Where Energy Flows

Reducing our exposure to environmental toxins and chemicals is critical, and creating healthy homes is a large part of my Interior Alignment™ practice.  I’d like to share an article I just read about a recent study of toxic chemicals found in popular laundry products and air fresheners. 

Anne Steinemann, a University of Washington professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs conducted testing and the study is detailed online in the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review  website.

Anne says “I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick, and I wanted to know, ‘What’s in these products that is causing these effects?’”.  What she found was a significant amount of volatile chemicals in a variety of air fresheners and typical laundry products.  And, many of the chemicals involved were not listed on the product label. 

Read the article here

© Deb Swingholm, 2008. All rights reserved.

It’s all about the chi

I have to admit if you haven’t experienced feng shui directly it can be difficult to relate to. Why is that? One reason is feng shui is often about what is not seen yet is experienced through other senses. For example, ever notice how uncomfortable it is to be in a dark, dirty, crowded space? What if that was your office? Do you think you’d be your best, creative self? It’s possible and also not likely. Now imagine yourself working in a space that is dark, dirty and crowded day in and day out but it looks bright and spacious. It’s possible for a space to look bright and spacious yet be heavy and dirty energetically. How do you know if this is true in your own space? To perceive any inconsistencies as to the way a space looks verses feels requires tuning in and playing with change.

Tuning In

Tuning in means seeing, listening and sensing on a level beyond what is considered “normal.” Think about a space that made you feel uncomfortable and you weren’t sure why. Or another space that made it difficult to for you to breathe deeply or concentrate fully. What was going on here? On one level, your body was responding to the chi (life force energy) of a space that wasn’t healthy for you. To perceive through other senses, requires paying attention, listening, and being in the present moment. Cultivating a ritual of stillness is a must if you’d like to perceive beyond your normal five senses. If you are not already skilled at tuning in, practice by being still and quiet on a regular basis. The state of being still, quiet and centered makes it much easier to sense subtleties in and around you.

Playing With Change

Another way to perceive the way a space “behaves” is to play with change. For example, if you find a particular space is not really working for you and you’re not sure why, start with rearranging the furniture. Pay particular attention to your relationship to the entrance of your space in your seated or lying position. Being in a command position (seeing the door from your vantage point) usually feels more empowering and comfortable. Another way to play with change is remove clutter, visual disarray, and objects you don’t use or love. In their place add natural elements like plants, stones, water features, and lamps using full spectrum bulbs. One of the easiest ways to creating change is painting with color. Painting a room is a very cost effective way to shift a space in a dramatic way. I typically recommended a finish as close to flat as is practical for the space. When using a flat finish, you end up with a color that has depth because light is absorbed verses reflected off the surface.

Healing Spaces

So let’s return our focus back to the original question, Feng Shui as a Healing Modality? I’d answer that question with yes, yes and yes!

Consider the next three scenarios with that question in mind.

Doesn’t it feel great to receive a warm hug when you’re down? Create at least one room that behaves like a warm hug every time you’re in it and nurture yourself regularly. Ask yourself, what colors, textures, objects, elements, and furnishings would a room like that have?

Doesn’t it feel wonderful after completing an exercise program…especially when you really didn’t want to do it? You are likely to be filled with vitality, vibrancy and strength. Ask yourself, what colors, textures, objects, elements and furnishings would represent vitality, vibrancy and strength?

Doesn’t it feel great to be abundant and prosperous? Abundance and prosperity makes room for you to be generous and gracious. Ask yourself, what colors, textures, objects, elements and furnishings represent abundance and prosperity?

Do you see where I’m going here? I’m encouraging you through these questions to consider how your environment does support healing and to tap into your unlimited creative potential to do just that. Why? Because how we live is what we take out into the world. Make it good!

© Catherine Hilker, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Many books on symbolism or dream interpretation include the meaning of the different rooms in your house. Last fall I wrote about what clutter might mean in the different rooms of your house.  Of course this is meant as a guide — it is not written in stone — but something worth thinking about if you are doing a clear out and clean up this summer. 

Attic: Represents things hanging over your head, goals or dreams beyond your reach. With clutter over your head there is a phsical safety issue as well, of having things fall through the ceiling, or of not being able to find things in an attic.

Bathroom:  Water is connected with the emotions - we use water analogies to describe emotions - someone is flooded with tears, is blocked up emotionally, has a meltdown (ice) - even verbal diarrhea which isn’t really a water analogy, but is connected with plumbing! Energetically speaking, plumbing is considered to be symbolically related to the body’s natural system of release. so clutter in the bathroom can interfer with the natural emotional releasing process.

Bedroom: The Bedroom is related to our inner self. Clutter in the bedroom can take the form of needing a great deal of privacy, hiding yourself or some aspect of your life from the world, being out of touch with your emotions or your inner self.

Basement: The basement represents your foundations or roots in life, as well as your subconscious mind. Clutter here can represent thoughts that hold you back,  Suppressed desires, unconscious beliefs, thoughts, patterns of behaviour, or the lack of foundation or roots in your life.

Cupboards: Upper cupboards, same for attic. Lower cupboards, same for basement.

Dining room: The dining room represents nourishment  on all levels and a sense of community on our lives. Clutter in the dining room can manifest as feeling unnourished, unnurtured, not taking care of your health, or lacking a sense of community in your life.

Kitchen: The kitchen represents the heart of the home, and in earlier times, the hearth of the home as well, where people cooked food, kept warm and gathered. Therefore the kitchen represents abundance and nurturing. Clutter here could mean you are not fully allowing abundance, the harvest — what you have been working towards, into your life.

