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Designing
for the Soul
by Kathleen Cox |
Vastu, which is India’s
ancient science of design and architecture, is the
third piece in the Vedic mind-body-soul equation,
which also includes yoga and ayurveda. While yoga and
ayurveda increase our wellbeing by focusing on our
body; vastu focuses on our surrounding environments to
achieve this same goal. In a nutshell, I call vastu
yoga for the home.
Briefly stated, vastu subscribes to a
theory of design that I refer to as spiritual holism in
which our goal is the creation of a home that nurtures
the soul. We reach this goal by designing with intent—mindfully
following three holistic principles. First, we try to
set up every room in our home so that the body’s
biorhythms are aligned with the universal rhythms that
unfold around us. We know what happens when we work at
night and try to sleep during the day. Our internal
clock slips out of balance; we never feel quite rested.
Vastu realizes that our home can unintentionally create
this same negative impact on us when its design is out
of harmony with the natural forces that surround us.
Therefore, vastu asks us to honor (to the best of our
ability) the recommended placement of the five basic
elements of space or ether, air, fire, water, and earth
in our home and within each room. Their assigned
location is logical—based on the movement of the sun,
the pattern of the wind, and specific parallels to
forces and energies that exist within the human body.
The second principle in vastu asks us
to draw nature into our home so that we consciously
respect our interconnection and interdependence with all
that naturally exists in the world. By doing this, we
support the environment and also support our holistic
relationship to the environment. The third principle in
vastu asks us to respect our unique identity and
celebrate who we are and what we love—an act that
further reinforces the essential truth that exists in
all creation. All that exist serves a purpose: it is
worthy and divine. In this third principle, we are
extending the concept of spiritual holism to include
respect for the self.
As we practice vastu, we see how these
guidelines manipulate, to our healthy advantage, the
power of space. We create personal environments in which
the ambience is inviting, loving—we feel at ease
inside a vastu home. Such a home whispers its word of
welcome to all who enter the space.
The Power of Rhythm
In vastu, we try to align each room in
a space so that it observes as much as possible the
proper location of each element. Through this alignment,
we create powerful rhythms that flow from room to room
or around each individual space. This feeling of rhythm
mindfully reinforces the cohesion that should exist
inside every home—and this rhythm adds a measure of
predictability and comfort. Nothing around us is jarring
or feels out of place. This intentional creation of
rhythm in the home also mirrors the properties of the
universe, which is governed by its own predictable set
of rhythms—light and dark, hot and cold, wet and dry,
the changes of the seasons. These cycles are reflected
to a similar degree within our body when it is in a
healthy state of balance. Think about the movement of
the breath, the cycle of digestion, all the cycles
connected to creation, preservation, and destruction
that go on within our human form.
In a vastu home, we also intentionally
create quiet meditative areas, which I call zones of
tranquility that connect to the element of water in the
northeast quadrant of each space. And why is the element
of water assigned to the northeast? Ancient vastu
scholars understood that the period of dawn is the
healthiest time of the day—the earliest of the sun’s
rays are meditative and restorative. In the past, swamis
and yogis always faced northeast at dawn when they
meditated or practiced yoga. The element of water also
exhibits many of the properties of the sun. Water is
calming and soothing to us. Water also serves as a
receptacle that can absorb the healing energy of the sun
that comes at this time of day. By creating this pattern
of quiet focus in the northeast in room after room, we
symbolically honor the sustenance that comes from the
sun that keeps us alive.
In vastu, we also intentionally place
lightweight and delicate furnishings in the north and
east of each room; conversely, we place tall and heavy
furnishings in the south and the west. This design
creates an openness in the north and east that allows us
to receive the positive benefits of the sun to come in
from the northeast and blocks out the harmful rays that
accompany the sun’s journey across the south to the
west. Even if we don’t have windows in the north and
east; we still try to follow this placement guideline so
that we symbolically honor the gift of the sun at
sunrise. This particular guideline not only creates a
rhythm that we can observe and feel as we move from
space to space, but it breaks us free of a common
western dependency on symmetry.
The Power of Asymmetry
Breaking free of this dependency is so
liberating! When we introduce asymmetry into our home,
our eyes move freely around each room. Our vision is no
longer stifled by the static arrangement of furniture in
its typical symmetrical groupings. We notice details and
objects that are mindfully placed together—a
collection of photos or a display of mementos from a
trip. We also feel more comfortable in an asymmetrical
space. And why is this true? Asymmetry follows the law
of nature. Look at your hands, feet, eyebrows, the
leaves on a plant. Asymmetry is the dominant model of
creation in the natural world, including the design of
our own body. And through vastu, we recognize just how
much our internal self prefers asymmetry, not symmetry.
This design arrangement increases our sense of harmony
and establishes a perceptible feeling of
interconnectedness that reflects the power of spiritual
holism.
The Power of Nature
When we take a walk in the woods and
are surrounded by nature, we rejoice inside and feel
nature’s powerful connection to us. We can be grieving
or depressed when we take this walk. Yet always, nature
lifts our spirit by connecting us to the core of our
self—our essence, which always speaks of the truth
behind existence and removes us from feelings of
isolation and negativity. So when we practice spiritual
holism in vastu, we draw nature and organic products
from the world of nature into our realm. For example, if
we have plants in our home, we arrange them in
attractive displays so that we notice their diversity—their
profusion of colors and shapes; their different patterns
of growth that honor the rhythm of life--creation,
preservation, and destruction.
Spiritual holism also reminds us to be
good to our plants because they are good to us. They
help clear the air of toxins. Nature also calms us down
and helps remove our internal toxins—stress, which is
so injurious to our health. Ultimately, we instinctively
connect to nature. We understand that it is our greatest
source of inspiration, and we feel it, literally, put us
"in spirit." When we speak of communing with
nature; in truth, we are communing with our soul. We are
listening to its gentle voice, which is so quiet and too
easily ignored.
These few examples of vastu in action
show us how its philosophy and its principles make us
mindful of the consequences attached to the organization
of a structure and its interior decor. The practice of
vastu helps us expand our notion of design into a
multi-dimensional, spiritual aesthetic that is life
altering and life affirming. Vastu connects us to our
soul. It lets us honor the light of love that exists
within us. Simply put: vastu reinforces the greatest
truth: we are all interconnected and divine. Everything
that exists is part of That.
©Copyright Kathleen Cox
2002. No part of this article may be reprinted
without the permission of the author.
Kathleen Cox is the author of The Power of
Vastu Living (Fireside, 2002) and Vastu Living
(Marlowe, 2000), the first book published on vastu in
America and a One-Spirit Book Club selection. Body
and Soul recently wrote that Kathleen Cox is
"the American doyenne of this now-hot Indian
science of design." Kathleen is the founder of www.vastuliving.com
and provides vastu consultations for the home and
office. She lectures world-wide on vastu.
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