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What is this feng shui (pronounced fung schway) everyone is talking about? I would like to share with you a brief introduction. Feng shui is the ancient art of placement that works with the energy in an environment. The constructs of modern society tend to further us from nature amidst the bustle of busy schedules, and drain our energy. Feng shui is knowledge but it is also awareness. It can help simplify your life and remind you of your priorities, keeping your life in balance.
Your home is not only a reflection of your style and spirit; it is your personal sanctuary. It should be a place of renewal and regeneration. After a long day, you should be able to walk in the door, take a deep breath and say, "It's so good to be home ". The walls of your house act as arms embracing you and your endeavors with love and support.
How do you create this mesa of harmony? It's all about energy and keeping it alive and healthy through utilizing the ancient art of feng shui. This technique has been studied in many cultures throughout the ages, but the Chinese have mastered it through 3000 years of practice. It was first brought to the United States by Grandmaster Professor Lin Yun in 1972 and made applicable to western traditions.
CHI
One of the very important aspects of feng shui is called chi which is a subtle flow of energy or life breath. Just as blood flows throughout our bodies carrying oxygen and nutrients, chi flows through our environment and needs to stay active and healthy. It is important to realize that your thoughts and emotions can affect your chi and therefore, affect you physically and mentally.
Every house or building you enter has its own unique chi, which determines the atmosphere of a place. These surroundings constantly influence your personal chi. The goal of feng shui is to improve the occupant's energy flow to help bring better physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Yin Yang
For good feng shui, it is important to have a good balance of yin and yang. For example, if a room is too dark (yang), we need to add light to it (yin). Without one, we can't have the other, in the universe. They are two opposing yet harmonious forces of the universe. The circle of the yin yang symbol represents the universe and the we, as humans, have yin and yang responses to our outside environment. If our yin/yang polarity is in balance, we are healthy. Some examples of the forces are hot/cold, sun/ moon, white/ black, curved/ straight, stimulating/ relaxing and movement/ stillness.
Element
Another aspect of feng shui is balancing the elements in nature in your interior environment.
Nature has a natural calming affect on humans. If you have been stressed out from work or just life events, we all know that a weekend in the mountains or at the beach or a quick hike in nature can replenish us with fresh thoughts and a new outlook! The same is true on the interior of your space; having fire, water, metal, earth, and wood in your surroundings in balance can give a sigh of relief. These different energies can clearly be seen through colors, shapes and materials in our environment.
For practical purposes an example would be: What could I hang above my fireplace to balance all that fire energy?? A solution would be a mirror, representing water to symbolically balance the fire energy of the fireplace.
Another example would be to have a room painted green with lots of plants in it. Green represents the wood element and so do the plants. To balance the wood we would need to add the metal element, which is represented by the circle shape, the color white, or metallic colors or materials. To balance the room, you might add art with a metal frame or a metal bookshelf or sculpture. If you have a lot of wood, more metal would be necessary.
The Energy Bagua Map
The map used to apply feng shui to your space is called the Bagua map. The word Bagua describes the eight trigrams or building locks of the I Ching. They are associated with different aspects of life including wealth, relationship, career, family and health, knowledge, travel, children, and fame.
The entry into a space orients the entry to the bagua map. The street side of the architectural building or home is always the front. The three front sectors of the bagua on the house are from left to right: Knowledge, Career, and Helpful People and travel. The front door will be located in one of the three sectors. See diagram and entrance quadrant.
Your entire house will be divided like a tic tac toe board into nine quadrants- the eight sectors plus the center which is called the tai chi. The second three quadrants sliced through the middle of your house will be Family, the Tai Chi, and the Children sector.
The back quadrants are wealth, fame, and relationship.
Once you have divided your house into these sectors, you can learn how to enhance the different areas of your life. Your intention in doing this is very important. By balancing and enhancing each section we call in energy to that part of our lives. The bagua can be applied to a plot of land, floor plan, the surface of a desk, or a creation of art.
When to use a feng shui consultant?
A crucial time to hire a feng shui consultant would be when you are selecting, designing, remodeling, or moving into a new house.
Other important times would be when you are looking for positive changes in your life, possibly during or after a life change such as divorce, death in the family, or a physical illness.
A feng shui consultant can also help you prepare your home or building for a more smooth and efficient sale if you are thinking of putting your home on the market.
How to choose a feng shui consultant?
The best way to find a feng shui practitioner is to find out whom they have been certified with and if it is a notable teacher. Consultants will often be a member of a professional association such as International Feng Shui Guild.
Experience can vary lot and if that is important to you, be sure they have had plenty of consultations and years of experience behind them. If you have a preference of a certain school of feng shui, ask what type they practice. Find out how much time the practitioner intends on spending with you and what his/her fees are.
What to expect from a feng shui consultant??
A feng shui consultation is a personal evaluation of your home, your goals and your intentions. You will have a plan to begin your new awareness and improve your life through the interior of your home. You will see positive changes. The changes have a lot to do with how much a person wants to put into it. Someone can tell you what to do to improve your situation but it's you who has to put it into action through various remedies of feng shui. These can vary from rearranging furniture to changing wall colors, art placement, cleaning out clutter, observing directions of bed placement, stove placement, property assessment and so on.
A consultation usually lasts 1-2 hours depending on the size of the project. Consultations vary from a visit to verbal advice. Some give written reports and others give you advice while you take notes. Most practitioners are more than happy to answer any questions via phone or e-mail after initial consultation and a good practitioner will want to hear how the client is doing after time has gone by. Some clients like to arrange follow up appointments to go more in depth and to track progress. Others like to have a feng shui visit every 6 months to a year to keep chi fresh and healthy!!
There are many other facets of feng shui including studying bau-biology, electromagnetic fields, and environmental products. This is an art someone can study forever and keep learning. If you have an interest or passion for this, start reading and call for a consultation!
About Cindy
Cindy Garreton is an advanced feng shui master practitioner based in North Carolina. She has studied various schools of feng shui and received her master certification from International lecturer and respected author, Denise Linn.
Cindy's practical approach stems from her BA in Interior Design and twenty years of experience in high end residential and commercial interior design. For the last seven years, she has integrated Feng shui into her design practice.
She is director of the International Feng Shui Guild of the North and South Carolina chapters. She teaches certification classes and is a sought after lecturer at international conferences as well as business seminars.
Cindy uses a combination of feng shui schools including: Interior Alignment, Black Hat Sect, and Compass School in her private consultations for both home and businesses.
Cindy's new website will be up in December: www.Fengshuisavy.com, please check it out!
 | To contact Cindy: (704)807-8155 cindesign @aol.com |