How Interior Designer Sara Bengur and Spiritual Practitioner Sonya Bekkerman Are Realigning Spaces With Vastu Puja Practice
For interior designer Sara Bengur and spiritual practitioner Sonya Bekkerman, wellness begins in the home.
Bengur is an award-winning designer who has been working with clients since founding her studio in 1993. In her practice, Bengur combines aesthetics and wellness to create a happier and healthier home.
More from WWD
Now she is taking her wellness approach a step further by offering a new service to clients known as Vastu, an ancient Vedic science that she is certified in. It focuses on designing a space to be aligned with the forces of nature — feng shui later evolved from this science. For this practice, Bengur also works with Bekkerman, an art consultant and spiritual practitioner, trained in the ritual of Puja. Together, they have pioneered the Vastu Puja practice, ranging in price depending on the project, focused on clearing blockages in the home and bringing in peace. This month, the duo are heading to India, where they frequently visit and study together, to deepen their practice.
“I started studying with [a Vastu teacher] about eight years ago, and it was really exciting, because it was taking this desire I had already to create a healing environment for my clients but with a real ancient practice,” Bengur says, emphasizing Vastu dates back 8,000 to 10,000 years.
Vastu ensures the home is in alignment with each cardinal direction and employs sacred geometric shapes called Yantras that are placed throughout certain parts of the home to accomplish specific goals. It can be employed in any space, whether it be home, office, building, etc.
“It’s a little bit like acupuncture for the home.…[Vastu] helps to alleviate blockages [in a space],” Bengur says. “Each is based on the cardinal directions, and each direction has to do with a different part of your life, whether it’s career, love, health, relationships.”
Each cardinal direction is associated with an element and aspects of one’s life. Specifically, southwest is associated with earth, southeast with fire, northwest with air and northeast with water. Bengur also has a line of five room sprays that each align with one of the five elements.
“What I love about this practice is that it begs the question, ‘How do physical spaces impact mental, emotional, spiritual health?'” Bekkerman says.
Through their practice, Bengur and Bekkerman work to ensure that the client’s space is aligned with these principles. Clients will start with a consultation through which they will share their floor plan and any goals or struggles in their life. From there, Bengur and Bekkerman create a plan of reconfiguring the space as needed and placing the geometric shapes at key points throughout the space to harness the energy.
“What this methodology, does, is it really brings you closer to peace because it aligns your environment. When your environment is aligned, you are then supported in every aspect of your life, and energy begins to flow in ways that you couldn’t imagine prior,” Bekkerman says. “The best part is you can believe it or not believe it. It works without your belief.”
In addition, to complete the process an altar is created in the home where the client is able to express their intentions going forward.
“We ask them to write their intentions on a piece of paper, and then we ask if they want to share the intentions with us, or if they’d rather keep it private,” Bengur says, “Honestly, sometimes based on the floor plan, we can already tell what they need. [For example,] northeast is the water element, so if there’s a stove in the water element, that could be creating tension.”
Along with the Vastu design principles, Bekkerman also brings in her expertise of the Puja practice. Puja is a ritual that includes Vedic mantras, offerings and chants with an emphasis on, like Vastu, aligning with the elements of nature in order to evoke joy and peace. The combination of Vastu, Puja and interior design expertise is what Bekkerman and Bengur say makes this practice unique.
“The Vastu, the floor plan and the Puja all help bring [what the client needs] into focus in a way that’s extremely healthy, positive and supportive,” Bekkerman says.
According to the duo, it’s the clients’ results that best showcase the efficacy of this practice. They’ve seen a duo of rambunctious cats calm down and sit together in the midst of the practice, and they’ve seen couples rekindle romance following a few adjustments. Bekkerman herself found she was able to enjoy sitting and working at her desk after Bengur advised her to adjust its placement — per Bengur, creative workers’ desks should face east, while more technical workers should face north for optimal flow.
Furthermore, while the above process represents the general process for Vastu Puja, each client’s journey is unique and more complex. However, Bengur has some general do’s and don’ts. She recommends not having anything heavy in the center of a space to ensure energy is flowing at the heart of the home, and avoiding cluttered storage under the bed that could block restful energy. Lastly, for optimal sleep, she recommends having your head facing south.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
