By Elizabeth Herman ┃Posted: July 09, 2018

Imagine an unbelievable scenario. After building a seemingly perfect life and home, suddenly a financial crisis can send a family into a sea of stress, dealing with involuntary bankruptcy, police interrogations and confiscations, and extended court battles that go on for a number of years.

This brief story sums up what Mike Mastro calls “a lesson in letting go.” After going through architecture school and learning the ancient arts of meditation and vastu shastra in India, his greatest lesson came in the form of the 2008 recession, when his family lost millions and his parents became fugitives from the law.

Vastu shastra: alignment of earth’s energies

Best selling authors Mike and Robin Mastro are leading experts on Vastu, the science of environmental harmony and well being. In this edition of Michael Fischman’s “Back to the Source” podcast, they share their insights about the magnetic forces of nature, their impact on our minds and bodies, and the couple’s personal encounter with Vastu and the art of letting go.

Quotes from the podcast:

Here are some quotes from the podcast, from Michael Mastro: “Vastu helps with aligning your physical body and your environment to the natural alignment of earth’s magnetic energies. You can think of them as longitudinal and latitudinal lines. You are living in harmony with nature.

I took a meditation class from a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. In architecture school, we were learning about form following function but we didn’t take into account how people feel when they walk into a building. Vastu is all about the architecture being there to support and uplift people. Not only how you feel in the moment, but a building could support your ongoing health, happiness, finances, career and relationships, and when I learned about that, it was the only kind of architecture I wanted to do.

I used all the knowledge of Vastu I had learned in India on architectural projects in the US, for companies such as Boeing and Microsoft. Nobody really knew that I was adding all this knowledge I had learned in India, but it definitely had a good effect.

Alignment is first, and having an entrance on the east or the north side can really help. We created a house for ourselves that had support of nature. Our goal was to evolve spiritually. It was a yantra that helped us grow, but due to circumstances beyond our control we didn’t get to keep the yantra.

Without the meditation, I don’t know what the experience of losing our home would have been like. I saw it as learning about not being attached to anything. All these kind of stressful interactions with lawyers and going to court, that’s not who you are.

It’s just the biggest lesson in letting go of attachments that you can imagine.”

Michael Fischman says, “The skill in life is learning to let go and know that everything is changing.”

Robin Mastro says, “In terms of realizations, … I’m more aware of small kindnesses. The simplicity of my life now has helped me heal.”

Quick links:

Here is a link to the podcast about Vastu and the Mastro’s experiences.

Here is a link to the whole series of podcasts on ITunes. You can go here and choose “Letting Go” for the 25 minute podcast about Michael and Robin Mastro and their experiences and expertise concerning Vastu-- an ancient science of space and architecture.

By Elizabeth Herman - PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, and Literature, she offers writing support to clients, teaches locally, and lives in Boone, NC. With a longtime keen interest in Yoga and Ayurveda, she recently completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training with Sri Sri School of Yoga.