Where Energy Flows

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are all affected by our living environments. In an environment where chi flows easily we feel more energetic. Take a look outside your home to see if chi flows in easily. Are there overgrown trees and shrubs blocking doors and windows? Next, look at furniture arrangement. Is furniture arranged harmoniously? Use form school principles to arrange furniture so that it is easy to walk unimpeded around rooms, and so that people are sitting with a view to doors and windows?

Take an inventory of clutter. Is there stuff blocking your hallway and making it hard to open doors? Clutter in the way blocks energy flow. How much stuff do you have in piles on the floor? Clutter on the floor brings down energy. Are there any items which have bad associations for you? To test this walk around each room picking up objects. See if they lift or lower your energy. Clearing clutter is an instant energetic pick me up.

How well cared for is your home? When we spend time in well cared for environments we feel good ourselves. Fix anything that is broken as soon as possible. Spruce up your home with spring cleaning and decorating. Consider using space clearing to lift the energy. When your home is glowing with energy you’ll feel great yourself. Your home will be like a beacon of light in your neighbourhood and an inspiration to others.

Copyright Helen Harvey, 2007. All rights reserved.

Some of the associations to the colour blue are the sky (heaven, higher source and wisdom) and water (the emotions). In feng shui, blue is related to the bagua for Self-Knowledge, wisdom and higher truth. In the chakra system, it is related to the throat.

There are several aspects to element of water related to different emotional states. In a balanced state, water and emotions flow freely and easily. In an overactive state, water and emotions flood or burst free. In an under-active state, water and emotions are blocked or frozen.

Blue is related to insight, intuition, wisdom, finding meaning in life, and your spiritual connections. The deeper hued blues - sky and cobalt, help you understand who you are. Use for greater communication and speaking your truth.

If you are low on energy, feel depressed, or find yourself feeling isolated and withdrawn, keep blue in your environment to a minimum. Increase blue in your environment if you find yourself unable to express your feelings. Turquoise blue is especially uplifting and supports communication.

Healing Uses

• Reduce anxiety and bring calmness 
• Lower blood pressure
• Relief from pain (headaches)
• Relieve pain and irritation from burns, stings, insect bites or other skin problems
• Reduce fever, relieve tired eyes, and cool hot flashes in menopause
• Problems with the voice or throat
• Reduce claustrophobia
• Ease breathing difficulties
• Increase intuition, clarity and psychological protection (esp. dark blue).

Blue in the Home

Because it is a yin colour related to nighttime and restfulness, it is a good colour for bedrooms. However some shades of blue have a cold feeling. By using contrasting accent colours you can keep the restful qualities of blue while warming it up. Of course blues that tend more towards turquoise do not have this problem because they have more yellow in them and are warmer.

Blue is also a great choice for a meditation room or a therapy room, but not for any rooms that are social, such as the family room, dining room or study. Blue is the most recessive colour in the spectrum and - especially light blue - can successfully be used to make a small room appear to be larger that it actually is.

There are many shades of blue and it is said to be most people’s favourite colour. Is blue your favourite colour? Which shade of blue?

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007.  All rights reserved.

Have you ever experienced home sickness as a child away at camp for the first time or as a student sitting on the plastic covered bed of your first tiny dorm room at university? It hurts. You are in a place of feeling excited about the new adventure with butterflies in your stomach but you can feel off balance, without connection, missing the familiar support with little to hang onto and your heart aches for family or friends. Out come the things that connect us to home. Familiar textures, smells, and visual reminders. These are our resources, the reminders of home, friends and family. Soon we have arranged our rooms and are off to meet new challenges.

What is happening when we feel off balance in our own homes? In Feng Shui we talk about there being a lack of energy flow in a home or too much movement of energy. If you are feeling stuck in some aspect of your life look around your home to see if there are areas that block your progress such as an unruly collection of shoes, schoolbags and more just inside the front door. What is the message you get every time you enter this area? If you never seem to be able to sit and enjoy your home does the pathway from the front door seem empty, cold and it sweeps you quickly out again?

