Basic Concepts of Feng Shui

 

Feng Shui is the Chinese art of placement that is thousands of years old. In Feng Shui, your surroundings or environment can be a reflection of your life. You can thus influence your life in positive ways by making appropriate changes in your environment and surroundings. Below is an outline of several things you can do to start applying Feng Shui principles to your home.

Evaluate your home using the bagua: The bagua is the map of life's valuable qualities. Your experiences, at any given moment, can fit into one these nine areas of the bagua. These areas include: Wealth and Prosperity, Fame and Reputation, Love and Marriage, Family, Health, Creativity and Children, Knowledge and Self Cultivation, Career, Helpful People and Travel.

The bagua (map of qualities) is overlayed onto your home. Then it is possible to evaluate and analyze your home in relation to the areas of the bagua. Are there areas in your life that you would like to improve? Use the bagua to work on the areas of your home that correlate with areas of your life you would like to improve.

Clutter: One basic and important principle in Feng Shui is clearing your clutter. Clutter is our home symbolizes clutter in our lives. It can present itself as procrastination, feeling overburdened, or avoiding things or tasks that need to be addressed. It can also drain your energy, and leave your feeling fatigued.

By cleaning our clutter, we are making room for new experiences in our lives. For example, by cleaning your desk, getting rid of old papers, organizing the drawers; you are making way for new experiences in your business life.

Chi Enhancers: After evaluating your homes life areas using the bagua and then cleaning your clutter, you may consider using items known as chi enhancers. Chi enhancers are items to place in your home that will attract chi. Chi is the vital life energy. We want to attract more chi in our homes to provide harmony and balance in our lives.

Crystals are beautiful chi enhancers that can be used anywhere in your home. By placing the chi enhancer in a certain bagua area of your home that needs uplifting, it will contribute to bringing harmony and balance to that area of your life and home.

Water features are another type of chi enhancer. Water features include fountains, fish tanks, birdbaths, etc. In Feng Shui, water brings good luck and wealth. Wealth can be financial wealth, or spiritual and emotional wealth or fulfillment.

Water features can be placed inside or outside the home and can contribute to a soothing and relaxing environment. One key point, the water features, of course, must be kept clean to promote positive chi.

Plants are also good chi enhancers for the home. Plants must be kept healthy and in good shape for chi enhancement. Silk or real plants both work well. Avoid dried flowers. Since the plants have already died, they will not attract chi.

Animals and pets are also good chi enhancers. Their life and presence is a powerful attraction for chi. The animals must be well looked after and their homes or special areas kept clean and cared for.

Anything moving and flowing also contributes to bringing chi into our homes. Wind sculptures, wind chimes, flags, etc are examples of some items that can be used to encourage chi. Placed on the front porch or entrance attracts the chi though the door and into the home.

As you can see, there are many things you can do to begin applying Feng Shui principles to your home. Consider Feng Shui as a way to improve your home and life.Amy Toplikar is the developer of alternative-stress-management.com This website offers information about Feng Shui, Qigong, aromatherapy, and meditation. To learn more please visit http://www.alternative-stress-managment.com.

5 Fengshui Ways to increase Curb Appeal

 

Curb Appeal makes you stop the car. And, take a look at the house. On the path to the house, the buyer already knows if they want to buy the house in 30 seconds or less. Fengshui creates a positive energy, and welcome feel to your home. Ming Tong in Fengshui means bright place and refers to curb. The curb must be inviting and promoting to stay longer.

Stimulate emotions with colors

Colors play an important factor in our emotions and senses. The warm colors (reds, yellow, and orange) build fun, and excitement, while the cool colors stimulate peace, calm, and relaxation. To warm up the curb, you can add colorful flowers in the garden, varnish any wood around the house, and paint doors and window with red accent. Too cool up the curb, you can add more grass, shrubs, and trees.

Glossy means healthy

Look at the trees, plants, shrubs, and flowers if they have panoramic colors. You can tell the health by the shine, and color. Trimming the dead plants, leaves, and flowers, you promote the healthy lifestyle.

