Vāstu – Design of living-space
Do your living and working spaces support your goals? Does your spatial environment provide the right conditions for a happy private life? For your professional success?
Spaces influence our thinking and actions. That can be to our advantage, but also to our disadvantage. Whether in relation to our family life, career, health or prosperity: if the spaces in which we live and work are right, this is conducive to our success and happiness.
The influence of spaces
- Imagine for a moment that you are 500 m below the Earth’s surface in a narrow mine shaft, writing your diary.
- Or imagine that you are in the middle of a closed aircraft hangar, writing your diary.
These extreme examples show how our mood is affected by spaces. Our mood is nothing other than the perceptions of our senses, enriched by our thoughts, which may either stimulate or constrain us.
Our senses are constantly in tune with the spaces that surround us. Particularly with those in which we spend a great deal of time. We perceive forms, ornaments and colours in very subtle ways. And just as subtly these perceptions shape our thoughts and actions and thus influence developments and events.
Vāstu teaches us about this interaction between people and their spatial environment. It enables us to shape spaces in such a way that our thoughts and actions optimally support our ambitions. It helps us to swim with the current rather than against it.
Examples of the way we interact with spaces
- The landscape of a living space influences people just as much as the house they live in and the colours with which they surround themselves.
- The emotional space in which the relationship between two people operates is shaped by the physical space which they occupy together.
- The local conditions in our workplace can promote or hinder our success.
Vāstu and your personal taste
Vāstu is not a style nor is it a fashion. It is free of cultural, regional and religious requirements or restrictions. You do not have to give up your personal taste. Vāstu can adapt to this. Vāstu’s understanding of space and form is based on laws that are independent of personal ideas, likes, dislikes and gut instincts.
An everyday example
A man feels subjectively at ease in his office but is not successful, because the design and orientation of his office space are not in keeping with the principles of good Vāstu. In this example, the subtle energy of the unfavourable environment does not resonate with successful work.
The experience of his female colleague in the next office is quite different and she is enjoying the fruits of success. Her office space has a different shape. The door is in a different position relative to the desk and the colour scheme is different. Here the principles of positive Vāstu in the workplace are observed. And the subtle energies of the working environment resonate in a way that is conducive to success.
It is impossible to establish by conventional means why one of these equally well qualified people is so much more successful than the other. The subtle reasons for this can be identified by using Vāstu. Shortcomings can be remedied and the conditions optimised. Often without great expense.
Where good Vāstu is important
Good Vāstu is important and useful in all places where we regularly spend time and which we call our own. These include our living environment and real estate of any kind, as well as our working environment and places where we regularly go to regenerate. This might be our bedroom or our favourite weekend retreat.
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us” (W. Churchill)