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FENG SHUI FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Diets are so trendy – every few years there is a new one guaranteed to take the weight off. Not very long ago Feng Shui was touted as a trendy way to aid in the battle against the pounds – there was a New York Times bestseller, magazines weighed in and so many Feng Shui practitioners got into the action by blogging and lecturing on the subject. I read the books, articles and even attended some of these courses.
But I shied away from the talk. True, I could appreciate the basic message –distilling it down to the basics is: keep the house and refrigerator clean and clutter free and hope the kitchen is not the first thing you see when you enter the house. Well, my fridge is clean but that doesn’t mean it isn’t filled with Hershey’s Kisses.
And you know I prefer Feng Shui cures to tips and thought, although there is a kernel of truth in this it can’t be all there is. And it isn’t.
Feng Shui really can help with weight loss.
Of course, nutrition and exercise are key components and anyone with weight issues should explore this. Still, the experts are telling us that stress –be it from work or home – and lack of sleep play a major role in weight problems. And stress and good sleep are essential areas that your Feng Shui practitioner should be addressing.
When we do an assessment of your home we are looking for the element relationships that clash, cause the stress. By adding the cure – be it the elements metal, water, earth, fire, or wood –qi flow issues, or balancing a yin/yang imbalance we change the way the energy interacts and manifests, thus taking away the stress which in turn takes the stress away from you. Less stress – less need for the comfort food.
Minimizing the stress will aid your sleep patterns. Beyond just this, Feng Shui looks at many other things that can manifest based on how/ where you sleep such as:
how your bedroom is designed,
how the bed is aligned
and how the direction you are sleeping in impacts you.
Yes, we all have personal directions that impact our lives in many areas and how we sleep and what that direction means to us is tantamount to understanding what is going on in your life.
So when considering weight loss, consider Feng Shui as another tool in your arsenal.
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FENG SHUI TIPS AND CURES
Image courtesy of Dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
It is so easy to give Feng Sui tips – it is not easy to tell someone, without doing a complete home analysis, how to administer a Feng Shui cure.
Because there is a big difference between A Feng Shui tip and a Feng Shui cure.
Feng Shui tips are generic; often they feel as if mom was telling you to clean your house and dad was telling you to take care of the seasonal maintenance. Realtors often have “to do” lists for their clients that Feng Shui practitioners envy and housekeeping magazines have articles that offer clutter-clearing advice for the overwhelmed. So you may wonder, why do you need a Feng Shui analysis?
Well, tips are tips – they are meant to be generic for everyone. A Feng Shui cure is specific to a situation and is determined by the year the house was built and its orientation. We look at the Flying Stars, at time and space. A tip cannot cover that.
Here is an example – I may tell everyone to keep their front entrance clear, make sure it is well lit, not overgrown with shrubbery or crowded with boots, bikes and whatever. Everyone should do this and you can go the extra mile by adding beautiful plants, specialty lighting, fun sculptures or whatever makes you happy. This is a tip – and it is important for many reasons – one and perhaps most importantly, it makes the home welcoming.
But this does not go into depth of the greater impact and without knowing your home’s Flying Stars the Feng Shui expert cannot be specific. For instance – your entrance may be in a sector that has a 2-5 combination. This brings accidents, illness and depression. We can “cure” or remedy it and that is what we do. And the 2-5 will have a much different effect on a person than a very positive 8-8 combination would have. So you may not know your Flying Stars but it is pretty clear that if you are under the influence of a critical star combination it may not feel as bad if it is clean and clear as it would a dark, depressing entrance. Here the clearing is not the cure but it sure can help. And once you identify the stars and add the remedy it can work so much quicker and be more effective in a nice clear area!
BEGINNING FENG SHUI, STATIC AND NO TIMING
Image courtesy of Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
Nothing in life is static and this includes Feng Shui. Beginning practitioners may look at a home, compare it against a Bagua and use it as a static rigid map but we know that maps of today may not reflect the changes in the real world. The rigid bagua map is one dimensional and does not include the aspect of time. We are not static creatures, life is not static and our Feng Shui is not static.
What needs to be factored in here is time.
