Do you have the perfect meditation cushion yet?

The one that allows you to sit perfectly still and meditate for hours without any back pain or numbness in your legs, that keeps you alert and focused and concentrated? A meditation cushion that practically forces you to sit with a perfectly straight spine?

Of course you don't.  There's no such thing.

I'll never forget when I was invited to a free meditation group in Kathmandu, Nepal.  I walked into the room a bit early. It was a tiny space; one that could hold maybe 20 meditators. Then I watched in amazement as 80 people squeezed into the place. Just when you thought there was no way another meditator could squeeze in, another one would squeeze in.

But what stunned me more than the sardine-like quality of the meditation room, and how this seemed so normal to everybody there, was the fact that not one person was sitting on a meditation cushion of any sort. A few of them had tiny pieces of carpet, maybe 18 inches square, but most just sat directly on the floor.

Meanwhile back in America, if you looked at my meditation space, it was full of meditation supplies and meditation tools and various other contraptions that I thought would improve my meditation practice.  I had a meditation shawl that I only used when I was sitting (though it would have been a useful addition to my outdoor wardrobe on a Winter day).  I had it least half a dozen different types of pillows or cushions or foam blocks, all of which I thought would help with my meditation practice.

What I realized sitting in this tiny Nepalese room was that all of those meditation props and supplies were a distraction.  I didn't need any one of them.  After all, it's said that the Buddha achieved enlightenment sitting under a tree, not that he was wrapping his knees in silk made from virgin worms in India, or on a Japanese kneeling bench made from petrified wood with a 500 year old rug containing blessings from the Dalai Lama.  The guy just sat under a tree.

It's easy to think that some new tools, some better meditation prayer rug or some new spiritual gadget will be the thing that inspires me to practice more, allows me to meditate longer and takes me faster along the spiritual path.

It seems that the reality is just like any sort of long distance travel — lighter is better.

I don't even have a meditation space any longer. And I can't remember the last time I sat on a meditation cushion. I'll meditate in a kitchen chair, on my sofa, in my hot tub, or on any random space of floor that I happen to be sitting near.  This is not only made my practice a more integrated part of my life, but it's to save me hundreds of dollars and lots of worry about whether I have the right meditation cushion.  I know I have all the meditation supplies I need — they're called my mind and body.

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