Fast Energy

A direct path to the doorway creates fast energy. On the other hand, the meandering path slows and relaxes any potential buyer. A water fountains, fish ponds, pathway lights, special step stones, and beautiful flower slow down the energy and builds interest. The buyer can stop, and admire for a while.

Obstacles and Clutter

Obstacles and Clutters decrease the welcome feel of the home. You may consider organizing the porch, cleaning the path, moving the garbage bin, and trimming the plants.

Feed the senses

Appeal to the senses by adding sound and fragrance. With healthy garden, wildlife comes to appreciate your garden. The birds serenade the buyer and guest. And, the flowers sends heavenly aroma.

Dennis Estrada is a webmaster of mortgage calculators which provide resources, and calculators for mortgage and real estate

The History of Feng Shui

 

Feng Shui is an element of the Mysteries of China, but ultimately, it?s transcendent; its inspirational sources are the archetypes of the noumenal realm and its medium is the Tao ? the Way of Heaven: the principle of wholeness, and rhythmic balance through cyclic change. Feng Shui acts as the interface between the invisible noumenal realm ? ?Kan? (Heaven),, and the phenomenal realm ? ?Yu? (Earth). Previously, Feng Shui was called 'KanYu' ? ?between Heaven and Earth?.

In pre-dynastic times, the antecedent of Feng Shui was Xiangdi. This practice helped the Chinese determine the most appropriate site for settlement and the location of shrines, temples, and fertile lands.

The two most seminal elements of Feng Shui, however, are the ?River Chart?, and the ?Lo Writing?. The ?River Chart? (Ho T'u) was a diagram borne from the Yellow River on the back of a dragon-horse during the reign of the legendary Fu Hsi. Of whom it is said:
"He looked up and contemplated the forms exhibited in the sky (the constellations), and he looked down contemplating the processes taking place on the earth. He contemplated the patterns of the various habitats and places."

The ?Lo Writing? (Lo Shu) also emerging from a river - the Lo River, inscribed on the shell of a tortoise. Referred to as the ?Ba Gua? or ?magic square?, it?s an arrangement of numbers reflecting the cosmological order of the seasons, directions, and 8 trigrams.

Integral to this was the Five Element Theory, having its origins in the dynamics of yin, and yang, it depicts their evolution into five fundamental powers, agents, and phases of change: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. The exposition of which was outlined in the Nei Ching, a medical compilation c. 400BC.

From the 11th century BC to 246 BC, divination, and astrology were practiced using oracle bones, and also for determining solar and lunar eclipses. Zhan Bu elucidated the mechanics of water movement, and that of underground streams.

From 475 to 221 BC, the I Ching began to exert a significant influence on Feng Shui. The Form (regulating the Qi), or Mountain Top School focused on landscapes, studying topographical features, soil quality, and watercourses. It located the the Feng Shui or power spots, and mapped the dragon pathways or energy lines of the Earth. Contemporaneously, Taoism and Confucianism, especially the concept of the ?superior man? (ch?n-tzu), began to profoundly influence Feng Shui, introducing the concept of decisive intervention in terrestrial events inspired by the archetypes of heaven.

The next phase of Feng Shui evolution was inspired by Guo Pu's the 'Book of Burial (276 -324), and Form School principles of siting became well established in Chinese literature.

Between 960 ? 1279 AD, Feng Shui bifurcated into two major schools -the Form and Compass Schools. The Compass School (Regulating the form of energy), used a form of Ba Gua compass to dowse the Feng Shui of the environment. During the Song Dynasty, the Book of Yin Yang Celestial Poles was written by a Feng Shui master, Wu Jin?Luan, who persuaded Yang Yun-Sung to establish one of the first formal schools of Feng Shui in Take Jingo Province.

These are the major elements in Feng Shui?s development.

