Cheyenne's Blog – Uncertainties, asking better questions and making the world a better place with creative thinking

The first expert in Vastu Shastra I was able to talk to informed me of several different aspects of why integrating Vastu would benefit not only the patient but also the hospitals themselves. Besides the faster recovery for patients, she mentioned the fact that the brand image of the institutions would also rise.

If this project would concentrate on the private sector, more patients would be attracted and more capital would be made, even though this should not be the primary concern of implementing Vastu into hospital environments.

The expert mentioned that if one looks at the whole hospital environment and not just one room, the exact placement of the following should be carefully considered: The reception, operation room, recovery rooms, cabins of doctors, emergency rooms, and more, all following the principles of Vastu Shastra.

Considering this would take much time and effort and can in most cases not be implemented, as we have to expect to work with an existing hospital environment, smaller implications could also be made to start with.

As many patients want to recover as fast as possible and want to get out of the environment, the recovery rooms, as well as the placements of the hospital beds, are the most crucial to make changes in.

It is key not to place a hospital bed right below a light bulb or beam, as well as avoid locating the bed the way that the head faces north. Those two factors will make a slower and harder recovery according to the Indian Vastu science.

On the other hand, placing the bed in the right direction can also achieve the opposite and make recovery quicker and more positive.

In terms of considering doing the project on a budget, it has to be kept in mind that this specific science is mostly based on the balance of energy, as well as following the right directions of ancient knowledge. Meaning, according to the expert, knowledgeable Vastu experts will not ask clients to spend a huge amount on items or products in order to follow the rules, since they are based on the placement of items and how to plan well in a construction phase. How much an expert should charge shall only depend on their overall work experience, as well as the amount of time they put into a project. If the experts would work on a whole construction project, he or she would be involved for several years until the project would be completed and these specialists would then charge depending on the time they spend on it.

When looking at the key elements of Vastu Shastra and what in her opinion is the most important she listed the following points:

• No beams above a patient’s bed
• The head of the patient shall not be towards the north
• Recovery rooms should be placed in the zone of North towards East direction
• There should be access to direct sunlight in a patient’s room

The expert also made the significant point that Vastu Shastra is a real science that has been evidenced with tests. Examples are observations of people that have been breaking Vastu rules and it consequently then had an effect on them mentally, as well as physically in their own living space. Another example is concrete staircases that are in the northeast direction of the house. 95% of the cases the Vastu expert investigated were related to depression and mostly females.

One more example was housing with a staircase, toilet, or kitchen in the center, which is referred to as ”Bhramsthan” in Vastu science, often leads to stomach-related issues among family members.

Worse cases than this can also lead to miscarriages or conception-related issues. Ultimately in Vastu the key is direction.

Hospital-related she advised and highlighted the bed being in the northeast within the hospital would bring fast and good results over other directions. Patients with their heads facing the south would also benefit more than patients with their heads towards the north if the same or similar treatments are conducted on them.

Nevertheless, those rules are just a few examples of the Indian Vastu Shastra science.

Evidence:

In last’s weeks class Zuleika did an exercise with us in which we were supposed to go on a search in the library and find books that had nothing to do with our project. As soon as we found some we were asked to find connections between the books and our own project. I found interesting books that are connected to Mexican and Japanese culture that show the country’s fashion, different patterns, as well as interiors. Another book I found also gave an insight into the tattoo culture in Tahiti. Below you can see photos of the books I have explored in the session.

After taking photos of the most interesting pages, I investigated further and tried to make a connection. Looking at the Mexican interior, I realized flowers were placed around the altars which reminded me of the Vastu Shastra plants that I started investigating. In the images, I also saw the flowers hung up from the top and created patterns. As I want to create pattern projections myself, I started thinking to do that with healing plants. In the Japanese fashion book, on the other hand, I recognized the floral patterns and patterns connected to nature, which I could use inside my Tipis I once thought of integrating as a safe space too. But most importantly, I noticed the soft fur that was attached to the coats, as well as the baby’s bed in one of the Japanese books (see images 1-4).

The fur made me think of integrating elements people can touch and that are soft just like the fur in the Japanese images, within my hospital space. I immediately thought of satisfying material to touch, such as sand or soft rubbers people can squeeze. This can relieve stress and is a great inspiration for my escape room at hospitals, which considers smell and light integrations, as well as touch now too.

This is a poster I found within the CSM university environment that shows a QR code and can be scanned by students if they seek mental health support. As this connects to my own topic, I took a photo of it as I could integrate something similar to this in my own project and the hospital environments. This poster was placed inside the bathroom cabin, which I personally found very smart, as in many cases there are numerous adverts, signs, or posters presented within the university environment that often remain unseen. It can often be very overwhelming to keep track of everything within the whole university since many students try to create attention around their projects. This poster on the other hand has a high chance to be noticed and gain attention from more students. In my case, I could also hang up posters in bathroom cabins to make people aware of the art and escape space I would like to have in hospitals and show patients their options. This doesn’t need to be with a QR code though, since hospital patients won’t in all cases have their phones with them at all times, but can give them directions as to where to find the space.