In advanced Feng Shui we talk about Flying Stars and how that has the strongest effect on our lives – in terms of Feng Shui, of course. This school factors in the time element – the stars of today do not have the same meaning as they did 100 years ago, 60 years ago or even 20 years ago. Like everything in life, they go through cycles. Cycles of growth and decay, of beneficial influence, of challenging influence. It takes an advanced practitioner to read and interpret these stars.
Right now we all love the power of the number 8 – we are in period 8 and therefore 8 is the powerful, wang number. So to have an 8 at our front in either the mountain or the water dragon side is quite nice. But in 10 years (2024) we may all be wishing for a 9 at the front door. If you have a permanent 8 now, you will still have a permanent 8 then but the meaning will be different. You moved on, the stars moved on. But since we know it, we can prepare for it and find the appropriate cures and remedies to accommodate the change.
Feng Shui and Fine China
I usually shy away from commenting about Feng Shui and the Christmas holiday season because in truth there is really no difference between Feng Shui for everyday living and for the holidays. Still, there are things we do around the holidays that may impact our Feng Shui or rather, make our Feng Shui felt more intensely. So, in the next few blogs I will answer the most frequent questions about good and bad Feng Shui during the holiday season. The first is, paper or china?
Along with holiday joy comes holiday stress and from the questions I get, it would appear that one of the biggest stresses for the host/hostess is – do I use the best china, my everyday dishes or can I go with paper?
I get it. I was raised in a family that brought out its best china for special guests, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. It was tradition – the china was loving unwrapped and then just as loving, re-wrapped to be put away to make an appearance at the next special event. Because it was special. After all, the china was handed down from mother to daughter. It may have been a special wedding present or pieces may have been bought a few pieces at a time until a whole set was complete. But however acquired, and however much love and reverence went into displaying the holiday dishes there was a level of stress around it.
What if a piece was broken, or lost? How young is too young to use the good china. Will I offend if the adult table gets the china, but the teenagers don’t, is it okay not use it for the younger kids?
Some questions are laced with more stress based problems- what if my family gets into a fight again, why should I use it if they don’t care – it’s hurry up and eat and get to the TV to watch football. Will this be appreciated or who cares?
I know many a hostess who can tell you just when a piece got lost or cracked – and this may be years after the event. It somehow takes away from the richness of the holidays. And here is where I think Feng Shui superstition gets intertwines with true Feng Shui.
Using fine china does not equate to good Feng Shui – it does not stimulate any wealth star or wealth energy, it does not draw money luck to you. This is a myth from the “pop schools” of Feng Shui. However, it is not without merit – and strong merit at that. Using the very best you have can make you feel abundant and wealthy. It may be a symbol to you and others. But not using good china (and in truth many couples and singles do not have what they call “good china”) will not negatively affect your home’s Feng Shui. So don’t stress about it!
Feng Shui is an earth based science. The Flying Stars that rule our homes and businesses are determined by the orientation of the structure and the age of construction. Land forms, environmental factors, color schemes, element use and remedies, furniture placement and qi flow make up most of the rest. But Feng Shui comes from a country rich in folklore and superstition and these superstitions have been woven into the fabric of Feng Shui teaching leaving us to think that Feng Shui is a superstition. It is not. Having a Fu dog outside your gates will not change your Feng Shui; but it will give a psychological boost to those who believe in Fu dog protection. Using fine china at the holidays is one of our myths – so deep within us that we don’t even acknowledge that it is a myth.
So when you need to decide how to set your table, follow this one rule –
Do what works for you and your lifestyle.
FENG SHUI AND THE CREEP FACTOR
When I was a child not a Halloween went by without the neighborhood kids talking about the “creepy” house down the street where you did not want to go “trick or treating.” Things don’t change that much – I still hear kids talking about the scary, creepy house but of course now I would say that the house has bad Feng Shui .
And it got me thinking – and this is a leap – that I am still hearing people talk about creepy houses or rather, creepy parts of their own homes. Not always in those words. Rather I hear that there is a part of the house that feels uncomfortable to them; an area that they just do not feel settled or able to concentrate, an area that the family just tends to avoid.
Some reasons are so obvious – rooms that are used for storage, basements and attics that are cluttered, dark, dirty and filled with spider webs, and that cold, drafty part of the house that hasn’t been renovated or insulated. But sometimes there is something about the energy is just not right.
