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The Psychology of Organizing Your Space · Fit As A Fiddle

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: There is a very strong projection of who we are as humans in the spaces that we inhabit and the spaces where we realized, you know, our core activities in life.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: So those two things need to have the same amount of harmony, they need to be balanced, they need to talk to each other, and they need to respond to each other's needs.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have been to many houses of many clients where they seem to be responding to the needs of the space more than they respond to their own needs.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, that becomes like some kind of like a babysitting situation where you know your space is not serving you, but you but it's the other way around.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that also creates a great imbalance.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sneha Ghazi, a physical therapist, course creator, and mom.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I own Sneha Physical Therapy, a private practice in New York City, and created the course Master Your Public Floor to help you transform the way you think about and move your body.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Use discount code FIT20 for a special 20% discount exclusively for my listeners at the link in all show notes.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Each episode brings phenomenal guests in the health and wellness space who share inspiring tips and tangible advice.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: All things health and wellness starts right here.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this week's episode on Fit as a Fiddle.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our guest today is Rebecca Mosher.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: She is the CEO and the founder of Space Composer, which is a boutique professional organizing company that's based off of South Orange, New Jersey.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: She comes with a lot of knowledge on just space and clutter and organization and balance and how that all affects our well-being.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so she's on our show today to talk about all the aspects that space kind of has as it relates to how we feel, our mental and physical health, and how we can optimize some of our spatial awareness and spatial composition to create better balance and harmony within ourselves.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for coming onto the show today, Rebecca.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I want the listeners to first get a chance to get to know you.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So would you please go ahead and tell us a little bit more about yourself, what brought you into the space, and why you do what you do.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I have been a professional organizer even before being a professional organizer was cool.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I always tell everybody.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: I started uh almost 20 years ago, before the TV shows, before anybody knew uh what I did.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it was very interesting because everybody in parties or in social centers be like, what?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Professional what?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Organizer of what?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, thanks to the awareness that um that uh all of these other things have brought to this profession.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's a little bit, it takes me a little bit less time to explain to people, to folks what I do.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but um yes, uh this is a very interesting transferable skills type of evolution from 20 plus years of being a professional musician.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I was a jazz singer and composer.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I also uh created a production uh music production company, hosted, directed, and created uh Jazz Flamenco Festival, uh which was the first and only flamenco festival in the US.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, after life evolves and uh you know family situations change, especially when having little ones around, uh it it like the all of these what I call transferable kills have been, you know, they they have been and they were applied into this full-on profession.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I was a professional organizer at the same time as um a professional performer, musician, and composer for all of these years.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like you know, one thing then leads into the other.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like music and space and movement, they all kind of connect with each other in terms of the idea of composing and curating and organizing and understanding.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like they're different-ish areas of the brain, but they still have like the same kind of meaning behind it.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really cool that you come from that background.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive straight into.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know like people are probably the most familiar with the TV shows, like you mentioned.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what is it exactly so people can understand, what is it exactly that you do from a day-to-day basis?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you work with people or organizations?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that what does that kind of like look like?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: What does that exchange look like?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So our main focus uh is to help people live more productive lives.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh you the space you live in and the the items that you surround yourself by are not only conducive or not conducive to a more or less productive life, but they're also a reflection of your state of mind.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a very firm believer in that.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And uh when you are in a in an environment in a space that is cluttered, that is messy, that doesn't have any rhyme or reason, it tends to affect how you feel.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: It tends to affect how your brain functions.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's also you know scientific.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, if you are in a space that serves you and serves your purposes, you will have higher chances of you know of setting yourself up for success.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what we help folks with.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: We help them, we help them set up for success and to have a more productive, easy to flow into life in general, via space and the space that they live in.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And the main, the main, uh, the main component of our services is to create very tailored systems for them.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's about the creation of systems.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: There are other professional organizers, or for example, like we have seen in the TV shows, there is a very strong focus on aesthetics.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Aesthetics are important, but if there is not a system behind those aesthetics, things will not maintain that beautiful for for very long.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So our main objective is to really peel all the layers of the onion of who our clients are and who they are in the space.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then we create very specific tailored systems so that they can maintain them themselves.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I resonate with this because I'm a very like very particular about my spaces as well.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I like have a little bit of like OCD about like where things are and how things look and how things are put away.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I know that that's just one aspect of what you're describing.