Where Energy Flows

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.

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am contemplating how families celebrate this U.S. holiday.  The Thanksgiving Day celebration may have a “traditional” turkey dinner with football on the television or the “traditional” turkey dinner and grownups sitting at the dining table with children at a card table. Some families remember to include gratitude when they say grace and some families are content with just being with family and their gratitude is silent.

This time of year, I receive questions about how Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. This question is usually about how Native Americans feel about celebrating a holiday that may be more of a controversy. I generally reply that some Native Americans don’t celebrate this holiday and some do.  I can only share with them how my family gathers during this time of year. I would like to share this with you as well.  Generally speaking this article is not about the profession of Interior Alignment™ specifically but rather how we can become interiorly aligned as we develop new ceremony or traditions that blend together those aspects a “traditional way of celebrating” with a more “modern way of celebrating”. I have come to learn that Interior Alignment™ is about both the internal and external worlds, and family life during the holidays is a good time to take a reading of how well we have adjusted our beliefs or traditions to have a truly happy and joyful life beyond the one day we are celebrating.

In my family, since we are a blending of cultures (North American Native American, Aztec, German, and French) we typically have celebrated this American holiday together but not necessarily for the “traditional thanksgiving dinner”. Yes, we gather for a very large meal and yes, there may be a small turkey on the table (usually a wild harvested turkey), but we also have enchiladas, venison roast, tofu, fry bread, cranberries, wild rice and bread stuffing.  A virtual smorgasbord table of culturally diverse food fills our table. Thanksgiving Holiday falls in the middle of the Wisconsin deer hunting season.  My family relies on the tradition of venison as one of our main foods year round, so my family hunts together and is thankful for how the Creator provides for our entire family.

The thanksgiving begins much earlier than the meal itself.  Some of my family members will give tobacco in the morning, some will go to church, some will be out deer hunting and communing with nature.  As we sit down together, the children say a prayer of thankfulness for the bounty and for our lives together as the adults enjoy the children’s voices and remember family members who may not be present. I believe that most American families are similar as they celebrate and give thanks.  As Dr. Maya Angelou says, “we are more similar than we are dissimilar”.  People experience and show their individual connection to a Higher Infinite Power in their own sacred way, especially on special and significant holidays. The sacredness of this Thanksgiving Holiday actually is year round, as my mother taught her children to give thanks to the Creator for our lives, for what we have in our lives and for our family every day.  May you have a blessed thankful day.

Copyright, All rights Reserved, Neshi Lokotz, November 2007

I can’t believe that it has been 3 weeks since my return from California where I attended the first ever Interior Alignment™ Conference.  It was my pleasure and definately my honor to serve on the planning committee for this conference.  The planning committee worked so well together that it was pure fun to plan this gathering.

We met at Asilomar near Monterey California.  Asilomar is a beautiful resort amid a state park. I actually saw a 6 point buck every morning as I went to our meeting place at 6:30 in the morning.  The first morning, I was surprised and captivated by this deer’s beauty and his sense of safety!!

Denise Linn, Interior Alignment™ founder, gave the keynote address.  Denise spoke of “home” and how no matter where we go or where we live “we are home” within our selves.  We also had the opportunity to experience one of Denise’s famous guided meditations.  Each of the following 6 presenters volunteered their time and expertise. We heard about color, the bagua, two different perspectives on marketing and sacred geometry.

I have to say my most cherished memories from this conference is meeting other Interior Alignment™ professionals whose name I know from our yahoo e-group.  I enjoyed the time we spent chatting and putting together the name, the face and personalities.  I look forward to the next Interior Alignment™ conference and to meet more IA professionals and also those who are interested in becoming an Interior Alignment™ practitioner.

Many Blessings, Neshi.

All rights reserved.  Neshi Lokotz, Nov 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.