Living Room: The living room represents relationships and connections between other people. It is where we unwind and relax after working all day, as well as to entertain friends and family. When the living room is cluttered, it can represent difficult or absent relationships, feeling unconnected from loved ones and your community.

Under: Sometimes clutter is not in a room, but in locations, such as under things (bed, cabinets, cupboards, etc.). When clutter is hidden away underneath things, it can contribute to feeling bogged down and cramped.

 © Copyright 2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

The earth has received the embrace of the sun
and we shall see the results of that love.
-   Hunkesni (Sitting Bull)

“What is beauty, anyway? It’s more than something pleasant looking.
If it doesn’t stop us in our tracks and make us unable to move for a moment, unable to put into words what’s closing off the breath in our throats, then maybe it’s pretty, but it probably isn’t beauty.”  - Alan Alda

In a recent article about the upcoming World Science Festival, Alan Alda discusses the concept of beauty and he writes about how beauty is perceived differently by artists and by scientists.

Of course, what he wrote had me thinking about what I find beautiful. As an artist and photographer I am a keen observer, always looking for things that evoke a sense of beauty. But, as Alan asks… what is beauty anyway?

Last week, I found beauty in a field of wildflowers, bathed in the golden light of sunset. Yesterday I found beauty in a pair of turkey vultures, perched on a branch on a dark, foggy morning drying their feathers. Interesting, as vultures are not often thought of as beautiful.

When I consider beauty, it comes down to what touches my soul. It arises from the eternal nature within all things. Beauty is that which inspires. Beauty reaches my heart in some inexpressible way. It does not have to be physical beauty. And, it doesn’t have to be something I see with my eyes.

Wayne Dyer says “your natural state is beauty”. I think the natural state of the world is beauty. We can see beauty in all things when we are living in a way that is closely aligned with the Divine source; that essential energy that enlivens and vibrates in all things. When we connect with this energy all things have beauty.

Explore beauty. Cultivate it. Be receptive to it. Be willing to be surprised by what you find beautiful. And bring beauty into your surroundings - not what the world or a designer or an art expert says has beauty, but what YOU find has beauty.

Be open to beauty and beauty will be reflected in your life.

Copyright 2008, Deb Swingholm. All rights reserved.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to stand in your own personal power.  We, as a society, are concerned about appearing conceited and/or selfish.  We hesitate to step on toes and worry about hurting other’s feelings.  Yet, sometimes we must stand up and be strong for the universe to help.

Case in point – I have had a long, painful, mysterious illness this year.  For the first 3 months, I was dealing with an over-worked primary care physician and an extremely difficult specialist.  The specialist made me feel like I was really bothering him when I was explaining my symptoms.  He interrupted me, he stopped me from speaking, he was a general pain in the behind to deal with.  Of course, he had no idea what was wrong and sent me away several times with a “let’s see if it gets better on its own” diagnosis.  When I called and told him my symptoms had returned, he said my blood work was back to normal so I shouldn’t be ill.  At first, I was looking at this as an opportunity to stand up to him – and tell him how he was making me feel.  I asked around and generally heard that he is an excellent doctor with a poor bedside manner.  So, I thought, I can handle him – I do need a good doctor.  The last straw involved me being very sick again and him chastising me for missing an appointment when I had asked his staff to re-schedule me if I needed to be seen again.   It was extremely frustrating and I had enough.

It was as if God were holding my hand.

I found myself sitting in my primary care doctor’s office telling the nurse I refused to go back to him and I needed a different referral to a different doctor.  They were hesitant, but obliged.  I made an appointment – I was seen – I had more tests – and finally…a correct diagnosis.  I was sent to a more specialized specialist…probably the best in the country for the procedure I needed….and within 2 weeks I was recovering from the first of 3 surgeries.  I had my final follow-up visit yesterday where I was given a 99.9% chance of never having any trouble like this again.  I feel great – I am healed!

I had to stand up and say no.  I had to be worth it…and once I told the universe I was worth it…..I was put on the perfect path.

On the Bagua, Inner Knowing and Health are close together….like they are holding hands.  It is so important for us to know ourselves, trust our guts, and stand in our power.  While it isn’t always easy to balance our fears and our strengths, my experience has been that guidance is there when you reach for it.  Yet you must raise your hand up, if you want God to hold it.

© Elise Rebman, 2008. All rights reserved.

As I was contemplating beauty, I remembered the Navajo prayer about “walking the way of beauty”. 

At the heart of the Navajo Way is the concept of harmony; seeing the natural state of the universe as having harmony, balance and equilibrium.  This concept is often translated as ‘Beauty’ in English.  The Navaho believe that well-being comes from being in harmony – being in right relationship, knowing yourself, knowing your purpose, following your heart and living in harmony with yourself, your culture and your surroundings.

Healing, wholeness and joy come when we are fully walking in this beautiful balance.  When things are out of alignment, when illness or problems arise, there is an underlying disharmony that must be put right. 

Interior Alignment shares this philosophy and I have collected many versions of this lovely prayer, which is used as a chant in healing ceremonies.  I share two here with you:

In beauty I walk

With beauty before me I walk

With beauty behind me I walk

With beauty above me I walk

With beauty around me I walk

It has become beauty again

It has become beauty again

In Beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With Beauty may I walk.
With Beauty before me, may I walk.
With Beauty behind me, may I walk.
With Beauty above me, may I walk.
With Beauty below me, may I walk.
With Beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
lively , may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of Beauty,
living again, may I walk.
It is finished in Beauty.
It is finished in Beauty.

 

May you walk in harmony and may your life be filled with beauty.

Copyright 2008, Deb Swingholm. All rights reserved.