Re: Zafu and zabuton?
Yes, I have more to say. If you sit without any cushion, the chances are that in order to keep the natural curve of the spine and not slouch you'd have to contract some back muscles...Bad idea that can lead to a lot of problems. The feeling of the tripod, both knees and buttocks is really important, it is the rooting, grounding, the infrastructure of your sitting. So having knees floating in the air is not a good idea as it also will cause problems in the spine ...If your zafu, cushion or whatever you use is too high, then it is also a problem. The answer is to experiment. A zafu is something you can fill up and empty at will (that's why we use zafu, not for the Japanese look). Start either with a full blown up zazfu or with a very flat one, sit and see. Take the stuff out or fill it up gradually until you really feel good. Remember, always direct the zafu down under the buttocks so you open naturally the hips and never ever contract the back muscles. The general principle is the following, if you sit full lotus, you don't need much thickness, so your zafu will be quite flat. If you sit half lotus or Burmese and you have a solid strong body, you will need a bigger zafu. Now, to the clever people who use a belt to rise up the zafu at will...I will tell them this: you are now sitting on a French fixed macaron-type cushion that cannot be tucked in a propper way under your buttocks!... Bad idea. Give it a week, a month or two years parctice, and you will have to seek for medical help. No kidding. I have been there.
So I looked on the internet, so hard to find anything decent but I bumped into a glorious nobody with a great cushion-to-buttocks-knees thing, you could always argue with the possition of the head, anyway, tha's the idea:
Attached files
Yes, I have more to say. If you sit without any cushion, the chances are that in order to keep the natural curve of the spine and not slouch you'd have to contract some back muscles...Bad idea that can lead to a lot of problems. The feeling of the tripod, both knees and buttocks is really important, it is the rooting, grounding, the infrastructure of your sitting. So having knees floating in the air is not a good idea as it also will cause problems in the spine ...If your zafu, cushion or whatever you use is too high, then it is also a problem. The answer is to experiment. A zafu is something you can fill up and empty at will (that's why we use zafu, not for the Japanese look). Start either with a full blown up zazfu or with a very flat one, sit and see. Take the stuff out or fill it up gradually until you really feel good. Remember, always direct the zafu down under the buttocks so you open naturally the hips and never ever contract the back muscles. The general principle is the following, if you sit full lotus, you don't need much thickness, so your zafu will be quite flat. If you sit half lotus or Burmese and you have a solid strong body, you will need a bigger zafu. Now, to the clever people who use a belt to rise up the zafu at will...I will tell them this: you are now sitting on a French fixed macaron-type cushion that cannot be tucked in a propper way under your buttocks!... Bad idea. Give it a week, a month or two years parctice, and you will have to seek for medical help. No kidding. I have been there.
So I looked on the internet, so hard to find anything decent but I bumped into a glorious nobody with a great cushion-to-buttocks-knees thing, you could always argue with the possition of the head, anyway, tha's the idea:
Attached files
Comment