Where Energy Flows

Following up on Elise’s article on being ‘green’, so what about your face and body? Are the products you are using green? I would love to be, but finding natural products that work for me have been a problem. When I trained as an Aromatherapist I tried making my own natural concoctions. I guess it depends on your skin type but I found the beeswax based ones do not work for me (no Bert’s Bees for me). The odour of beeswax gives me a headache and I find the products sit on top of my skin and I end up looking greasy. Yuck!

The best natural product I found were just plain plant oils: fractionated coconut was one I used a lot, with a custom blend of essential oils. I loved the smell so they were successful that way, but I eventually believed the oil wasn’t really doing much for my skin. 

I’m lucky that my skin is in pretty good shape but I do need moisturizer and I get red patches on my forehead and nose. At one point I caved in and began to use foundation and I looked better (I thought so, and got positive feedback on how well I was looking) but I didn’t feel great about it. I never was much of a make-up girl and I think it is better to solve a problem than cover it up.

So I have been on the lookout for green products for the skin that actually work.  Recently I’ve started using Skin Biology. I bought some trial packages to sample and I’m using a copper peptide cream, squalane (which is from olive oil), and Calypsos oil (which is a plant oil combination), a very light body oil. I also got Emu oil with my kit. I am not happy about using an animal product as a cosmetic but my face and body like it. I did muscle-testing and dowsing to see it was right for me to use. 

To reinforce the Emu oil, today while I was at an outdoor market I found a local supplier. They were created by a local physician who developed MS and then recovered by using Emu oil as well as a number of other nutrional supplements. We got another small bottle of Emu Oil for my husband to try out and I bought a lip balm. I have to admit I didn’t have high expectations on the lip balm since I’ve been disappointed by so many others. But this one works. It is light, lasts a long time and doesn’t burn my lips.

After using these products for a week - alternating between the 3 facial blends - the redness is practially gone. If this keeps up, I’ll be tossing out the cosmetics for good.

So…how do feel about putting on a green face? Are you ready to go green? Here’s what one person I admire has to say on the subject. Take it away Kermit.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

What gives a site good feng shui? 

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As Interior Alignment™ practitioners we actively use the form school in urban settings by using structures that are found in cities. For example tall trees or higher buildings in the back of your home represent the Pillow Mountain. Smaller buildings or plants on either side of the home represent the tiger and dragon.

We also use the principles inside the home, or the office to create ideal placement of furniture and energy flow, so that people feel secure and supported.

© Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

Traditionally in feng shui the career area is about what you do for a living, but it can also refer to your passions in life. In recent years it has become popular to talk about passions as if they were everyday common sense sort of things – as if we all could concisely describe our passions and were actively living them. 

In teaching Soul Coaching classes, I find that one of the reasons people have difficulty manifesting goals and dreams – using the law in of attraction in their lives — is because they do not know precisely what they are. The Career Area is as much about exploring passions as it is about helping your career to flourish.

It is interesting to note that the trigram for the career area translates to Deep Water. It means the process of going deeply inside to find the quintessential nature that is you. This is deeper than passions (or another way to put it is what lies underneath your passions). Most of us actually have more than one passion, with each representing a different phase or time in your life. Some of these naturally fade out out and then return with renewed interest. So you can say that the Career area is also about change, or alchemy. If you look at the nature of water, this is very fitting because water changes shape radically, from cloud to fog, mist, rain, snow and ice; from fresh to salt water, yet underneath water is quintessentially water. Similarly with passions, if you look closely enough, you will discover there is a common thread that runs throughout your life in these passions, one which relates to your values and inner purpose. This will connect you to the quintessential nature that is you, and will tell you what you need to feel whole. 

Working with the Career Area is an opportunity to transform your life from ’settling’ to choosing your life. Working with a life coach is often very beneficial in exploring these questions. As a Certified Soul Coach as well as being a Feng Shui Master, I have combined the two modalities into some unique offerings. You can read more about this at Feng Shui Coaching.

