Where Energy Flows

Do you love to assist others in fulfilling their dreams?  Do you enjoy discovering how our environments and energy influence our daily life, our productivity and our success?   Then, perhaps you have considered becoming a Feng Shui and Space Clearing consultant!

Interior Alignment™ practitioners work to create harmonious, healthy environments that support the goals and deepest intentions of our clients.  Using a rich blend of techniques gathered from around the world, we balance the energy of homes, offices, gardens and plots of land. 

An Interior Alignment™  consultation can take many forms.  We may utilize Feng Shui and perform a Space Clearing ceremony.  We may do clutter clearing or work with color.  We may incorporate a Synchro-Alignment guided meditation or complete a Healthy Home assessment. Many times the consultation is done over a period of several sessions, beginning with an interview to assess the client’s intention for the home and their life. The IA Practitioner and client work together closely to make the best possible adjustments to the environment, generating spaces that not only feel good, but also nourish the intentions and goals that were identified.

As Interior Alignment™  Practitioners, we consider a consultation to be one of the highest and most honorable ways to be of service to others.

What does it take to become a Interior Alignment™  consultant, you might wonder.  Well, the first requirement is an open heart and a willingness to assist and empower others.  It takes awareness and observation.  And, it takes some curiosity about how our environments impact our health, vitality, creativity, relationships and productivity.

Beyond this, you simply need to complete the Interior Alignment™  training program with one of our skilled Master Teachers to become proficient in the Interior Alignment methods. 

There are no prerequisites, other than a genuine desire to make a difference!   

Deb Swingholm, 2008.  All Rights Reserved.

Today is such a beautiful and glorious day here in Wisconsin. The final bits of snow have melted and we have a sunny blue skies day. In fact this is a Wisconsin kind of a day. We have 71 degrees with no humidity, the sun is out, the sky is cloudless and brilliant blue. Another good reason it is a beautiful day is I can actually open the windows to ask the Spirit of Air to freshen up my home.

For me the Spirit of Air dwells in the East. I think about how much I connect with the Spirit of Air. In the ascension courses I teach we spend quite of time on breath work and in my Interior Alignment™ Space Clearing work I use feathers, incense and sage bundles to assist as Spirit of Air. I love the smell of sage burning. In fact, each year the very first fire my husband and I have in our outdoor firepit, I give tobacco for all that we have and we are grateful for. I include pinches of cedar, sweetgrass and sage and smell the aroma of and watch as the smoke (the Spirit of Air) carries our prayers to the Creator.

When I perform space clearing ceremonies, my eagle feather, represents the Spirit of Air. I actually use two feathers (the name of my personal business) in space clearing ceremonies both are eagle feathers. One feather I use in the purification part of the ceremony and the other is my dance feather which I use when I dance in my Healing Dress for my clients at the end of the space clearing ceremony.  In my culture and in my clan, we believe that bird feathers carry the message and energy of the Creator. My eagle feather shaft is hollow which makes it is a clear conduit for divine energy. I pray that I too am the clear conduit for divine energy (the Creator’s energy) flow through me as it flows through my eagle feather.  My space clearing feather is simply adorned. I have only a deerhide leather tied on with a few beads. This simple adornment represents my belief in being humble as well as simple adornment means that the adornment doesn’t restrict my movement in a space clearing. 

Most times my primary space clearing tools are my elk hide hand drum, my eagle feather and my Healing Dress.  My drum breaks up stagnant and stuck energies (really shakes things up), my feather moves the stagnant energy remnants out, balances and smoothes out the positive energies.  My Healing Dress is to balance and smooth out the subtle energies and also gives a blessing to my clients.

When I teach the space clearing portion of Interior Alignment™ practitioner certification courses, we cover the Spirit of Air in section called the Alchemy of Air.  My students have the opportunity to feel what it is like to space clear with an eagle feather as this may be the one and only time they are able to have such experience. I am told by some students that the eagle feather vibrates or moves in their hand. This is such a special moment to connect with the Spirit of Air and the essence of Eagle.

May the Spirit of Air bring good tidings to you.

All Rights Reserved. Copyright, Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008.

We are closing in on the final days of December 2007. As we are busy with preparing for the holidays and caught up in the rush and hubbub, we tend to set aside some of the deeper meaning of how our homes help support us throughout the year.  We become unaware of our intuition and our homes when we are so busy.  As you take time out of your busy time to read this blog article, I would like to give you some information to consider for the coming New Year.

Interior Alignment™ is a system founded by Denise Linn. The Interior Alignment™ system is comprised of Instinctive Feng Shui, Space Clearing and Synchro Alignment. I would like to address Instinctive Feng Shui in this post. As professional practitioners of Instinctive Feng Shui we believe that our client’s intuition and our own intuition are our greatest allies in creating a vital energetic home that supports the goals and dreams of our client.

Many times, our client is already on the right track and just needs someone to validate this and encourage them, to empower them. Have you ever, moved furniture or artwork around? Have you ever stood back to look at the arrangement and felt either a “nope this doesn’t look right” or “yup, this looks good!” Well, this is your intuition telling you that this is good feng shui. As a professional we are also there for the client to suggest certain feng shui enhancements to encourage the balance of Chi, the elements and also the Yin/Yang.

