Good news:  USA Today selected Space Matters as one of the five best home décor books in its annual holiday roundup.  More good news: Space Matters  is one of eight books listed in the Good Words section in Natural Home (Jan/Feb ‘08) magazine.

Take it slow, get it right
So often when I work with clients, they struggle to explain their choice for an appropriate color for a room in their home. They thumb through a magazine and show me a picture of a room that looks good to them and they use this image as the basis for their selection. They point to a picture of a bedroom with elegant mauve walls and decide, this is the color they want—for their bedroom or some other room. Or they love the deep green walls in a picture of a formal dining room or the cinnamon red of an immaculately appointed living room.

Yes, they insist: “This is the color I want.  I love the way it looks.”
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Seeing is not enough
But what our eyes see can deceive us. Too often, we discover that when that color dominates our room, the effect is all wrong. What the eyes appreciated in the magazine does not appeal to the mind: the color triggers feelings that are all wrong for the room. This is why so many people retreat into the world of neutral and use bland nowhere colors that fail to augment the positive power of space.

What happened?
That mauve in a bedroom may look pretty in the magazine, but this color is tricky:  If we choose a hue that has too much of a blue undertone, the mauve can make us feel cool or even bring us down emotionally.  A rich green may look elegant; but if the hue we choose has too much of a brown or gray undertone, it can create a somber or dour effect in a room.  If a cinnamon red we select has a subtle yellow or orange undertone, it can feel too energetic to us.

Match ambience to function
Before you pick a color for a room, remember this rule:  the successfully designed environment always has an ambience that matches the room’s function.

For example, if you plan to paint a bedroom, this room is for sleeping and private activities. It requires an intimate and calming ambience that supports this function.

Test and compare
Once you understand the appropriate ambience for the room, select colors that yes, appeal to you visually—this is a legitimate requirement.  But now, test the color, in small doses, to be certain that it creates the ambience that matches the room’s function.

Feel the difference
Follow the same advice that I give my clients. Select at least three similar shades of the color that appeals to your eye. Place 2-foot square patches of each color side by side on two opposite walls in the room that you plan to paint.  Now, examine the feel of each color under different lighting conditions—artificial and natural—on sunny and cloudy days—in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  Don’t rush—live with these patches a week or longer.

Watch how imbedded undertones reveal themselves to you under the different lighting conditions.  If you chose a shade of rich green, you may see a yellow undertone in one patch and feel how this particular green adds warmth to the room or adds more energy; or you may feel the brown or gray undertone in another patch feels somber to you—or feels more calming to you.

Let your feelings guide you—not your eyes. Be certain that your final choice—the actual color that ends up on your walls–enhances the ambience that fits the function of the room.  This leads to color success—and turns the power inherent to every space to your positive advantage.

On my next blog, I’ll provide vastu tips for selecting the right furniture for your home and workspace.

Good news:  USA Today selected my new book, Space Matters, as one of the five best home décor books in its annual holiday roundup.  Its selection was a wonderful gift to me and I am grateful. 

More good news: Space Matters makes the short list again.  This time it is one of eight books listed in the Good Words section in Natural Home (Jan/Feb ‘08) magazine.

For a list of upcoming speaking engagements, visit: www.vastuliving.com

Good design, bad design
Why do we feel comfortable when we step inside one room but feel uncomfortable when we step inside another room—even if both rooms are lavishly decorated, even if both rooms are in the same home?

Shifting the focus of design
The answer requires a shift in focus—and this shift occurs on every level.

First, we need to shift the way that we think about design—and understand why we must design not only to please the eye but the body.

Second, we need to shift the focus of our design goal when we set out to design or organize the interior of any room.

Picture perfect?   Not always
We all know what happens when we take a picture of a perfect hair-cut to the salon and ask the stylist to give us this cut.  The good stylist will explain that the hair-do works on the head of that model with the specific needs of her hair, but it won’t necessarily work on our own head with the needs of our own hair. But many other “stylists” will gamily snip away—and too often when we look in the mirror, the results prove that what works for one doesn’t work for everyone else.

