Basic Principles
The following Feng Shui principles will enhance, energize and change your life. If you’re
ready and willing, Feng Shui will catapult you right into your dreams
and desires.
When you Feng Shui your
home or work place, you’re telling the Universe (or God, Buddha, Allah or whatever greater power you feel connected to) exactly what you
want in your life. You are making a very powerful statement, indeed.
Prepare yourself:
Whenever we say the words “I am,” we are making a statement about who
we are at that precise moment.
When you make statements
such as “I am broke” or “I am tired” or “I am sick and tired,” you
are – in effect – telling the universe about your current condition.
When you say you’re sick and tired, guess what? You’ll literally become
sick and tired!
You’ve heard statements
like “what you think about, you bring about,” and “what you do comes back
to you.” These statements are true.
We say these words and
we understand them, although most of us don’t actually practice the concepts.
A large part of the success of Feng Shui comes from your intention and
your consistent attention. Positive energy does, in fact, attract
positive energy.
Instead of being negative,
say affirmations such as, “I am blessed” or “I am healthy” or “I
am wealthy” or “I am happily married” or simply, “I am happy.”
These kinds of statements
empower you to be something other than who you are at the moment.
The power of intention and the power of faith can motivate you to your
greatest potential.
If you’re ready to let
go of your old negative beliefs, Feng Shui will create a method for that
to happen. It will provide a way to overcome the blockage that’s
keeping more positive things from happening.
Don’t allow yourself
to spend any time thinking about what you don’t want to happen.
Remember: Positive energy is attracted to positive energy.
For example, if you
dwell on heartache and poverty, you’ll experience heartache and poverty.
Spend your time being grateful, and in no time, money, gifts and treasures
of all kinds will come from the most unexpected places.
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Preparing
Your Floor Plan:
Before you can begin
to Feng Shui your environment, you need to apply what’s called that Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua)
(pronounced bog wa) Map. The Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) hails from the I Ching, or Book
of Changes, a thousands-year-old book of wisdom and divination.
The Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) represents
the eight building blocks of life – health, love, wealth, career, wisdom,
reputation, children and helpful people plus the center area of chi (pronounced
chee). You need to apply the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) Map to your home and/or each
room or office you plan to Feng Shui.
First, you need to look
at the basic structure of your home.
There are four basic
house shapes – square, rectangle, L-shaped and U-shaped. In Western
Feng Shui, the goal is to turn the dwelling into a square or rectangle.
On a large sheet of
paper, draw a sketch of the home you wish to Feng Shui. Include
any areas that just out, such as a garage, a breakfast nook or a greenhouse.
Make note of any areas that cut into what would make a perfect square
or rectangle, such as an alcove or nook.
Note where each room
is when you make your drawing. All areas under a common roof are
considered part of the house. And note where the front door is located.
If you live in a U-shaped
or L-shaped home, you will need to make some adjustments.
L-shaped and U-shaped
homes:
If you live in an L-shaped
or U-shaped home, chances are, you’re not fully experiencing some area
of your life. The goal of Feng Shui is to restore balance and harmony,
and one of the ways you can do this is by completing the square.
The Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) Map on page 21 will show you how the missing areas in
your home compare to the missing opportunities in your life.
U-shaped homes are missing
an area in the front of the house of the back that corresponds to the
Fame and Reputation or Career Areas.
To overcome the missing
areas, you can build an arbor in the space, landscape with large potted
trees or add a sculpture or windchimes. This will help symbolically
“fill in” the missing area.
Completing the square:
In order to complete your square, you’ll fill in any area missing from
your L-shaped or U-shaped drawing with dotted lines so you create a complete
square. If you already have a rectangle or square home, you don’t
need to do anything to complete your drawing.
Once your house sketch
is in the form of a square or rectangle, divide it into nine parts.
Split the length into thirds, then split the width into thirds.
That is all that is
required in sketching your own plan. Now you’re ready to begin the
process of Feng Shui’ing your home or work space.
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The
Nine Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) Areas are:
Career: This area obviously
refers to your job, but it can also mean the passage of life.
Wisdom & Knowledge:
This area represents learning, knowledge or study.
Health & Family:
This area represents physical and emotional health. It also represents
your ancestors, current family, friends and co-workers.
Wealth: This area
represents money and anything else that makes you feel “wealthy” or blessed.
Fame & Reputation:
This area represents how the world sees you.
Love & Marriage:
This area represents personal relationships, such as those between husband
and wife, business partners and good friends.
Children & Creativity:
This area represents children, current projects or anything creative.
Helpful People:
This area represents relationships with people other than you intimate
family and friends, such as a stranger who touched your life a mentor
at work, your priest, rabbi (or other spiritural guide)
Center or Chi:
This area harmonizes all the areas together. It represents health
and longevity and is the center of the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua). It should be as uncluttered
as possible.
You determine the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua)
of the home by the location of the front door. Apply your map with
ths Wisdom and Knowledge, Career and Helpful People Areas placed along
the wall that contains your front door. The other six areas will
follow from there.
