Feng Shui
The Chinese Art of Placement
by
Leslie Shankman-Cohn,
ASID
Feng Shui can be confusing, but it doesn’t
have to be. It is, after all merely a combination
of common sense and good taste, of intuition
and logical thinking.
No, merely owning a Scalamandre striped
taffeta-covered sofa won’t change
your life, but moving it to face the entranceway
of your living room will. That’s probably
how you have it situated anyway, so that
when you’re sitting having an afternoon
cocktail you can see who’s entering
the room. The flow of ch’i won’t
be blocked by your wasting energy waiting
to be startled.
And? Well, everything is connected: Say
your sofa faces away from the room’s
entrance, which makes you jumpy and nervous,
so you snap at your spouse, which brings
tension into your marriage, which makes
you eat more and gain weight, which brings
more tension into your relationship, which
affects how you do your job, which means
you won’t get a very good raise, which
means you won’t be able to afford
a vacation with your family, which means….
it goes on and on.
But don’t worry, you’re already
practicing a lot of good feng shui, you
just don’t know it. Feng shui wants
you to be in harmony with nature and the
environment. It’s about things we
already do on some level, but we’re
not consciously aware of why we’re
doing it.
The Chinese art of placement, or FENG
SHUI, translates into “WIND and WATER”,
and it’s key principals have been
developed over the centuries. The practice’s
popularity has risen along with interest
in environmental illness, natural homes,
and “sick” office buildings.
Good feng shui is synonymous with good ventilation,
appropriate lighting, good proportion, and
MOST IMPORTANTLY, a good sense of balance.
Good interior design enhances the feng shui
of a room, shop, or office.
There are a myriad of books on the market
about feng shui. All of them will give you
the same basic information. However, if
you find that they start talking about compass
orientation, look at the pretty pictures
and put it back. What they don’t tell
you is that the compass method, primarily
practiced in Asia and Europe, has to be
adjusted for our hemisphere. What this means
is that you have to read the compass point
upside down and if that weren’t confusing
enough, you then have to calculate the rotation
of the earth’s axis every twenty years
and make adjustments for that. I don’t
know about you, but I have trouble balancing
my checkbook.
Find a book that talks about using the
main entrance as the orientation basis for
its approach to feng shui. This approach,
otherwise known as the “Black Hat
Sect” or “Western Method”,
is viewed as the practical branch of Feng
shui. And, it’s a lot easier to use.
To understand the feng shui process, you
must first grasp a basic precept…that
of “Ch’i”. Ch’i
is the “cosmic breath” or energy
of the earth, atmosphere, and humans. Feng
shui seeks to enhance the flow of environmental
Ch’i. Once this balance is realized,
it is believed that well being, wealth,
and happiness follow. The philosophy considers
how physical surroundings affect people’s
mental and emotional health.
How can you tell if you are suffering
from bad feng shui? Get into the habit of
developing awareness of your surroundings.
Observe the flow as you walk through your
space. In everyday practical applications,
the size, shape, and placement of doors
and furniture, for example, can restrict
or allow the free flow of Ch’i in
our homes. Be sensitive as to how you have
to move within your space. If you have too
many obstacles, they impede the flow of
energy, which is bad news; your life will
not be smooth, which will keep you from
obtaining your goals. Look up above you
to check if you are sitting under an exposed
overhead beam. These heavy overhead structures
are very bad and you want to avoid them
at all costs. Look sideways to see if there
are any pointed edges of walls, furniture,
or protruding corners. Edges “cut
into you” causing stress, illness,
and a great deal of bad luck. At work, these
pointed edges also create havoc with your
career prospects.
Always remember that anything sharp and
straight will cause problems. Anything curved
and softly flowing brings good fortune and
encourages the energy in the environment
to slow down, settle, and be transformed
into friendly energy. If you master these
two simple rules, you will be well on your
way to training your feng shui “eye”.
When shapes are angular and threatening,
or rooms too straight, letting the energy
race through them, use plants, screens,
and other soft furnishings to soften the
edges and slow down the flow of energy.
You don’t want to be pulled in the
front door and straight out the back.
Now that you’ve done the basic assessments
and corrections, where do you go from here?
Feng shui provides a framework in which
to identify and locate specific areas of
your environment and relate them to specific
areas of your life. The “Bauga”
octagon describes the eight building blocks
of the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes.
The eight areas of the bagua are defined
as: Career, Knowledge, Family, Wealth, Fame,
Marriage, Children, Helpful People, and
Center or Health. (For those of you who
are counting, I know it’s really nine
areas, but they don’t view the center
as a side of the octagon!) The Baugua is
then superimposed upon the floor plan of
the entire structure, an individual room
or office, or even a single piece of furniture.
The Career section of the bagua is ALWAYS
aligned with the main entrance of the home,
room, or the way you approach or sit at
a piece of furniture. (See, isn’t
that easier than trying to use an upside
down compass?) Keep in mind that basically
you divide your room up into nine different
but equal sections of “invisible energy”
that doesn’t always adhere to strict
borders.
Ok, you’ve figured out how to superimpose
the bagua on your space. Now what? There
are nine basic feng shui remedies used to
alter, moderate, or raise ch’i. These
“cures” involve the placement
of mirrors, balls, colors, plants, fish
bowls, stones and flutes in a specific area
that corresponds to what your personal difficulty
or enhancement may require. For example,
if you want to boost your success at work,
start with your desktop. Any kind of light
energizes your good name and reputation
when placed in the FAME section. A warring
family at home can install something black
and red in the family area of the great
room to enhance family harmony.
If you are planning a romantic dinner
for two, the accumulated instincts of centuries
will probably
tell you best how to arrange the table,
and a little feng shui advise may confirm
this. Try using colors in the red to white
spectrums. Candlelight will make a difference
by illuminating your personality and energizing
your relationship. However, make sure that
whatever you enhance the table with, you
do so in pairs!
Our modern lives are complicated and hectic.
But living in harmony with our environment
is what many of us seek, and harmony is
the essence of feng shui.
There is a Chinese saying: “If you
want a change in your life, move 27 things
in your house.” When you alter your
home in a positive way, you bring positive
changes into your life. Feng shui invites
you to embrace change, lighten up, and let
your environment grow and move with you.
Any change doesn’t need to last forever.
Let your creativity run a little wild, and
enjoy the moment, knowing it’s all
going to change anyway. The most important
thing to remember is that feng shui gives
you empowerment over your environment. I
promise that if you don’t put the
correct cure in just the right spot, your
life WILL NOT fall apart, and the feng shui
police will not come to arrest you!
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