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that one thing is really important that you just mentioned is that the functionality should always supersede the um how beautiful something looks.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the the beauty has its own value, um, but without the functionality and the systems behind it, it's just gonna keep getting messy.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of the first thing that I'm thinking about is I'm like staring right now because I'm I recorded my daughter's room.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter's room used to be my workspace, turned into her room and my workspace when she's not in this house.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we were like getting really overwhelmed with all the stuffed animals, and so I was like, we have to do something about the stuffed animals because they come in all different sizes and the bins don't fit the stuffed animals.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I did is I have this net that um hooks onto the wall in like this in the corner of the wall, and it just all the stuffed animals, all the stuffies go in, and it it kind of has this like stretchy length to it.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you get it could really take a lot and all different kinds of shapes.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't matter how I put it in or how I throw it in.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's quick, it's efficient, and because it's right next to her crib, she can actually put all of her stuff away herself.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: If I throw everything into the crib, she can actually reach and chuck them in there, which is like a really good way of teaching her how to clean up, obviously.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that that's it's we have to sometimes be creative and we when we can't and when this space overwhelms us, like obviously you get professional help to help you with those things.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into space health.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because we talk about there's like, you know, sleep help, and there's obviously like mental health, and there's all the healths out there.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: But what would you describe is space help and what does that mean to you?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And how does that inform the work that you do?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like the as I was mentioning, like the space that you that you are living in and uh how is set up and uh the the items that surround you affect very deeply, they have a very strong impact on your state of mind and of your overall sense of like peace and harmony.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's that's why it's very important.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like think about the the think about the amount of anxiety that it produces to you when you cannot find what you need when you need it.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: That is that anxiety is uh mental health.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Mental health is health.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's what that's uh the the cortisol levels raising up that nobody wants.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you feel that you are surrounded by items that are placed in chaotic ways, precarious ways, that will also give you anxiety, and that's not really conducive to you know to good uh mental health.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you, for example, are going through a transition in life that affects your space, but you don't make your space change to adapt to that transition, for example, becoming a parent.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like your space will have to adapt to not only the needs of the child, but the needs that you will have to support the needs of the child.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, you need to be very realistic uh with with that or with those requirements and um change your space accordingly, adapt accordingly.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: If your space is stagnant and never adapts to the different phases of your life, that also translates into not the best mental health space, as you can imagine.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: So there is a lot of correlation.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, like it is it is very Freudian, uh, you know, like apparently when you dream in in Freudian uh terms, when you dream about a house, uh, that means that you're dreaming about yourself.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: There is a very strong projection of who we are as humans in the spaces that we inhabit and the spaces where we realize, you know, our core activities in life.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So those two things need to have the same amount of harmony, they need to be balanced, they need to talk to each other, and they need to respond to each other's needs.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have been to many houses of many clients where they seem to be responding to the needs of the space more than they respond to their own needs.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, that becomes like some kind of like babysitting situation where you know your space is not serving you, but you but it's the other way around.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that also creates a great imbalance in what can be, you know, what it could be and it should be a good uh you know mental health place.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Could you give me an example of that?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I have a very extreme example that comes to mind very, very long time ago when I was like studying this profession.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I went to do a consultation at an apartment in the East Village.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, in the East Village, it was Upper East Side.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Upper Eastside, this lady lived in a very huge two-bedroom apartment, yet she slept on the couch because her two bedrooms were full of clothing, memento items.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're talking about this is a very extreme case, but I think that it gives you a very clear example of when your space is not serving you, but you're serving your space.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, you know, like she was not comfortable bringing friends over, she was not comfortable realizing like the even the basic activity that one shall do in your bedroom, which is sleep.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that that that that is a very extreme case of uh, you know, your space not serving you, but you serving your space.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's it's it's sometimes it's sometimes a little bit more common, and but maybe a little less extreme than that we might think.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I served um in-home visits in New York City for five years exclusively before I opened up my office space.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would travel to all the boroughs, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: I never went to Saten Island, but also like some of the neighborhoods in Jersey, in New Jersey.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I so I've been to hundreds of homes and experienced how people live.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, there's a lot of differences based on obviously their means, like what is their socioeconomic status and how much money do they have.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in general, I have seen like spaces with an immense amount of clutter, and I've seen spaces where like the second a shoe print forms, like somebody is wiping it off.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm exaggerating a little bit, but not really.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And keeping everything extremely like where it needs to be at all times.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: But there's people who are constantly managing that.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so for people who are listening who maybe want to take some tangible advice, what are you can give examples, or if you want to just think of like the most um relevant ones that seem to come up, like small functional changes, small, whether it's habit changes or tips of things that they can do or tips that they can set things up in order for it to serve them better and to optimize their moon.