Archive for Feng Shui
How to Feel the Chi Energy in Your Home
Posted by: | CommentsWith practice you can feel chi energy between your hands. Once you have achieved this you can go on to feel the chi energy in your home.
Standing up and rub your hands together vigorously until they feel warm all over. Breathe in, take on step forwards and stretch your arms above your head. Bring your arms down and, with your other foot, step forwards relaxed and loose. Try to imagine you are shaking the blood right down to the tips of your fingers.
Hold the base of your thumb firmly with your other thumb and index finger and massage all the way up to your thumbnail. Squeeze your thumb at each side of the base of the nail and breath in. Pull gently as you breathe out and quickly pull your thumb and index finger away from your thumb. As you do this imagine you have a multi-coloured flame of energy around thumb and that you are extending it. Repeat with each finger.
Put the palms of your hands together in front of your chest or neck. Each time you breathe in imagine you are breathing a powerful colour, feeling or sound into your body. For example, a strong red colour, a warm feeling or the roar of a lion. Breathe deeply so that your lower abdomen expands as you breath in and imagine the powerful colour, feeling or sound filling your lower abdomen. As you breathe out imagine the powerful colour, feeling or sound filling your lower abdomen. As you breathe out imagine the powerful colour, feeling or sound moving up into your hands. Repeat this approximately 12 times.
If your hands feel damp, dry them on a cotton cloth. Give the palms a vigorous rub together for at least ten seconds. Now hold your hands about 2cm apart and start to move them closer and further apart. Experiment and play by gently moving your hands together and apart. Try doing it very slowly, slightly quicker, with very small distances apart and with larger movements.
See if you can detect any of the following:
- A feeling of warmth between your hands as you bring them closer together. You may be able to almost pull this field of warmth apart as you slowly move your hands in opposite directions.
- A tingling sensation in your hands and fingers
- Feeling that your hands are being pulled and pushed together almost as though you have little magnets in the palms of your hands.
Once you have mastered this, try using your hands to feel the chi energy present around you home. Experiment by moving your hands up and down near a doorway, across a corner or near a window
How to Understand the Properties of Each Direction of Your Home in Feng Shui
Posted by: | CommentsThere are eight different types of chi energy, each being connected with one of the eight directions in your home. Each direction is associated with a time of day, a season, one of the five elements and a trigram.
The trigrams are a series of three parallel lines, which are either solid or broken. The solid lines are yang and the broken lines yin. The trigrams are linked to a family member and those that share one of the five elements have their own unique symbol from nature. These all combine to give each energy a particular character, which can each be helpful for certain aspects of your life. The list below and to the right provides the basic information for each direction. Some of the colors in this nine ki system are different to the ones used in the five elements.
East
Helpful for being enthusiastic, confident, assertive and, conversely, for feeling frustrated and angry. Increases the desire to start new projects, be alert, focus on details, get things right, analyze, be precise and concentrate. The symbol of thunder gives this energy a loud, forceful edge, which is helpful for going out and making things happen.
South-east
Helpful for being persistent, sensitive and feeling positive, but can make you feel irritable and impatient. Increases the desire to be creative, imaginative, generate new ideas, seek harmony, communicate and spread ideas. The symbol of wind makes it ideal for spreading ideas in a similar way to how the wind spreads seeds.
South
Good for being passionate, excited, generous, flamboyant and dramatic but, at the same time, proud, hysterical and self-centred. Increases the desire to be expressive, sociable, spontaneous, outgoing, get noticed, lead fashions and be quick minded. This fiery chi energy is bright, colorful and radiates energy.
South-west
Good for being caring, patient and sympathetic, and conversely, dependent and jealous. Increases the desire to be practical, down to earth, consolidate, add quality, form long-term relationships and be secure. The late summer represents the time of year when fruit and vegetables have stopped growing and are ripening. It is, therefore, the ideal energy for improving the quality of whatever you do.
West
Good for being romantic, content and playful, and conversely, being depressed and pessimistic. Increases the desire to enjoy the pleasures of life, be wealthy, form new relationships, be stylish and complete projects.
North-west
Helpful for being in charge, dignified, responsible but, at the same time, authoritarian and arrogant. The desire to feel in control, organize, plan ahead, find and be a mentor, be respected and have integrity.
North
Helpful for being sexual, spiritual and independent, and conversely, isolated and aloof. Increases the desire to be flexible, find peace, study, develop oneself, improve health, be objective and be different.
North-east
Helpful for being motivated, driven and outgoing but, conversely, greedy and shrewd. Increases the desire to seize opportunities, win, compete, learn, be decisive, clear-minded , and adventurous.
Centre
This energy links all the eight directions. It does not have a specific trigram, time or season, but can be said to represent them all. As such it is an energy that can help you become the centre of attention and attract people to you. It is the most powerful of all the chi energies and is, therefore, treated with respect.
