| | I'm thinking about my next ten-day Goenka retreat [in June] and the possibility of bringing a meditation chair. My last retreat I struggled with pain [big surprise] and I feel like some valuable meditation time was lost fussing over ass pain, leg pain, etc., and I may have sat longer sessions, etc., were it not for fore mentioned pain.
Nevertheless, and conversely, I had my A+P breakthrough when the pain in my legs got so bad that I decided to investigate its sensations on a moment to moment basis as they arose and passed away. I also hit high equanimity for the first time after sitting through some terrible pain, and all of a sudden I realized I didn't really feel the pain in the same way before nor did it really bother me [eventually, however, the pain always comes back, it always comes back]. So maybe pain is essential to this process in some weird way? Or maybe not. Maybe more progress would be made without pain, I'm not sure.
They have these "back jack" meditation chairs which they sell for like $40. They seem to be the cheapest, and everything else is like these $400 handcrafted deals for the bourgeois mediators out there. My concern with the back jacks are that they don't adjust, meaning, the back of the chair is always stuck at the same angle. When I drive in a car I adjust the seat to a low angle because sitting at a 90 degree kills my spine, etc. I'd be most comfortable if I could adjust the back, but at my last retreat there was a guy there who had one of these things and he seemed to think it was great.
Anyway, anyone meditate with one of these floor chair thingies? Thoughts? Can you recommend a brand? Is the back jack good? Or should I just stick with a ol' zafu on the next retreat...
Thanks all. |