Originally published at Apollo Lemmon. Please leave any comments there.
I’m sitting in a chair that is not exactly inspiring. Here at my spartan desk I have a chair that folds up for easy storage. It’s functional and reasonably comfortable, but certainly far from ideal aesthetically and ergonomically.
I’ve been brainstorming for how to improve my environment for a while, and a chair has come to be central to this. I try to be writing at my desk as frequently as possible and have it as the spot where vision is drawn to in my room. This means I really do want something beautiful and functional. I have a very minimalist approach, so it should also be elegantly simple.
My inner design geek has me drawn to some fashionable and weird pieces that are outside my budget and the practical nature of my want for a new chair. An abstract shape chair, box lamp stools, cardboard chairs, scrabble seats, an omni, and other seductive pieces have all caught my attention.
Jon at Zaads offers four practical options (or is it 3, considering my budget?) in “The Four Best Ways to Sit at Your Computer“. He’s recommending an exercise ball, a kneeling chair, the Lotus Position and a treadmill. As much as I like keeping active, that last one is a no go. So that leaves three options to consider.
Of those three, the kneeling chair seems the least appealing for me. It’s visually nice, but for comfort and avoiding slouching, it’s not so great, and avioding knee damage might be tough under long term use.
Everyone from my fitness conscious dad to the folks at Google are using exercise balls for chairs now. Word is that it’s great for posture and very comfortable. Getting one the right height is the key, it seems. The added benefit of having the ball to use in stretching and other exercises would be wonderful.
I’m working on conditioning my legs to sit comfortably in a Lotus Pose. For a while now I’ve been meaning to do some Padmasana preparation exercises recommended by Erich Schiffmann for a long while, and the notion of using the position in both my meditation and my time at my computer is very appealing.
Unless I find a better option, I’ll likely end up getting an exercise ball (black, of course) for the short term and work on the Lotus Pose, picking up a proper meditation cushion before long. I’d love to hear suggestions, though, so let me know what you’ve found to work well.