How to Understand the Five Elements in Feng Shui
Posted by: | CommentsThe five elements – free, fire, soil, metal, water – break chi energy down into five different types. These are related to the time of the day and the season. Imagine the atmosphere at certain times of year and day to get a feel for each element. The five elements are unique in the way they relate to each other.
Each element will nourish and feed the next in a clockwise direction. As it does this it looses some of its own chi energy. However, this is replenished by its own preceding chi energy.
Become familiar with each of the five elements so you can recognize them in their different forms in your home. Using the box opposite, look around each room in your home and pick colors, materials or features that represent each of the elements. For example, you might have wooden furniture, electric light, yellow walls, a stone floor, and a water feature representing tree, fire, soil, metal and water respectively.
• The elements define how chi energy moves through your home. For example, a tall plant will increase the upward flow of chi energy. This would be useful under a heavy beam where the energy one can feel seems oppressive.
• One element will be dominant in each part of your home according to its direction. This matches the movement of the sun where it rises (upwards) in the east, fully radiates in the south (outwards), descends in the south-west (downwards), diminishes in the west (inwards) and is unseen in the north (flowing).
• Each element has a color(s) that will bring more of the associated element into your room.
• Every shape or pattern represents an element. These can be represented by patterns on fabrics and wallpaper, the shape of furniture and artworks. To increase or reduce the impact of an element, take a look at your home to see if there is anything you need to change.
• Each element is associated with particular materials and by using these materials you will bring more of that element into the room.
• The five element features are a powerful way to change the energy of a room without redecorating.
Once you have taken a good look at your life and home and have decided which of the five elements you want more of in your home, look through the list below for options on how you can achieve this. For example, you can add flowers, art, sculptures, water features and plants to introduce more of any element into a room.
How to Understand Yin and Yang Principles in Feng Shui
Posted by: | CommentsThe concept of yin and yang is a powerful tool which will enable you to make vital connections between yourself and your environment. If you are experiencing a problem, ascertain whether it is because you are too yin or yang. Once you know if you need to .be more yin or yang to feel better or be more successful you can use this guide to change the chi energy in your body.
Everything is either more yin or more yang
Everything in our universe can be classified as more yin or yang than something else. Yin and yang are relative terms that are used to compare one thing with another. For example, resting is a more yin thing to do than working. At the same time resting is more yang than sleeping. Yin and yang can be applied to structural things such as a home, food, or a person’s body. It can also describe non-physical states including emotions, images and processes.
Everything seeks a state of balance
Although everything is either more yin or yang, as a whole, they seek to find some kind of balance. Individually nothing is in perfect balance, or can be in perfect balance, as everything will always be either more yin or yang. Therefore, something that is more yin is able to reach a more balanced state with something that is more yang. Often we drift to one side of the middle, and more balanced, path. For a while we become more yin and then find we have to adapt and so make changes that make us more yang. It is a constant balancing act that helps us adapt and respond to the world around us.
Yin and yang attract each other
Anything that is more yin will automatically attract something that is more yang. The greater the difference, the greater the attraction. The principle is similar to the poles of a magnet: plus and minus attract each other. Therefore, as you become more yin you will find that you attract more yang things into your life and vice versa. For example, if you eat something more yang, such as a dry salty snack, you will begin to crave liquids, which are more yin.
Nothing is solely yin or yang
Everything has some yin and some yang in it, but there is always more of one or the other to start with. But rather than thinking of yin and yang in terms of black and white, it is more accurate to think of it in terms of different shades of grey as there is more or less of each element dominating. Because everything contains its opposite, it means that everything has two sides to it. For example, winning the lottery may enable you to buy everything you ever wanted, but it could also result in the loss of your family and real friends. At the opposite end of the spectrum, losing your job may cause worry and financial hardship, but it could also lead to a far better career in the long term. There is always something positive in a negative situation, just as there is something negative in a positive situation.
Everything changes
Everything is always moving from being more yang to yin or from being more yin to yang. For example, a person might be more yang – irritable, frustrated and pushy, but as time goes by he or she may become more yin – relaxed, peaceful and calm. The opposite is also true, someone who is more yin depressed, listless and quiet could be in the process of becoming more yang – active, dynamic and quick. It is more important to see where you are going than worrying about where you are in the present.
As we all strive for greater control in our lives, the concept of yin and yang can help us to see where we are out of balance, and help us understand how to fix it. Whatever happens to us has both yin and yang elements and this allows us to perceive positive benefits in painful experiences and pitfalls in rewarding ones. Because everything is always changing we have the opportunity to change ourselves and our experience of the world using the principles of yin and yang.
