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Learning to See Energy

Many of you have asked me about the flow of energy through a space.  How do you see it?  How do you recognize its force? Although there are many answers to that question, the easiest way for me to answer is through a simple picture.  

Energy in motion pulls energy in the same direction

We all know that energy is neither created nor destroyed.  Rather, it changes forms from dense physicality to pure light, heat or movement.  In this photo, the blackbird in the water is still and grounded.  When his mate flies by even the waterfall is pulled to the left.  Having watched this occur I can testify that the bird did not fly through the waterfall, but about a foot in front of it.  Only the force of her flight past the waterfall pulled the droplets in her direction.

People can do the same thing, as can objects in a space.  Everything holds energy, either magnetic, repellent or static.  Don’t believe me?  Close your eyes and have someone approach your left temple with their fingertip.  You will sense them before they touch you.  The further away they are when you feel it, the more energy they are bringing or the more sensitive you are to that energy.

Understanding this force is like adding a giant new tool to your tool box.  Once you can recognize the energy being pulled, pushed or stagnated, you can begin to harness that energy and manipulate it in creative ways to bring you peace, joy, happiness and prosperity in yourself and in the space around you.

Happy Day

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Feathering your nest begins at the front door

Feathering your nest requires careful intention

Ever notice how some people have great energy? They’re always upbeat. They make you smile.  They make you feel good just being around.

What about the opposite?  Those folks who drain your energy and make you feel tired and depressed.  They zap you almost as you enter the room.

Which one are you? If you don’t know, or don’t want to admit it out loud, all you have to do is look around your home.  Chances are, your house is screaming one or the other, even if you never realized it.

Your home is a reflection of your personal energy.  Setting aside personal taste in design, furniture and wall art, the flow of energy through your home mirrors the flow of positive and negative energy in your life.

For example, let’s take someone who is tired all of the time, has low energy and is an energy zapper.  We all know at least one.  Hopefully it’s not you. Chances are that the entrance to their home will be “inanimate.”  In other words, the front windows will almost never be opened, the door will be uninviting, bland in color or dirty.   The path to the door may even be blocked by cars, bicycles or shrubbery.

The air inside the home will also feel stale.  When you enter, your eyes will either be stopped by the clutter or have nowhere to rest because everything is so non-descript.  When I show clients empty houses, white walls have this same effect. There’s nothing remarkable.  Therefore it lacks energy.

High energy people usually have interesting homes.  Even if you don’t like their personal taste in furniture, it’s usually warm and inviting, clean but not sterile, colorful without being overly taxing on the eyes.  Chances are you will want to enter their front door because it welcomes you inside. The path will gently flow towards the door like a winding river.  There will probably be a lively planter or piece of decorative artwork in the entryway or something as simple as a colorful doormat.

These objects, however subtle, register subconsciously with everyone who approaches.  So next time you go home, take a look at what others see when they visit you.

Making a simple change to your entrance can literally enhance your life.   

Happy Day,

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Funny Feng Shui

In an effort to lighten your load, I thought I’d share something I found when cleaning house.

Reprinted from Real Life Magazine 1999

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Location, Location…Direction?

Everyone knows the first rule in Real Estate is Location, Location, Location. But here’s a little secret for you.  The unspoken rule is Direction, Direction, Direction.  It’s so rarely spoken, in fact, that most Realtors don’t even know about it.

Direction is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not a home will suit the inhabitants.  We’ve all heard HGTV wax on and on about Southern Exposure, but a southern direction is not good for every single person on the planet.  If it were, every house would face that direction and neighborhood would look really weird.

In previous posts, I explained the Five Key Elements of Feng Shui and their corresponding directions. 

Water = North

Fire = South

Wood = East

Metal = West 

Earth  = Southeast, Southwest or Northeast depending on other factors at work.

Although every house has an auspicious direction based on geomantic properties, every person also has an auspicious direction, which may or may not jive with the house in which they live.  It can get complicated so to keep it simple, here’s an easy rule. 

The head of the household gets to pick the direction.  The next in line should complement that direction.  Auspicious direction is based on exact timing, but again, to simply it, we’ll stick to the year of your birth. Below is a chart that you can use to determine which direction is best suited to you.  The number corresponds to the direction specified in the second chart.

This is the direction is which your home should face the world and you should face while sleeping.