Feng Shui tips for offices

 

What is Office Feng Shui? How can designing and decorating spaces in office with Feng Shui can produce a positive and productive environment? How Feng Shui can work for offices to have better prosperit?. Feng Shui Meaning "wind" and "water," is the ancient art of living in harmony with the natural world. Though the spaces that you live or work in differ the principles of Feng Shui remain the same. Feng Shui in fact is a traditional art of living with its philosophy strongly rooted in spirituality. Feng Shui for offices Money to you may seem like a material thing, but it has many spiritual and energetic repercussions that affect all aspects of your life. Money flows in and out of your life like the wind, touching everything as it passes by. It is important to make sure that this wind is a healing and strengthening force, not a destructive power that causes harm. It is equally important to ensure that the wind blows constantly, at least as a breeze, and that there is never stagnant, foul air (which symbolizes stagnant finances). Feng Shui for offices not only provides the guide lines for living harmoniously in your work environment it also tells you to how you can manage office spaces to yield prosperity.

There are some time tested office Feng Shui practices which can be used for enhancing your workplace. Practicing the following Feng Shui Tips can make office Feng Shui work for you and you would start noticing the changes.

Feng Shui tips for offices Remove clutter

Your office must be organized and arranged efficiently. Clutter according to Feng Shui stimulates negative Chi (energy) and should be kept to a minimum. Remove whatever extraneous materials are lying in your office. By clearing away the physical clutter that you have been confronting on a daily basis, you free up your mental, emotional burden and feel light, cheerful and optimistic in your reinvigorated working space.

Position of the desk

Keep your desk in the commanding position. The commanding position means a position of power, where you have a direct view of the door, a pleasant view out the window and a wall behind you for stability. This position of the desk according to the Feng Shui office offers you the maximum control.

Shape of your desk

Shape of your desk can affect your mood and level of productivity in the workplace. Rounded curves are flowing, encouraging the flow of creativity. A kidney-shaped desk follows the natural curves of the human body and is said to give you a subconscious feeling of inner alignment.

Placing the plants

Place plants in your work and help you stay connected to the natural world. Since the green color spurs creativity and new ideas it helps you to have creative element in the office. In Feng Shui practice keeping plants helps to have positive Chi flow in corners which other wise are neglected spaces devoid of any energy. Green plants also act as a filtering system, reducing toxins and circulating stagnant air.

Choosing the correct light

The best light is natural daylight, so move your desk close to a window but never have your desk directly in front of window or fluorescent lights which cast a glare, causing eyestrain and exhaustion. You may improve your mood and energy dramatically by replacing fluorescent lights with warm lights that don't cast a glare.

Use of Feng Shui colors

Making use of Feng Shui Colors can help you achieve balance in your office. Different colors have different properties some colors can help people feel grounded and secure. Blues, purples or reds are supposed to enhance the wealth and prosperity area of your office. Office Feng Shui and bagua

A Bagua map can help you to make your office a "Feng Shui-friendly" environment. Bagua can help you in placing objects or placement of furniture in your office in areas which in Feng Shui are said to stimulate your discipline, prosperity and creativity. Once you determine the connections between various spaces in your office and 8 different guas of the bagua map, you start to develop a much stronger sense of purpose and focus about the changes you would like to implement in your life. You can make use of Feng Shui Elements for creating a balance between yin and yang energies.

According to Feng Shui for offices you can have: * Your desk and computer in the "career" area * Reference books in the "knowledge" and "self-cultivation" areas * A crystal bowl in "wealth and prosperity" * You can have reception, phone systems/communication system in area marked for helpful people. * You can have a picture of your father or other relatives in the family area if you have an inherited business. Feng Shui and home office The tips mentioned above can also be applied to your home office. But if not possible you can at least take care to change your home office to a Feng Shui office.

For example if your home office is full of creative and dream-inducing objects, get rid of some of them and introduce more logical, work-oriented elements that will help you get right down to business.

