Vastu remedies without demolition

These are traditional practices, not proven methods, and they should be treated that way. Before spending money on any remedy, it is wise to have the home checked by a consultant who looks at the actual plan, so that effort goes where it is needed.

Start with how rooms are used

The most useful change often costs nothing: using each room for the purpose that suits its direction. The south-west room becomes the master bedroom, the north-east room is kept for prayer or study, guests stay in the north-west, and the south-west is never used as a toilet or a pantry.

Within a room, the same rule applies on a smaller scale. Heavy furniture goes in the south and west, the north-east corner is kept clear, beds are turned so people sleep with their heads to the south or east, and desks are turned so people face north or east.

Colours, light and clutter

Each direction has colours traditionally linked with it: green and light blue for the north, white, cream and light yellow for the north-east, orange and pink for the south-east, peach, brown and earthy tones for the south-west. Repainting a wall or changing curtains and cushions to suit a zone is a common adjustment.

Good light, especially in the north-east, is suggested in almost every Vastu reading. Clearing clutter, broken items and things no longer used is the other near-universal advice, and it costs nothing.

Mirrors and plants

Mirrors are commonly placed on north and east walls and moved away from facing the bed or the main door. Plants are used in the same way: tulsi in the north, north-east or east, a money plant in the south-east, and heavy planters in the south and west. Thorny and dried plants are taken out of the house.

Salt, pyramids and yantras

Some remedies are purely traditional. A bowl of sea salt in a corner, changed regularly, is commonly kept to absorb negative energy. Yantras such as the Vastu yantra or Shri yantra are placed in specific zones by many consultants. Pyramids are used by some consultants too, but they are a modern practice that the classical Vastu texts do not describe. There is no scientific evidence for any of these.

If you choose to use them, there is no need for anything costly, and no one should be pressed into buying them. Ask a consultant you trust whether a remedy is needed at all, and where, before spending money.

When structural change is worth considering

Some dosh are hard to ease without building work: a toilet in the north-east, a kitchen in the north-east, a main door in the south-west, or a heavily cut north-east corner. Even then, rebuilding is rarely urgent.

Structural change is most worth considering when you are renovating anyway, building a new home, or buying a property where the plan can still be altered. At those moments a change costs far less than it would later.

Adjustments without rebuilding

• Changing which room is used for what is commonly suggested as the first remedy for most dosh.
• Repainting a zone in its traditional colours is a commonly given adjustment.
• A bowl of sea salt in a corner, changed regularly, is commonly kept as a traditional practice.
• Many consultants suggest a yantra in specific zones, and some a pyramid; yantras are traditional and pyramids modern, and neither is proven.
• Turning beds and desks to the traditional directions is commonly suggested and needs no work.

These are traditional practices that many families follow. They vary between Vastu schools; for your own home, a consultant can say which matter most.

Related Vastu guides

• Vastu tips for home: Where each room traditionally goes, how to treat the centre and the corners, and what to change in a flat.
• Vastu colours: The shades traditionally linked with each direction and room, with easy ways to use them in a rented home.
• Mirror Vastu: Which walls suit a mirror, why it should not face the bed or the main door, and what to do with broken ones.
• Vastu plants: Tulsi, money plant, bamboo and more: where each is traditionally kept, and which plants are kept outside.
• Vastu directions: Deity, planet, element and the right rooms for each of the eight directions, and how to find them at home.
• Vastu pyramid: What a Vastu pyramid is, where the idea comes from, how it is commonly placed and what not to expect.

Your personal best directions come from your Kua number. Check your whole home with the house Vastu calculator, see whether your house number suits you, and find your lucky number. More tools: all free calculators.