Feng Shui
Therapy
Feng Shui the ancient, 5,000-year-old Chinese Art of
Placement, also known as the art and science of healing spaces, has captured the
imagination of the western world. Based on lessons and the wisdom of an ancient
Chinese text, the I Ching or Book of Changes, one's proper placement within the
cosmological forces can support one's health, balance, sense of harmony,
prosperity and thereby affect one's destiny.
The therapeutic benefit of working with feng shui
principles begins with a personal conversation, an evaluation, of how one is
doing with respect to the energies expressed in the I Ching and its 64
hexagrams. The fundamental energies are Water (Career), Mountain (Wisdom),
Thunder (Elders/Health), Wind (Prosperity), Reputation (Fire), Relationships
(Earth). Creativity/Children (Lake), Benefactors/Travel (Metal) and the tai chi,
the complementary opposite forces of yin and yang in perfect balance. The goal
is to create a sacred space of home where chi, the cosmic breath or life force,
can flow smoothly and nourish the inhabitants.
Changes in one's physical space, particularly
placement of bed, desk, and stove, can have remarkable and profound affects on
one's feelings about one's sense of harmony. When changes are made with
intention and clarity, a metaphor has been created for the home to be "a place
for experiencing and fulfilling the meaning of existence through the fullest
development of our natures."
People are out of balance with natural life. They are
searching for new ways to find joy and meaning in life and to once again get
grounded. "Simplify, Simplify," said Thoreau. People are coming home to the
natural wonders of the world -- finding them in the garden, eating organic
foods, health through natural remedies, sleeping and dressing in natural fibers,
traveling to eco-sites, and preserving the natural order through land
conservation and ecological awareness. They are coming home to self via
different conversations. One of the conversations is about how their own space
can nourish them as the world turns plastic and the speed of information boggles
the mind. People are wanting to create sacred spaces of home that nurture,
refresh, rejuvenate, bring joy and heal. The principles based on the ancient
Chinese Art of Placement, known as feng shui, help people articulate a new
conversation with themselves and to then be able to express themselves, their
desires and intentions through the placements and decoration of home and
workspace. When changes are made in home and workspace, people just feel better.
The ancient principles of feng shui speak to peoples' intuition and qualities of
observation that have been dulled by modern life, thus creating this explosion
of interest in feng shui.
...feng shui is the ecology of flow, the architecture
of energy. Based on the idea good fortune results when people live in balance
with their environments and their inner natures. Feng shui has been praised as
an environmentally sound practice that emphasizes respecting rather than
tampering with nature. Today, this ancient and intuitive idea is so forgotten as
to seem revolutionary
The ancients understood that when man placed himself
in perfect harmony with the cosmological forces of heaven and earth, honoring
the cycles of nature, he would experience health, harmony, and balance and
experience prosperity. This ancient science of positioning oneself to optimally
benefit from nature's energies became known as feng shui (fung shway), meaning
wind/water and is also becoming honored as the art and science of healing
spaces. Feng shui studies man's connection to the cosmos and his personal
placement within his physical environment and immediate surroundings. Early feng
shui masters known as geomancers [(geo-earth) (mancer-study of)] used a tool
known as a lo-pan (compass) to determine the cardinal directions and the "lucky
directions" that would most benefit their client. In fact, the earliest
geomancers helped find the most auspicious gravesite for the client to ensure
the good fortune of offspring. The quality that these early feng shui masters
were looking to harness was the energy of chi, a term for an invisible force
that eastern cultures identify as "the cosmic breath" or life force that flows
infinitely through and around our bodies, homes, town, cities, planet, and the
atmosphere. Chi and how to cultivate chi, is the central focus of feng shui
principles. Placed properly, one prospers. Being nourished by good chi, one
heals, enjoys good health, harmony, and balance.
Man naturally seeks guidance about his condition,
understanding the meaning of his life, and living in community. The Chinese
culture has long referred to an ancient, 5,000-year-old text known as the I
Ching, or Book of Changes, for guidance in human problem solving and seeking
spiritual guidance. It discusses eastern concepts of creating harmony and
balance, the polarity of yin and yang, and the five elements: Fire, Earth,
Metal, Water, Wood expressed in trigrams of solid lines (yang) and broken lines
(yin). Book 1 is made up of 64 different 6-lined figures or hexagrams. Each
hexagram describes a specific situation and gives guidance relating to solving
that life situation. The hexagrams are created by combining the eight different
trigrams that were intuited by an ancient sage, Fu Hsi, about the nature of the
energies of the universe. These eight essential natural forces were understood
to be the yang forces of Heaven, Thunder, Water and Mountain and the yin forces
of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Lake. At the center of the cycle of how the 64
hexagrams and energies combine and interact is the symbol of the tai chi, yin
and yang as complementary opposites in perfect harmony and balance.