Intention is the second most important ally in Instinctive Feng Shui. We assist our clients in clarifying their intentions for their homes, their space. What is really important to them? Then we suggest ways in which their home can help support them in their endeavors. I know this sounds a little out there, but we believe that everything has a life force. So, as we begin to move items in the home around, we add items or take items away…..we are basically using the items innate life force to better support the clients goals. As we make these changes, the changes are done with clear intention.

How can you begin to clarify your intentions on your own? Well, I would suggest you become a detective, a sleuth, in your own home. Your home contains hundreds of clues.

Since we are so familiar with our homes, we tend to look past these clues. Look at your home with the eyes of a detective. Start with your front door area. This is the architectural front door. Really take in what is there and how this area is welcoming guests, you – Chi. As you move around your home from room to room, look for the clues to what feels good and what doesn’t feel good. Make a list of the clues. Soon you will begin to see a pattern forming from the clues. At this point you can begin to identify what kind of feeling you want to have when you are home and how each room can support that feeling.

This is only a beginning to help you to identify your intention for the feeling in your home. There are many more layers to complete a feng shui assessment, but this is one step you can take on your own – empowering by using your intuition and awareness.

Copyright.  All Rights Reserved, Neshi Lokotz, 2007.

A few days ago I reviewed a great resource guide and DVD on reducing toxic exposures in the home for pregnant women and their babies. The title is Better Safe than Sorry - Hidden Exposures all Parents Need to Know, and it is put out by the Center of Education for Children’s Health and the Environment.

This is an excellent resource and very in tune with the Healthy Home part of the Certified Practitioner of Interior Alignment™ training. For many years Interior Alignment™ has stressed the importance of reducing toxins in the home. 

There have been so many changes in home environments in the last twenty to twenty-five years. Homes are more energy efficient and many do not naturally exchange air, unless we remember to open the windows or install an air exchange system. The huge increase of chemicals in our environment is creating chemical sensitivity in many people, and pregnant mothers, babies and young children are particularly at risk. 

Many of the products mentioned in the Better Safe than Sorry DVD are things you would not necessarily think about as being harmful but in fact most homes contain a complex cocktail of pollutants from many common household products (see Helen’s post Natural Cosmetics for a Healthy Home for example.) These common household products can include formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, ozone, radon, sulfur dioxide and particulates from cigarette smoke.

The Better Safe than Sorry guide tells you what products to avoid in the workplace while you are pregnant and what to use in your home — which are the safer plastics, what to look for when setting up your nursery, and how to read labels on cleaning and personal product labels to make informed choices. And there is much more.

You may be aware that a Certified Interior Alignment™ Practitioner can help you design a child-friendly environment (for example see  Brenda’s post on creating emotional safety for children through feng shui.

But did you know CPIA’s are also trained to do a Healthy Home assessment? We can help you to create a healthful environment for whatever stage of life you are in — from your 1st pregnancy and baby, to welcoming your new grandchild into your home. 

As you sit comfortably listening to birds singing, the wind blowing through the trees, or wind chimes softly ringing as they sway with the breeze, you become aware of a sense of calmness coming to you.  This feeling of calmness increases as you close your eyes and breathe slow and deep.  Some may call this meditation, other may call this contemplation, we, practitioners of Interior Alignment™ call this the beginning of a Synchro Alignment session.  Synchro Alignment is a tool that is unique to Interior Alignment™ that is used to assist a client to connect with their Spirit or Soul.

As Interior Alignmen™t practitioners we are trained to assist our clients in the relaxation of their physical bodies and mental mind so that they can connect with their Soul Self.  The client’s Soul Self already knows the answers that the client seeks.  The Interior Alignment™ practitioner is a facilitator of this form of guided meditation to assist the client in connecting with their Soul Self.  Synchro Alignment is a very useful tool to assist clients to identify what they truly want such as what kind of energy or feeling they want in their home.  Synchro Alignment can also be helpful if the client is undecided or unable to choose between multiple options such as paint color.

My undergraduate degree is in psychology. I worked with a professor as an assistant on her study of acute and chronic pain back in 1986-7.  In this study I was trained in guided meditation to work with clients.  I have to admit, I was pretty good.  Little did I know that I would be drawing on this skill for my Interior Alignment™ practice and teaching this skill, tool, in my Interior Alignment™ certification courses. As an Interior Alignment™ Master Teacher, I find it very gratifying to teach new practitioners the art of Synchro Alignment.  New practitioners can be self conscious at first, but I find it is best to just jump in and practice as much as you can.  I found it helpful when I was a new practitioner to audio tape myself as I practiced to hear my voice and how my voice sounds to a client.  I even had my husband go through Synchro Alignments so that I practice as much as I possible.

There are some attendees who come to my workshops at least once a year so that they can go through another Synchro Alignment meditation and learn more aspects about their connection to their home. 

