Happy Feng Shui Awareness Day! Have you ever felt more at ease in certain places and homes than in others? This could be because of how the furniture and colors have been arranged according to Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is founded on Chinese Medicine and is a way to enable more positive flows of energy in various areas of our lives, whether to improve wealth, work, romantic relationships or our health. According to this belief system, each area corresponds to a specific color and natural element and can be found when we apply the Ba Gua or map with the directions of north, east, south and west on our property. It begins by looking at the auspiciousness of how our house is placed, such as if the entrance if facing water, which symbolizes more income coming in, while the back of the house should preferably face the mountains to provide a sense of safety. The same is applied when we choose where to sit in various meeting rooms, offices or in restaurants. Having our back against a wall where we clearly can see the door or entrance, makes us feel safer and is called a power position. This is also how we place the bed with room on each side and the headboard against a wall where we can both see out the window and see the door.

The adding of plants can enable better air quality as well as enliven our space and our areas of life where we place it. And putting little objects in pairs is inviting in good partnerships, especially romantic ones.

The Ba Gua map is held either with our back to our front entrance, or according to the north, east, south and west directions. There are two schools for that, which can both be applied. But here is a summary:

The center of the home is for health and considered the earth element, supported by the colors yellow and brown, with square shapes.

Relationships are also earth and supported by red, pink and white, with square shapes. To activate this area, place things in these colors and shapes in Southwest.

Family can be found in the East, goes best with the colors green and blue, harmonized by rectangular shapes and the wood element.

Children and Creativity belong to the element of metal and are centered in white and pastels, with round shapes in the West.

Travel and helpful people show better up in life with a focus on metal, with colors like silver, grays and whites, with round and oval shapes. The area of our home for better travel and helpful people can be found in the Northwest.

Career is considered belonging to the water element and is best enhanced by black and wavy shapes. This can be found in the North of our home or direction of the house.

Self-cultivation and knowledge become activated through a deep blue color and the element of earth with square shapes. This area is located in the Northeast.

Wealth and prosperity can be strengthened through the use of purple, and things related to the wood element with rectangular shapes. This can be found in the Southeast corner.

And finally, fame and reputation can use some fire and red or orange with triangle shapes. This can be found in the South. 

So, when we choose furniture, various fabrics for our curtains, mats and pillows, for our throws and objects we like to decorate our homes with, we can be more deliberate about what we buy and place where, to increase a better sense of flow of energy, based on their colors, shapes and material. White is considered metal, while brown and green is wood. Not surprisingly, water is blue and fire is red. Altogether this is one way of creating more harmony in accordance with nature, where we live and where we work.

Then we can add being more conscious about choosing eco-friendly alternatives, such as what wood. Birch that grows in abundance or bamboo, rather than rare kinds only found in rare places like Hawaiian Koa. We can choose fabrics made of organic cotton or silk, before mass-produced polyester, and not waste neither our own nor nature’s resources, by too much clutter with things we neither like, nor need. To begin your Feng Shui makeover, start by standing in your doorway and see what you are welcoming in. Then walk around the different areas and see where you place your things and which can be moved around, discarded and bought new. If you think about it, Feng Shui is simply a more sophisticated way of just being practical and stylish. How is your home designed and decorated? How would you like it to be?

To get help with decorating or even choosing your next home, contact a Feng Shui practitioner in your area.

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