I had that experience in my home in Austin. The room did not meet any of the creepy criteria. In fact, the room was visually my favorite – I loved the way the light filtered in, I loved the colors, the view out the window, it was large and a good shape – but I could not do anything in it. I tried to make it an exercise room, a home office, a hobby room, a TV room. But I found I could not spend time in it. I felt restless and the need to just move and get out of that room. Eventually my dog, Jack, took it over and he was very happy. And, later when I learned more about Feng Shui, my reaction to this room made perfect sense to me.
There are many things to consider when a Feng Shui analysis is done. Some practitioners use the East / West Theory which (to over simplify) says that there are four directions in your house that are beneficial to you based on your birthdate and four areas that are not at all compatible with a person. This room was in my least compatible direction.
An analysis will also focus on the Flying Stars to read the energy code in each sector of the home. This room had a negative star combination that could make the occupant feel oppressed and stressed. With my current knowledge of Feng Shui I know of many ways I could have remedied the room but back then I just knew how I felt.
Without a proper Feng Shui analysis it is impossible to be able to tell what is wrong and how to remedy these rooms. On a generic advice level it is advisable to keep these spaces as clean and clutter free as possible. Perhaps most importantly, if possible, honor your feelings about this space- if it does not feel right, don’t use it. This may be your best Feng Shui advice after all!
The Truth About Feng Shui and Love
Although spring takes most of the credit, social scientists say that it is really in the autumn that a young man’s – and everyone else’s – fancy turn to love. Perhaps it is because the idea of the long, cold nights spent alone is so unappealing – or the prospect of a lonely holiday season spent by yourself saddens you or, scarier even, facing the relatives and endless gatherings without the support of a loved one. So now is the time to seek out new relationships or turn attention to nurturing the ones we already have. After all, basking in the love brings the sparkle into the season – and our lives. But, what do you do if the love seems to be eroding or is just not there?
Love is hard to define just as is the qi energy of Feng Shui but even if we don’t know how to define it, we do know the effects. And the Feng Shui in our homes does have a powerful effect on our love life.
It is easy to go on line or pick up a Western Feng Shui style book and read about the mandarin ducks, the placement of symbols of your love, crystals, candles, matching night stands and pictures of your lover in the room. And adding and using these objects and wishes may work – for a short time – because you put intention behind it and intention is a powerful thing. But they are also very generic and the problem with generic remedies is that they are so, well, generic and we and our relationships are not. Our situations are all different and so are our homes. In fact, there are 216 different house combinations with many more relationship qi energy combinations.
To find the love qi in our homes we need to do a compass based Feng Shui Flying Star audit. To do this we need a floor plan, a compass, a determination of the sitting and facing direction of the house, and the construction date of the house. Then we map out the qi energy or “fly the stars.” Complicated? Yes, a bit, but then, so are our relationships. Specific? Yes, an analysis can be very specific. For instance, an analysis can tell you if you are sleeping in your “Lonely Pillow” direction (which means you will be sleeping alone) or if the stars in your bedroom or main entrance are the cheating stars. There is a combination that defines a specific unequal relationship – when a woman is dominating the hen-pecked husband – and this cannot be remedied by making sure the night stands are equal! Feng Shui can tell you so much more about your love and relationships but it is something that cannot just be seen by looking around the room; it is the unseen qi analysis that will reveal all.
It is difficult for a trained compass based Feng Shui practitioner to give out generic advice because of the specificity that we can reach. Still, I agree with the Western Feng Shui practitioners that it is important to keep the bedroom and front entrance clutter free and to find symbols that will honor your love. But more important than this, is to take the time to love yourself and your loved ones. Simple acts of love and kindness can brighten your day and that of those you love. And when you are ready, give me a call and we can find out what is really going on in your love life.
Feng Shui Fall
There’s something about autumn we all love. Even before the hot days are over and the calendar tells us we are now in fall, we seem to crave the brilliant colors and harvest that autumn brings. According to retailers and interior designers, fall decorating is second only to Christmas and is not far behind! This decorating can be the artificial flowers and leaves or the fresh mums, pumpkins and gourds from the garden. It is beautiful, inspiring, happy making and joyful – but is it Feng Shui?