1. How could different light systems brighten up spaces for healing within a hospital environment?
2. Is it possible to implement light systems on a low budget and if yes how could this look like?
3. How does light affect your physical and mental well-being?
4. How could patients positively benefit from light when it comes to their mental health?
5. With what other art form could you combine light that could achieve a relaxing effect?

Besides my Vastu Shastra experts, to who I already sent my questions, I have artists in mind that I would like to question as well.

Ólafur Elíasson is one exciting light artist who connects spaces with lights and who could have interesting ideas for a hospital environment. In addition to that, he combined light and glass to create interesting patterns throughout rooms.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2017/05/691_229561.html

Mexican artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is also inspiring and could be supportive of my research, as he connects architecture with interactive light installations.

He also is very interested in how technology can play a role within spaces.

https://www.artsy.net/artist/rafael-lozano-hemmer

https://buffaloakg.org/person/rafael-lozano-hemmer

Iván Navarro is an artist who works with light and combines it with infinity patterns, that’s why he is a potential candidate for either an interview or even a future collaboration. As mentioned in my blogs earlier, I started looking into patterns that are healing to people and realized that endless patterns have a healing effect. This is exactly what I see this artist from Chile integrating in his work a lot for which reason he is so interesting for my project.

Finally, I recognized Yasuhiro Chida as being highly inspiring for the work I am doing. The Japanese artist creates immersive rooms with technology and works with different colors and lights. His art is moving and makes the visitor enter a new world, almost like a room to escape from reality. This is a creation I envisioned too, a space where people can escape from their dull hospital environment.

Further professionals that will be helpful for my project can be found below:

–Nurses, as they are in a hospital environment on a daily basis and know what people struggle with the most.

–Art therapists, since they know what already exists in this sector and what it is missing.

–Ward managers or unit managers in hospitals: those people will be helpful when it comes to the planning approaches and actual implementations. They will know how it actually can be integrated within a ward and what is feasible in reality.

–Neurologists: they are professionals when it comes to the human brain and they will have knowledge of who those rooms will be appropriate for and which patients should avoid them.

While communicating and sharing my topic with my classmates, one of them gave me the idea to look into patterns that could be healing. I immediately thought of combining this with light and started researching into the topic. I came across ”sacred geometry”, which is another way of healing people mentally.

Healing with Sacred Geometry

Nevertheless, I was more interested in actual patterns that can be really healing or have a healing effect, rather than looking into something spiritual-based.

Subsequently, I came across for what I was looking for, which were examples of patterns that are calming to people. Specific colors in combination with patterns are able to have a relaxing effect. Often this can include patterns that repeat themselves that calm down the brain and can lead to lowering people’s anxiety and stress they have to deal with. Examples of relaxing images are for instance green nature, oceans, animals, or images with endless patterns, such as fractals that can be softening for oneself.

Additionally, I kept on coming across the color blue for having a calming effect on people and that round and curved objects are superior to edged forms.

https://www.calmsage.com/calming-images/

This made me think of combining several of the above-mentioned points together such as round endless forms taken from nature and merging them with blue tones. Those could then also be turned into moving images on a projection and be shown as a video.

Those are just a few similar examples that could be played on the projection and could be created with artists specifically for people dealing with anxiety, depression, or insomnia. Finally, videos taken in real life and representing certain endless patterns could also be an option with potential.

For my early intervention, I tried using the Skylite by Bliss lights and a LED floodlight to be able to use different colors as well. In addition, I wanted to integrate scents as well to boost the feeling of comfort. I offered 6 smells that the participant could choose from and that was consequently added to a diffuser. In this case, she chose lavender. Finally, I played different sounds, such as rain, waves, and a meditation sound with a real human voice talking. As this should support healing and relaxation, she laid down on a bed to gain the most comfort.

We did this healing intervention for about 20 minutes for her to get the chance to get used to the experiment and be properly part of the process.

On this day especially she did not feel at peace due to a lack of sleep over several days which was beneficial for the experiment.

It turned out to work out well for her, nevertheless, it took about 12 minutes for her to really feel a difference. It certainly did not change the mood totally within seconds. In between I changed lights and realized blue as well as orange was in her case the most beneficial color. Whereas yellow and red were not as helpful for her relaxation.

In terms of sound, I observed that a human voice made my participant feel less lonely and therefore worked probably the best in this intervention.

