A good meditation cushion is an underrated essential tool which every meditation practitioner should have, as the quality of meditation experience is greatly affected by the comfort and stability of your meditation posture.

I have reviewed 30+ different brands of meditation cushions available globally, classified them in 6 different types and measured them on 5 Key Criteria:

Disclaimer: I am Dhyanse, Meditation Coach and Founder of Dhyanse.Life, a Meditation Lifestyle Brand from Germany. I wrote this article to share my research and 15 years of experience helping people to learn and practice meditation. In this article, I do recommend you to consider Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion as a better choice by providing critical arguments to the best of my knowledge. I may have a bias, but my intent is to ensure that you get the best solution out there for you. :)

 

1. BACK STABILITY

Every meditation teacher including me will repeatedly emphasize the importance of having a straight spine in an upright sitting posture of meditation. If you are a dancer, a gymnast, a fitness freak or have been regularly practising Hatha Yoga postures, you may have the necessary flexibility and muscular strength to sit in meditation without needing any external support.

But if that’s not the case, sitting for more than 5-10 mins in a meditation posture can be a painful challenge. And to avoid pain, you start slouching your back or keep doing restless movements during meditation. Such restless movements don’t allow you to shift your awareness any deeper than the body, leaving you with a superficial experience of meditation.

Hence to have a really good solution for back stabilization is a MUST! There are two ways to do it:

1. With a ‘Back-Rest’
2. Without a ‘Back-Rest’

With ‘Back-Rest’: You can sit next to a wall and use some pillows in between you and the wall, but that is a temporary quick fix.

Some shops offer meditation chairs that come along with a Back-Rest, which can be very helpful especially for those who are recovering from a spine injury or have postural impairments requiring special assistance.

The downside of using such meditation chairs is that they are ugly, big, expensive and make you somewhat dependent on the ‘Back-Rest’.

Without Back-Rest: Cheaper solutions such as round meditation cushion or half-moon meditation cushions are good to have as something under the hips, but they fail to provide the necessary support to the spine.

We developed Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion with a unique Ergonomic profile with ‘Forward Pelvis Tilt’ and ‘Reverse Tilt’ technology to enable a natural alignment of the spine and hips for a stable upright posture. It does not require any back-rest and yet it is far more effective in providing back stability than other solutions.

In this table we rate different types of Meditation Cushions on their ability to provide Back Stability.

Inference:

# If you are recovering from injuries → Go for meditation chairs

# If you want to improve your posture for long-term practice → Round cushions or half-moon cushions will not be of much help. Try the unique Ergonomic profile of Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion.

2. LEG COMFORT

One of the most common problems for meditators in western countries is that their hip & knee joints and feet are not trained to sit in a cross-legged posture. In eastern cultures such as India, children learn to sit on the floor in a cross-legged posture while performing daily routine activities such as studying, eating, watching, playing etc.

65% of the meditators end their meditation session prematurely due to tingling painful sensations of sleepy feet and legs. This is mainly due to impaired blood circulation caused by 2 reasons: 1) The feet/ankles are resting on a hard floor. 2) Common with all round cushions: the cushion presses into the backside of the thighs with all the body weight concentrated at this point. The blood circulation is impaired and tingling pain arises.

Often people try to solve this problem by using a blanket or soft mattress under their feet. Most round cushions and half-moon cushions do not come along with an appropriate mat, and the other solutions are bulky and ugly.

While innovating Dhyanse Sit, we paid special attention to the leg comfort. We added a fitting mat for the feet and also built in a gradual decrease at the thighs to ensure maximum comfort while maintaining an elegant design.

In this table we rate different types of Meditation Cushions on their ability to provide Leg Comfort.

Inference:

# If you want a DIY solution → You can use an old blanket under your feet. It may or may not be compatible with your meditation chair, cushion, seat etc. but can potentially provide some level of comfort.

# If you wish to optimise on finer details → Check out the Ergonomic profile of Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion that comes along with a feet mat as a set.

3. HEIGHT ADJUSTABILITY

One size CANNOT fit all!

