The cushion I tried and returned
After three years of buying meditation cushions, the one that finally worked — and why expensive is mostly not the answer.
I bought my first meditation cushion eight years ago. It was a beautiful organic cotton cushion in a warm clay colour, filled with buckwheat hulls, with a removable washable cover. It cost ninety euros. I used it for about a month before I gave up on it because, despite being beautiful, it was too high for my hips and my knees would not rest on the floor.
Over the next two years I bought four more cushions. A lower one. A wider one. A round one. A V-shaped one designed for kneeling. None of them was quite right. By the end of two years I had spent close to three hundred euros on cushions and was, still, not comfortable sitting for more than about fifteen minutes.
What finally worked
A small folded wool blanket on top of a firm cotton meditation cushion bought on sale for nineteen euros. The combined height is right for my hips. The blanket can be folded or unfolded by a centimetre or two to fine-tune the height for the season — slightly higher in winter when my hips are tighter, slightly lower in summer when they are looser.
I cannot stress enough how unimpressive this setup is. The cushion is a plain brown thing. The blanket is a small grey wool blanket that I had used as a throw on a chair. The combined cost was around thirty euros. It has been the most comfortable meditation seat I have owned, and I sit on it twice a day.
What the expensive cushions had gotten wrong
Not the materials. The materials had been fine. They had gotten wrong the assumption that one cushion height fits one person. Bodies change. Hips tighten. Knees stiffen. The seasonal adjustability of the folded blanket turned out to be the most important feature, and none of the expensive cushions had been adjustable in any meaningful way.
The smaller point
The meditation industry sells objects that look like they will solve the problem of sitting. The problem of sitting is not solved by objects. It is solved by the small daily negotiation between your body and a flat firm surface that is adjustable. A plain cushion and a blanket will do this. So will, in many cases, a folded yoga mat. So will, for many people, a single dining chair.
If you have been buying cushions and none of them have worked, you might not need a better cushion. You might need a less specific one.