feng shui

I believe in the power of feng shui. In our last apartment, our home office seemed stagnant, full of bad energy. We rearranged things, according to my crash course from library books on basic feng shui principles, and immediately noticed a difference. Interestingly, I have yet to apply the ideals to our current home, and I am starting to notice that attention needs to be paid. Its not that there is a bad vibe in our house, it just seems cluttered. I feel the need to open things up.

I was looking online for some inspiration, and came across a couple of resources. The first, from domino magazine, gives you a visual picture of the simplicity that is feng shui. Here is a before and after of a feng shui makeover to an entry way.



The makeover included removing clutter, placing a visually pleasing rug to ground the entry, and using flowers in the next room on a round table to welcome good energy and keep it moving throughout the house. Simple steps that anyone could apply to their own space. Check the article for more ideas.

Feng shui practitioner Suzan Hilton has a very intriguing site. I could not help but set up the proper station in my home office for performing the "money dance". Its a simple act of gratitude whereby each day you place a coin into a pretty vessel located in a wealth area of your home. Suzan Hilton has written The Feng Shui of Abundance, which I just might have to pick up and dissect. She explains the action steps you can take to positively affect your environment, in a way that makes it seem easy and natural.

Feng shui has many intricacies, but mainly, its principles are based off of the Chinese template called the Bagua. The Bagua is divided into eight equal sections, each one representing a different sphere of your life: Family, knowledge, career, helpful people, children and creativity, marriage and commitment, fame, and wealth. When this template is placed properly over the footprint of your house, you can determine which ares of your home represent which realm of your life. Then you can organize those spaces in order to maximize the benefits of feng shui.
The Baugua


One of my favorite books on Feng Shui is Feng Shui Revealed by Ron Chin. The photos are gorgeous, and the advice is easy to understand and put into practice. Check it out on amazon, where you can search inside and see what I mean. This is the book I used to reorganize my office when we lived on Bainbridge. I've got to buy a copy so that I can use it again to get the good energy flowing in my current abode!