Here is a step-by-step
guide to applying the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) Map to your home, room, office or property:
Step 1: Make a plan
of your house or room. Finish off any missing areas to form a square.
Write in the names of the rooms on your plan.
Step 2: Divide your
floor plan into nine equal squares. Your front door or entrance
must be on the baseline on the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) map.
Step 3: Either stand
or imagine yourself at your open front door. Fill in all areas of
your home with the areas represented by the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua).
Step 4: Now you know
which rooms in your home relate to the various Feng Shui areas.
If, for example, your bathroom is in the Wealth Area, you could be flushing
your money down the toilet, so to speak! (Keeping the lids eliminates
that problem.) You need to take steps to improve this area.
If you have two or more
floors, the areas and rooms on each story correspond to each other.
If, for example, your
kitchen is in the far left corner downstairs and there is a bedroom above,
both rooms are in your Wealth Areas.
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Placing
Your Feng Shui Objects
As you follow the Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua)
set-up of your rooms you should acknowledge each room with some type of
symbolic representation.
As you place your representational
object in your room (or office or garden), place it with conscious intention.
Be clear of mind and state aloud what this object represents to you.
If you’re looking to
strengthen your marriage, for example, you can place a statue of two doves
in your Love and Marriage Area, which is the back right section of your
home or room. As you place the statue you’ll say out loud, “These
two doves symbolize that my marriage to_______is fulfilling, nurturing,
supportive and loving.”
That is what I mean
by placing your object with conscious intention. You must clearly
state what it is you want out of the relationship.
If you’re looking for
a new career, place a wonderful letter of reference your boss wrote, for
example, in your Career Area. As you place it say, “I have endless
choices and I am uniquely qualified for the job.”
Acknowledge each separate
Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) areas in your home. Use as many Feng Shui enhancements as
you want.
In your Wealth Area,
you might want to hang a round clear crystal on a red cord (to bounce
positive energy all around the room). The red cord strongly represents
wealth. On a table place a bowl filled with coins. Add a few
red candles here and there and perhaps a framed photo of yourself looking
prosperous (maybe on your last trip to Las Vegas.)
In the Love and Marriage
corner of your bedroom, place your wedding picture, some flowering plants,
a book of love poems, anything that represents romance.
One Room At A Time
It’s important not to
overwhelm yourself in the process of creating a positive Feng Shui environment.
If you bring about change gradually you have a much better chance of success
– and an easier time of ensuring that success. Once you’ve reached
that goals you set in one or two areas, you can begin enhancing other
areas of your life that need a boost.
Your Property
When you’re enhancing
a specific room or your whole property, divide it into nine sections.
When you face your property from the street, the Wealth Area of the lot
is the far left corner, the Career Area of the lot would be front and
center of your property.
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Decorating
In The Feng Shui Manner
Let’s start with color:
What colors you choose to use in your home and office will have a deep
and powerful impact on you. Surrounding yourself with a wide variety
of colors is a good way to balance the Chi – or energy – in your home.
You can make positive
changes by using certain colors in your décor. Each of the nine
Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) areas (including the center which represents the Chi) has a specific
color that relates to it.
For example, your Wealth
Area colors are red, blue and purple. Consider painting your rear
left room a vibrant shade of blue. If that room is a bedroom, you
might want to use a deep rich purple bedspread or comforter.
If your kitchen is in
the center of your house, or in the Chi area, paint it a vibrant, sunny
yellow and accessorize with muted earth tones.
Enhance your marriage
or love life by placing pink, red or white flowers in the rear right corner
of your bedroom. Even better, place a picture of you and your mate
in a pink frame and place white or red candles in the area.
The possibilities of
how to incorporate Feng Shui colors into décor are limited only by your
imagination.
One thing to keep in
mind is that color associations vary by culture and society.
Red, for example, is
associated with danger in the United States. In China, though, it
is the color of celebration. We in the West consider black the color
of mourning; in the East, it’s used to represent the flow of prosperity.
Here is a list
of each Pa-Kua (Ba-Gua) Area and its corresponding color:
| Area |
Color |
| Career |
Black, Blue & Brown |
| Wisdom
|
Black, Blue & Green |
| Health & Family
|
Blue & Green |
| Wealth
|
Blue, Red & Purple |
| Reputation & Fame
|
Red |
| Love & Marriage
|
Red, Pink & White |
| Creativity & Children
|
White & Pastels |
| Helpful People
|
White, Gray & Black |
| Center or Chi
|
Yellow & Earth Tones
|
|
Meaning Of Colors: |
| Color: |
Meaning: |
| Red |
Attraction,
Warmth, Strength
Note: Red also represents energy.
Too much can “flare up” an argument; use it sparingly. |
| Green |
Health,
Potential |
| Purple |
Spiritual
guidance |
| Yellow |
Energy,
Life |
| Black |
Mood,
Perception
Note: too much black can
be draining; use it sparingly. |
| Pink |
Love,
Romance |
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|
| 
