Ancient Design Trend Hits Modern America

Vastu is the latest design trend to hit our shores. This ancient system, based on the Hindu religion, suggests that we can change our lives by rearranging our living spaces. Does this sound familiar? Can you say Feng Shui?

The Vastu system is thousands of years old and traces its origin to the Vedic civilization. This philosophy, like Feng Shui, uses many of the same principles. It also believes that how we arrange our homes affects our lives. The actual placements of items will change the energy flow within your home and your life. Correct placement can restore happiness and spiritual well being. It can bring you success too.

Like Feng Shui (believed to be a distant cousin to Vastu), the Vastu philosophy uses five basic elements to achieve balance. These five elements are space, air, water, fire and earth. Placement of these five are key to success.

Everything relies on correct location. Like anything related to real estate, location matters.

Some Vastu rules include painting your home office yellow to enhance creative thought. Want to learn from your ancestors? Put their photos in the Southwest corner because it is the best place to tap into their wisdom. Placing your guest room above a verandah or basement could cause your guests mental instability. Northeast is the perfect spot for tranquility and enlightenment.

As with Feng Shui, this type of interior design requires a compass and some patience. There are a lot of rules like the ones above that need to be sorted. Luckily, there are some new books on the market that help even the neophyte designer.

This ancient form of interior design may just be making its way to America, but it is so popular in India they even have television shows dedicated to it. They see redesigning with Vastu as a great way to find a more grounded sense of inner peace. And who doesn't need more of that? The problem was that there wasn't much information about Vastu in the West. Now there is. Be prepared for a deluge of information in the coming year. This is just the beginning.

Vastu may be the perfect way to ease the stress in your life, another way to find balance. It is a holistic approach and works the same way as yoga and other eastern philosophies do.

Juliet Pegrum, author of "Vastu Vidya Handbook" believes that, "There is in inherent wisdom in orienting your house to the directions of nature. The way the sun moves. The way the energy moves through your house. It becomes a very practical guide to designing interiors."

Like Feng Shui, Vastu does come with practical rules. It is a philosophical approach to finding peace within your living space by living according to the rules of nature. And it is the latest trend in interior design.

Source: Based on information gathered from The Washington Post.