Certainly the beautiful decorations impact your emotions and psychological well-being and this can play a role in your mental outlook. When something makes us smile, makes us happy the impact can be quite transforming and boosts our inner spirit. And people who understand the power of attraction and intention can use this feeling to jump start their day and moods. This can be quite powerful – but it is not Feng Shui. Rather I would call it part of environmental (or interior design) psychology.
Feng Shui is the balancing of the energies that are inherent in your house based on the orientation of the sitting and facing directions and the year the house was built. Qi flow from the inside and outside environment is also a factor in determining the energy balance and the needed remedies. Holiday and seasonal decorating does not have the power to change the essential Feng Shui of your house. Despite this fact seasonal decorating plays a large role in much of the western Feng Shui practices.
I myself love to decorate for fall – I am a sucker for the Indian corn, the gourds, fall leaves and Halloween ghosts and witches. I love it all – and it makes me happy, brightens all the grey days and gets me pumped up before winter. But I know it does not change the inherent Feng Shui of my house. And, I also know that the “rules” given for fall decorating by some Western Feng Shui schools can be ignored. Let’s explore and destroy some of these myths so you can decorate without fear of bad Feng Shui.
Myth 1 : To enhance family relationships fall decorations should be placed in the east.
Truth is, it does not matter where you put your decorations. In some Western schools, the bagua is broken into 9 life aspects; the east being the family relationship. In the classic, traditional Feng Shui schools we do not look at the sectors (guas) this simply. Each one has an energy determined by the permanent stars so every one of the nine sectors affects the family, wealth, health etc. Every house has its own specific Feng Shui – it is not generic enough that we would say east is the family. Just think about it – if the laundry room was in the east would you only place your beautiful decorations there?
Myth 2: All reds and orange decorations should be placed in the south.
True, in all schools the south is represented by the color red. But this does not mean that red objects should only be placed in the south. In fact, this could be quite explosive when the fire element is over represented in this area – or in any area that does not call for fire. How do you know? By finding the permanent energy codes in your house through a classic Feng Shui reading.
However, do not fear placing your red and orange leaves in the southern part of your home if that is where you desire it. I have never seen a home with so much red in their fall decorations that it would negatively affect the fire element. (Christmas red is another story.)
Myth 3: Dried corn stalks and flowers represent death and should not be used.
Most Western Feng Shui schools perpetuate this myth while classical Feng Shui has no taboo against this. I see it as a personal preference. Dried flower arrangements, hay bales and dried leaves can be beautifully arranged and do not bring in the specter of death and decay. After all, we use dried herbs in our cooking and this is pretty life sustaining.
So, please enjoy the fall without worrying about your Feng Shui decorating. I wish you long walks in the falling leaves and crisp mornings to start your day.
GHOSTS, LIGHTNING, AND MOTHER IN LAWS
What do ghosts, mother in laws and lightning have in common? On the surface, nothing, but in Feng Shui there are energy / number combination that enhances the possibility that one will be drawn into problematic situations with one or the other. Not every house has them but if yours does it is best to get the proper remedy in place as soon as possible.
Since we are so close to Halloween let’s look at ghostly attractions first.
All societies have superstitions and agrarian cultures are rich in their stories, traditions and beliefs about ghosts, spirits and the other world. Chinese culture seemed particularly abundant in these beliefs and references to them still color our Feng Shui vernacular. Although traditional Feng Shui is able to slice through many of these superstitions we still honor the terms and phrases from the past even if they seem a bit exaggerated to us. For example, the terms “Disaster Room, Three Killings and Five Ghosts Carry Money” mean something to the Feng Shui practitioner and for the first two we neutralize the energy and for the ghosts who carry money, we use them to our benefit.
But is there such a thing as a haunted house? And are there certain things that a Feng Shui practitioner looks for in determining if the house is haunted?
What we do know is that every house is unique and its energy is determined by the year of construction and the sitting and facing directions. These combinations create an energy pattern that can be interpreted. Whether one believes in ghosts and haunting or not there are certain combinations and factors that are more likely to come up for a ‘haunted house’ than one that does not give off that vibration. Some of these are obvious and are factored in every Hollywood horror movies. Houses that are too yin, without life energy, attract ghosts. These houses are cold, damp, and dark with major maintenance issues and overgrown landscapes that often leave you with a sense of foreboding and the creep factor. Houses built on or near cemeteries or old battlefields can attract ghosts as can a property where a violent death may have occurred.
