breaking in the Sky Bench

Last week I ordered a Sky Bench from Carolina Morning Designs (with whom I've had a few quite satisfactory transactions over the years).

After work today I unpacked the parts and assembled it with minimal fuss, and decided to put it through its paces this evening (and get the hang of using it) before using it in group practice tomorrow afternoon.

My usual zazen position is seiza, and the bench is advertised as "Especially helpful to people over 6'2" tall for sitting in seiza position." I'm between 6'3" and the better part of 6'4" depending on when I'm measured, so I figured this would be fine.

I sat for two 25-minute sessions bridged by several minutes of kinhin and followed by sanpai. This is longer than the weekday group sittings and similar to the Sunday morning routine (minus some liturgy). I folded a gray microfiber towel to cushion my point of contact a bit, on the assumption that I'd find the bare bench uncomfortable after a while.

When I see pictures of people sitting in seiza position on benches, they generally have their whole rumps on the benches, but I felt more comfortable closer to the front edge of the bench.

It took a bit of shuffling to orient myself to it, but I had no meaningful difficulty with the hour of practice.

I'll continue to test drive it and see if I can get a little objective input on my posture using the bench, just in case it turns out that a slightly smaller bench might serve me better in seiza position. But my first impression is that it's a perfectly decent bench.