When I was at a silent retreat in Thailand, they had cushions and little wooden stools to help us meditate more comfortably. There were a record number of participants so only some of the people got stools but all of us got at least one cushion.
The rules for the 10 days were: we weren’t allowed to speak, make hand signals, write notes, or make eye contact with anyone. Also once you established your spot in the meditation hall, it was your space. You could leave your cushion there and know one was supposed to take it.
Some people had a stool and a cushion. Some people had a stool and lots of cushions. They were propped up like cushion queens. While the cushion queens meditated in relative bliss I was very uncomfortable with my one cushion. Then one day I came to meditation hall and some one had swiped my cushion, so I had to sit without one.
After a painful day of meditation where I worked on giving up my attachment to comfort, I looked around and found a pillar that no one was using and sat propped up against that. The next day I arrived to find some one sitting against my pillar. So, back to sitting on the floor with no cushion. Then I eyed a little bench that sat out side of the open air hall. I started sitting there for meditation until, again, someone stole my place.
Tired, sore, bored out of my mind and with intense thoughts about quiting the retreat, I brought out my therma-rest and chair kit and sat for the rest of the retreat in comfort. It was the trump card. No one could take my camp chair because it was mine. When we would say our vows to not sit on comfortable chairs I could feel the eyes on me but I didn’t care.
Now I’m turning over the idea of going to Nepal and one of the attractions for me is the meditation retreats. Since I’m always looking for an edge, especially when my
enlightenment is at stake, I found this possible solution to the pain of sitting in meditation all day. I read about it on KK cool tools. It said that it was inspired by the ropes worn by monks to help them sit up straight for hours in meditation. It’s called a Slouch! Buster . It weighs 8 oz (227 grams) and is supposed to be helpful for getting through long flights as well.