The first hexagram of the I Ching is known as "The
Creative." It consists of six solid lines, the Trigram of Heaven over Heaven.
It explains that our ultimate destiny is to use this
lifetime to complete within ourselves, through self-development, the true and
superior image of us stored in the mind of the Deity. Thus, this life, having
its full array of opposites, is a place for experiencing and fulfilling the
meaning of our existence through the fullest development of our natures. As our
ultimate destiny, it is also called our personal Tao.
I suggest that a feng shui consultation is about
helping a client move toward this divine place. My experience is that feng shui
helps people shift from the stagnation of the past into their divine futures as
rapidly as the speed of thought.
There are several schools of feng shui. The earliest
classical schools were known as The Form School and The Landscape School and
focused on the impact of the larger landscape to interpret the proper placement
for the client to benefit from the earth energies. However, Master Teacher Lin
Yun, raised in Tibet and schooled in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism Black Sect Feng
Shui, has been instrumental in bringing a more intuitive, contemporary
interpretation to the West through his worldwide teachings. These teachings were
first published in three books by his student, Sarah Rossbach, and have
dramatically contributed to the public awareness and interest in feng shui.
As a feng shui consultant I have chosen to
incorporate the teaching of Professor Lin Yun known as Tibetan Tantric Buddhism
Black Sect Feng Shui. This school differs from classical schools that focus on
the cardinal directions and uses instead what Professor Lin Yun describes as
"the mouth of chi." In modern times we no longer have control over which
direction our house is positioned and fewer still have the opportunity to build
and site a house. Lin Yun begins his orientation of the placement of the earth
energies with a tool known as the BA-GUA, an octagonal template that positions
the eight trigrams and their corresponding relationship to the eight life
aspirations that are the yin trigrams of Earth (Relationships), Wind
(Prosperity), Fire (Fame & Reputation), Lake (Creativity and Children) and the
yang trigrams of Heaven (Helpful People & Travel), Thunder (Elders and Health),
Water (Career) and Mountain (Wisdom). In addition, Lin Yun reversed the position
on an earlier Bagua to orient these energies toward the center of the Bagua, the
tai chi. This orientation changed the interpretation that humankind no longer
looked outward to the universe for an understanding of the meaning of life, but
rather inward, to it's own center, for the answers. This is a powerful view as
man has, in fact, come back to seeking wisdom from within.
The flexible Bagua is positioned over the client's
property, then the house, and then the individual rooms to determine where the
energies are located and to capture the flow of nourishing chi. The "mouth of
chi," or the source of this nurturing chi, is always positioned in one of three
locations -- the trigrams of Mountain (Wisdom), Water (Career) or Heaven
(Helpful People). The goal is to enable the chi to enter unobstructed, flow
smoothly, spiral around the entire house or workspace nourishing the occupants
in the entire space.
I perceive being a feng shui consultant as being
something akin to a divining rod -- helping each client to find the treasure in
his own space and leading him to the grace and divinity within himself. The home
can be a place to find the "fullness of the development of their nature," moving
the clients toward the experience of what is their soul's purpose. The home can
be a treasure map to self-fulfillment. Fill it with beauty and metaphors for
goals and intentions and you keep moving forward on the treasure hunt of life. A
feng shui consultant offers suggestions to help improve the flow of good chi, "sheng
chi," not only to balance one's life, but to help the client move toward his
expressed goals and desires, and in so doing, move him closer to the divine
within him, by remembering, knowing, trusting, and listening to his own
intuition. Moving something in physical space can help move one closer to
understanding one's own "innerspace."
The feng shui consultant evaluates the flow of chi,
analyzing external and internal factors. The factors that may interrupt this
flow are such elements as an incomplete shape, suggesting areas of the house
that may be missing and therefore that corresponding life aspirations thus may
be compromised. Situations where chi flows too swiftly or harshly are termed
"piercing arrows" "sha chi," as in long corridors, angles created by structural
elements, beams, pillars, furniture corners, slanted walls and ceilings. Rooms
with insufficient light or too much clutter can influence negative chi flow.
Feng shui is very forgiving and offers suggestions as
"cures" to remedy bad feng shui. The cures involve placing such things as light
(crystals, mirrors), heavy objects (sculptures/stones), life force (plants,
fish), moving objects (chimes/flags) and transcendental cures such as bamboo
flutes, as remedies. The selection and placement of these cures is part of the
intuitive skill of the feng shui master but ought to be personalized to the
goals and intentions of the client. We have everything we need. Feng shui helps
us put it in the proper places.
