A friend on hearing me exclaim how well my new cushion worked, asked me to make them one, and insisted on paying me for it. When I happened to mention it to one of my massage clients, I also asked for one for their partner. It dawned on me that I had stumbled onto a new home-based enterprise taking the place of the happi coat gig and was just right for a co-parent with a massage therapist’s erratic schedule and a patchwork income.
Not long thereafter I screwed up my courage and brought a cushion in to show the purchaser at a local indy bookstore that sold sidelines. They were enthusiastic about my cushions to decide on the spot to carry them and even made space in a carpeted area for their customers to test drive the cushions. Despite the strange novel shape resembling either a whale’s tail flukes, or a butterfly’s wings, the cushions found ready acceptance. The amazing comfort and support were a direct felt experience to the people who tried sitting on one.
I needed a name for this novel uniquely shaped meditation cushion. After initially naming it the Lotus Seat and then making the heart stopping discovery that that name was already in use for another new cushion, I settled on the Cosmic Cushion, a name I thought memorable without sounding esoteric. I also applied for and was granted a utility patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office giving me the right to sell my invention with some degree of protection from outright copying and also protecting me from legal action for copying someone else’s work.
The business quickly outgrew my spare room. To the one cushion I was making I added zabuton pads. Then came designing bolsters and eye pillows to yoga studios. The 90’s brought an explosion in the number of people practicing both yoga and meditation. I found I needed to hire help to keep up as the venture took on a life of its own. Futon style cotton batting mats for practitioners of Thai massage, Shiatsu and bodywork therapies was the next addition to our product offerings.
We now are a skilled team of people each in their own role, dedicated to serving our customers in their own best way. A lot has changed in 35 years, but our focus on quality and honest customer service is still a vital part of what we do every day.
Sun and Moon Originals became the name of my thriving small business started here in Western Massachusetts. We now have a skilled team of people each dedicated to serving our customers each in a vital role in making it all happen. After 35 years we are still grateful for the opportunity to continue to make our carefully crafted products to enrich the lives of countless people throughout the US and Canada.
Notes
* Kapok fiber is harvested from the seed pods of a large tropical tree native to various Southeast Asian countries. The fine silky fibers are hollow, and air filled, therefore 1/8 the weight of cotton. They are smooth and silky and won’t wad up like cotton or polyester fibers do over time so the cushion can be reshaped easily simply by kneading out any lumps to redistribute the stuffing more evenly again. Kapok fiber is a renewably harvested resource and naturally biodegradable when it’s served out its usefulness as a cushion stuffing. See the “Materials” section of our website for more information.
**Read Sally Adee’s recent book “We Are Electric, The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome” for a fascinating scientific look into the study of the human body’s electric field