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one one of the one of the main things that I that I come across is it's a very and it's a very common problem is that people tend to buy organizing products and structures before they have organized their spaces.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Wrong.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's the opposite.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like like because then what I have also seen is uh you know like a good amount of like furniture, uh furniture structures that have not been utilized properly because the items that are supposed to go into these furniture pieces don't fit or are not conducive for the retrieval of the things that you're gonna store into these furniture pieces.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I I saw a post, funny enough, like I mean, I see this daily, but I saw a post recently on a Facebook group that said, Oh, I'm looking into organizing my space.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Can you recommend can you recommend me organizing or organizing systems?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had to reply to this person.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I said, the systems are not the products, the products are there to support the systems, but this the products themselves are not the systems.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if you, for example, need to organize a closet, a core closet, let's let me let's let's start from a simple closet.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: The core closet.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Before you like you get to even envision the design of like potential products, you need to take everything out and you need to analyze different categories of items that are in that core closet.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a lot of hats scars, uh, scars, clothes?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do you not?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Do you prefer to have them up high on a shelf?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you need them very easily accessible because you do?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Andor because you have little ones that need to have those things uh easily accessible.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: So all of these things plus the volume of you what you will be keeping afterwards will dictate the type of product and the type of furniture piece that you will need in each space.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: So don't, you know, like I will I will advise everybody, don't just go on a shopping spree, spring cleaning fever, you know, to you know, to the container store and and and get uh mesmerized by all of the beauty that that you know that that entails before you have actually gone through all the items of the area that you want to organize, classify them and make sure that then the products that you buy, super important, fit the categories that you want to put in it.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: See, because if you have like a bunch of like, you know sorts, like plastic sword toys, I don't think that a little box like this that is gonna look super pretty in your shelves is gonna cut it.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to adapt um the products that you're purchasing to the actual sizes and volume of the categories that you're putting into these products.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am so guilty that I made this mistake one time.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: On my baby registry, I had put in like two or three different baskets that was so cute.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I really loved the way the baskets looked with like the little embroidery and like the little whatever design that it had on it.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And those baskets have been uninhabited for now almost three years because there's nothing that needs to be in it or fits in it.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like whatever I need to fit into it has been put away elsewhere in a more efficient way that that basket would make it inefficient to be there.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So now I have a like a small collection with a couple of baskets that I just feel like sentimental towards because I'm like, it was on my baby registry, somebody bought this for me.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I found it to be very cute.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one day I hope you.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not like a huge hold on to things person.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I like really have no problem donating, like giving it to somebody else, throwing it away if it's not in good shape.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm definitely like good with that and keeping things like minimalistic, but I don't know why I can't remember the baskets.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: That that actually brings me on to talking about another another aspect of like mental health, uh, you know, versus or you know, correlated to space health, that there are many different levels of attachment to attachments to objects that can be less or more like you know, healthier or less healthy.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And for example, you know, like you in this case seem to be attached to this because like you put you put an emotional investment on them, and uh and then that makes it a little bit difficult to let go.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Some other people uh hold on to objects because of the, you know, I might I might need it someday, uh you know, uh mantra.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: But uh there are also other levels of emotional attachment that I have that like, you know, this reminds me of this particular trip.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: This reminds me of this particular lifestyle that I used to live.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: This reminds me, and and and uh it's it is healthy to have mementos, and it's healthy to hold on to things that like bring us good memories.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: What may not be as healthy is will be to hold on to things that don't bring us good memories, things that we're holding also, we're also holding on because of guilt.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Guilt is another aspect, um, it's another it's another reason why people hold on to things because so and so gave it to me, but I really don't use it at all.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: But it's occupying like several spaces around my house because this, you know, so that again ends up translation.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: That is that is a very interesting conversation that happens between physical objects that inhabit inhabit your space, and sometimes those objects are in the middle of the productivity of your spaces or in the middle of like how like areas can function better to serve you and to make your life easier.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that is something that like all of a sudden, as you were saying, that is like, yeah, that the emotional attachment component is something that is very, very important to mention when talking about space health, you know, with mental health.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have a question based off of that, with your years of experience working with different kinds of personality types and different kinds of families and across seasons too, like physical, like spring, summer, winter.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I find with myself often that there are times, and I don't know why, where I'm less willing to part with something.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And there are times where everything is going in the trash.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm exaggerating a little bit, but I I definitely like feel the urge coming on sometimes a little bit more than the other, than other times.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I will kind of tag along the times where I'm like, okay, I'm really feeling like this is the moment to go through that drawer that I really need to go through and just like cleanse the drawer and clean it out and put it away and make it more efficient to put whatever else my daughter needs that's developmentally right for her.