Or if your home office is like the other rooms of your office it is having beige or white curtains can be dramatically improved--and the energy invigorated--by using the guide lines of Feng Shui for offices. Something as simple as adding a tall red vase on the floor or atop a table or windowsill can help you have more yin energy. An impersonal office space can become suddenly personalized and imbued with character when you hang a print of your favorite painting on the wall. A stale room will be immediately freshened when you light a scented candle in an aroma you find particularly pleasing.

Adding a sturdy brown desk to the home office where bills are paid promotes practicality in a person who used to be a spendthrift. These are just an introduction to some of the Feng Shui practices. You can have a number of Feng Shui design ideas for your office or home office to increase the balance and harmony.

Discover the secret to happier living by knowing yourself better! Read the e-book on Feng Shui to get in-depth Feng Shui information and practical guide to lead a meaningful life.

Mike Z. Wang is an expert author on feng shui related topics and eminent feng shui consultant

Home Office Feng Shui

 

Home Office Feng Shui

Whether you believe in the Oriental powers of feng shui or not, there are an increasingly large number of people who do. Either way, it's fun to examine different ideas, so let's take a look at your home office from the feng shui point of view.

Business people in Asia have considered work place feng shui to be a crucial contributor to personal and business success for centuries. Anything that has lasted for centuries is worth a closer look to see if any part of the concept will work for you. In this article we will ignore corporate business office feng shui, and focus on home office adaptations.

Have a separate outside entrance to your office if possible. If you can not, then choose a room that is near the front or back door of the house or apartment. Separate your home office from the rest of the living area in order to keep your business and personal lives separate. If your home office is part of a larger room, then partition it off with bookcases, screens, or large plants.

Never have your back to the window. Having your back to a door symbolically leaves you open to attack. If you directly face a door you may be overpowered by the incoming Chi. The best position is with your back to a wall that holds an Earth element such as a picture of a mountain or a lake. The next best position is angled away from a doorway or facing a wall featuring a water element such as a fish or a picture of lake, or even abstract art that features wavy lines.

You can energize your desk by adorning it with objects that symbolize the five elements to attract work and luck. Simply follow the Lo Shu grid like this:

North: Your beverage cup or glass.

Northeast: A crystal paperweight

Northwest: Your computer terminal

East: Fresh flowers

Southeast: A small green plant

South: A desk lamp or something red

Flat ceilings are best for promoting the flow of Chi. If you have a sloped ceiling, cathedral ceiling, or exposed beams then you you can hang wind chimes or bamboo flutes to offset the negative effects.

If you have views of harmful elements from your window, you can negate them by the strategic placement of wind chimes or plants. Cactus and Bamboo are plants symbolize good fortune and are ideal for placement in the home office. Any sharp leaved plants are good feng shui in this area as they are believed to deter harmful influences.

Always take a short walk before entering your office to work each day and another one at the end of your working day as another measure of separating your business life from your personal life. Leave at least 7-9 inches of space between each piece of office furniture. This allows room for energy to flow.

Keep your workspace clean and clutter-free in order to allow a free flow of feng shui energy throughout the room. There is a difference between clutter and stored items. Stored items should, however, be filed away or stored neatly in a cabinet or closet to allow the flow of feng shui energy.

Place a picture of a lake, waterfall or any other water scene on one of the walls on the East side of your office. This represents the flow of energy. You can also use one of those desktop fountains or even an aquarium

Place a green, smooth-leafed plant, not one with jagged or pointed leaves, on a shelf in the corner closest to your water item. You can use an artificial plant if you are a known live plant killer.

Here are some other items that you can also place in that corner:

* red eggs symbolizing wealth creation

* a red envelope containing several coins

* a crystal on a red ribbon near the window

* three Chinese coins tied with a red ribbon

* a pearl or anything spherical

* a wheel or bell

* a symbol or picture of red fish

* a lotus flower symbolizing great achievements from humble beginnings

Also, consider placing a decorative jar filled with water near the entrance to your office.

