Choosing The Right Zafu

“By establishing a stable base of support, the body naturally comes into alignment with the directional flow of gravity. The deeply purifying process of meditation has no choice but to begin.”

 – Will Johnson, The Posture of Meditation: A Practical Manual for Meditators of All Traditions

Will Johnson’s book on the postures of meditation—one of our favorites—tells us the base of support is the literal foundation of meditation practice. Johnson writes that meditation does not favor one body type over another—meditation is for every body— and finding a comfortable seat is key to developing a practice that you’ll return to day after day.
There are many options for creating your perfect base of support, including zafus, meditation benches and Tibetan seats. In this post, we’ll focus on the our two original zafus. Besides these two traditional zafus, we also offer a mini zafu. 

Round Zafu or Crescent Zafu?

Round Zafus

• Traditional Design
• Forward Balanced Posture

Crescent Zafus

• Broad comfy support
• Helps prevent legs from falling asleep

If you’d like to try a zafu, you’ll want to choose one of two shapes. The classic shape of a zafu is round, while the crescent shape is a more modern development. Each shape performs the key function of raising your pelvis above your knees.

The classic, round zafu ensures that your pelvis can tilt forward, preserving the natural curve of your spine, and freeing your knees to face downward. From here, your legs can adopt whichever folded position you find most comfortable, and your knees, along with the base of your seat, can support your weight in a tripod.

The crescent expands this tripod, supporting your weight not only from the base of your seat and your knees, but also through your hips. Practitioners who prefer the crescent zafu report a feeling of greater support through the hips and legs, and a broad, comfy foundation. The crescent may also help those who struggle with legs falling asleep during meditation. Both zafus come with handy carrying handles and zipper openings should you ever need to add or remove a bit of the filling.

Buckwheat or Kapok Filling?

Buckwheat

• Sturdy but malleable support
• Allergy-free
• Material often used for bean bags or travel pillows

Kapok

• Light weight
• Softer pillow like feel
• Higher Seat Position
• Best for beginners

Once you’ve chosen the shape of your zafu, it’s time to choose a filling. Kapok and buckwheat have long been used to stuff cushions, and each has its own unique properties.
Buckwheat hulls come from one of the oldest cultivated grains in the world—the same buckwheat you might see ground into flour in your pancake mix also provides hulls for cushion stuffing. They are also a popular filling because they keep cool and keep allergies at bay.

In zafus, buckwheat acts as a sturdy but malleable support, ready to contour to your body. Most people are familiar with the feel of buckwheat stuffing from bean bags or travel pillows. “Buckwheat hulls are the hard outer shells that house the seeds of buckwheat grain. The hulls are strong, aromatic and do not retain or reflect heat, making them an ideal allergy-free alternative to feather or synthetic fiber fills for pillows and upholstery.”

Kapok vs Buckwheat Cushion Filling

The two most common zafu fillings are kapok and buckwheat.

Kapok is a lightweight, luminescent fluff that comes from the seed pods of the formidable Ceiba tree. Found in tropical areas, the Ceiba grows spikes on its bark to keep predators away. Fully grown, it can reach a tremendous size, big enough for carving into family-sized canoes.

Kapok floats, and has been used as stuffing in life preservers. In the zafu, kapok feels like a firm and buoyant pillow. At Still Sitting, we pack our kapok tightly, offering you maximum lift off the ground.

On the other hand, dried buckwheat hulls are cooling and conform to the shape of the body. They offer a firmer, more grounded sitting experience than kapok. These cushions are heavier than those stuffed with kapok, so if you often travel with your zafu, this is worth considering.

With kapok as well as buckwheat, you have the option of customizing your zafu height by pulling some of the stuffing out.

Whether your prefer Buckwheat versus kapok comes down to personal preference, and we stand behind both.

If you are a beginner, however, and asked us to choose, we’d steer you toward kapok. Not only does kapok offer a higher seat, but a softer one as well, which can be important in lessening the pressure on your sitting bones when you’re first starting out.

With both the kapok and buckwheat zafus, there is an additional seating position: place it on its side and sit with your legs folded on either side in seiza. Seiza is the kneeling position with knees in front and feet in back. For more information on sitting positions, check out our tips on How to Sit Comfortably.

Standard or Deluxe Zafu?

Once you have a handle on your zafu shape, fill, (and fabric!), you’ll want to choose between a standard or deluxe. The deluxe offers a removable, machine-washable cover. This makes for easy care over the long-term, and allows you to switch your outer cover to different colors or patterns when you’d like. Our standard cushions can be spot cleaned as needed or recovered, but the covers are meant to stay put.

Other Meditation Cushion Options

If you’d like to discuss these options, please give us a call at 1-800-433-0977 or email us at office@stillsitting.com. We stuff each of our zafus by hand here in our Vashon Island workshop, and we’d be happy to talk zafus with you!

To help build a better sense of how to use these products and others see our How to Meditate video