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I get into these moods.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: What is this?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: What is spring cleaning fever?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: What is the how do people get there?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Why do people get there?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: It is very interesting that you say that because I recently taught a master class in uh at the Soma Adult Center about decluttering.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and uh I, as I was preparing for the class, you know, I went to AI and I was like, what is the origin of spring cleaning?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because culturally, you know, clearly I was not born in the United States, I but I've been here 25 years, but still I I there are certain things that to me seem very distinctively American.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: We don't have the concept of a spring cleaning in Spain, right?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't grow up with that concept.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: But uh but apparently not only there are religious connotations to doing cleansings during the spring season from from all almost all different types of religions, but um, it has also historic um historic origins in like that, you know, in like the 18th century down or even beginning of the 19th century, there was a lot of debt.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: That accumulated in households from burning coil from the winter or burning wood.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So in the summertime, one needed to when you could actually open the windows and not freeze yourself.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's when one will clean spaces from the debris and to let the air and the ventilation come through.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: There is even in like uh like for what I remember in the Chinese culture, there's a lot of like uh good luck associated with cleansing things, you know, so that you like have space for new things and new good luck to arrive.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So there is, you know, and and and it's also, I mean, actually scientifically, your brain, we are awake for longer times and we are a little bit more um alert during the times where the uh daylight uh is longer, the daylight time is longer.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: We are then more prone to have more energy.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we are more prone to do things that are productive for us, and doing spring cleaning is one of them.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a Hindu philosophy behind just a traditional system of like architecture and space and how things are organized for the same concept, everything that we're talking about in harmony hygiene.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's called Vastu Shastra.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And um, there's like a whole science behind it, and there's like people in the world who like specialize in it and focus on this like Hindu concept that's like written in like ancient scriptures.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to comment on that because we have like even directions of ways that we do things.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, like whether like north, south, east, west, there's like very specific degrees, angles, or directions that we face to pray or to do specific activities or like where the head of the bed should be placed in a room.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And there's like a whole science behind it.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not specialized in it.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up in the culture.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: My mom would use the terms, but like we don't like, we're not like super gung-ho, but there are people who are very, very intricately aware of all of these things that really follow them because it's um supposed to, it's the concept behind it, is like the space that we live in is kind of like the space, outer space world, and just like the outer space world where there's like planets and there's like gravitational forces and different kinds of forces that have a system that works in harmony.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if it doesn't, it like turns into like an explosion, um, which turns into like a black hole.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what I'm talking about, by the way, to anybody.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, but that's uh that's basically like summarizing all of the things that we've been talking about, but even taking like you know, like the correlation between like a space and a spirituality and how a spirituality also affects your mental health.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then so we have to like we think about it like even just the other day, it comes up in our life very specifically, like when I was uh visiting my parents, and then we do this thing called Arti, which is this like Hindu activity of just like rotating fire in clockwise, counterclockwise circles, and then blessing, and then you like bow down to a deity or to elders, basically.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like uh either a form of like welcoming or parting, and so we did we do that almost every time.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: We we meet each other in some capacity, usually it's not like when we're going in and out of the door quickly, but when we've parted and come back after a long time or when big events happen.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: So my nephew was born, we met him for the first time.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like a big event.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we do.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, of course, we all have to go, mom goes, turn your body, and everybody just like rotates our bodies the way that we're supposed to.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then we do the thing, and you know, sometimes we we roll our eyes and we go, oh my god, mom, like does this really matter right now?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: But it like scientifically has been shown to matter in some ways, according to the scriptures and according to some science now, too, and not like everything that's evidence-based or everything that's not evidence-based means that it's not true.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not been studied, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, I just wanted to comment on that as yes, this connection between space and culture and um like also like seasons, right?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like you commented on winter and what about places that maybe don't have a winter that have a very set, like live near the equator.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: They have like these static seasons, they have a very similar fluctuating between like 15, 20 degrees at most.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas us here in New Jersey, New York, like we had like nine degrees like three months ago or two months ago.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And today it was like, I think it's like 86 or something.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I can feel it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can yes.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we literally go through the spectrum.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: We go through like a hundred degree span of temperature changes.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: How does all of this and our mood and our way that we live our life affect our space?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so different between people who live in different geographical locations, people who speak different languages, different cultures, different spiritualities, and nothing is perfect for everyone, but you have to figure out what's perfect for yourself.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and so that's what you do.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: We we try we try to find those systems that are tailored for each of our clients, because I don't really believe that this there is a one size fits all.