Traditional Feng Shui Enhancements to Activate the Career Area

Locate the Career Area of your home. (Click here to see the bagua map). To enhance your career or explore your passions in life, use some of these feng shui enhancements in the Career area your home:

Locate the Career Area of your home. To enhance your career or explore your passions in life, use some of these feng shui enhancements in the Career area your home: 

 The colour for this area is black or very dark shades of other colours

• Add items related to the element of water such as fountains and water features.
• Use images and symbols of water - oceans, lakes, or waterfalls.
• Mirrors represent the element of water.
• Include objects which remind you of your career such as diplomas and awards.
• Put items that represent your passions in your life.
• Add items that represent your journey, inner search for meaning or wholeness in your life.
• Since fire puts out water, anything related to the element of fire should be reduced or eliminated. This include symbols of fire: images of the sun or sunsets, candles, fireplaces, sun colours (red, orange) and triangular shapes. Electrical appliances are also the in the fire element family, so consider removing any extraneous electrical gadgets.

© Deborah Redfern, 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.

I suppose one tends to think that a feng shui practitioner would be completely clutter-free. Well, surprise! Almost all of us have clutter to some degree. I admire homes which have that ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ look, but that’s not me. I do try my best to keep things in order, realizing at the same time that having things around probably feeds my creativity. 

One room in my house periodically gets completely out of control though — our tiny storage room. When we moved in, it was difficult to imagine filling it. We saw the empty space and thought ‘meditation room’ or even an office space (vetoed because it was really too small). There also needed to be a place for the cat litter box and this was the best location for it.

Once the litter box went in there the space wasn’t long filling up but it was organized at least. Soon however, it became the ”I’ll just put this here for now” room. By the time I couldn’t stand it anymore I had created a narrow aisle on one side, in which to get to the litter box.

It took a few days to get it completely cleared out and reorganized. Right now it is clear and the energy is good. At the same time I know that this room will always suffer from the ‘let’s put this here just for now and get it out of the way’ syndrome.

It is good feng shui to keep on top of what we are keeping and deal with accumulation before it grows to the ‘can’t stand it’ level, but at the same time we do need areas in our home that are utilitarian and functional — the place where the litter box goes, to store the recycling, or to keep the Christmas decorations — or whatever.  

I believe the best feng shui strategy it to acknowledge that we need storage rooms and that they will get messy from time to time, and to allow it. We can compensate for whatever bagua map gua these areas fall into into by enhancing that area in other rooms — and to schedule periodic clean ups in that storage room to keep the energy moving.

(c) Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved. 

I’m currently reading “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire and in a round-about kind of way, it reminded me of the post I wrote a while ago on the Five Element and the Wizard of Oz and this seems like a good time to offer it again. 

Five Elements and the Wizard of Oz

In Feng Shui the Five Elements are used to bring a balance in our lives. Usually this means having a balance of all five elements of Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth in our living spaces. But first, let’s understand the Five Elements. L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard Oz illustrates this delightfully! In this tale you can see balanced and imbalanced examples of the five elements.

Cast  

Fire: The Wizard
Water:  The Cowardly Lion
Metal:  The Tin Man
Wood: The Scarecrow
Earth: Dorothy

Fire is about taking action. The Wizard is not in balance when we first encounter him. He portrays himself as a firey ball. but he is all talk and no action. When he is revealed as a fake, he steps up to the plate as a real leader and initiator and in so doing, he finds a new sense of direction and purpose for his life.

Water is about emotions and the Cowardly Lion is a very fearful and sensitive creature who cries at the drop of a hat. The Wizard gives the Lion a medal for bravery and the Lion finds his courage. While keeping his sensitivite nature he is much more composed emotionally after he get’s his medal for bravery.

Metal is about rational thought, organization and intellectual powers. In an imbalanced state, someone who has too much metal energy (as the Tin man believes) lacks compassion and depth of emotion: he is rigid and has no heart. At the end of the story, The Wizard gives him a heart, and a testimonial which increases his capacity to both give and receive love.

Wood is about growth, flexibility and productivity. In the beginning the Scarecrow is so flexible he can hardly stand up. He also believes he has no brains, and judging by what happens when he loses his straw stuffing, we see that he does indeed lack substance. The Wizard gives him a diploma and as soon as he believes in himself, he grows substantially and becomes ’smart.’ 

Earth is nurturing and supportive.  Dorothy’s story is about feeling un-nurtured and taken for granted. In her inner journey and interactions with the other characters/elements she learns how to nurture others and through this, recognizes something of her own value, hence the famous line “there’s no place like home.” She comes to rely much more on her inner recources to give her stability and value.

Copyright Deborah Redfern 2007. All rights reserved.

A while ago I wrote a series on the impact of colours in feng shui and it was suggested that I bring all these posts together in one place. So here it is!

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.