Where Energy Flows

When I began learning energy healing systems many years ago, I remember long, enthusiastic, and sometimes uncomfortable conversations I had with friends about which modality was deeper: was Reiki ‘deeper’ than Therapeutic Touch because the hands were on the body? Or was Therapeutic Touch more profound because the practitioner was sensing subtle energy fields around people?  Oddly enough, I remember hearing people’s opinions that massage was not as deep as Reiki. You can’t get much more ‘hands on’ than massage.  Hmmm… 

Our understanding of Energy is what has really deepened over the years: There is only one source of energy which operates exactly the same whether the modality is TT, Reiki or another. (I mention these two because these are the ones I’ve studied in depth.)

I see some of the same discussions happening around Feng Shui and Space Clearing today: that one type of feng shui (or the original or ‘real’ feng shui) is better than another, or that a particular space clearing ceremony is preferable over another, or is only effective so long as it is done with specific space clearing tools.

As an Interior Alignment™ feng shui and space clearing teacher, my main concern is the information being put out is fear-inducing and/or doubt producing. I’m talking about the schools who publicly ‘evaluate’ other schools. Imagine how a person would feel after reading or hearing an established teacher and/or school dismissing other schools…what if they are talking about your school?! I went through that stage myself when I first began practicing Interior Alignment™.

For a short time I honestly thought I had made a dreadful mistake in the school I chose, but when I was able to be objective, I saw the comparisons with the Energy Healing modality discussions and I also remembered the generosity of spirit that attracted me to Interior Alignment™.

What I learned from my teacher Denise Linn and Interior Alignment™ is that the depth, intensity or profoundness of the method depends on how focused the practitioner is and whether they understand Intention: energy flows where intention goes. Having compassion and integrity are also important.

The tools and techniques are not the most important thing. A $20 Bell is as effective as a $200 Bell if it is loved and treated with respect and as a sacred object. In fact, space clearing can be done with no tools at all: as with Energy Healing it is done through holding the Intent and being sufficiently focused.

So it is really what resonates within the practitioner, what interests and excites us, what feels like a natural fit, or makes us feel like we are ‘called’. On the other end, of the client, there is usually a vibrational match: the client will feel drawn to a particular modality, or a particular practitioner.  

A point a yoga teacher made has stuck with me: she said half an hour of a lower vibration emotion such as anger or fear can do more harm than eating white bread and sugar for a week. So rather than engaging in the discussions about what is best, authentic or deeper – which almost inevitably will lead to experiencing lower vibrational emotions – I simply know that if one school resonates with a person, it is the right school for them.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

I found this as I was doing some of that wonderful “spring-desk-clutter-clearing.”  Great food-for-thought for everyone. May they be words for you to grow with.

I am here to bring beauty and balance to all that I touch…

I am here to create a place of peace and quiet…

I am balance, peace and most of all Love.

I resonate with the organization of live and solitude.

I resonate with the aura of healing.

I resonate with all that Earth Mother inspires.

I am committed to personal growth.

I am committed to encouraging growth in others.

I am committed to healing all who ask.

                                                      by: An Group of Amazing Women

Pray Peace, as you wander daily life and Love.

As a feng shui practitioner, one of the things I love is that it can be presented to people according to their comfort level and belief systems. I use 3 levels, or intensities of feng shui, which are: 

1. cures and enhancements
2. home as a metaphor
3. Intent

 Cures and Enhancements
The first level is the initial feng shui set-up and arrangement of your home. This is the stage where you will deal with all the big items such as missing areas of the bagua map, arrangement of furniture, and the flow of chi. Cures and enhancements are often ‘one-time” something that is set up and finished. Other enhancements may be seasonal. 

Home as a Metaphor
In the second level of feng shui  I look at is the metaphors in your home. Every object in your home has an energy and ‘story’. Some of the stories are wonderful, others clearly are not optimal and still others are in a grey area. There is just something about it that ‘isn’t right.’

When there are mixed emotions about an object it is especially important to look closer. It might be an object that is beautiful to look at, but the circumstances under which you got it were less than ideal. Or there is a less than ideal history with people who are involved. Although you may not consciously think of the associations every time you look at the item, you may be aware that something is not quite right and it will affect the overall energy of the room and your energy.

Intention
In the third level, we bring your intentions into the equation. For example if your Intention is to find a romantic relationship, we will be looking at the metaphors in your home that either support, or do not support that intention. It is not uncommon for example to see that someone has put items in their home that sabotage your efforts to meet someone. Metaphors can also take the form of clutter or neglect.

I encourage my clients to remove those items that are not supportive and replace them with things that reflect your intentions. For example it might be images of healthy happy relationships in the relationship areas. Some people will choose to have traditional feng shui enhancements (pairs of things in the relationship area) but it can really be any symbol that supports your goals and dreams in life.

Some people may not choose to beyond the first level of feng shui - and this is neither right or wrong, but a personal preference. They may choose at a later date to go deeper in to the energy patterns of their home and I consider myself fortunate to be a guide in this process.