How to Use Water Features to Feng Shui Your Home
Posted by: | CommentsWater has a special significance in feng shui as it is a vital ingredient for human life. About 70 per cent of a person’s body weight is made up of water.
Water holds a great attraction for many people. Often holidays, picnics or sports involve going somewhere where there is water, whether it be oceans, rivers, lakes, canals, waterfalls or swimming pools.
Water that forms a part of your local landscape will have an effect on the chi energy of your home, and when the conditions are favourable it has the ability to increase vitality. In feng shui, metal energy represents money, while water energy represents the movement of money. To create an outdoor water feature with positive chi energy you need to consider the way the water flows, and the location of the water from the centre of your home.
The water should be clean, fresh and unpolluted. Water that becomes stagnant creates unhealthy, stale chi energy, which, if close enough to your home, can adversely affect the chi energy there. Dirty polluted water diminishes the water’s ability to increase your vitality.
Moving water will create more yang chi energy than still water. For example, a waterfall will have an active, more yang influence than a pond. At the same time the downward movement of a water feature will have a more grounding effect, as opposed to a bubbling spring which will be more uplifting.
Fast-flowing water that moves in a straight line will have a more yang influence than slow-moving water that meanders through gentle curves. Ponds and bogs can have the most yin influence, but are also most likely to become stagnant. Here it is important that there is a wide variety of thriving wildlife to avoid stagnation.
Faster, yang moving water will tend to speed up the flow of chi energy in your home making it feel more fresh, clean, and alive. Slower, yin moving water will lead to a gentler, peaceful flow of chi energy.
Water that flows towards the main entrance of your home has a greater ability to bring chi energy indoors, while water flowing away from the entrance could diminish the chi energy inside your home. It could even lead to the feeling that money is flowing away from you.
The direction in which the water lies from the centre of your home will also have an influence, particularly if it is within the shadow of your home during the winter months. It is most beneficial to have water located to the east or south-east of the centre of your home where the water will help build up the tree chi energy of these directions.
Water features
Use the information above to decide on the type of water feature you want and where to put it. Check the prospective site in your garden. If you want to combine it with other features such as a rockery you will need to plan the whole area.
You will probably need a water supply, as the water will evaporate. Many water features use a header tank with a valve that turns off the water when it reaches the appropriate level. The tank, which is usually located below the ground, then keeps the water feature topped up with water.
Prepare the ground for your water feature and install it as recommended. Finish with plants and any other features. You will need to make sure that the water remains fresh and clean.
How to Use Paths to Feng Shui Your Back Garden
Posted by: | CommentsPaths will affect the appearance of your garden as well as the feeling you will experience of when you walk through it. When planning the layout, you will need to decide how you would like to experience your garden. Think about which areas in which you would like to relax and move slowly and the parts which need to be more functional.
When you choose the material for a path you will need to think what it would be like to walk along each surface. Having a variety of surfaces will make your garden feel more interesting. In addition, a path made from a hard, flat surface, such as paving stones, will encourage energy to move much faster. If the path is straight the energy will be faster still.
Materials for stone paths
Grey cobblestones will create a solid, yang feel compared to yellow-colored gravel. Cream stone will help create a lighter, yin atmosphere when compared to dark grey and blue slates.
Shapes of paths
A curved path encourages chi energy to circulate through the garden and, similarly, slows down the progress of chi energy.
Planning your path
Make a plan of your garden and mark the areas that you would like to use for different purposes. An interesting way of doing this is to describe how you would like to feel in each place. This will then be your guide for the design of each part of the garden.
Think how you would like to link up the different parts of your garden. Look at the list for different ideas for materials. Using your drawing, mark out the path in your garden using sticks. Leave them for a few days so that you can make adjustments until you are happy with the plan. Lay the paths and see how it feels to use them.
How to Feng Shui Your Home with Cleaning the Storage Spaces
Posted by: | CommentsUtility rooms, garages or lofts can easily become home to all kinds of junk. Many people use them as a holding area for things that they cannot decide what to do with.
It makes sense to keep these possessions in such places because they are away from the areas of activity within the home. However, over time the amount of possessions you hoard can build up to a level which will have a negative effect on your whole home.
To see how this might affect you, find out which direction your utility room, garage, or loft is from the centre of your home can check to see what aspects of your life the direction is associated with.
Clearing clutter
Clutter, even when in your garage, loft or utility room, can leave a negative atmosphere around the home. Investing in a storage unit can have multiple benefits to your life; not only will you be organizing your clutter into a tidy area that will make chores around the home easier, but you could also use the oportunity to throw or give away any items that are not needed anymore.
Cleaning the atmosphere
Take everything out of your garage, loft or if appropriate utility room. Throw or give away anything that you no longer need or want to keep. If you have not used something for many years and it does not have any strong sentimental value it may be the time to let it go. Take the opportunity to give the area a thorough clean out and refresh the energy.
