Where Energy Flows

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.

I love listening to Aretha Franklin when I clean my house. It is music you can move with and I use it to inspire me to do my weekly cleaning.  One of the things my mother taught me is when a person works with their hands their “thought” are put into the item they are working on - so have good thoughts.  All these years later, I remember this when I clean my house and I use this same analogy when I teach Space Clearing. 

I think of my weekly cleaning as mini space clearing and I keep my Intention in my mind and heart that I am moving out lower vibrational items and replacing them with love. I love my home and when I listen to music I love, I am embedding the Energy of love into my home.

As an Interior Alignment™ practitioner I share Feng Shui and space clearing information in workshops. Many times I ask my audience if they listen to music when they clean.  Most hands go up.  I also ask if they like to open windows when they clean, some may answer yes. I share what my mother taught me and also that they are also doing a mini space clearing.  In order for the space clearing to have “heart”, all they need to do is set an intention for their cleaning and what energy they want to embed into their home. As an aside, opening a window, you are inviting the Spirit of Air into your home. From a cultural perspective, opening windows when cleaning is a Germanic custom.  My mother in law told me that is how she was taught to do this when she cleans so that fresh air circulates through out the home as they clean.

I share with you dear reader a free handout that I share with workshop audiences - Ten Ways to Lift Energy In A Home. This is information Denise Linn shared with Interior Alignment™ practitioners and teachers.  I am sure that there are one or two items on this list that you already do in your home to raise the energy or Chi.

TEN WAYS TO LIFT THE ENERGY IN A HOME

• Give the home a surface cleaning- dust and vacuum.

• Toss sea salt in all the corners of every room - be sure to place salt on strips of wax paper or use a small dish in order to protect flooring from salt ring stains.

• Briefly open all the doors and window.

• Take down any negative photos or paintings.

• Get rid of any dead or dying plants - even if you think you can revive them as you are honoring the cycle of life.

• Put out fresh flowers.

• Light a candle.

• Burn incense or essential oils - use the best quality you can afford.

• Put on inspiring music.

• Say a prayer and ask that Divine Light fill the home.

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

Interior Alignment™ is a blending of many belief systems that provides a depth and wealth of knowledge.  As practitioners and teachers of Interior Alignment™ we are also trained to create Altars that bridge the seen and unseen worlds in which we work. I am asked quite often about front door altars. I thought I would share one of my favorites kind of altars, Kuan/Kwan Yin for the front door.

Front door altars from a Feng Shui perspective assists Chi to floor through the door as the altar invites Chi in and from a Space Clearing perspective, the front door altar can provide protection from unwanted energies coming to your home.  So Front door altars provide both a welcome and protection at the same time.

I recently found a book by Daniela Schenker called Kuan Yin, Assessing the Power of the Divine Feminine.  Ms. Schenker goes into great depth about Kuan Yin. I appreciated this depth and sharing as I have a fondness and connection to Kuan/Kwan Yin. I have to say that this book also held another surprise gift. The forward was written by my teacher, Denise Linn. I had no idea that Denise had written this forward where she called for Kuan Yin to come and help with the birthing of her friend’s baby.

Kuan/Kwan Yin is a bodhisattva known for her deep compassion for all sentient beings as she heard the cries of the world.  Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have attained the wisdom of Buddhas but have postponed their final “liberation” or ascension. Instead they provide compassionate support to sentient beings in this world until the sentient being can achieve their own ascension.  She is also known as the protector of women and children. What I did not know was that is 33 images of Kuan/Kwan Yin for contemplation.  So there are 33 different images of Kuan/Kwan Yin to select from for your front door altar. 

The front door altar would be considered a guardian altar as it will face the front door but not directly
across the front door. The best placement is off to one side across the front door. The image you choose of Kuan Yin will protect the entryway of your home.  She will welcome visitors at the same time she will conteract any lower vibrational energies such as negative thoughts from entering your home. As you select items to add to the altar be aware of the significance of the items and your intention for the altar. You may want to add a special candle, flowers, or incense.  A special addition would be peacock feathers. The peacock is known to be Kuan/Kwan Yin’s guardian and will protect us from accidents, other disasters and can absorb negative energies.

Possible images of Kuan/Kwan Yin for the front door altar are with her using a protective mudra which is arms lifted to her chest height and the palms of her hands are parallel and facing each other; or a fearlessness mudra which is the right hand is raised and the open plam faces forward. Images using these mudras are the Four-Armed Kuan/Kwan Yin and the Kuan/Kwan Yin with a Halo of Fire (Kuan/Kwan Yin of Complete Light).

May Kuan/Kwan Yin bless your home.

© Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008. All rights reserved. 

My favorite element of nature is water. When I’m on the water, in the water, or near the water I am in heaven! I know I’m not alone in my love of everything water. Our planet is comprised mostly of water. We start off living in a womb of water. Water is restful, rejuvenating, cleansing and restorative. Not to mention, water brings us much needed negative ions that help balance the positive ions produced by pollution.

It’s no surprise then that water features are a chi enhancer by bringing all the qualities of water to our living spaces. In addition, many water features add a beautiful and soothing sound. Explore the element of water and bring its beauty to your home, office or place of business in any of the following ways.

• Create a fountain of your own. Start with a beautiful, deep ceramic bowl, a submersible pump found at garden stores then add your favorite rocks.
• Surround yourself with photos, posters or paintings of your favorite lake, river, stream or ocean scene.
• Mist your space with distilled water enhanced with your favorite pure essential oils.
• For the committed, aquariums are a delightful addition to any room.

Use your creative genius to bring the restorative, rejuvenating, and cleansing attributes of water to your home or office.

© Catherine Hilker, 2008. All rights reserved.

What is space clearing? This is the number one question I receive when speaking to a new space clearing client.  Space Clearing is the act or process of energetically cleansing a space of unwanted residual or stuck energies.  What this statement means in every day terms, for example, is that in a space clearing a practitioner can remove negative past memories held within a home or clear away a feeling of stagnant closed in feelings.  The practitioner uses intention and special Ceremony to clear away these residual energies.

Why is it important to space clear your home? Many of my clients first want the residual energy removed of past owners or of past issues that held a big emotional charge.  For instance, have you ever gone into a room soon after an argument occurred in that room?  Many times you can still feel the emotions.  This is where the proverb, “it was so tense you could cut it with a knife” comes from.

A space clearing practitioner creates a special ceremony based on a clear intention set by the client.  This preparation for the space clearing is vital as a clear intention and the emotion around that intention is the fuel to bring the ceremony to life.

In Interior Alignment™, we call this special ceremony, Purification.  Purification is like clearing debris from a stream.  We remove the energetic blocks so that Chi, Life Force, can energetically flow smoothly though out the home or space.

As professional space clearing practitioners we are trained to use our intuition and space clearing tools such as bells, Drums, incense and feathers as part of the purification ceremony.  When we are finished space clearing the entire home or space, we then instill the clients intended positive energies into the home, such as love, peace and Abundance.  The client then has an energetically clean space to enjoy their positive energies that fill their home.

© Copyright Yvette Neshi Lokotz, 2008. All rights reserved.