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Every every space is different, every person is different, everybody has different, not only personalities but activities, like in a household where there are multiple people living together.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: You also have to take that into consideration.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: But as you're mentioning, it was like it's about systems, you know, there are cosmic systems that are, you know, there are like languages are systems.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and like it it seems like that the key to harmony is is systems.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what we are very, you know, very heavy on.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that what defines what I call we're very old school, we're old school organizers.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Rebecca, do you have anything else to add on to our conversation today that you want to share that you felt like you haven't had a chance to yet?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're good.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we so much, we have covered so much.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Can you repeat again uh the name of that whole system, which seems to me that is something very similar to like the philosophy of Frenchui almost?
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is there are some comparisons and some crossovers.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Vastu Shastra.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put it in the show notes.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's spelt V-A-S-T-U-S-H-A-S-T-R-A.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like a Hindu-based scripture-based uh sis, it's like a very, very codified system with very specific like explanations of like this is how we do certain things.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So our in a Hindu temple architecture is based off of Vastashastra.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you walk into a Hindu temple, I again, for anybody who's listening, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's from what I've been told by like my mom, my grandma, like I have not studied this field at all.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, when you walk into a Hindu temple, there's very specific ways that the architecture is set up for creating sound vibrations, which creates body vibrations to create certain types of moods and inner peace.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then the deities are comprised, are kind of like in these like sort of caves sort of things, um, with like low lighting.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: And there's like this spiritual, and you walk into a Hindu temple that's like really well preserved, and you will feel that kind of energy similar to walk into a lot of different spiritual spaces, but very specifically Hindu temples, not all Hindu temples.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: There are like I have a New Jersey Hindu temple that's like down the street across from a Taco Bell that's in a random building.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have been to in like I think it was the like Lower East Side or Soho in New York City when I was in college, and it was like an apartment route, like an up in an apartment building, like one unit, and it was just like one single deity.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: This was like the Ganesha temple, and I forget the name of it.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it'll come to me later.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I used to go there to pray.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's just not like all temples or Hindu spaces of worship are designed in this way, but the big ones, I'm talking about the ones that make the you know front covers often and like really like well um visited.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: They have beautiful spatial organization, they have specific things in specific locations, like the, you know, like that, what is it called?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a minaret, like that tall structure that's like in a lot of like Muslim architecture, but we have like something similar to that in Hindu architecture, and that's specifically in a like on a you know, whatever.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, my point is I don't know what I'm talking about, and there's a lot of specific things for very specific reasons, and maybe one day in my life I'll explore that a little bit more because it does fascinate me, but I think it relates so much to what we're speaking about here.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I thank you for talking about this because it's something that has not come up in our podcast yet, and I think it really is very important to um think about and speak about because it's this reflection of like, you know, like that energy you like walk into a space and you just feel something.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it could be because of the way that it looks or the way that things are organized or the people that are in it that are emanating this energy.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that it's really important, especially in the spaces that you live and you work and you frequent, that you if you have control over how that space is designed, especially like your own home, for example, if you have the control to completely reorganize it in some ways or restructure it in certain ways, that you do take that control and you understand how you feel and what kind of emotions and thoughts are going through your head when you're walking through it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's negative, do something about it.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you should work with Rebecca to do something about it.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, where can people find you, Rebecca?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: People can find us uh through uh our website, spacecomposer.com.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: They can find us through Instagram, and uh, we are here, we serve the tri-state area, and uh we've been doing this for a minute.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have a great team of organizers.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just me, we're a fantastic team.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so we can tackle larger projects.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like most of our projects are entire home makeovers, because that's another thing that people tend to underestimate.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: That the fact that rooms talk to rooms, the living room that has toys all of a sudden talks all of a sudden talks to the basement where there are toys, and the kids' bedrooms where there are toys.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, all of these systems don't tend to be um isolated to particular spaces.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: There is like in the human body an entire whole communication of of uh where you know where things are and how to they talk to each other.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that we can study and analyze and we can like presently uh, you know, tackle hands-on with our larger team of organizers in a much, much smaller amount of space.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'll drop your guys' information in our show notes so listeners can get in touch with you if they'd like to learn more about what you do and how to work with you.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: But Rebecca, thank you for this awesome lively chat.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that we had you on the show today.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've learned a bunch of things myself.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for tuning in and investing in yourself and your well-being.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you listened to the show today and gained anything out of it, share it far and wide.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: It means a world when you rate and review the show.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to use your exclusive 20% discount code FIT20 when you sign up for our signature course Master Your Public Floor, linked in the show notes.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: See you again next week with an exciting new guest and topic.