Well we manifested the proto-type, followed by a bout of despondency about the design we put the development on hold and entered a fresh and invigorating period of new research.

The focus is still the meditation bench but what changed was that I had the opportunity to use it on an extended retreat , I sat for a very long time and I started to experience a kind of galley–slave-rower bottom,  from sitting on a plank all day for over a week, as Dharma providence would have it I managed to find a piece of high density foam rubber the right size, amongst the pillows and the zafus, the hinge would have become an unbearable obstacle had the covering not been found, so in true Archibald Tuttle (Brazil film 1985) we could not fix the problem but were able to bypass it.

Sam Lowry: Can you fix it?
Harry Tuttle: No, I can’t. But, I can bypass it.

Some other aspects became obvious during those long hours of sitting in the meditation hall dealing with gross sensations, thoughts that arose and dissipated during times of practice were like a test run, the long-hull, the extensive test.

Not to get into what the right- motivation for doing sitting-meditation practice is , one of the important  aspects is the posture that one will need to keep ,an erect and straight spine ( like a pile of golden coins)  and that one will probably need to sit for a very long time ( a couple of life-times depending on the amount of Karma).

Full lotus, on a low cushion is the traditionally suggested method, and seeing somebody siting in that Nobel posture one cannot help but be drawn into inspired admiration, the reality “As It Is, and not as we want it to be” is that most westerners have been sitting on legged chairs .This is acceptable as long as the ones back is kept straight that means not using the back rest which are usually slightly slanted, also one will have to sit at the back of the hall. The main advantage of the low bench meditation is that the seat is at a slight angel which immediately encourages a straight back, this solves that consideration.

The other problem is that with extended hours of sitting no matter what the sitting arrangement is , one will experience discomfort during prolonged sittings.

The discovery that I made during the “test-drive” was that when siting in the kneeling position with the aid of bench support; what becomes of critical importance is the height of the bench in relation to the size of the person using it, and that if the bench is higher it will increase the pressure on the buttocks and as one lowers the height the pressure is pushed on to the knees and going lower on the front of the ankles as the feet are folded back. This distribution of weight is so fine, that I found that adding the height of a folded cloth beneath the bum was enough to adjust the balance of pressure.

However, like travelling long distance on a bus or airplane seat, at some point it is useful to realise that no amount of adjustment or movement is going to make things any more comfortable, in my experience it has been best to sit straight and not wiggle too much and usually that is as comfortable as it gets. There are also the guys travelling business class, the guy next to me was using a bench  that seemed so much more comfortable.