Vastulogy

Vastulogy is a tradition about where things belong in a building, and why: the door, the kitchen, the prayer corner, the beds and the water. Its answers come from old Sanskrit texts and from the guides written after them, and families follow it for cultural and devotional reasons as well as practical ones. Narayani offers it as a tradition and states its limits.

Not in the laboratory sense. A search of the published research found no independent, controlled study showing that any direction affects health, money, sleep or relationships, and the evidence section above lists the few small studies that exist. What research does support is plainer: good daylight, fresh air and comfort make a space easier to live in. Narayani works with the tradition and with those practical points, and keeps the two apart.

The texts speak in general terms, but a household is particular. Two families in identical flats may use the same room differently: one cooks for ten, the other orders in. Narayani reads the space against the people in it, so the same rule can carry different weight in different homes. Where guides disagree with each other, she says so and explains what she would weigh.

Both link directions and elements to buildings, but they come from different traditions. Vastulogy is Indian and works with eight directions, a centre and five elements: earth, water, fire, air and space. Feng shui is Chinese. It works with *qi*, a word for breath or vital force, a map called the bagua, several compass schools and a different set of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. No independent, controlled research is known to back the directional claims of either.

A reading does not oblige you to demolish anything. Furniture, storage and lighting can be considered without changing the structure. Practitioners disagree about whether such adjustments satisfy their traditional rules, but disagreement is no reason to frighten you into building work. Engineering requirements, permissions and affordability decide what is feasible. The corrections without demolition page separates these choices.