Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

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Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Sorcerer » Tue Nov 10, 2015 9:12 pm

Hello,

I am currnetly starting to sew a few meditation pillows and want to ask what people suggest I could use as a filling.

Regards,
Sorcerer
"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy" FW Nietzsche
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Re: Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Sanfung » Thu Jan 28, 2016 3:15 pm

Traditionally they were always filled with a plant fiber taken from the Kapok tree or with buckwheat hulls. Since buckwheat pillows have become something of a trend in the Western world in recent years, it may be possible to get filling for them easily. I'm wondering if use of a synthetic fiber would somehow interrupt the meditation process. Either way I would suppose that it might be best to use an ample amount of whatever you choose as a filling, considering that it has a tendency to compact down over time.
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Re: Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Jason朋友 » Sun Feb 14, 2016 9:30 am

Dr Yang's books reveal synthetic stuffing can hold a static charge which is why it would make the cushion uncomfortably hot. So natural materials are the way to go. He mentions cotton or silk fillers.

Lke Sanfung said, buckwheat hull is very popular. When making homemade cushions it's probably a good idea to make it easy to get back into it and remove or add more stuffing. I haven't made my own but personally like buckwheat cushions that aren't completely full. They have more give when trying to get comfortable. Not completely slack but just enough to allow it to develop a bit of an angle with some massaging.

You can tell cotton cushions easily because they're so lightweight and usually hard as a rock. But some people prefer it.
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Re: Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Sanfung » Wed Mar 16, 2016 3:54 pm

Jason, if you don't mind me asking, then I had a question about cotton. When using cotton to fill regular pillows I find that it starts to seriously compress down over time. Synthetic fiber filling is even worse in this respect, but cotton always tamps down. Like you said, though, synthetic fill ends up building up a charge anyway, so I would say that's unusable for that reason as well, especially if you're somewhere that it's drier in winter.

Is this tamping effect, though, something that would also happen if you used cotton to fill a Zafu? I was just guessing that it's another reason that buckwheat hulls were so popular for filling.
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Re: Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Jason朋友 » Wed Jun 15, 2016 8:59 pm

Cotton would probably do the same, but just become hard, rather than have any negative effect in terms of becoming too hot. But I'm not speaking from personal experience. If you have some success let us know!
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Re: Meditation: Looking to sew my own Zafus

Postby Sanfung » Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:34 pm

I too would be interested if the original poster gets an opportunity to finish one of these projects at all. As for cotton becoming hard over time, that's something I suppose I can attest to considering that I sleep on a traditional Japanese futon mat on the floor, and some spots in it are becoming hard now.
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