This same principle is true with design.  So many of us snip pictures from magazines of rooms that illustrate what we like when we are about to design a room in our home. But when we try to replicate these chosen images in our home, we blame the failure or qualified results on our own lack of skill.

Why picture perfect is not good enough
But our own needs—meaning, in this instance, the way we live in our home, and the architectural realities of our own home are different.  The rooms that we see in magazines are often staged and don’t reflect real living… and even if we are just choosing colors for our walls based on these images, these pictures can lead us astray. 

We need to remember that what works for one room doesn’t work for every room.   Always test your choices before you make the plunge.  Slap huge squares of colors on the wall. Then feel what that color does to you at different times of the day.  Does it make you feel warm? Cool? Calm? Does it draw you into the room?  Or does it stop you in your tracks, like a stop sign? 

It’s not just what we see—but what we feel.  It’s not about the visual but the visceral.  Not about pleasing the eye but the entire body.   And this is true about everything associated with design…�

Good news:  Recently, USA Today selected my new book, Space Matters, as one of the five best home décor books in its annual holiday roundup.  Its selection was a wonderful gift to me and I am grateful. 

More good news: Space Matters makes the short list again.  This time it is one of eight books listed in the Good Words section in Natural Home (Jan/Feb ‘08) magazine.

For a list of upcoming speaking engagements, visit: www.vastuliving.com

What drives the design of your home?
What governs your decisions when you decorate your home or your workspace?  What do you think about?  Are you trivializing your goal by only considering the visual appeal of a room?  When you do this, you undermine your well being.  You need to design every space so that it appeals to the mind, body, and soul—not just the eye. 

Vastu—visual and visceral
In vastu, we go for loftier pursuits.  We shift the actual goal in design and the meaning behind design so that our personal environments are viscerally as well as visually appealing. We understand that space has an impact on our wellness: we mindfully set out to create spaces that support wellness. We create spaces that re-affirm us completely.

Ancient Hindu temples
In the design of ancient Indian temples, vastu architects consciously prepared worshippers for their experience inside the temple.  They consciously used design to manipulate the worshipper’s emotional and spiritual state of mind. 

The exterior of the vastu temple and its entire interior—from decisions about what to place on the facades and decisions about the placement of these embellishments—paid attention to the goal of the vastu temple: to foster spiritual growth and help the devout move forward on the path to their enlightenment. 

Design re-affirms spiritual philosophy
As worshippers approach the vastu temple, its appearance, even from a distance, re-affirms this goal. The sculptures at the base of the temple concentrate on worldly scenes connected to mortals; but as the eye moves up the temple, images of deities and iconography connected to deities replace these real-world motifs. Near the top, just below the narrow golden spire, which reaches into the firmament, all imagery gives way to geometric forms that remind the worshipper of the formlessness that comes once they break free of the endless cycle of rebirth, and their soul, liberated from the physical confines of the body, is reunited with the divine for all eternity. 

Every aspect of the temple design—inside and out—uses the power of architecture and design to reinforce the spiritual beliefs and philosophy that is so familiar to Hindus.  This conscious application of vastu continually prepares them for their eventual arrival at the holiest of holy sanctums, the inner-sanctum, which contains the symbol or image of the sacred idol venerated inside the shrine.

Emergence of eye candy
During my many years of living in India, I visited hundreds of temples for my work. When I visited temples built as per vastu, my experiences were powerful and memorable. The structures moved me–and elevated my spirit, unquestionably.  But when I visited many modern temples, which had abandoned vastu principles, I walked through lavish structures that failed to elevate my state of mind.  I felt as if I were visiting a spiritual Disneyland—standing before lavish structures with tons of marble and gold—lots of razzle-dazzle and eye candy.  But these expensive temples were devoid of emotional or spiritual power.

When we design structures, we need to harness the positive power inherent in every space.  Don’t waste it.  Use it to realize a lofty goal—one that reaches far beyond eye candy and leads to the creation of powerfully reinforcing homes and work spaces.  Space matters… it really does�

Good news:  Recently, USA Today selected my new book, Space Matters, as one of the five best home décor books in its annual holiday roundup.  Its selection was a wonderful gift to me and I am grateful. 

