Research done in a hospital setting revealed some interesting insights. One group of people were placed in a room with no windows but a piece of modern art. A second group had large expansive windows with views of nature - greenery, mountains and a beautiful landscape. A third group of people had nature inspired art in their rooms.
The people in rooms with views of nature healed on average 4 - 5 days sooner. The rooms with people with modern art had very slow to no improvement, and people in rooms with nature based art recovered sooner than the rooms with modern art but not quite as quickly as those who had windows with natural views!
Rasa is the energetic essence of the material object that makes it pleasing. It is the emotional flavor evoked in us by the art, objects, arrangement, or space.
A truly beautiful object (of art or arrangement in your decor) captures our imagination and leads to a sense of transcendence - described as rasavandana.
As humans we experience 9 rasas (variations on the essence of beauty). The soothing or uplifting essence of beauty being through the emotions that arouse
- Tranquility
- Playfulness
- Heroism
- Wonder
- Romance
- Fear
- Contemptuousness
- Anger
- Compassion
The darker rasas can be very powerfully expressed through art. These, however, are not a nourishing influence on us.
Such art, regardless of price or artist, should not find a place in our homes and offices. Their influence on us can be very deep at the subtle level playing out those rasas in our everyday living.
Choose art the arouses the soothing or uplifting essense of beauty in you - through tranquility, playfulness, heroism, wonder, and/or romance.
