Where Energy Flows

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.

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.

 

Nature nourishes the soul.  Our homes will either separate us from nature or connect us to it.

Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul

Our homes have an enormous impact on our state of mind. They can make us feel as though we are plunging into the depths of despair, or they can be uplifting havens of beauty and rejuvenation. I believe the soul yearns for places of sanctuary and balance, ones that provide authentic reminders of what is truly important in life.

Denise Linn, Feng Shui for the Soul

There are a few colours in the spectrum that are stimulating and relaxing at the same time. Green is one of them and purple is the other: from the lightest lilac and lavender, to sweet violet and plums, vivacious magenta, and the deep earthy shades of wine, burgundy and eggplant.

There are a few symbols connected with purple, namely wealth, spirituality and power. The connection with wealth is because obtaining purple dye from natural sources is costly and difficult. Historically only those in high positions could afford it, such as royalty and the head of religious orders (for example the Pope of the Catholic religion.) These are of course, positions of power in society.

In feng shui, purple is one of the colours, along with blue and red that represents abundance and prosperity. Although I believe originally purple signified material wealth, the association it has with spirituality and insight can mean the inner wealth that comes from spiritual growth. Purple represents the crown chakra which connects us to our higher source and life path on earth. It is associated with psychic awareness and intuition and can be used to lift you into a higher spiritual plane.

Some of the uses of purple are:

• It is relaxing and at the same time mentally uplifting
• Stimulates creativity and motivation
• Balances the right and left brain (yin and yang)
• Opens consciousness of the higher planes of existence
• Can be used for inner purification and protection
• To assist in going on an inner journey for spiritual growth

However, purple can be…

• depressing in large doses or over large areas
• not a good colour to wear if you are feeling oversensitive and vulnerable.

In the Home: A lot depends on the shade but generally purple is a yin colour and best used for areas that have quiet or restful activities. As well, some shades of purple such as deep violet, eggplant or royal purple can feel cold and stark, and the message this gives out could be ‘unapproachable or ‘keep back’ both of which would tend to put distance between people. For this reason it is not a good colour to use in areas that you want to be highly social, so I wouldn’t recommend it for the family room, living room, dining room or kitchen.

However some shades such as lavender, lilac and magenta are warmer in tone and in home decorating I recommend these lighter shades; keep the deeper shades of purple as accents. Green also works very well as an accent for purple.

Purple is a great colour choice for bedrooms and the shade of lavender (and also the herb or essential oil) is useful for people who have insomnia. The lighter shades of purple are also suitable for a meditation or healing room.

Copyright ©2007 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.

One of the most versatile and popular colours in recent history, indigo is known to most of us simply as denim or ‘blue jeans’. Indigo dyed pants were originally clothing worn by cowboys, miners and factory workers. In the 50’s they were adopted by the youth, and what was originally an act of rebellion became a fashion staple. The rebelliousness was, I believe, a search for deeper meaning and universal truths, and the colour indigo represents those ideals.

Indigo is the colour assigned to the Brow, or Third Eye chakra. This chakra relates to spirituality, intuition and the ability to see beyond the face value of things. In feng shui, the deep blue of indigo relates to the Abundance area of the bagua, which at first glance may seem counter productive to spiritual pursuits. However, the element for the Abundance area is Wood and the wood element is about growth and flexibility. Now there can be different types of growth — rapid growth and slow growth. Rapid growth can lack inner stability - like a spindly, light starved plant - but slow growth allows time for a solid structure and foundation to develop.

In healing systems, indigo is related to the skeleton, which is the structure and foundation for the body. Putting it all together, the story and message of Indigo is that the search for deeper spiritual truths takes one on the path to wisdom and the true source of abundance and stability.

~*~ Healing Properties of Indigo ~*~

• Feeds and strengthens the bones and skeleton
• Stimulates the parathyroid gland
• Calms and sedates — can counteract Insomnia
• Increases creativity, inspiration and intuition
• Brings pain relief, especially from rheumatism
• Heals skin disorders such as eczema
• Eases varicose veins

~*~ In the Home ~*~

Although deep blue is a sophisticated and refined colour it is difficult to decorate with because it yin and therefore cold. In paint (as a colour for walls) I find it often looks harsh, especially when combined with white for a nautical theme. Indigo actually works better with similar deep colours such as burgundy, grey, mid-toned blues or black but a palette of deep hues could well be very drab and depressing in the home — extremely yin.

When using indigo in your colour scheme, the best use is as accent colours. It looks beautiful mixed with mid toned blues (think Delft pottery from the Netherlands). In textiles, indigo can be elegant or casual. I love the traditional Japanese textile art of Tsutsugaki. Denim looks great in jeans and can look great in the home too. Also pay attention to textures: a shiny surface gives a colder feel than a matt one — in textiles think of the difference between satin and suede.

Where to use it: like other shades of blue, indigo gives a feeling of peace and a calming influence in meditation and therapy rooms. In bedrooms use as an accent only and warm it up with other colours — or else you may find yourself ’singing the blues’. The same applies for family rooms, dining rooms and studies.  Blue is an introspective colour: It does not foster sociability and communication and too much of it tends to be depressing after awhile.  

Copyright Deborah Redfern, 2007. All rights reserved.