I made my own bench - it was a fun project. It had folding legs on hinges and everything. These days I sit on a chair, however, since I do other yoga type practices which allow me to sit like that for 45 minutes without any aches or pains. I also bought a 'zafu' cushion stuffed with kapok from a reputable seller, and yet my hips weren't sufficiently 'open' for the floor sitting postures and I damaged my knee after repeated attempts at accepting my physical pain - I went on Soto zen retreats sitting like that for many hours a day - often zen meditation teachers don't know how dangerous it is, and say that the pain should be 'worked with', but actually one's knee gets hyperextended and twisted out of it's joint. I'm still paying the price for that now as my other exercises repair the tendon maladjustment that came from it. Hopefully one day I can return to floor sitting (as opposed to chair sitting) as it does seem a more 'intimate' experience - being closer to the Earth, and more firmly rooted.
For what it's worth, the best bench I have tried (out of 4 or different designs in various places) was one which had curved bases to the legs - difficult to describe, but I mean where the bench legs meet the floor, they weren't flat but rounded so that when one sits, one can get an optimum angle for one's particular body, and surprisingly the bench remains stable. These are the best pics I could find which approximate it, although the bench I used had more curve/roundedness to the leg bases:
"Compassion – particularly for yourself – is of overwhelming importance." - Mark Williams,
Mindfulness (2011), p117.
"...allow yourself to smile inwardly." - Jon Kabat-Zinn,
Full Catastrophe Living (2005), p436.
Weekly Blog: http://mindfuldiscipline.blogspot.co.uk