More good news: Space Matters makes the short list again.  This time it is one of eight books listed in the Good Words section in Natural Home (Jan/Feb ‘08) magazine.

Vastu and feng shui:  What’s the difference?
Since the publication of Vastu Living, my first book on vastu and the first book on vastu published in North America, I am repeatedly asked this question: What’s the difference between feng shui and vastu?

I’ve never studied feng shui.  And I was living in India when this design science made its debut in the States. So I admit I muddle a bit through my answer, which is based on what numerous feng shui practitioners have told me over the years.  These practitioners also explained that there are numerous schools of feng shui.

Quick history lesson
Just as Buddhism evolved out of the Vedic philosophy that gave rise to Hinduism, feng shui evolved out of vastu.  Thousands of years ago, Chinese travelers journeyed into the land that is now known as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. These foreigners were intrigued by the culture of the Vedic people who inhabited this vast territory.  They studied the Vedic medical practice (called ayurveda), yoga, and vastu and carried back their understanding of these disciplines to their homeland.  Some of the Chinese journeyed back by boat; others traveled across the Himalayas into Tibet—slowly making their way east.

Along the way, these pilgrims ventured into lands populated by other people with their own set of beliefs and practices.  Vastu, along with these other exported disciplines, took on the coloration of these foreign cultures; and finally, over the passage of years, these disciplines expressed the culture of China. These transformations gave rise to the Chinese physical disciplines, such as tai chi, the Chinese medical systems, such as acupuncture and accupressure, and the Chinese design system, feng shui.

Vastu vs feng shui
Here are some broad differences that I’ve delineated during my conversations with feng shui advocates:

• Vastu is uniquely and specifically about increasing one’s total well-being.  Vastu does not set out to bring material gain, such as financial windfalls, nor does it have anything to do with forestalling good and bad luck.  In a nutshell, what yoga is to the body, vastu is to the home.

• Vastu is not an all-or nothing science. The Vedic philosophy presumes that mortals are imperfect creatures; therefore, our dwellings and structures will exhibit some imperfection. Only dwellings designed for deities–temples–are perfect.  Therefore, we do our best to be mindful and follow vastu’s core principles–knowing that a home that is at least 50 percent as per vastu puts us on the healthy side.

• Vastu is not a one-size-fits-all science. Each of us is unique, so our vastu environments are designed to reflect our unique needs.

• Vastu is not a quick fix.  As with yoga and ayurveda, vastu asks us to be mindful in our practice so that we slowly improve our body, mind, and soul.

Share your thoughts…

See you again–in the New Year.   Enjoy the holidays…

First—let me share some good news:  Last week, USA Today selected my new book, Space Matters, as one of the five best home décor books in its annual holiday roundup.  Its selection was a wonderful gift to me and I am grateful.

Many people have asked me how I got into my study of vastu—a study that began nearly 20 years ago when I was a journalist (uninvolved with design and architecture) based in India.  The answer to this question is simple:  I wrote many editions of a guidebook on India, and each time I visited an historic Hindu temple or fort, I felt the power of space that flowed through these buildings, which were designed in diverse architectural styles over many centuries. These experiences led me to study, deeply, the architecture of India—and that’s when I learned about vastu.

Design is more than meets the eye
Vastu is a wise philosophical science that was never a noose around the creator’s neck, as my mentor told me repeatedly when I began my journey into this unfamiliar world.  Vastu led me to rethink my perception of good design—so that it went beyond the narrow appreciation of beauty, which is experienced by the eyes.  I realized that great design is visceral.  Great design creates a positive emotional and spiritual impact on us.  Through my study of vastu, I realized great design appeals to the body, mind, and soul. 

Pox on superstition
Over the years, I have come to see that vastu also has nothing to do with superstition—the idea that the specifics of design can make good or bad things happen instantly–a view held by many people who have a cursory awareness of vastu.  This is just not true.  Vastu reflects its holistic parent philosophy expressed in the Vedas, which are the ancient Hindu spiritual texts.  Vastu enables us to create holistic spaces that can improve our well-being–no small thing, by the way.  And yes, when we feel good, we tend to do better…  but still, change is not a result of superstition.

