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.

This meditation cushion is ideal for travel. It comes with a little pouch to keep it in when it is deflated. I find it very easy to fill up with air. The middle section which is the largest takes about 4 large breaths to fill, maybe a 5th one is needed to get it extra firm. The side sections take about 3 breaths. Deflating it takes a little more time and energy than inflating it, especially if you want to pack it as flat as you can. I can bring it to a yoga class and have it inflated in less than 3 minutes and deflated in less than 4. If you do take it to a class remember to be respectful of the class and teacher and inflate it before class begins and deflate it when class has ended. I hope this helps someone out in deciding to purchase this wonderful product. Having a meditation cushion really helps align your pelvis and straighten your back while sitting for meditation or yoga sitting postures.Update 2/10/13About six months ago it develoed a small leak that I could not find. I slowly deflated while in class, was a bit comical. I now have a buckwheat filled mediation cushion. I love it, but I miss having a portable cushion. Guess I'll go back to a towel when I travel or go to class. I did get some good use out of it though. If you are confident that you could find and fix a possible leak, then this is a great product for a traveling Yogi. If I was traveling more I would buy another one, just for the wonderful convience of comfortabling resting my tush. Hope this helps someone!

I was very happy on the first day and use of this cushion, but I decided to wait a week before writing a review. I’m glad I did. The design of the cushion is surprisingly good and if my cushion were well-made then it would have a 5 star review. But one of the 2 side cushions leaks air to the point that it is completely deflated after just 20 minutes of sitting. It gets 2 stars instead of one because it is still technically usable with just the main cushion inflated. But the poor build quality ruins what is a good product design.

This cushion is a great concept. Bought it for my wife who is 5'9" and 160#s. Not overly anything (ok maybe taller than the average woman but not certainly overweight). It inflated just fine and was perfect for what we wanted (travel). She really liked it, as it was comfortable and supported her in her daily meditation. Flew to Hawaii for vacation and after the second day the main center cushion no longer held air. This is after just 2 weeks use! and not abusive use. Just used daily and not dis inflated until we went to Hawaii. I am a positive guy and thought I could just patch the probably small hole that might have developed somehow. BUT - it is a rough canvased surface that can't be easily patched. I never looked specifically where the leak was because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to fix it. So I don't know if the leak was at the junction of the different air compartments or whether it was somewhere else.I think we may be lucky in that the leak happened in the first 30 days. This allowed us to return it back to Amazon (a company that is amazing in that they not only refund your money but pay for the return postage) for a refund.