What other resources do you have? Perhaps exercise, walking in nature, reading, listening to music, or writing in a journal help you to feel safe and renewed. Does your home provide a comfortable, nourishing place to develop these resources? Does it provide a welcoming area for friends to visit or do they tend to avoid your home? Do your children have a space they can call their own to develop their resources? Developing resources will support you during future times of change. And change they will.

Copyrighted 2007 by Brenda Rosenberg.  All rights reserved.

How long would it take you to sort through your belongings, pack them and move? Would you need a day, a week, a month, or two months? People with no clutter could move in a day. Those with a penchant for collecting will take longer, especially if they have lived in the same place for a number of years. When I first went flatting I just had the basics. In the kitchen drawer there was a wooden spoon, a fish slice, a potato peeler and a knife. Now I have an assortment of implements, including an olive stoner and citrus zester, which I use only occasionally. Even so, I like to think that I am relatively free of clutter, and could comfortably pack up and move in a week.

When my mother moved last year it took two months to sort through her garage. It was so full that there was no room to park a car. Every time someone had come to visit my mother she bundled newspapers and magazines into the garage; some of the magazines dated back to 1962. My grandmother’s household effects were still boxed up from when she moved to a rest home twelve years previously. I had a piano stored there and it was a great opportunity for me to sell it. Clutter can haunt you even when it is not in your own home, and a heavy object like a piano feels like a weight that you carry. Once my mother came out the other side of the sorting and shifting process she became a clutter preacher, and told my great aunt that she had better start sorting through her clutter before she moved.

When we have an excess of belongings they weigh heavily on us and become a burden. If the thought of moving fills you with horror you may have too much stuff. Without the burden of clutter we are free spirits, able to follow our heart’s desire. Would you like to rent out your house and tour Africa for a year? Would you take a promotion in another city if the thought of moving wasn’t so daunting? Would you like to free up your spare room so that an overseas student can board with you? Without clutter is is much easier to attract and accept exciting opportunities, and live with grace and joy.

Copyright Helen Harvey, 2007. All rights reserved.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day one day I’d be teaching a class on astrology! For one thing, in the past I considered astrology to be the realm of entertainment. And that is fine - entertainment is great! I just couldn’t see the logic of it and therefore remained a ‘polite skeptic’. But often it is the skeptic who fall the hardest, when they fall in love.

And indeed I confess to being in love with astrology — Interior Alignment™ astrology at any rate. My affair began in 2004 when I began training as Interior Alignment™ Teacher. When I returned home from my training I ordered a birth-chart from one of the on-line companies — and was disappointed. Mind you this company tells it like they see it — they don’t mince words - it is just that I didn’t like the words being said about me! I felt like I just got the ’bad news’ and was left high and dry and I thought, now what? What does it mean? Can I change this assessment or is my fate sealed whatever I do?

I believe that with Interior Alignment™ astrology, the answer is yes. Interior Alignment™ astrology is not an interpretation or predictive course. It is based on the principle of archetypes.  For example, the first thing I explore with a client is their Sun sign. The archetype of the Sun sign is the outward expression, the public face you present to the world.

I find that your Sun sign can directly correlate with the big lesson you are here to work on in this life time. Your Sun sign can also manifest as your highest self, or your authentic self, when it is balanced. So, in doing a consultation, I have a conversation about what being in balance with your Sun sign looks like. It is through this coaching relationship that includes taking stock of where you are and doing specific homework assignments that, while not changing your birth-chart, gives you the opportunity to step into your highest self.

For me, Interior Alignment™ astrology helped me to understand where my strengths are: as a student doing the research and going deeply into a project (Scorpio Sun), and as a teacher, finding new ways to present material and expressing my delight in passing on what I’ve learned (Libra Rising).  

And so, here I am, as a Master Teacher and Advanced Teacher of Interior Alignment™, doing what I am supposed to do. There is vulnerability and risk in this chosen path as whenever one offers a passion to the world there is a risk of meeting indifference, being ignored or rejected.