I”ll use myself as an example.  Since I was born in 1965, my corresponding number is 7.  That means that METAL dominates my personality and WEST is my best direction.

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Common problems and their Feng Shui solutions

A happy home is like a smiling face, welcoming

I hope you are having fun with the Feng Shui guidelines.  Many of you have asked the question:  What do I do when things aren’t perfect?

My simple answer:  Bless it or block it.  Once you’ve identified problem areas they have a tendency to get larger and larger in your focus until you can see nothing else. This is an invitation for you to utilize the principles you’ve learned to correct or redirect the flow of energy. 

Years ago I took Aikido classes.  The crux of the art was learning to physically redirect negative energy coming at you.  Rather than attacking back, we would harness the energy and bounce it in another direction so the negative energy dissipated or attacked itself.

Feng Shui is no different.  Let me give you some of the most common examples and useful remedies. 

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Using the Bagua Compass of Feng Shui for your home

Bagua courtesy of Feng Shui Palace

Now that we’ve covered the 5 Key Elements of Feng Shui, the next step is to understand the role that direction plays in the flow of energy through a space. I have attached a Bagua for you to print out.  This will allow you to map your own space. 

A Bagua (pronounced Ba – Gwa) is similar to a compass.  When placed over a floorplan, it allows the user to recognize certain functional energies within the home. It will also demonstrate where the 5 Key Elements are most present. To use the Bagua properly, remember that WATER represents the front of the house, FIRE, the rear of the house. If your front door opens to the left or right of center, it will fall within the Blue or Gray areas of the Bagua.

For example, you will notice that the far right rear corner of a home is the relationship space. This is the best location for a Master Bedroom.  If your Master Bedroom is not located in this area, you can still harness the energy of this space to improve your relationships by accentuating the color scheme, the openness, the warmth, etc.

But what if the back corner of your house is missing, like an L-shaped home?  What you can do is add life to the area outside the home by placing a beautiful stone, a pink flowering dogwood, a lovely meditation area, or simply a welcoming sitting area for two on the deck. 

What you don’t want is for this to be a negative space, like your junk room, or where you place your trashcans.   If it is, clean it up, hide your trashcans behind a neat fence, and add something positive to the space.

The same rule goes for all areas of your home.  In fact, the Bagua can be used in each room of the house to understand the energy fields at work.  You could also use it to plan your garden, to landscape your entire property and to choose the best site for building a new home or business.

Feng Shui is all about positive intention.  Most of you have read or watched “The Secret” or have heard me quote the Law of Attraction.  All of these “modern” concepts are rooted in the ancient art of Feng Shui.

Let’s face it.  We all want a happy home, a fulfilling career, a healthy and loving family, financial security, a committed relationship with someone we love.  Feng Shui helps us create the foundation for that energy to enter and work for us.

It’s not rocket science or voodoo medicine. It’s simply a process of improving your life by consciously welcoming positive energy into your space. 

The best part is, it’s univerally applicable.  You can use Feng Shui to help sell your house or find a new one, to attract a better job, to improve your health, to harmonize your familial relationships, to increase your vitality or calm your anxieties.  It’s all in your intentions. 

Like the saying goes,

It works if you work it.  So work it ’til it works.

If you would like help with using a Bagua to buy or sell a home, I provide consultations to homeowners upon request.  I can also help you find Feng Shui architects, health advisors and sustainable builders. It all begins with you.

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The Wood Element in Feng Shui

WOOD: (3,4) East, Southeast, Straight/Upright, Spring 

Wood energy alive and well in the backyard of Chris Deer & Mark Carr

The most gentle and easily used of the five elements is WOOD. Wood is alive in the green plants that are all around us.  Even after it is cut down and turned into furniture, it exhibits a life force in the grain and growth rings. Although not as strong as METAL, WOOD can be used to absorb and purify WIND.

Think about how plants clean the air.  They absorb air molecules, convert them into usable elements and release excess oxygen.  In the evening they reverse this process, absorbing air molecules, converting vital elements and releasing carbon dioxide.  This constant process cleans the air by removing impurities.  In that same manner, WOOD absorbs and redirects the flow of energy around and through itself.  How often have your read about using evergreens as a wind breaker? They slow down the wind rather than block it completely as a wall would do. Read the rest of this entry »

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The METAL Element in Feng Shui

METAL: (6,7) Square, Northwest, West, Autumn – Mental activity

A Floral Design featuring Metal by Etta Rae Simons

Ever notice that the western and northwestern sides of your house are always colder than the rest of the house?  No matter where I’ve lived, it seemed this was always true. For years I attempted to figure out what was wrong with the insulation or the heating vents.  Then I realized that this area gets the least amount of natural heat and light. Sure, the sun can bake the spot in the late afternoon but only for about an hour or so and then you’re back to cold shade.  