If I would try this intervention again, I would start using different sounds and smells that people connect to their childhood and lights that create patterns and operate as curing.

In the following you can see the questions I posed to my participant and answers from her before and after the intervention, in order to understand her and the exercise better for future improvement.

This provides you with even more info and her feelings during and after the intervention.

Before:

1. In what mental state are you generally right now? – Anxious due to lack of sleep in the past three days
2. Do you feel worse than usual? – Yes, as the lack of sleep lowers my mood, and motivation and leads to me being tired, but tense at the same time.
3. Have you tried some kind of meditation before? – No, this will be my first time.
4. Are there any tools that help you generally feel more relaxed that could additionally be used here? – Music or a voice that is talking to you while meditating.

After:

1. Do you feel more relaxed and at peace? – Even though it took me a while and I needed to allow myself to be part of the process, it definitely made me feel more comfortable and my inner tension disappeared, which led me to fall asleep.
2. What effect had this intervention on you (positive/negative)? – Especially the colors orange and blue helped me relax and made me feel safe. The darkness in combination with the light took away the feeling of being lonely and scared and turned the environment into a ”safe space” which I could compare to a sense of being at home with your family. This in specific would be helpful for a person like me who is away from home most of the time and alone in a flat. The scent I chose was lavender for the reason of it matching the color blue to make it more realistic. All the tools together and also listening to a human voice on audio made me feel connected to myself and also the environment. This was the final reason why the anxiety and loneliness disappeared.
3. Would you personally use such tools/interventions by yourself again? – I definitely would. Usually, I didn’t put the effort into using such tools as sometimes I doubt them actually working. Nevertheless, I am happy someone ”pushed me” into doing them to make me believe that simple tools, especially combined can work and have an impact. I think each tool used in this process of healing and relaxing made a difference and supported the overall comfort. The patterns of stars reminded me of the glow-in-the-dark stars I had as a child and this provided me with a feeling of childhood too, which automatically led to feeling comfortable.
4. In what situation would you try and repeat this intervention? – If I have trouble sleeping when feeling down, overwhelmed, or empty.
5. Was there an element that was disturbing for you and what should be different if you would repeat this intervention? – None of the elements were necessarily disturbing, the next time I would just try and change the audio, just to try something different. I would use a sound that reminds me of childhood and that I can relate to even better. It would be also interesting to recreate an even more natural scent that people connect to their own childhood if this is even possible. Here I am thinking of the smell of nature, such as grass, animals, and trees. Additionally, I haven’t seen such lights which create a variety of patterns with light. This would be something fascinating to explore too maybe for the next intervention.

Red – Provides people with energy

Blue – Is healing for depression and good for people who struggle with sleeping properly

Yellow- Boosts your mood and makes people think more positively

Green – Reliefs stress

Orange – Boosts happiness

-> The meaning of Chromotherapy: Treatment with color and light

This kind of therapy can treat anxiety, depression and can calm people

https://www.verywellmind.com/color-therapy-definition-types-techniques-and-efficacy-5194910

This research is extremely relevant for me, as the room in which patterns, art, light, and projections are planned to be shown, will have a certain impact on people. Therefore, it is important to know what colors to choose and what to avoid within this space.

To find a similar intervention to the one I will organize I started making my research on how to heal people without strong medication.

In the first video, I watched I came across practices like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), Yoga, Theater, and Movement.

Another page that caught my interest, mentioned practices like homeopathy, meditation, hypnotherapy, and acupuncture related to healing, which most of us probably came across before in articles. Nevertheless, aromatherapy was mentioned as well, which I found the most interesting point that was mentioned. It can help change mood and support sleep for instance. Therefore, I decided to make more research on healing interventions related to smell and aroma.

9 Holistic Healing Practices That Can Boost Recovery

Scents such as lavender can be relaxing, while lemon oil can enhance mood.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/aromatherapy-do-essential-oils-really-work

Out of many alternatives to support the healing of humans, the benefit of aromatherapy is the low cost that is involved. It can treat and support people who struggle with anxiety and depression and gets mostly inhaled.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5192342/

I discovered an intervention, that I could take inspiration from for my own testing. This intervention tested aroma on participants to find out if this has any impact on them. As the older we get, the more we deal with stress and seek to find our inner peace with various instruments. The study tested mostly middle-aged and old people and also wanted people to feel more happiness.

The outcome of the study was that it had a positive impact on the elderly and middle-aged in terms of mental and physical health, as well as it was clear that participants were able to relieve stress. The study also showed that the scents that worked well were lavender essential oil, bergamot essential oil, and marjoram essential oil.

This approach can also be conducted at home and be used in addition to a rehabilitation approach, which makes this tool attractive within a healing process.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/10/4823