‘Yoga for the home’
Vastu practitioners work to release a space’s pent-up energy to improve health, wealth and happiness
Vastu, which originated in India at least 7,000 years ago, helps release blocked and pent-up energy in an environment to promote health, wealth and happiness.
History wasn’t on Dr. Chaitali Nangrani’s side when she opened her Vedas Medical Spa and Wellness Center in The Woodlands. “There had been three spas there before us, and all three closed down after only about a year,” said Nangrani, a family physician. “I liked the spot, but something about the vibrations I felt didn’t seem right.”
So she called in Michael Mastro to set things right. She’d met Mastro at a meditation workshop where he gave a talk about the art of Vastu Shastra, which he likened to “yoga for the home.” Vedas has been open now for eight years — longer than the three previous spas combined.
Vastu, which originated in India between 7,000 to 10,000 years ago and is related to the ancient practices of yoga, meditation and Ayurveda, involves releasing blocked and pent-up energy in the environment in order to prevent or treat problems involving health, finances, personal relationships and more. It may even help fix an apparently jinxed retail space.
The basis of Vastu is that everything in the universe is made up of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space. Vastu is the science of arranging the man-made environment so that it is in harmony with these forces of nature.
According to Vastu, energy moves through a house or other structure the way water flows in a river. If the river is mostly straight or only gently curved, the water is unimpeded. But if there are too many sharp turns the water slows down, forms eddies and even cuts new channels. In a thoughtlessly constructed home, this blocked or disrupted energy can make residents feel uncomfortable, even stressed, and can lead to more serious problems, Mastro said.
Mastro and his wife, Robin, are Vastu practitioners in California, providing live and online consultations to homeowners and others about the best ways to keep this
energy flowing. As a young architect in the late 1960s, Mastro became involved in the transcendental meditation movement, eventually studying under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the West to transcendental meditation but is better known as the guru to the Beatles.
Mastro learned about Vastu when the Maharishi invited him to come to India to design several buildings for the movement. The buildings he designed all incorporated Vastu principles. He now provides consultations either in person for $500 or online for $250 and will develop a strategy to balance the environment.
If Vastu sounds a lot like the ancient practice of feng shui, it’s because Vastu is, according to Mastro, the “mother” of feng shui and much older. Both aim to keep energy flowing. Unlike feng shui, however, Vastu, at least as practiced by Mastro, usually does not require making major changes to one’s home.
“We don’t do demolitions,” he said with a laugh. “We usually don’t even recommend moving furniture around.”
Though Vastu principles can be utilized in new construction, much of Mastro’s work focuses on existing homes and offices. Treatments often involve placing energy-correction devices, including what are called yantras, strategically throughout the space to redirect pent-up energy so it flows more freely. These yantras, a kind of printed medallion pattern, come in different geometric designs and in a variety of colors, each serving a different purpose.
Compass directions also play a key role in Vastu, and where you place things in your home has an effect on the energy flow. For example, it’s best for the kitchen stove to face east because, according to Vastu, that’s the direction in which the sun rises and you want the sun’s energy in the food you eat.
After touring a home in person or online, Mastro provides clients with a detailed illustration showing where he recommends placement of yantras and other energy-corrective devices to improve energy flow.
The desk where you work or study should face east or north to take advantage of the positive magnetic energy that comes from those directions. And to improve circulation and digestion, Mastro recommends never sleeping with your head to the north.
Mastro said that although there are certain things a homeowner can to improve energy flow, such as placing a small fountain in the northeast corner of your home, Vastu is not really a do-it-yourself project.
“It’s more like acupuncture,” he said. “You need an expert.” Though the yantras he uses are based on designs found in ancient texts, for example, he has them custom-designed to suit more modern conditions.
Like many ancient arts, however, there’s scant scientific evidence supporting such claims. Asked for citations for any clinical trials of the effectiveness of Vastu, Mastro talked about the time he was on “The Dr. Oz Show” and told of visiting the homes of several patients with chronic conditions who, despite doing everything their doctor told them to do, were not getting better. But then, after he released the pent-up energy through Vastu, he claimed they started seeing improvements.
Though far from having conclusive proof, the practice has its believers. When Payal Tiwana called Mastro to align her Bellevue, Wash., home, he placed a number of yantras, some as small as 1 inch by 1 inch, throughout. Some were made of paper, others of copper.
“They’re so inconspicuous no one really notices them,” said Tiwana, senior director for cloud engineering at Microsoft.
Later, when Mastro returned to “refresh” the home, she mentioned that she was having difficulty with a colleague at work who, she said, seemed to have it in for her. The situation was so bad she was considering leaving her job.
Had anything changed at home?
All Tiwana could think of was the new dining-room set she and her husband had purchased. The one with the liquor cabinet facing east — not a good direction. So she cleaned out the cabinet, moving the alcohol elsewhere and replacing it with a small altar. Soon after she was offered her current position.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” she said.
Tiwana acknowledges the apparent disconnect between a hard-science engineer like herself and someone who puts her faith in the invisible powers of small colored stickers and where alcohol bottles are stored.
“There are two sides of the brain, the analytic and the creative,” she said. “I can think logically and analytically, but I also understand that there’s higher stuff, things that are out of our control. And that’s why I’ve always been a big believer in the energy that Vastu can control and release.”
As for Nangrani, she took the long list of recommendations Mastro made for her spa and wellness center with a grain of pink Himalayan salt. “There were lots of things we could have done, but he said we should do the best we can,” she said.
Today she credits the many small yantras Mastro placed around the spa with helping lift the jinx and making the outfit a success — although she’s quick to add that she and her staff put in a lot of hard work, too.