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

“I have come back again to where I belong; not an enchanted place, but the walls are strong.” — Dorothy H. Rath.

When I did my Interior Alignment^TM and Feng Shui training in California in 2001, I learned Synchro Alignment, which is a system that synchronises and aligns a person’s energy and Intention with their home. It can also tell us how our home affects us on a subconscious level.

The first time we practiced this technique, we had to lead each other through the rooms of our home through guided visualization beginning at our front doors. When my partner led me, the first thing that I noticed is that my front door really bothered me. The screen door squeaked and the spring was too tight so that the door smacked me in the back as I was unlocking the front door.

I knew both things in my waking consciousness, but until I did this exercise I didn’t realise how much irritation was involved. Basically every single time I went into my house the first thing I felt was irritation. This is significant. The front door is where all the energy for your home enters. Terah Kathryn Collins in Feng Shui Room by Room, calls the front door the “avenue of good fortune that attracts helpful people and opportunities into your home.” The front door is the place you and everyone who comes to your home, makes lasting impressions about who you are.

Good feng shui for front doors is common sense. We know it reflects poorly on us if the finish on our front doors is damaged, or if the paint is chipped and peeling. We know lighting over the door is important, and that it should be replaced promptly when bulbs burnt out. Obstacles on the path or steps leading to your front door can be dangerous, so we know already they should be moved out of the way. We do a good job on the ‘big’ front door issues already. It is sometimes the more subtle things that give pause for thought.

When we neglect things like squeaky hinges, doorknobs that wobble, or doors that do not fully open because of items stored behind them, this can indicate a degree of neglect for ourselves. We might fix the problem for someone else, but not for ourselves.

The first thing I did when I came home from California was oil the hinges. And I loosened the spring on the screen door. I painted the cement pathway a gorgeous eggplant colour and stencilled some stars in a meandering pattern with metallic paint. The screen door is painted in the same shade of purple and the inner door is painted is a softer lavender. Now it looks so pretty, like a much-loved old pair of blue jeans, and it is part of the Energy of my home. It is comfortable and accepting. It is a place where I can be myself. And I now when I come home I feel welcomed. 

© Deborah Redfern, 2008. All rights reserved.

On an early Saturday morning, I sit in a quiet place with a warm cup of tea.  As I sit comfortably and relaxed with an uncharacteristic quiet mind, I hear the tingling of wind chimes which hang outside my door.  The sound is so special and reminds me of healing through Sacred Sound.

In Interior Alignment™, practitioners are taught that Sacred Sound affects people and all things both emotionally and physically. Using Sacred Sound in Space Clearing is one way to remove stuck and stagnant energies in a space.  Sound creates form even those sounds that are not audible to the human ear.  As the sound moves out from the source of the sound, the sound travels through the space and even through what we tend to believe are solid objects.  Science now tells us that nothing is completely solid as there is space between the molecules that make up the “solid” object.  Sacred Sound moves through all things with in a space.

Space Clearing with Sacred Sound can take many forms: Bells, chimes, gongs, singing bowls, tuning forks, ting shas, Drums, rattles, prayer wheels, clapping and voice (such as toning or chanting). Each space clearing tool is unique to the practitioner using the tool as the tool is an extension of the practitioner and the practitioner is an extension of Spirit.We have written about the importance of Intention many times within our blog articles.  This article is no different. Intention is the most important tool in space clearing.  The practitioner holds the client’s intention for the space clearing as well as the intention that the Sacred Sound will break up the stuck and stagnant energies, dispersing them and releasing them to Spirit. When I teach this part to students, I use the analogy that learning how to consciously space clear is like learning how to drive a stick shift car.  As you first learn how to drive a stick shift car, you wonder how you are going to remember to do so much at one time.  Driving the stick shift car you are shifting the gear shift, using the clutch and the break at the same time, using the turn signal, listening to the radio and turning the wheel.  This is all at the same time.  At first driving the stick shift car feels difficult and at times over whelming, but with practice you become very adept at the new skill.  After some time driving the stick shift car you become relaxed and enjoy the experience.

I love space clearing.  I love to space clear using my drum.  I use a 15 inch Elk skin hand drum that I made in my Advanced Interior Alignment™ practitioner course in 2002.  As I begin to clear space, I feel the connection between the drum and me, a partnership.  The connection is palpable.  We are allies. I listen for a change in the sound of the drum as we space clear.  The speed of the drumming will also change as we move through denser energy and the denser energy begins to break up and move out of the space.  I will go back over the same space with my Eagle feather to smooth out the space after it has been shaken up.

As I stand in the center of the space, I sense or feel the space.  I can feel the change, but more importantly my client can sense and see the change as well.  Colors look brighter, and it is easier to breath.  The room looks crisp, clean and feels fresh.  The feeling of a Sacred Space.

There is an old saying, which I believe is Tibetan, “when a bell rings, its sound travels throughout the Universe and back to the bell”.  I like this belief as it can be attributed to all Sacred Sound.  This is a true blessing.

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

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.