Professor Lin Yun's teachings offer another dramatic
differentiation. Tibetan Tantric Buddhism Black Sect Feng Shui incorporates the
teachings of contemporary knowledge such as psychology, city planning,
architecture and healthy home principles that mitigate environmental toxicity
and the influence of electrical magnetic fields (EMFs) on people's health.
Changes may involve tangible, observable and understandable cures, such as
moving the bed or desk to face the mouth of chi, thus offering the client a new
position of power and influence over his personal universe. However, the greater
power of feng shui is in the potential of the intangible, unobservable and
mystical use of cures such as hanging a crystal in the position of Earth
(Relationships) to influence one's desire to attract or enhance one's
relationships. When activated with intention and ceremony, there is the
potential for amazing results to occur. My experience as feng shui consultant
has been just that. Part of the appeal is that with the omnipresence of a
technical society we are bombarded with advances beyond our ability to
comprehend. We have created lifestyles that are out of balance with the natural
rhythms and cycles of nature. We have created artificial days and nights. The
glories and miracles of nature have been overshadowed by the miracles of modern
science. The necessity to remain healthy and balanced with the stresses and
stimuli of modern-day life creates a greater demand to return to a home that is
a healthy place, a safe place, a refuge where we can be nourished and restored.
We can create places of incredible power within our own homes when we recreate
within them the perfect beauty and balance found in nature. Beginning with
incorporating the colors, shapes, or qualities of the five elements, looking
with feng shui eyes for piercing arrows, positioning bed and desk to face the
door, so that we face life's challenges head on, and uncluttering our stuff to
make room for new opportunities, is a way to begin.
We, humankind, are now remembering that man fits
within a cosmic system or natural cycles, an order, a regularity and natural
beauty. Feng shui helps to mirror that within our lives by making us aware of
the natural energies inside our homes through color, metaphor and a smooth flow
of chi, and, above all, that proper placement in home and office is not just
about the position we sleep in or the position of our desk, but about where we
want to position ourselves within the cosmos to most benefit from these cosmic
energies. Feng shui is about coming home to the power of self at the speed of
thought.
In my view, an in-depth conversation, between feng
shui consultant and client must precede any suggested changes. Unlike the
compass school method which seeks to place the client in alignment with his
"lucky" directions, the TTBBSFS School looks to the driveway, the front door,
the door of each room as the source of chi for the space and then looks to
suggest the corrections to balance the chi. The most powerful changes are those
made with pure awareness, clarity, intention, followed by a ceremony. What does
the client want? In which of the nine life situations is the client seeking his
soul's purpose and direction? Where is his energy blocked? Is it in Career,
Wisdom, Health, Prosperity, Reputation, Relationships, Creative
Expression/Children, Benefactors/Travel or in the very center, the tai chi,
indicating a lack of balance and harmony?
When clutter is organized and
eliminated in an area of the Bagua, the space opens up for the energy to enter.
When the clear intention is manifested by placing a loveseat, for example, in
the relationship area (gua) of the bedroom, relationships will improve. The
bedroom is all about being in relationship. Does it portray that as the sole
intention of the space or do you have a desk, work books, laundry all around? If
one wants quick results and change in one's life, then move something. Change
the placement of bed, desk, or sofa, or make new placements with intention in
the area of the bagua that corresponds to the desired energy change. You then
begin to create a sacred space to nourish your soul. This is therapeutic. The
cosmic order is maintained by the revolution and movement of the heavenly
bodies. If we stagnate we are going against the cosmic flow of chi which is ever
moving.
The feng shui therapeutic process
begins with the following:
- A conversation with self or a feng shui
practitioner. Decide what you desire, you want, you need, your soul's purpose,
your future goals that are the deepest expression of your true nature.
- Clearing the space energetically. You may sprinkle
freshn lemon water, use the ancient American Indian dried sage plant, ring
bells, clap, or feather-dust.
- Cleaning up the clutter to make space for new
energy to enter and flow. Store it, organize, recycle, and throw out the
garbage.
- Correcting the flow of chi according to feng shui
principles, being mindful of Sha Chi (negative chi) coming off structural
corners or furniture corners, beams, pillars, or the potential of unseen Sha Chi
in geopathic stress or underground water veins that may be uncovered by a
dowser.
- Creating new placements with intention,
particularly moving bed and desk to have a supporting wall from behind and a
commanding view of the door. This changes your feeling and your worldview.
- Performing a ceremony when making changes to
visualize your intention, eliminate past interference and reinforce it with
heartfelt words. The tradition of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism Black Sect Feng Shui
suggests a powerful ceremony such as this.
- Celebrating your changes and welcoming the new
shift in energy. Anticipate that more changes will occur, that is the natural
way of things within the universe, the Tao.
The Chinese proverb rings true. The most important
factors in life are Fate, Luck, Virtue, Education, and Feng Shui. Incorporate
feng shui for a better feeling you.
