Zafus

Why the lift matters

Sit flat on the floor and your hips are level with your knees. Your pelvis tips back, your lower spine rounds, and ten minutes in you're holding yourself up with muscle. Raise the hips a few inches and the pelvis tips forward, the spine stacks on its own, and the effort goes away. That's all a zafu is for, and it's why Zen practitioners have used the same shape for centuries.

Tight hips can keep the knees riding high even with the lift, and propping each thigh on yoga blocks for support lets them settle without strain. The same logic applies lying down, where restorative yoga bolsters lift the ribs and open the chest so the body releases instead of braces.

Round, oval or heart

Round (14 inches across) is the traditional shape and the one to start with: even pressure on the sit bones, compact, stable. Turn it on its side between your legs and it works for seiza, the kneeling position. Oval (14 x 18) is wider front to back and suits wider hips or anyone who finds the round too narrow; it comes in the organic cotton line. Heart is round-height with a wider curved front edge. People buy it as a gift and then use it every day.

Which cover

• Cotton is smooth and soft, the everyday option, and the one that comes in the mandala and chakra prints.
• Organic cotton is GOTS certified, no synthetic dyes or finishes, in round and oval.
• Hemp is 17 oz canvas, the toughest cover we make. It softens with every wash and outlasts cotton by years. Solid colors, or the hemp mandala.
• 100% hemp has a hemp cover and Midwest-grown hemp hurd fill instead of buckwheat. No cotton anywhere, and the only carbon-negative cushion we make.

Setting the height

Sit on it as it comes for a full week before changing anything. Then: if your knees float above your hips when cross-legged, unzip and take some fill out. If your lower back rounds or your hips ache after ten minutes, add fill. Organic buckwheat hulls are sold separately for topping up, which is why a zafu lasts years rather than a season.

Care

Unzip, empty the hulls into a tub, and wash the cover cold. The hulls never get wet; sun them for an afternoon a couple of times a year.