15 Feng Shui tips for your home

by Lenore N. Shaffer

1.) While it is important to never wear shoes inside the home, it is equally important to make sure that shoes are never removed and piled by your front door. In the ancient art of Feng Shui, wind brings positive energy flow (chi) into your home. When shoes are piled by the front door, the chi that flows in carries the smell of dirty shoes with it. This carries negative energy that can make people sick. Therefore, when designing a house for a client, make sure to create an area in which they can remove their shoes and store them practically, which is nowhere near the main entrance door.

2) There should be no television sets visible within your client’s  bedroom. If they absolutely MUST have a television in the bedroom where they sleep, hide it within an armoire where it cannot be seen. Also make sure that there is adequate plant life growing near the armoire, such as plants or flowers. Both of these tricks help to combat the negative ionic charges that emit from the electronic equipment, which can harm your clients while they sleep.

3) There should be no mirrors facing toward your client’s bed. Mirrors opposite the bed can attract a third party to the relationship. In addition, mirrors reflect and bounce around the energy of the chi circulating throughout your home. While it is good to increase the energy flow in other rooms with the use of mirrors, it is often harmful in the bedroom. Doing so will prevent the client from entering a deep state of REM sleep, and therefore drain their energy during the day.  If your client has a mirror in their bedroom that they absolutely cannot do without, instruct them to cover it with a white cloth before they go to sleep, on order to calm down the amount and activity of the chi during their slumbering hours.

4) Feng Shui means “wind & water”. Wind brings the positive energy (chi) into the home, and water makes it stay. Divide your client’s house into the sections of the Bagua. Then ask them if there is a certain area of their life that they need special assistance with. Perhaps they need more money, or help with an ill family member, or help with their love life, etc. Then locate the section of their home in correspondance to that particular section of the Bagua. Place a flowing fountain there, in order to stimulate the chi to circulate within this aspect of their life, and help them with their problem.

5) Create zig-zag! But make sure to use rounded and curved surfaces and edges. Creating zig-zag with these materials will seduce the flow of chi into flowing more thoroughly and freely throughout your client’s home.

6) In your client’s  kitchen, ensure that directly opposite their stove there is no refrigerator, washing machine, or sink.  The fire and water crash causing family members to have disagreements. If their stove is facing a wall, causing their back to be to the entryway of the kitchen while they cook, place a mirror over their stove so they can see people enter behind them when they come in.

7) Chi is attracted to movement and life. Therefore, stimulate chi by adding additions into your client’s home space, such as plant life, an aquarium, a fish bowl, pet birds or other pets, etc. (Example: Lets say that your client is lonely, and wants to attract her ideal mate. Locate the love section of the bagua within her home, and invite chi to circulate there. Add a fish tank, a vase of roses, or some beautiful plants there, for instance. This way, that section of her life will begin to see more action and energy soon as well!

8) If your client has a workspace, make sure to place their desk correctly. When sitting down at their desk, their back should never face the door. Instead, face their back to a wall, and make sure that they can easily see the door in the room and all who enter within it.

9) Where an opened door restricts you from getting a view of the room, position a mirror across from the door to prevent this. Where doors are out of alignment, create a balance by positioning mirrors on each side.

10) Your bed should always have a solid wall behind you. This is important if you wish to have a good rest. A solid wall simply means that you can go into deeper sleep and therefore enabling you to have good rest so that when you wake up in the morning, you will feel fresh and well rested. This also allows you to be able to concentrate on your work better.

11) There should be no beam on top of your client’s bed. The beam above causes chi to be pressured thus enabling those who sleep beneath it  to have pressures in life. In addition, it can create medical ailments such as headaches, stomach aches, back aches, etc.  Therefore, don't place furniture underneath it . If the client cannot afford to have the beam removed, create a canopy of fabric which hangs from the ceiling, and shields them from the negative effects of the beam while they sleep.

12) Tables with squared off corners are a big no-no when it comes to Feng Shui. Chi must be able to easily circulate throughout your client’s home, and when a jagged edge such as the sharp corner of a rectangular table is jetting out, the chi is not able to flow adequately around it. Make sure tables are round or oval. If your client insists on a rectangular table, make sure the corners are rounded off at the very least.

13) Mirrors must be used very carefully. But done right, they can be wonderful tools for enhancing the energy flow in your client’s home. If a section of the bagua is missing in the layout of their home, place a mirror where that section should be. This will create a reflection that tricks the chi into believing that this particular section of the bagua is indeed right before them, and lure it in to circulate and thrive. However, mirrors can be dangerous too. Make sure that the image the mirror reflects is clutter-free and beautiful. The mirror will then double that image, and thus double the positive energy. However, if a mirror is placed in such a location as to reflect your client’s clutter, it will double the negative energy in the room, and ultimately your client’s life.

14) Choose accessories for your client that are rounded and smooth. For instance, vases that are oval instead of cubic, kitchen canisters that are cylindrical, furniture with rounded corners, and so on. The more smooth and curved your client’s objects are, the more easily the chi will be able to flow freely throughout the home.

15) Each of the 4 traditional elements (air, fire, water, and earth) has a particular color associated with it. These colors are then balanced with a complimentary color. Air is represented by yellow, which is spiritually balanced by the color violet. Fire is represented by red, which is spiritually balanced by the color green. Water is represented by blue, and is spiritually balanced by the color orange. Earth is represented by various shades of green, which are spiritually balanced by shades of red. Each of these balances are powerful in stimulating the chi to circulate more playfully and freely within a space. Should your client need special attention within one particular section of the bagua, place these complimentary colors there. The chi becomes excited, and energy will begin to thrive and soar.