Once you have taken out the objects you no longer need, separate the items for long-term storage from those that you will need access to. Try to organize the space so that it is neat and tidy. For example, put items for long-term storage into boxes and label them clearly. Stack the boxes so that it is easy to read the labels.
Do some research into different types of storage systems. Certain items need to be easily accessible. Shelves are useful as it is easier to see where everything is. However, you will need to design them so that they hold your containers safely.
How to Feng Shui Your Bathroom with Plants
Posted by: | CommentsPlants are the best way of ensuring that the chi energy of your bathroom does not stagnate. They bring in their own living energy, which keeps the room feeling fresh and alive.
In addition, they absorb moisture from the air, greatly improving the atmosphere of the room and reducing the risk of dampness. This is one of the key factors in keeping your bathroom healthy. Ideally, to be able to grow plants in your bathroom you need a window. But these days it is common now to site bathrooms in the centre of homes, particularly in apartments so you may be limited growing plants that will survive without natural daylight.
Plants for vitality
Any plants that like humidity will be ideal for your bathroom, as they will soak up the steam when you have a bath or shower.
Consider where you could put plants in your bathroom. If you need to put up shelves, measure the space available, purchase appropriate materials and fix them securely in the most appropriate position.
Assess how much light the plants will receive and then purchase the appropriate plants for that environment. Re-pot the plants into your new containers and place them in your bathroom. Look after your plants carefully and keep them healthy.
When you shower or have a bath the steam creates condensation on most bathroom surfaces. Over time this can lead to mildew and rotting; the chi energy from this is considered particularly unhealthy. To avoid this and the build up of old chi energy it is good practice to keep the bathroom uncluttered, aired and as dry as possible. The more plants you have the better the atmosphere will be.
How to Choose a Direction to Face in Your Home Office in Feng Shui
Posted by: | CommentsThe direction you face aligns you within a particular energy which can make a significant difference to the way you work. You can also choose a direction according to the kind of work that you do.
In addition, the position of the desk in relation to doors and windows will have a significant influence on the way you feel in your office or study. In the case of a door it will also affect the way in which you are perceived by other people should you have visitors to your study. Ideally, the door should be in front of your desk, which can be at an angle, as long as the door is not to the side – or behind the desk.
An L-shaped, kidney-shaped or oval desk or workstation gives you the option of facing different directions for various tasks. For example, you could face east while working on your computer and south-east to do more creative work.
Facing south
Promotes – quick thinking, the ability to be noticed and expressiveness.
Favourable – for activities relating to sales, PR, marketing and entertainment.
Facing south-west
Promotes – qualitative characteristics, consolidation and practicality.
Favourable – for activities relating to human resources, customer services, team-building and buildings.
Facing west
Promotes – financial awareness, the ability to complete tasks and contentment.
Favourable – for activities relating to finance, accounts and investments.
Face north-west
Promotes – organizational skills, leadership qualities and responsibility.
Favourable – for activities relating to management, administration and forward planning.
Facing north
Promotes – objectivity, calmness and flexibility.
Favourable – for activities relating to self-development, training and cash flow.
Facing north-east
Promotes – hard work, motivation and a competitive attitude.
Favourable – for activities relating to competition, purchasing, trading and buildings.
Facing east
Promotes – activity, ambition and confidence.
Favourable – for activities relating to new projects, computers and information technology.
Facing south-east
Promotes – creativity, communication and persistence.
Favourable – for activities relating to communication, marketing, distribution, travel and creativity.
How to Feng Shui Your Home with Suitable Curtains
Posted by: | CommentsCurtains provide an excellent way to soften the energy in a room. When closed they replace the hard shiny surface of the glass with soft fabric and can be a colorful feature in a room.
It is important to use a one hundred per cent natural fabric to enhance the flow of chi energy around your window.
There is a wide choice of curtain tracks and poles available, ranging from wood to metal, simple to ornate and hidden to exposed, and there are many ways of hanging and arranging your curtains.
In situations where you want to let in as much light as possible, such as in a north-facing room, make sure that your curtains do not hang over the window. Braid, cord, lace and tassel fringing will help to make your curtains more elaborate and, at the same time, slightly more yin and comfortable. In addition you can use the direction of the window within your room to get ideas for colors.
Curtain style
The fuller the curtains the more comfortable and cosy the atmosphere will seem. Heavy, full-length curtains with lots of gathering and a swathed pelmet will be more yin and calming compared to short curtains with less fullness, made of a lightweight fabric.
Choosing suitable curtains
Use the list above to help decide what style of curtain you would like. Check the direction of the window by standing in the centre of the room with a compass.
Pin fabric samples on the window frame and leave them for a few days before making a choice.