Ashley of Vixi.com first came to me as a Yoga student, and then she later reappeared in my life as an Ayurveda student. We became collaborative colleagues as she transitioned into developing Vixi, and since then, she’s gone into interior design in Manhattan after attending school. Ashley and I have this experience of both noticing the interweaving between living a life of thrive and developing our spaces to step into our potential. That’s what today’s show is all about!

I rap with Ashley Dentino about designing your space with Ayurvedic Wisdom:

• Creating a space that brings you forward into what you want more of
• Easy ways to use color and materials from season to season
• Why it’s important to feel synced up with your environment and how to decorate to be better attuned to it

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Find out how to create balance in your life through home decor, especially when you’re living in the city and don’t have as many natural cues to draw from
• Learn how Ayurveda ties into interior decor, and how like increases like
• Discover how to decorate for your dosha

Links:

• Vixi
• Summer Design Guide
• About Ashley
• Strategic Intuition Book
• Yoga Health Coaching Conversations
• Free Video Training

Related podcasts:

• Ayurveda, Summer, + Living into Your Potential with Kate O’Donnell

Show Highlights:

• 6:00 — Switching in new colors and materials — flowers, table linens, bedding, candles, even food — provides decorating cues throughout the seasons. Like increases like, and by minimizing “hot” colors during summer, you can avoid heating up too much with the weather. Bring in balancing elements instead.
• 9:45 — Different doshas need different types of interior design to harness their energies in the most effective ways and for their energies to be uplifted and mobile. Design can also change based on what the seasonal dosha is.
• 15:15 — Ashley discusses evidence-based design and how the colors, dimensions, and lighting of a space can impact us mentally and physically. We can create spaces to evoke emotions and functions within ourselves.
• 22:13 — Design is a feedback loop. It’s a reflection of what’s inside of us showing up in our spaces, but our spaces also deeply affect us.
• 26:30 — We need to think about what our goals are as people before we start thinking about what our goals are for decorating our spaces. Once we do this, we can create our spaces in a way that energizes us and propels us toward who we want to be in the future.
• 33:35 — We aren’t using our spaces unconventionally enough. Instead of a guest room, why not have a creativity room? We need to think about the square footage value of each room and how the things in these spaces are earning their keep. It’s okay to extract (and increase) the value of every room, but we can do this unconventionally to make the spaces more personal.

Favorite Quotes:

• “Summer is so pared down.” – Cate Stillman
• “When we’re not in control of our space, we’re not in control of our time.” – Cate Stillman
• “A lot of people don’t like change in their space. And it’s hard.” – Ashley Dentino
• “Always say ‘Let’s just try it, and if we don’t like it we can move everything back.’” – Ashley Dentino
• “People don’t invest enough of their attention into creating a space at a high enough level of vibration that nourishes their potential.” – Cate Stillman
• “I see design as a feedback loop.” – Ashley Dentino
• “If we want to have clarity of thought…it’s entirely linked to the space element.” – Cate Stillman

BIO:

Ashley Dentino is a New York-based interior designer dedicated to helping people apply timeless design tools and strategies to their homes to create a huge impact on their daily lives. Through her blog and online design programs, Ashley works with people who are design enthusiasts — they love and appreciate interior design but don’t have the time, skills, or confidence to figure it all out themselves.

Ashley has always had an extraordinary fascination with interior design and the power it has on the way we think, feel, and operate. She wanted to figure out what exactly it is that makes a space come alive with its own energy and best serve the people who spend time there. Why do some environments feel cold and unwelcoming, while others feel effortlessly comfortable, functional, and uniquely beautiful?

After growing up with a father who builds luxury custom homes, working in the family business, and spending nearly a decade in the health and wellness industry, Ashley can say with confidence there’s a major connection between the design of our homes and our human potential.