Standard cushions come in a fixed height ranging from 12-18 cm. The optimal cushion height is correlated to your physical height and practice. The taller you are, the higher the cushion you would require. And if you are a beginner, chances are that you would need a higher cushion height and as you practice and adjust to the posture, you may need to lower the height.

 

Dhyanse Sit is fully adjustable so that you can change the height anytime ranging from 12-18 cm, just by adjusting its feet. It saves you the money for buying several cushions and the precious space in your living room.  

 

There are also sub-optimal alternatives provided by round cushions where you have to empty or re-fill the kapok fiber or buckwheat hull filling for adjusting height.

In this table we rate different types of Meditation Cushions on their Height Adjustability.

Inference:

# If you are an experienced meditator and you know exactly which height fits best for your meditation posture → Cushions offering fixed height can be equally valuable.

# If your meditation practice is likely to evolve over the coming months and you wish to adapt your body posture → Invest in a cushion that offers height adjustability.

4. DESIGN AESTHETICS

Design is a subjective choice and an important factor which can make or break your meditation practice.

If your cushion has an inviting design apart from great functionality, you will likely get attracted to sit on it and benefit from building a regular meditation practice. A cushion fitting to your living room design can also help you to live meditation as a lifestyle. No one wants to have a massive pillow or weirdly looking chair, not fitting at all to the home ambience.

We consulted top product designers, yoga & meditators, industry experts from Germany while shaping the aesthetics of Dhyanse Sit. It is constructed on the fundamental principles of motivational design and adds natural harmony to its environment.

In this table we rate different types of Meditation Cushions on their Design Aesthetics.

Inference:

# Go for any cushion that will add to your motivation for meditation and you are not going to try to hide it while having guests over to your living room.

5. Price

Meditation cushions, chairs, pillows come in a broad price range from EUR 40 to EUR 400. The cheaper variations below EUR 80 comprise of round cushions, half moon cushions or meditation benches. They often lack quality materials and production sites are in Asia, plus they come with limited functionality.

As always, the price is relative - since the cushion can become an integral part of your life and you might be spending quite some hours on it, we recommend to invest in a cushion that fits you and that you like. When you make sure the cushion is long-lasting and can sustain your individual practice, it can stay with you for many years to sit.

In this table we rate different types of Meditation Cushions based on their Prices.

Conclusion:

I hope these 5 criteria: Back Stability, Leg Comfort, Height Adjustability, Design Aesthetics and Price can help you decide for a meditation cushion that fits best to your preferences.

Here is a summary for 6 different types of Meditation cushions available in the market and their overall ratings based on the 5 criteria.

Happy Meditating,

Dhyanse.

Co-Founder

Dhyanse.com

P.S: 10% Limited Discount, Code: DS 10

 

 

Order Now! Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion:  https://dhyanse.life/products/dhyanse-sit-meditation-cushion-set 

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Picture Source:

1. Dhyanse Sit Meditation Cushion Set: www.dhyanse.life

2. Meditation Bench: Spoko Meditation Bench: https://www.amazon.com/SPOKO-Meditation-Certified-Meditations-Happiness/dp/B01MSN9NG1 Seiza Meditation Bench https://www.samadhicushions.com/seiza-meditation-bench-p/c-564.htm

3. Pillow Seat: https://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Meditation-Cushion-Kapok-Brown-Beige/dp/B01LATPWKW https://meditationcushions.moonleap.com/meditation-crescent-cushion-zafu

4. Round Cushion: https://www.yogastudio.co.uk/yoga-studio-pleated-round-zafu-buckwheat-meditation-cushion

5. Half-Moon cushion: https://www.gaiam.com/products/05-61815_2

6. Meditation Chair: https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Meditation-Relaxing-backsupport-meditation/dp/B01HZP0ONA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1531837043&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Friends+of+Meditation+Buddha+Bliss+Meditation+Chair&psc=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=thedailymeditation-20&linkId=21f279d49f6db754b126e8a605ad91f5