Vastu–related to yoga and ayurveda
In addition, I realized, early on, that vastu is clearly connected to all the other great Vedic sciences, such as yoga and ayurveda. They all share the same Vedic philosophy and goal: to increase our well-being.  Whereas yoga and ayurveda use the body to increase our well-being; vastu uses our surrounding space.  As I’ve said repeatedly, what yoga is to the body, vastu is to the home (or workspace or any other created space).  Together, these three sciences form the Vedic wellness trinity.  This observation is critical to our understanding of vastu—and supports my belief that vastu can’t be about superstition—with such a powerful lineage and its connection to yoga.  I mean, think about it: does yoga have anything to do with superstition? 

Legitimate science
Many people who now study vastu insist that it is a rigid science that can never change—once defined, so it should remain for all time.  I don’t’ agree with this either.  I believe all legitimate sciences evolve in response to new discoveries that help us resolve old problems.  Similarly, changes in our world lead alternatively to new problems that require new thinking.  My belief puts me in a vastu minority; but it is shared by some studious vastu proponents along with many yogic scholars and ayurvedic scholars, such as Deepak Chopra who popularized ayurveda here in the West.  And of course, this belief about the nature of science is shared by those in the Western scientific world who continually hold up every tiny particle for further scrutiny.

Inclusive, not exclusive
Finally, I made another conscious choice—so many years back when my first book, Vastu Living, was published—the first book on vastu published in the West.  I wanted to introduce a view of vastu that was do-able in our very different western life-style.  I wanted to make vastu accessible so that people could experience the power of space within their own context wherever they live.  I wanted people to experience that powerful moment of discovery that occurred to me when I entered my first historic vastu temple and felt its effect on me.

Next week—we’ll continue our vastu journey…

This is how
Let me complete last week’s final thought—

Just as each one of us is a part of this beautiful and fragile scheme of creation that we call the cosmos—

Just as each one of us is a part of this beautiful and fragile scheme of creation on Earth that we call our environment—

Our home, too, is a part of this beautiful and fragile scheme of creation…

Or it should be—if we remain mindful of the power of space during our home’s creation and design.

Holism vs. clutter
There is a reason why I discussed the problem of clutter in an earlier blog: Clutter has a tremendous impact on the power of space. 

Every object inside the home should be interconnected to us or the environment so that it reinforces the meaning of holism. Otherwise, the offending object interferes with the beautiful and fragile scheme of creation that leads to the authentic home.

The authentic home
Yes, the authentic home protects and shelters the physical body. But the authentic home must also protect and reinforce our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. A house or apartment that ignores this truth will never become an authentic home. It violates the truth of holism.

The vastu connection
This is why I believe in vastu, India’s ancient design science and philosophy. The essence of vastu stems from the Vedic belief that asserts we are that. In other words, we are all interconnected and interrelated since we are all part of the same creative force—however, we define this force. When everything in the design and creation of the home is interconnected to mirror this truth—as it does in the vastu home, the home is holistic and protects our total well-being.

The randomness of clutter
So clutter, if you think about it, is a random intrusion of an object that doesn’t belong; clutter upsets the beautiful and fragile scheme of our home’s creation.  As I stated in an earlier blog, physical clutter leads to mental clutter. Clutter keeps the mind from focusing or settling down.  So it follows that the presence of this random matter called clutter upsets our harmony and balance inside our home.  

The proof is in these photos

The physical clutter in this bedroom is more than an eyesore; it turns into mental and emotional clutter that rattles the mind.

But in this other bedroom, where everything is genuinely interconnected, the absence of randomness in the space creates harmony, order, and calm.

Look around your home.  Think about each object and how it is or is not interconnected to you or the environment—and think about how each room in your house makes you feel.  Have you created an authentic home?

See you next week…

Ponder this odd dichotomy
Most of us so eagerly embrace the appropriateness of ecology and holism—the idea that we need to protect all aspects of the natural environment to maintain our planet’s precise harmony and balance.  We understand that if one piece of the environment goes off kilter that everything else suffers, too.  We easily accept this analogy: the environment is like a string of pearls—beautiful, yet fragile.  One break in the strand affects the entire necklace: we risk the loss of all the pearls.

