture is a gardening kneeling pad. Ideal for very low sits ... B)

What do you use?

Jeroen

Comments

  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited May 2017

    I have a cushion where I left things entirely up to chance, by asking for it as a birthday present. I got a firm, low, cylindrical affair in a tasteful maroon, which seems to have amazing powers to attract dust as I have never gotten it entirely dust-free after letting it get dusty once.

    What can I say, I have been experimenting with alternative meditation practices and positions :)

  • BuddhadragonBuddhadragon Ehipassiko & Carpe Diem Samsara Veteran

    I have used this one for several years.
    I bought it at a Tibetan shop and it seems to be filled with sand... it makes a crunchy sound...
    It's very comfortable for my half-hour sessions...
    It was not really expensive, it has no fancy ad description, it is not ergonomic, but it does adapt as I wiggle.
    Not too hard, not to soft, and visually appealing.
    Maybe you can find something similar in Chinatown...

    Hozan
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    That looks a lot like my cushion... except for the shade, mine is a deeper maroon... and the embroidery, mine doesn't have any :lol:

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @lobster said:

    Sheer luxury!

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    It is indulgent @SpinyNorman B)

    Tried the orange cushion. ? . Next will try the mauve ...

    We used to sit on a boulder, till we turned to stone ...
    You were lucky to have a boulder ...

    See Four Yorshiremen for details ...

    Kundo
  • BuddhadragonBuddhadragon Ehipassiko & Carpe Diem Samsara Veteran

    What is a lard ass anyway, if I may ask?

  • DhammikaDhammika Veteran

    Buckwheat for moi. Conforms to the... uh, posterior principality.

  • gracklegrackle Veteran

    @DhammaDragon. A lard ass is a fat butt. Loved by some cultures,scorned by others. Sometimes it refers to a lazy person etc. A common vulgarism,"Get the lard out and get your ass in gear".

    Buddhadragon
  • RichdawsonRichdawson Explorer

    I have recently been considering making my own, since I don't current have one. Just the wood floor. The ones I see online seem fairly expensive as you mentioned. The biggest problem I have right now is that after about 40 mins on the floor my hips start to ache.

  • BuddhadragonBuddhadragon Ehipassiko & Carpe Diem Samsara Veteran

    Thank you, @grackle.
    Could my cushion be filled with buckwheat, then?
    All I know is that it crunches.
    But it's pretty comfortable.

  • gracklegrackle Veteran

    @DhammaDragon. If my cushion ever wears out I'll replace it with the buckwheat hull fill. Kapok takes a while to get comfortable but seems fairly indestructible. Buckwheat hull pillows are wonderfully comfortable and cooler than many other types of fill.

    Buddhadragon
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    @Richdawson said:
    I have recently been considering making my own, since I don't current have one. Just the wood floor. The ones I see online seem fairly expensive as you mentioned. The biggest problem I have right now is that after about 40 mins on the floor my hips start to ache.

    http://www.sonima.com/meditation/meditation-positions/

    However ... back to cushion options.
    A friend who became a monk, made his own and filled it with rice. That seems a great option. Would a pillow case with a zip or sown up, be a possibility?

    I find my two old 'memory foam pillows' with the blue kneeler pad in the middle is my favourite option ...

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    Over the winter, I started spending a whole lot more time on the floor (and the ground outside) rather than furniture and found my body quickly adapted. Now I do my meditation on my yoga mat with no cushion. I do take my cushion to retreats because hours on the floor my body isn't quite ready for. But I imagine in time it will be. Much of the pains and aches we feel when we start meditation (on a cushion or on the floor) are a result of our body not having the load of our weight put on it, even though that is what it is designed to do. Sitting all day in furniture has robbed our bodies of their main job. But if one wishes, it is possible to retrain the body. But you have to treat it like exercise. You start small, and work up. Because when the body adjusts to new loads/stresses, it grows the cells in your bones, your connective tissue, it loosens the knots in your fascia and it even creates new capillaries and other vascular structures to accommodate the changes in blood flow. This takes time to happen, however.

    It's nice because now I can meditate anywhere without getting sore, at least for a time. I meditate on rocks, on logs, on the back deck, on the ground at the park, on a swing, etc.

    lobster
  • KannonKannon NAMU AMIDA BUTSU Ach-To Veteran

    Now I want to get a cushion too. Maybe once I buy it I'll suddenly meditate all the time.

    Fosdick
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