My rendezvous with Vipassana and Zen meditation started when I was 20. We were always advised to use an elevation to sit on – it was a small pillow for Vipassana or a cushion for Zen meditation.
As I kept onto my spiritual journey I never took the bit about keeping the buttocks elevated seriously. Only recently, after getting deeper into my asana(posture) practice, I realize why it’s so important . Building posture awareness made me see the stark difference between using an elevation and not using one.
Before writing on the subject, I saw a few articles on the net about the reasons why one must use a cushion but they do not give a satisfactory anatomical reason.
So here is why we must use elevation. The elevation could be a pillow, cushion, or folded blanket.
It pushes up your buttock bone which gives a natural lift and aliveness to your spine and makes your posture firm.
Because of the lift, it is easier to maintain the natural curvature of the spine.
It supports your spine in such a way, that one can sit comfortably for a long time.
The elevation does not only lift your buttocks – it puts the knees slightly lower than the line of the buttocks, this opens up the area of the stomach which makes it very easy for you to breathe deep and breath to move freely.
An alternative to keeping your spine straight without the meditation cushion is sitting in vajrasana.
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