Fend Shui Benefits

Feng shui is said to make you more aware of how your environment affects your state of mind. Even if you don't subscribe to the ancient Oriental ways, you have to admit that an uncluttered office, with room to move around, and pleasant decorations is much better than a cluttered dungeon that's stuffed to the ceiling with piles of paper.

Also, feng shui helps you to stay focused by forcing you to store incomplete and future projects in a storage area so you won't be distracted by worrying over them every day. Feng shui experts claim that you will receive these additional benefits as well:

* Increase your prosperity & abundance.

* Boost your health.

* Reduce insomnia & stress.

* Enhance your personal power.

* Easing of family conflicts.

* Increase your concentration

* Enhance financial security.

* Attract new customers to your business.

* Upgrade your life in many other ways.

There is a lot more to feng shui than we can possibly cover in this article. The Internet is an abundant source of articles. Thousands of books have been written on the subject, and there are even feng shui consultants that will come in and help your organize your office and home. Hopefully your interest level has been raised and you will follow up by learning more.

Good luck and good health!

Suggested readings:

Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767903595/hbbo-20

Feng Shui Your Life by Jayme Barrett
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806976292/hbbo-20

© 2004 Vishal P. Rao

For opportunities, ideas and resources to start a home based business, visit:

http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com

For more articles by the author, visit:

http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com/library/reprints.shtml

Creating Powerful Change with Feng Shui

 

The start of each year is a time of tremendous power. It's an opportunity to press the reset button on your life. Its a chance to look back on the previous year, set goals, create resolutions and wish lists. Unfortunately two weeks into the New Year many people can barely remember what those resolutions were. How about you?

Did you start adding exercise programs, prosperity goals, relationship goals into your life? Did you make space for them?

In designing the life you choose, first you must make space. In Feng Shui, clutter busting is the first step. If you place enhancements in your home or office without clearing the clutter, they will be ineffective.

The definition of clutter is anything unfinished, unused, unresolved, tolerated, disorganized. If all you ever do is remove the clutter from your environment and your life, you will be making space for who you truly are. In my experience, it is the single most powerful thing you can do.

The reason clutter affects you so greatly is that it blocks the flow of energy. If you surround yourself with things that are disorganized, or hold bad memories, or things that remind you of something you would rather not think about, theyll have an effect on your energy. Anything you are tolerating blocks your energy.

If you can bring yourself to clutter bust when you are feeling stuck, watch out!

Here are some of the things my clients have experienced:

- In clearing out her closet, within a few days a client had the urge to begin writing an autobiography she had been trying to write for 4 years. The secrets she cleared out of her closet allowed her to write about the secrets in her family.

- Clearing the clutter from her office a client gaining new clients that same week. This included clearing her filing cabinet and making space for new client files, removing a broken clock from her prosperity corner, and removing a painting from her relationship corner that didnt reflect the type of relationships she wanted with her clients.

- A client cleared out an office and discovered he had made space for a new career path he is much better suited to

- Doing a body cleanse which freed up the energy to gain clarity and to face relationship issues

- After having her condo on the market for some months, this client cleared the clutter in her home and the property sold within 2 weeks

- Another client cleared the clutter in her home, it sold within a week and for much more than expected

- A woman with chronic fatigue syndrome gained a noticeable increase in energy by having someone help her declutter her home, including getting rid of clothes that held memories of her life at the time she discovered she had chronic fatigue

Growth creates clutter. As you make changes within yourself, more of your belongings fit the definition of clutter. Having the urge to discard things in your home or office is a sign of you stepping more fully into yourself and your abundance. If you are growing and changing you are continually creating clutter.

Often its not until you clear your clutter that you realize how it has been holding you in the past. Clearing clutter is the fastest way I know to shift energy and create change. http://www.LifeDesignStrategies.com/

Vicky White is a Certified Feng Shui Consultant and Life Coach who works with clients both locally and internationally. Get your FREE 7-part e-course Your Secret Weapon: Powerful Feng Shui Tips To Give Your Business The Competitive Edge at http://www.LifeDesignStrategies.com/