Global Warning has enunciated this truth.  Made it loud and clear to all of us.

But then why is this true?
It seems that most of us still don’t understand the meaning of ecology and holism.  Because if we did understand the meaning of these two words, why haven’t we completely embraced these concepts and applied them to that critical part of us–our self? 

What I mean is this—if we believe in the holistic “oneness” that exists in everything around us, then why don’t we extend this belief to our “oneness” with everything else–and protect ourselves from harm as well?

Think about the recent oil spill in San Francisco. So many people stopped what they were doing to race to the site (and sight)of the spill. They eagerly pitched in to save creatures slicked up in oil and tried to clean the shoreline and remove the invading gunk from the waterway.

But then, many of these same people went back to their homes; and there—inside their own shelter—they were probably surrounded by toxins that do them harm.  They live with toxic paints on the walls, toxic stains on the floors, toxic glues in the pressed wood of their cabinets, toxins in the glue that secured their wall-to-wall carpeting to the floor.  They list goes on…

Why do we do this?
We need to rethink our place in the world—and expand our belief in holism so that it extends beyond flora or plant life and fauna or animal life.   Our definition of holism should include each one of us and all humanity. We are all a fragile part of this beautiful scheme called creation….

Happy Thanksgiving…

What we reap, we sow
For a few weeks, I’ve been blogging about the power of space, the definition of clutter, and the diminishing role of the present-day home—a sad commentary given that the physical size of the American house seems to expand along with the American waistline.

Honoring holism in the home
All my musings fit together in the work that I do. I help people create authentic homes that connect to them and improve their sense of self and well-being.  Sometimes I re-organize pre-existing houses or apartments; sometimes I work with clients and their architects to create a holistic, new home.

Yoga and vastu
My work is guided by the theories and underlying philosophy of vastu, India’s ancient holistic science of design. Vastu is a sister science of yoga—and the two disciplines share the same philosophy and goal—to increase our total well-being—meaning physical well-being, emotional well-being, and spiritual well-being.  Simply put, what yoga is to the body, vastu is to the home. 

While most people accept the value of yoga (even if they don’t personally practice yoga); vastu is relatively unknown. Yet it has so much to offer—especially now.

And perhaps, the obvious convergence of disturbing environmental realities, especially the impact of the energy crisis, will force people to rethink the way they live and the choices they make—including the choices that govern the nature of their home. People will be unable to feed their insatiable need to acquire more and more…

Connect the dots
Truth is far too many of us live in a state of disconnect. Consider this: we acknowledge our stress—the fact that our lives feel completely out of our control.  We acknowledge the perilous nature of our environment. 

It’s time to connect the dots: personal stress mirrors environmental stress.  Everything about our planet (and universe) exhibits the theory of holism, which asserts that all created matter is interconnected and interdependent.  Here’s the negative: by overtaxing our own lives, we overtax the environment.  Here’s the positive: the solution for one is the solution for the other.

Think about this—
When we keep toxins out of our home (or as many of them as we can), we keep these toxins out of the environment where they do equal damage.  Most toxins are created from unnatural synthetics, which interfere with the intended natural scheme of things. When these synthetics are dumped into the environment, they linger–ultimately destroying the delicate, harmonious balance that protects us and our Earth.

When we stop buying into consumerism, we buy into conservation—and begin to conserve our planet’s limited resources. 

It’s that simple.

Now imagine this–the reassuring cohesion and calm that defines a home intentionally dedicated to less stuff and less clutter; a home that intentionally reconnects us with nature, with each person who shares our home, and with our own essential self. 

Such a home honors the philosophy of vastu. And just as yoga offers its specific path to achieve the goal of absolute wellness, so does vastu. It offers a blueprint that enables us to create a holistic home, office, or any other physical space that benefits not just its inhabitants but all creation.

