Feng Shui for Real Life

Feng Shui is a system for arranging your surroundings in harmony and balance with the natural world around you. In Chinese, the words Feng Shui mean "wind and water." Feng Shui For Real Life is a contemporary, practical approach that allows you to use what you already have and what you want to acquire to bring good things into your life.

In the current economic climate, more people are turning to practical uses of Feng Shui to help them through tough times.

The Five Power Principles of Feng Shui

• Power Principle #1 -- Chi
• Chi is energy. It is the constantly moving and changing life force that we feel around us making us feel either good or bad in a certain location. Chi can accumulate in the objects around you. In your home or office, the chi will flow in through the door and out through the windows. The goal of Feng Shui improvements (or "cures") is to keep the chi flowing gently throughout your environment rather than running straight through it. Chi can have a negative effect on your surroundings when it gets stuck or blocked.

• Power Principle #2 - The Five Elements
• The Five Elements is the collective name used to describe the colors, shapes, and textures around you. The Elements are: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. Each Element is distinguished by a characteristic shape, colors, and set of attributes. Feng Shui improvements for homes and offices balance all of these Elements in your interior environment.

ELEMENT	SHAPE	colors	ATTRIBUTES
Fire	Triangle	Red, Orange, Purple	Passion, Emotion
Earth	Square	Brown, Yellow	Grounding, Stability
Metal	Circle	White, Metallic	Strength, Independence
Water	Curvy	Black, Blue	Relaxation, Inspiration
Wood	Rectangle	Green, Teal	Growth, Expansion

• Power Principle #3 - The Bagua
• The Bagua is the chart used to map the areas of a home or office and determine where to locate the objects and colors that represent the Five Elements. The traditional bagua is an octagon (the word bagua means "8-sided" in Chinese). Modern approaches to Feng Shui use a grid-shaped chart to map nine areas of your life (see Bagua Map):
  1. Power/Wealth/Abundance
  2. Fame/Future/Reputation
  3. Love/Relationships/Marriage
  4. Creativity/Children/Legacy
  5. Compassion/Travel/Helpful People
  6. Self/Career/Work
  7. Knowledge/Wisdom/Harmony
  8. Family/Health/Community
  9. Well-Being/Balance

Download a Bagua For Your Home or Office

Choose either a horizontal or a vertical bagua, depending on the shape of your house:

• Vertical (townhouse, row house) - Click here for printable PDF version.
• Horizontal (colonial, ranch, split level) - Click here for printable PDF version.

• Power Principle #4 - Yin and Yang
• According to the yin-yang theory, everything in the universe consists of two opposing, but interconnected, forces: yin, which is feminine, and yang, which is masculine. Yin qualities are female, soft, passive, nurturing, dark, while the yang qualities are male, hard, active, aggressive, bright. This Power Principle relates to balancing the opposites around you to achieve harmony, like soft and hard, cold and hot, dark and light, floral and geometric, straight and curvy.

• Power Principle #5 - Continuity and Connectedness
• This principle relates to the belief that the more your interior surroundings feel connected to the natural world outside, the more balanced you'll feel inside. Because every action has a reaction, we are influenced by everything around us and, in turn, we influence everything. In Feng Shui, we believe "you are what you see." That is, the colors, shapes, and images you use to decorate your surroundings will influence what you attract into your life.

The 9 Tools of Feng Shui
A variety of tools are available to the Feng Shui practitioner, and any one may be more effective than another for a particular situation. The following tools are especially helpful to unblock energy and balance a home or business:

• Color adds emotional, physiological, and cultural content to our lives. We associate certain things with color, such as holidays, cultural events, and emotions. In Feng Shui, color is primarily used to represent and balance the Five Elements.
• Sound is used to connect us to others in our environment. Music is a powerful way to uplift the chi in any environment and can sooth stressful home or office situations.
• Lighting is a simple way to bring more chi into your environment, especially full-spectrum light bulbs that simulate natural light. Fireplaces are also a source of light.
• Art can enhance the chi, whether it is a painting, sculpture, or textile. The selection and placement of art depends on the area of the bagua you need to activate. Art should reflect positive images and feelings.
• Living Things like healthy plants and flowers connect you with the natural world. They can be chosen for a specific shape and color to correspond to a particular element and area of the bagua. Silk plants can be used where light is too limited to grow healthy plants.
• Water such as fountains and aquariums stimulate the movement of chi in and around your home or business.
• Wind-Sensitive Objects such as wind chimes, mobiles, whirligigs, banners, flags, and weather vanes attract the chi into your environment.
• Mirrors can be used inside to reflect a pleasant view into a home or to symbolically move a wall and correct its shape. Outside, they can be used to deflect a negative structure or unpleasant object.
• Crystals represent energy from deep within the Earth and can help you feel grounded. Hanging a clear faceted crystal in a window will attract the sparkle of the sun and its full color spectrum into your space.