In Feng Shui, West is the direction of METAL.  METAL is dense and strong.  It can cut WOOD and purify WATER. It is forged by FIRE and collected from deep in the EARTH. 

Most people associate the METAL element with construction, like steel beams and skyscrapers.  These images conjure up feelings of safety and security.  But METAL is also associated with business and commerce.  Think gold bars, silver coins, precious metals and diamonds.  It is also associated with technology, mental acuity, education, and concentration. 

Outside the home, METAL is represented by the gravel in your driveway or the white concrete pathway to your door.  It can be as bold and practical as the square, white garage door or as subtle as the quartz rocks in your rock garden, as fun as the white Mercedes parked out front or as functional as the white picket fence that surrounds your front yard – (which, by the way also carries FIRE in the shape of the pickets and WOOD in the material.)

Indoors, METAL is often found in the kitchen, bathroom and study in the forms of stainless steel appliances, bright white fixtures and high-tech devices.  As you can see, METAL can make a strong impact or a subtle impression.

Because of METAL’s incredible ability to attract magnetic energy, METAL remedies are the most widely used adjustment tools in Feng Shui.  If you decide to play with these, again, I suggest you proceed with caution.  Too much METAL can work against you, causing excessive introspection, problems of over-thinking a circumstance, or just making a place feel emotionally cold.   

To harness positive METAL energy, place the study or computer room in the Western part of your home.  Paint the children’s study area a bright white (METAL) and/or a warm yellow (EARTH).  Since the color white awakens mental focus, use it in areas where you need to pay attention and downplay it in areas where you want to relax.  An all-white bedroom can make you think too much and sleep too little, not to mention its negative impact on your passionate endeavors.

In other rooms of the house, METAL can appear in many forms: fluorescent lighting, white curtains, electronics, sugar cubes and sudoku puzzles, which, by the way, were invented as a Feng Shui tool thousands of years ago.

Another interesting METAL application is sound.  Windchimes can add pleasing sound to an otherwise lifeless area of the home or garden.  Doorbells are another example.  Again, these should sound pleasing to the ears, like a nice clear bell, not annoying like a buzzing insect.  

Electronic sounds can really disturb a space.  The alarm clock in your bedroom should always turn on to a pleasing radio station, not buzz you awake like a fire alarm.  Just the same, computer fans running all night long should be unplugged or moved to another room in the house.  You shouldn’t charge your cellphone in your bedroom or fall asleep watching television.  As much as you may think tv helps you unwind, it can actually disrupt your deep sleeping patterns.  You’ve just probably grown so used to the sleeplessness that you fail to notice anymore.

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The FIRE Element in Feng Shui

The Tiger lily

FIRE: (9) Fire, the transformational energy of life, is the most volatile of the five essential elements and must be carefully understood and respected. Fire gave man the ability to control his environment, to cook food, to forge weapons, to light the darkness and to heat his home.

Fire is associated with the colors Red and Orange, Triangular shapes (like a flame), upwardly pointed structures, a Southern direction and the season of Summer.

When FIRE burns it produces ash which restores and enriches the EARTH.  Therefore WOOD feeds FIRE and FIRE feeds EARTH.

FIRE also melts METAL and is controlled by WATER.

Indoors, FIRE is associated with the kitchen of the home, where good food is prepared and families are nourished.  Think about all of the fast food restaurants that are painted red or orange.  Subconsciously, these colors make you hungry.  Conversely, a blue kitchen is not advised unless you desire to lose a great deal of weight. Even so, the color could negatively affect the overall energy of the house, making the inhabitants feel tired, bored or unmotivated.

FIRE colors also lend themselves well to areas of the home that lack warmth but one should use these colors very carefully.  Like the actual flame, too much FIRE can be dangerous, bringing discord to a relationship, mental anguish to the inhabitants or excessive feelings of anger. Modern designers use rich red colors as a means of bringing warmth, but “do-it-yourselfers” often miss the mark.

