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If meditation is your go-to method for relaxation, investing in a meditation bench can help enhance your sessions at home or even out and about. Meditation can be an ideal start to a busy day or just a simple way of relaxing your body after a long tiring one. Special mats, chairs and benches are made exclusively for this purpose, too. While all of these products have their own pros and cons, meditation benches are such popular options for a lot of different reasons.
These products are usually employed for meditation using a very common kneeling posture called “seiza”. And these benches can also allow you to keep your lower body elevated enough to maintain your posture correctly and keep your spine aligned. They can also help prevent discomfort and pain by removing pressure from your knees and ankles. And these benches come in a few different variations, too.
To help you find a quality meditation bench, so you can have a refreshing and rewarding experience during meditation, we’ve curated a list of some of the leading meditation benches for 2024. And we'll also help you figure out what you should look for when buying one. Let’s get started!
Reviewing the Top Meditation Bench of 2024 in Detail
Florensi Meditation Bench — Best Overall
Key Features
- Dimensions: 8 x 7x 6 inches
- Includes strong hinges
- Material: Wood, 100% cotton insert
- Weight: 6.46 pounds
Need help extending your meditation sessions without feeling overwhelmed or tired? This option from Florensi, paired with the removable velvet cushion, can help you feel deeply relaxed while meditating. And it’s also free of needles or pins. Plus, you don't even have to cross your legs on this bench, you can sit in a kneel-down position. This backless product is good for improving posture too, helping align your spine and alleviating joint and back pain.
The bench also leans approximately five degrees forward, giving you a natural meditation pose with a comfortable incline. We chose this as the best overall because it's light and compact, so you can fold it up and carry it pretty easily — making meditating in the park or a different room much more doable.
Monk & Llama Meditation Bench — Most Portable
Key Features
- Dimensions: 16.26 x 8.27 x 3.7 inches
- Includes a carrying bag and journal
- Ergonomic design
- Weight: 3.5 pounds
- Material: Bamboo
You can experience enhanced focus, better circulation and deeper breathing with this pick from Monk and Llama. This meditation bench can be especially beneficial if you want to improve slouching posture or train your core muscles to support your shoulders and back. And you can kneel down on this product too, which helps align your ankles with your legs and puts less twisting force on your knees.
The bench is also lightweight and includes foldable legs for carrying it pretty much anywhere you want, whether that’s the park, hiking or at an outdoor retreat. Plus, the size helps make this pick usable for both smaller and larger people, so this option can work for almost anyone.
Waterglider International Meditation Bench — Premium Materials
Key Features
- Dimensions: 16.26 x 8.27 x 3.7 inches
- Colors: Black and white
- Material: Sustainable acacia wood and cotton
- Weight: 3 pounds
This product from Waterglider International is made of wood, and it’s also handmade, sturdy and comes with a cushioned seat. The angular, rounded pedestal legs can be securely fastened, too. The legs may look a little unstable, but if you're sitting in the right position, they can hold very steadily. And, you won’t find any ugly screws that ruin the aesthetics either.
Plus, you can add a small pillow to the seat if the wood starts to feel a little uncomfy after a few hours. The bench can be ideal for people who are up to 5-foot-11 too, and it’s non-foldable, so it should stand up to some weight — but you won't be able to carry this option around very easily.
Bluecony Meditation Bench — Great Value
Key Features
- Dimnensions: 8 x 16 x 6 inches
- Material: Wood
- Available in three sizes
- Weight: 3.8 pounds
- Doesn't include a cushion
This zen-style kneeling mediation bench from Bluecony can help you develop a balanced, relaxed and natural posture while holding your spine in a perfect position. And with the proper alignment, you can feel a release of tension in your shoulder and back muscles — which can help make you feel less stressed and also help increase energy levels.
This handmade bench can be a great alternative to a meditation cushion, chair or zabuton. Plus, this option comes with an organic cotton bag, which you can use while traveling or on the go.
Mindful & Modern Meditation Bench — Budget-Friendly
Key Features
- Dimensions: 18 x 2.5 x 8.2 inches
- Locking, magnetic hinges
- Doesn't include a cushion
- Weight: 4.65 pounds
- Material: Sustainable bamboo
The Mindful and Modern Meditation Bench can be an excellent choice for practicing meditation, and it’s also an environmentally friendly option, too. This pick has foldable legs, which helps make it easier to carry around, especially if you want to meditate while you’re on vacation.
And this bench has an angled seat too, which allows you to straighten your spine and can help reduce strain on the knees and lower back. This product can be ideal for prayer, yoga, tea ceremonies or even for just sitting on the floor at home.
How to Find Your Next Meditation Benches: A Buyer’s Guide
Using the right meditation bench can make or break your overall experience, and this is not the kind of activity where you want to be uncomfortable or distracted. To benefit from meditation in your sessions, it is important to invest in the right product. And there are some specific things you should keep in mind when shopping for a meditation bench, too.
Features to Consider
The following features are the things you should think about when you’re looking at meditation benches:
Height
Finding a bench with the right height is extremely important, especially if you have a history of knee or back pain, and a bench that’s too high or low can cause more issues than benefits. With the right height, the angle that your knees bend at should not cause pain or discomfort. And you should also consider the surface underneath a bench, too. A carpeted floor can add to the height of a bench compared to an uncarpeted surface. This is one of the main factors that can allow you to meditate with the correct posture. So, it is essential to figure out the ideal bench height for you and your specific setup before buying something.
Design
Since meditation benches have become increasingly popular, there have been a lot of new improvements and different specifications added to these products. Due to these updates, there’s a huge range of designs available in the market, which can make deciding on one a little harder. To help find something that can work for you, you should make sure you know what you're looking for. Some designs include a bench with either a flat or curved top, and the legs of some benches are immovable and inward-facing. Other models have rounded, movable legs that are more outward-facing. Almost every design has certain advantages, but the meditation bench you select should depend on your preferences and requirements.
Comfort level
The primary reason for buying a meditation bench is to help release your mind from physical strain and mental stress. Using meditation as a stress reliever can be a great method of doing this. So, a bench should, first and foremost, help you relax your body. And this is only really possible if a bench is comfortable. Whether it is the seat or the legs, if it's not easy on your body, it’s not going to be very useful. This can be frustrating and may even result in physical harm from using bad posture and incorrect form.
One way to ensure that a bench is comfortable is to test out some different designs before buying something. The majority of benches are designed with ergonomics in mind and should be able to serve their function without a lot of problems. A lot of benches are also reversible and have more height on one side than the other. A few benches also use pedestal designs for more accurate foot and ankle placement.
Portability
If you travel frequently and don't want to skip out on your meditation, you will need a meditation bench that can go wherever you go. So, anything you buy should offer a good amount of portability. Most meditation benches are very easy to carry around too, and they are either foldable or have removable parts. This can let you meditate pretty easily in different settings without a lot of issues. Plus, as an added bonus, they don’t take up a ton of space either.
Material
Make sure you know something about the material used to make your meditation bench. Bamboo, cherry heartwood, acacia wood and pine timber are some of the common materials used to make mediation benches. And while most wooden benches are pretty inexpensive, they're not super durable. If you want something a little more resilient, consider getting a bamboo bench — they can take a bit of a beating and are still usually pretty portable, too.