In the bagua, this exploration of one’s path is the Fame gua. In my book, Odyssey of the Heart - Paths to Wholeness through Feng Shui, I write “You are both a receiver and a transmitter of light: You take light into your being in the form of inspiration, courage, faith, and love, and then you reflect and illuminate the way for others. As you begin to glow with inner light, you can make a significant difference in your own life and also in the world around you.” And THIS, I know comes from my higher source and the most authentic expression of my Sun sign.

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.

Green is a very interesting colour. It marks the separation between the warm yang colours (red, yellow and orange) and the cool yin colours (blue, purple and brown). I find it is one of the harder colours to get right because wearing the wrong shade of green can be particularly unforgiving. With my Celtic colouring, (light skin, freckles and dark green eyes) I look good in green which has blue tones in it. If there is too much yellow (as with olive green, khaki, or lime green) it looks dreadful on me. I also suit turquoise. Turquoise really stands in a class of its own, being between green and blue. It is a colour that looks good on most people.

I find green also needs careful consideration as a colour for the home. Some shades are too cool and makes the area feel cold and uninviting. Other shades of green are too yellow. It is interesting that green is the most restful and balanced of colours in the spectrum, but is also related to greed, envy, jealousy and feeling ill. Some people really do look ‘green around the gills’ when they have nausea.

And yet, in nature, nothing is as wonderful and restorative as green. It is my guess that it is difficult to produce the depth and subtlety of green in nature with synthetic dyes and I believe it is better to bring the healing vibration of green into the home with living plants and gemstones.

~*~The Healing Properties of Green~*~

• Restorative and calming
• Supports healthy functioning of the Heart and circulatory system
• Emotionally healing - relates to the Heart chakra
• Stimulates the thymus gland
• Soothes irritations
• Relieves inflammation and swelling
• Eases eye-strain
• Enhances communication (turquoise)

~*~Consider the effects of the different shades when choosing green for your home~*~

Light spring green symbolises new beginnings, growth, optimism and rebirth (think ‘new buds). It is said to be a good colour for the bathroom because it is related to cleanliness, rebirth (as we get ready to start the new day), rest, nurturing and relaxation.

A mid tone green is lively and quick moving, (think ‘grass’ and how quickly it grows). It is a good colour for kitchens because it is cheerful and stimulating but feels cool. Also consider it for an art or project room (such as a sewing room).

A deep green is the most restful and conservative shades of green. It would be a good choice for a meditation room or as accents in a study — but I wouldn’t recommend it for a family room or dining room except as an accent colour.

Turquoise is playful and childlike. Lighter versions of turquoise - up to a pastel - are a good choice for a child’s room because it is vitalizing but still restful. Deeper turquoise makes a good accent colour because it brings deep peace and harmony as well as joy into the home.

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.

The kids are out of school. What a wonderful time to prepare for the summer. By taking time to clear out the end of school papers, books and miscellaneous found objects you can set the stage for summer break. This could be the time to instill good habits and good feng shui by sorting through these items to determine which have special meaning and are important to save. Then you can involve the kids in how they want to save it, store it or get rid of it.

This is essentially clutter clearing 101. If you love it, use it or need it to function, it stays. Review each item and consider rotating art projects on display or choosing special writing projects to place in a decorated folder. Now, this review may be more of a challenge to some Moms than kids. Are you a save everything Mom or a throw everything out Mom? Perhaps there is a middle ground that can be found that can honour what the child has accomplished during the year. Determine how much space you are willing to devote to school memories then use your imagination.

School items can enhance the energy in the Children and Creativity area of the home. But, what if this area of the home appears to not be appropriate for children’s art work and writing? Perhaps there is a spot on a shelf, a shadow box on the wall or a decorated box that could fit into your lifestyle. Again, if it makes you happy, puts a smile on your face, or reminds you of the importance of family or the time you spent together creating the memory then you have put it in the right spot.

Copyright 2007 Brenda Rosenberg All rights reserved.