Take the dining room, for example.  A red dining room might make you feel hungry at first, but it will not allow you to enjoy your food for long periods. The other reason fast food restaurants are painted red is to get you in and out quickly. A more appropriate choice for a dining room would be a softer, earthier tone since FIRE feeds EARTH. 

Candles and other lighting are often recommended as FIRE remedies to bring warm energy to a space. In fact, the easiest way to incorporate FIRE energy in a positive way is through proper lighting.  Interior lighting is one of those vital components too often neglected.  FIRE lighting is best used in an upwards direction, with the light pointed toward the ceiling of the space.  That way it can be more easily and indirectly dispersed, covering a broader area. 

Bright, shiny colors are also referred to as FIRE colors, even if they are not red in hue. This is another way to incorporate FIRE without getting burned, especially in rooms that only need a little fire.  In areas like bedrooms and play areas where a softer FIRE symbol is needed, purples and pinks do quite nicely. Another trick is to incorporate FIRE shapes in repetition.  Pyramid shaped paperweights, pointed edges on curtain valences and books leaning toward one another on a shelf to form an assymmetrical triangle are all subtle tricks that add FIRE.

Flowers are the one of the best ways to bring warmth and FIRE energy to the home. The brighter the colors, the more energy they contain.  You can also bring them indoors to warm up a cold corner of the room, but make sure you keep them fresh.  No one likes to look at a vase full of wilting flowers. Plants with bright color foliage like crotons and bromeliads work equally well adding the WOOD element into the mix.

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The WATER Element in Feng Shui

Water Element: "...Gently down the stream"

WATER:  (1) Water is considered the messenger of prosperity.  It can quench thirst or cause drowning.  It can cleanse the body or destroy by flood.  WATER is associated with North and Winter, the color black and round shapes.

WATER extinguishes FIRE and is controlled by EARTH.  It is purified by METAL and nourishes WOOD. 

To understand the vital role that WATER plays in Feng Shui, we must first understand the origins of belief in the relationship between Mountains, Wind and Water.  Long, long ago, when man was first beginning to seek shelter, mountains were considered extremely valuable.  They provided a natural barrier against attack, strong winds and heavy rains.  Over time, the belief arose that mountains possessed powerful, protective properties; the longer the chain of mountains, the stronger the protection.

Wind was viewed as a destructive force, constantly doing battle against the mountain. While gentle winds were necessary for clean air, strong winds considered destructive. Water was the great equalizer, absorbing positive energy from the mountain and transporting it through movement, Wind energy, to man and his environment in a constructive way.

[Think about your body for just a minute.  Mountain is found in bones and muscles.  Water is found in circulation of blood and bodily fluids. Both play a vital role in overall health, as does gentle wind energy in the air you breathe.  When air enters the body its positive energy, Oxygen, is converted in the lungs and delivered to muscles and bones through the blood and circulatory system.]   

Among the Five Elements, Water is the most important because Feng Shui masters believe that water brings good fortune.  You can have a happy home without a mountain to protect you but without water you will quickly perish. 

In a modern application, WATER is also considered to bring goodness in the form of money, a good job, a satisfying career, welcomed visitors, etc. Therefore it is associated with your front door and “Bright Hall” entryway of the home. If you wish to bring good fortune, always keep your entrance bright, clean, uncluttered and welcoming. To enhance WATER energy, add symbolic or actual water features to the area, like a bird bath or small pond out front, an indoor vase of pretty flowers in your hallway or something as simple as a picture of a sailboat near the front door. It should be a gentle reminder of water as you enter the space. 

Conversely, inauspicious WATER is associated with laundry areas and bathrooms and should never be near the entrance of the home. These rooms, like the trashcans, should be at the back of the house. 

To be appealing a Water room should be decorated in appropriate colors that remind you of calm, gentle flowing water like blues or sandy tans. White is also a good choice because it represents METAL which purifies WATER.  Light green represents WOOD which is feed by WATER. You would not want a red bathroom, however, because WATER and FIRE would constantly be at battle, causing no rest for those who use the space.  Red in a bathroom can also subconsciously register as blood, an undesired effect.

If you live at the beach or near a river or lake you will want to use EARTH elements to balance your environment and harmonize your home. Think about all those tan or bright yellow beach houses. You wouldn’t want to paint your beach house bright blue because you already have enough WATER energy and a red oceanfront home would feel out of place even if you don’t realize why.

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