Detailed Buying Guide
If you find your meditation practice impaired by physical discomfort in your back, legs, or feet, a meditation bench can be a great way to reduce the physical pressure of sitting and freeing your mind to focus. Meditation benches often allow people to meditate for longer due to improved physical posture and comfort.
If you’ve never used a meditation bench before, the process of buying one can be a bit intimidating. Here are the most important things to be aware of before you buy.
Most Important Things to Look for in a Meditation Bench
1. If you are big, tall, or have limited flexibility in your legs and knees
Look for a bench-style meditation bench with the legs at the outside, ample length and width, and a higher overall height in the legs. You may want a meditation bench with fixed-angle legs (rather than rounded legs).
2. If you travel frequently or meditate on the go
Look for a lightweight and compact meditation bench that will fold or collapse to fit your lifestyle.
3. If you are small and lightweight
Look for a meditation bench with rounded legs, so you can find the seat angle that best fits your body without tipping you forward out of the seat. It’s also helpful to find a seat that is rounded to hold your body, has a non-slip surface, or will easily accommodate a cushion.
Quality Materials and Craftsmanship
You need to be able to relax deeply, without questioning whether the bench can adequately support your weight, with no uncomfortable shifting or wobbling, or slipping out of the seat. This attention to materials, craftsmanship, and design are one of the reasons that meditation benches may cost more than you expected, but it’s an investment in your practice.
Find the Height You Need
Particularly if you have stiff or inflexible knees and hips, it’s important to find a bench at the right height for you. The best way to find out is to stack books or something similar to “mock up” a bench in your own meditation space and find out what height is ideal for you.
Remember Your Surface
A thick rug or zabuton, or a soft surface if you meditate outside, will lower the relative height of the seat, deepening the stretch in your legs and knees. When you plan for your meditation bench height, remember the surface you will be using beneath the bench and plan accordingly.
Many meditation benches are designed to be reversible, so that sitting on the high side allows different body positions than sitting on the low side. In addition, such benches can also be tipped sideways, so that you can lean back against them in other seated positions, such as cross-legged. Feel free to experiment and find what works best for you.
Advantages of Using A Meditation Bench
Besides the fact that using a meditation bench is comfortable and relaxes the body, there are several benefits when it comes to using a meditation bench.
- No Interference. While engaging in a session, there should always be complete harmony between the body and mind and any discomfort may disrupt your session. Using a meditation bench solves this issue by keeping your body relaxed.
- Alignment and Support. These benches are specially designed to support and align your body to get the most out of your session. Regular chairs can’t provide the type of comfort and support you need.
- Improved Meditation. Since these benches offer maximum support and comfort, you will achieve an improved sense of concentration and meditation. They are effective for both beginners and more experienced people.
Using a meditation bench also offers other benefits like:
- Provides cushioning
- Supports your weight
- Keeps pressure off your joints
- Aligns your spine
- Instead of focusing on your posture, it makes it easier to focus on your meditation
- Prevents your limbs from falling asleep while meditating
- Motivates you to meditate
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying A Meditation Bench
Meditation is a personal experience and choosing the best meditation bench is a different experience for everyone. However, there are some standard questions you need to ask yourself first:
- Do I want my bench to be organic and eco-friendly?
- What kind of material do I want to sit on?
- Do I want back support?
- Do I want to be able to choose a certain color?
- How much space do I have for my meditation bench?
- Do I need to carry the floor bench around?
I have recently purchased a “vé bench”, a french meditation bench. They are very good, and took away my back pain. They are also extremely well made. I would recommend this one over all others, you can switch positions more easily and it makes you less stiff. I’m glad I came upon it. More information about the ve bench is at vebench.com, and the store is at coquilledesoi.com.
I hope you decide to try one.
Carter
Curious about Vé, would you be willing to share dimensions?
Do you use with or without cushion?
That’s crazy! I tried one too and it was by far the best I’ve ever tried (mobile and sturdy at the same time). I’ve purchased most of these benches, and ve bench was the best. So comfortable, unstressful, and lets me take my mind off of the otherwise-uncomfortable position.