Synchro Alignment is unique to Interior Alignment™ as we are the only trained feng shui professionals who use this type of meditation to work with a client. If you ever have the opportunity to experience a Synchro Alignment, please take the opportunity and meet with your Soul for the answers you seek about your home. 

Copyright 2007, Neshi Lokotz. All rights reserved.   

As Interior Alignment™ practitioners, we are trained to assist our clients to determine and focus on what kind of energy do they want in their homes or offices. As Interior Alignment™ teachers we assist our students in clarifying their intentions to practice Interior Alignment™. As I prepare to teach my next Interior Alignment™ certification course, I am pondering this energy allocation dance, a dance that is choreographed to our individual and unique personality and spirit. As I teach those who study with me, we discuss a term I call, energy allocation. Energy allocation is about how and where we want to spend or expend our personal energies: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. As we become clearer as to what we want to spend or expend our energies on, our quest to identify what kind of energy do we want in our homes and offices becomes easier. An example of this energy allocation is how do you spend your physical money. Money is a symbol of personal energy. You allocate your physical energies to go to a certain kind of job or work, you spend 8 plus hours a day, 5 days a week at this work or job. The energy exchange for your attendance and productivity is a paycheck or payment in money. How then do you take this physical money and decide how to allocate that energy? How does this translate into your intentions for the kind of energy you that would like in your Wealth or Career area of your home or office?

Another example of energy allocation is how you spend or allocate your time. The measurement of time is a human creation. Since we created this measurement, we have the opportunity to decide how we want to spend that measurement or allocate our energy within that measurement. As you clarify your intention for the kind of energy you desire in your home and life you then decide how and when you want to spend your time energy. What are your priorities and how do you want to spend your time within those priorities? Many of my clients and students rank family very high on their priorities, yet they realize that they allocate very little time to their family. Determine what the quantity and quality of the time that is spent with your family. Quality is just as important as when or how much time you spend or allocate. Ask yourself, how focused is my energy that I spend with my family?

Another layer of energy allocation is focus. Once your intentions are clarified and you know what kind of energy you would like to have in your home or office, then determine how well do you focus your energy on the activities that support the intention. I believe that this is how we consciously live our life and how our home can support our intentions for our life.

Energy allocation is a term I use to assist others to identify and clarify their dreams, goals and desires for the kind of life that they truly want to live and create a home that will support them, a sacred space. Have fun allocating your energies.

Copyright. Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2007. All Rights Reserved

Do you have an abundance altar in our home or office? Did you know that an abundance altar energizes the area of your home or office that the altar resides in? Why of course you did, but let’s share about a certain idea.

As a Master Teacher and Educator of Interior Alignment™ Certification courses, I share with my students about how an abundance altar is helpful in their own professional practice.  As with any altar creation, intention is very important.  Begin by indentifying what abundance, wealth, and prospertity means to you personally.  This is a definintion beyond Webster’s dictionary.  Once you have a clear meaning for abundance, wealth and prosperity, you can begin to clarify your intention for your abundance altar. The time and energy that you take to define abundance, wealth, and prosperity is worth the effort as you will begin to accept that your definition may not mean abundance to another person. 

For instance the energy of Buffalo (the American Bison) is a symbol of abundance for many Native American Nations.  I have a statute of a Buffalo with her calf on my abundance altar.  (I am Prarie Band Potawatomi and my Nation takes the stewardship of the Buffalo so seriously that we have a herd on our reservation to stay connected with the Wisdom of Buffalo.)  The symbol of Buffalo means health and vitality, life force, to many Native peoples. Not only did it provide sustance but Buffalo also provided shelter - a home, clothing and luxuries.  The Annishabe Nation, you may know this Nation as the Ojibiwa Nation, may use the symbol of wild rice in their definition of abundance.  What is your definition of abundance, wealth and prosperity?

Consider placing your abundance altar in the Wealth area of your home for the maxium assistance from your home to support your intentions, life goals and desires.

As you place thoughtful items on your abundance altar, consider including a symbol of your personal business.  This symbol of your personal business may be your business card or a brochure.  As you receive payment for service to your clients, place the payment on the abundance altar for a few days so that you may show your gratitude and also bless the payment.

I would also suggest placing a candle of your favorite color and scent on the altar. You may want to research the energetic qualities of colors (see Deborah Redfern’s IA blog articles about color) and the energetic qualities of certain flower essence or essential oils scents to add another layer of intention to your abundance altar. 

On my abundance altar, I have a candle with the essence of Angel Wings, my lingam gifted to me by my teacher, Denise Linn, which is in a red glass bowl filled with sand so that the lingam can stand upright. I also have citerine stones on my altar that were gifted to me by friend and co-Master Educator Rainy Jordon.  Citerine is known as the merchant stone for abundance. And, I have my business card in a prominent place on the altar as well.  (Please see picture)

Each time I light the candle I have in my mind and heart all that I am grateful for and that I am open to all the positive abundance and prosperity flowing to me from Spirit. 

May your abundance altar energize your home.  Blessings, Neshi.

Copyright Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2007.  All rights reserved