Inflatable Meditation Cushion and Travel Pillow

6/10/2015 Update: I've consistently used one of the replacement cushions I received in 2012, and, unlike the earlier cushions I'd purchased, it's still going strong. I rarely need to add more air. Whenever I've needed to deflate it for travel, I've done so very carefully & slowly.``````````````October, 2012: The 5 stars of my review pertain to the comfort and appearance of the cushion and the customer service I've received from the seller. As far as the durability of the cushion, I have some comments but am not ready to definitively review that yet, so I'll follow up in the future when I have more information. Below is more detail regarding the comfort, customer service, and my prior experience with durability.1. Comfort: I'm a long-time meditator, and I've tried numerous cushions, seats, and benches for my practice. This is the most comfortable thing I've ever used for uninterrupted meditation periods of 45 minutes and longer. I love it. I can really customize the feel of this cushion by quickly inflating or deflating it somewhat. I've always been careful to never overfill or underfill the cushion, but within those parameters, there's quite a bit of leeway in terms of getting exactly what's comfortable for my body at any given time. The cushion is lightweight, portable, and neat in appearance. I've never experienced the problem with deflating the cushion that a few reviewers described; it's always deflated quickly and easily for packing into a suitcase.2. Customer service: I had some problems with my initial order of two cushions (more on that below, in item 3). The seller responded promptly and provided fine customer service. Our correspondence involved multiple emails over a period of time. I was pleased with the seller's responsiveness, helpfulness, and efforts to keep me informed of the status of my replacement order.3. Durability: Each of my cushions developed problems within 4 months of steady use per cushion. (I mainly used one cushion for awhile. When it developed a leak, I switched over to the other one.) Because they're so lightweight, I was gentle in my use of both cushions and careful to not under- or over-inflate them too much, or proceed too quickly when adjusting the air pressure. Nevertheless, over time, they each developed a leak. One cushion got a leak in a lateral compartment; another one started leaking in the larger middle compartment. It got to the point that I needed to re-inflate daily, and then, the leak increased to the point that the leaky compartment was flat before the end of a 45-minute sit.I contacted the seller and heard back immediately. He promised to send two replacement cushions at no charge once he had them back in stock, and he did so promptly. During our correspondence, I asked him what was different about the replacement cushions. He described the testing that some of the newer cushions had been put through by the manufacturer and said he'd sent a sample to another lab for additional testing. Not knowing anything about professional product testing and materials science, I can't comment on the rigors of the tests used, other than to say that my subjective impression is that a genuine effort seems to have been made to provide a durable product.I received my replacement cushions a couple of weeks ago and have been using one of them daily. It's as comfortable as the original cushions and appears identical in size, shape and appearance. After I've used my cushions for awhile, I'll report back. So far, so good -- but it's too early to comment further on the durability of these newer cushions.When I ordered my original cushions, I found slightly better pricing on the mobilemeditator website.

I am traveling for 3 months around the US and Europe and in the middle was going to my first Vipassana 10 day meditation retreat. I had NO meditation experience. We were told to bring our own meditation cushion so I ordered this one so I wasn't carrying a huge pillow around. It was awesome!I had no idea what I would need and this cushion gave me tons of options in terms of how much to inflate each compartment (sometimes I'd want more under my hips and less under my butt. Also, after 100 hours of meditating, it was nice to be able to switch it up a bit so the pressure was different. I'm an athletic 5'4" 125 pounds and this cushion was fine for my size but my experience was DRAMATICALLY improved when I put little pillows/bolsters/whatever under both knees while sitting cross-legged on this cushion. It seemed like most people on the retreat were doing this, no matter what kind of cushion they were using.Also, the material of the cushion is a little fuzzy so it grips you and you don't slide down the wedge shape. Very very nice.I WAS able to deflate the cushion completely AND get it back into the pouch it came in, which has been awesome to be able to inflate and deflate it as I hit each of my 20 destinations and am continuing my new skill of Vipassana meditation twice daily. The key is to look at how the cushion is packed when you first get it. Make sure that after you deflate it (squeeze the sides of the valves different ways while you sit on it to help get the air out) you fold the sides of the pillow IN, between the top and bottom of the pillow. If you don't do this, the cushion will be too long to fit in the pouch.They made a big thing in the course about meditating in the same place each day, as well as you could, so that that area has peaceful vibrations when you go there. As a traveler, it is great to have one that I can use no matter where I am. I fully intend to make this my primary meditation cushion once I get back home as well. Enjoy enjoy enjoy!

The Mobile Mediator is an excellent idea; I thought it was going to be the answer for me. I am more-or-less nomadic and travel with just a backpack often; a 5+ lbs. zafu is not portable.The single flaw in the Mobile Mediator I tested is that I couldn't get the center chamber to completely deflate. The center air chamber is divided into at least two other chambers itself and one of them wouldn't release the air; No matter what approach I tried while squeezing the value(squeezing, rolling it from the ends, pushing my knees on it),I could not get it to deflate. This prevented me from packing it one one weekend trip as it's bulk wouldn't fit into my weekend bag. Had it deflated to fit in the convenient travel pouch included, it wouldn't have been an issue.In my experience sitting on an inflated cushion is very different from buckwheat hulls or kapok; I didn't feel grounded and couldn't get in a comfortable position. I suppose this is a good stable alternative to the 'beach ball' blow up cushions I've heard of available.This would be a perfect cushion for backpackers/campers should the deflation issue be resolved.However, I recommend anyone who has interest in the item to try it for themselves; Brightspot Solutions of very friendly and promptly processed my return.