Houses that have long hallways, with doors directly facing each other, factor quite often in ghostly attractions. The incorrect use of wind chimes can also attract a ghost. Although often thought of as a panacea to all Feng Shui problems, a classically trained Feng Shui practitioner knows that wind chimes can often attract a troubled spirit and so uses them sparingly and in the correct location and under the right circumstances. The sound of the metal wind chimes can attract a ghost instead of preventing the unwelcome visitor. Perhaps this fits in with our stereotype of the ghost with the clanking metal chains.
Other factors that are not obvious to the eye but exude a powerful effect in a home’s Feng Shui is the number combination of 2-5. This combination is a double negative earth and needs to be remedied to neutralize its impact on the homeowner. Although having this combination does not guarantee the house is haunted or attracts ghosts, there is a strong correlation between haunted houses, ghosts and this energy combination. And if you have this combination and add a wind chime to the corresponding sector, ghostly mayhem may ensue!
If you enjoyed this article and are ready to see what energies are inherent in your house please contact me for a Feng Shui consultation. In this reading we can determine the energy patterns that may be sabotaging your health, relationships and finances. With the proper remedies life improves. And, enhancing the positive energies can make life go even smoother.
Traditional Feng Shui: Digging Deeper
When I look back at the hundreds of Feng Shui consultations I have been involved with in the past couple of years I notice not one involved a home was located on an old burial site, balancing over a cliff, nestled in the curve of a railroad track or built over an old industrial dumpsite. None of my clients lived in a triangular or circular house and none lived next door to a cemetery.
It’s funny. Most beginning Feng Shui lessons will teach that these are problematic cases and to be avoided if at all possible. It’s true, it’s obvious. Situations like this happen so rarely yet seem to take up so much time from the learning experience, while the thing that affects EVERY ONE of us is given such little attention. As a Feng Shui teacher, I am wondering why.
I have seen cluttered houses but I have not yet been asked to Feng Shui a house for a hoarder. The issue of clutter has become so synonymous with Feng Shui that many people think that clutter control is Feng Shui. Understandable enough when you flip through a popular Feng Shui book and see the amount of space devoted to issues of clutter. But it’s not Feng Shui. Certainly a Feng Shui practitioner can help shine the light on a clutter problem but Feng Shui goes so much deeper. And yet, it is a rare book where you find the author discussing that part of Feng Shui that affects EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME.
The flow of qi and how furniture placement affects it is important in Feng Shui. But it is only one layer and truthfully more people than not are pretty savvy about where to place their furniture. And that’s because much of it is obvious – it comes naturally – you don’t put furniture in the middle of a path where you have to walk over it or trip every time you enter the room. Most of us are comfortable with chairs that face a doorway instead of a blank wall and most people do not position furniture in doorways or hallways. Fixing qi flow problems due to furniture placement mistakes is usually pretty obvious and simplistic. But what is not obvious is the element combinations that may needs remedying because it is causing disagreements, illnesses, accidents, money drainage, insomnia and other negative issues. Why is it not obvious? Because you cannot see it. But it is there, it is mathematical, it is predictable and it is manageable.
I’m talking about the Flying Stars, the element code that determines the energy potential of your house. Based on the construction period when the house was completed and the sitting and facing direction of the house, these stars create an energy map which affects the health, wealth, creativity and relationships of the inhabitants of the house. Every house has them, they are unique to the house and their influence on you can lead to enhancing or sabotaging experiences while living there.
So important is the Flying Stars that if you have not had a Flying Star reading you have not had a Feng Shui consultation.
Contact me for a consultation to learn about the real Feng Shui. And I promise you I will not waste your time with remedies for living in a round house at the bottom of a cliff near a cemetery or the importance of not becoming a hoarder. This is real Feng Shui for real houses.
If you enjoyed this article and want more information on Feng Shui consultations visit www.FengShuiNaturally.com or email Ann at ann@fengshuinaturally.com.
Thank you for reading my blog.