See you next week…�

What does home mean to you?
Years ago, the home was the gathering place where families came together—to honor and celebrate the important stages of life—from birth until death. Courtships and marriages often took place in living rooms. Board games, such as checkers and chess, and cards were played at card tables set up in parlors. Family and friends came together to converse and chat and enjoy each other’s company—and the warmth of the hearth and the heart.

This concept of the home has gone the way of the parlor (sounds like such a quaint word, doesn’t it?) and the hearth, itself.

Today, most of us honor the most important moments that occur in our life outside the home. We meet in a restaurant, bar, tennis club, or some other public facility.  It seems that only the wedding shower or baby shower takes place within the home—and I bet exceptions to this rule are on the rise.

The Home: Today’s mega-storage space
Instead, today’s home has become a repository—the place where we show off our things.  In the process, we have blurred the home’s special status in our lives—a status that, not too long ago, had little to do with material acquisition.  Material milestones have become the focus of our décor. You know what I mean…  When I enter  homes in the course of my work, the first thing I usually notice is the entertainment center in the living room or the huge stove and restaurant-size refrig—which, odd to say, are under-utilized–in the gourmet kitchen. 

So is it any wonder that today’s home does little to celebrate the soul—our essence or pure self? 

Shelter for the body, mind, and soul—hardly!
The home as shelter for the body, soul, and mind sounds nice—and the phrase sure does appear in ad after ad and article after article.  But this term has been stripped of its meaning–reduced to a corny cliché.  The soul is crowded out of most homes—pushed aside along with formerly important daily rituals that once reinforced the quality of the home and our lives.

Multi-tasking madness
At home, no one relaxes. And forget about paying attention to the inner-soul, few people pay attention to the people who are connected to them inside the home.  Every family member is far too busy multi-tasking—making use of their electronic gadgets and toys. People “cook” while they talk on the phone; they eat while they read the newspaper; they settle down for sleep while they get revved up by the TV. 

Face it—in today’s home most of us fail to interact with each other. We are diverted by these things that are supposed to make our lives easier—things that actually end up diminishing the old-fashioned joy that accompanied life in a relaxing place that formerly defined the home.

Thoughts? 

See you next week.

What is clutter?
If you’re like many of my clients, you don’t really know what clutter is. 

Put aside that pile of bills, stacked like a mini-mountain on your desk or kitchen counter; discount that mound of clothes on chairs and floors waiting to be hung up or cleaned.  That stuff isn’t clutter; that stuff, sad to say, represents a momentary monument to laziness. At some point, you will deal with it.

Real clutter is all that other stuff haphazardly placed in our house or workplace—where it gathers dust. And this is where an accurate definition of clutter comes into play.

The defining solution
Once we accurately define clutter, we can determine which personal possessions belong in our personal environments –and which objects should be passed on and recycled. 

Analyze each object in a room of your house or in your workspace.   

Is it functional?
1) By this I mean does the object help you perform some aspect of your work?  Does it help you prepare a meal?  Does it help you take care of your home and yourself and your family?  Does it help you communicate or does it provide you with knowledge?  And if you answered yes, do you actually use this object or does it just take up space?  We are all victims of impulsive shopping—those moments when we say—“ah, this is just what I need,” and you snap it up.

So, if a functional object is in your home or workspace and you don’t use it, guess what—it’s useless to you. It’s clutter.

Does it connect to you, deeply?
2) Or does an object truly represent who you are and what you love?  It’s a photo that reminds you of loved ones.  It’s a book that you treasure.  It’s a piece of art that registers with your soul when you look at it. The object triggers an important personal memory—and therefore connects to you. If this is the case, the object deserves to be meaningfully displayed—assigned a place that gives its dignity because it reflects an aspect of you (or someone who shares the home or workspace with you). Meaningful objects are symbols of their owners that reinforce one’s sense of self and often self-worth.

Pass it on, recycle!
If you have any object in your home or workspace that you fail to use or that fails to reflect who you are and what you love, the object is an example of clutter. It’s presence in the room hinders your ability to make positive use of the power of space.

Next, we’ll think about the home—what it should represent so that it fulfills its role as a nurturing, restorative space.

I’m touring.  I’ll see you the first week of November.