From the moment you wake up until you go to sleep- as well as through every single hour of sleep- you’re an energetic being, full of thoughts, awareness, life force electricity and magnetic fields swirling, broadcasting and animating life…. Feng Shui helps us mindfully organize and raise the energy in our lives. Dana Claudet
As can be seen by this diagram, Feng Shui encompasses much more than just “clear your space, reclaim your life” as many people so blithely phrase it. And yet…, the basic premise is just that, to clear a space so that good things may flow into our lives. There are 9 areas in each living space that correspond to the nine areas indicated on a Bagua map. By transforming each physical area we clear and open our inner space, thereby allowing us to invite increased blessings into each of the areas listed
I am a novice practitioner, just getting started on my housecleaning, and I can already tell a difference in my mindfulness and balance:-) Feng Shui is based on ancient principles, and it works if we put the time and effort into harmonizing our lives.
One of the principles of Feng Shui I value highly is that we are creators of our lives. Being present minded and acting from our core values is much easier when we are clean and unburdened. We create from a position of strength and clarity when we first unburden ourselves of past limitations, care, and emotional clutter.
There is so much to explore about the interplay of Feng Shui and mindfulness that this essay will act as an introduction and invitation to the reader to look at the possibilities. I am committed to doing the research for my next book on this topic, because the small amount I have done (and applied) has led to outsized transformations in my wellbeing.
As the quote from Dana stated at the beginning of this essay, we are energy beings interacting constantly with other energy fields. This is a scientific fact. Dana writes and teaches extensively about Feng Shui, and if you want to learn more about her and this topic, you can go here.
Think about this simple fact from an emotional and physiological perspective: Imagine you are a magnet, like the ones floating in a compass with a positive and negative charge where one end always points to your true North .
Now, if you have ever played with magnets, you will know that when you bring two ends of the same polarity (charge) together they repel each other, and the opposite ends attract each other. This is all fine and good for a magnet, because they don’t wear out (actually they do wear out eventually but I am not going into that subject) and they are oblivious to the emotional and physical damage that occurs from the constant opposing and attractive forces acting on them. Magnets don’t think or feel, they just are.
We, on the other hand, are walking, talking, cognizant electrical fields that are constantly bumping into and absorbing energy from other fields, both positive and negative. And here is why knowing this concept is a really big deal: There is no neutral exchange!
Every time we interact with another energy field, we either give them some energy of ours or we take some of theirs.
To clarify a point, not all energy fields are conscious and moving, which is why the concept of space-cleaning and environment control is so fundamental to Feng Shui. Every person, object, and thing in our lives has an energy field that either attracts or repels us. Another way to state this is to say they either raise or lower our vibrations (another term for energy levels), because when atoms are in a higher energy state, they are vibrating at a higher level.
Remember the little imagination experiment I invited you to do of seeing yourself as a magnet? What is visible is the little bar of metal that we call a magnet. What interacts with the environment is the electromagnetic field surrounding the metal.
Notice that the field is strongest inside the magnet, but this is not static, but rather where the flow of energy is most concentrated. As the flow goes out the top of our heads (remember, we are a magnet!) it encounters our environment and changes according to what it encounters. That energy then flows back into our feet and becomes concentrated inside of us.
Question: If we are hanging out with great people in a positive environment, what do you think is happening to our inner magnet when that higher-level energy vibrations come back into us? We are becoming higher-energy beings! Alas, the same thing happens in reverse when we hang out in dank places with unhealthy people; we become depressed, sick, tired, and generally unhealthy. Life sucks, because we are allowing our life to get sucked out of us.
This seems pretty obvious for things like toxic relationships and rotten environments, but it applies equally to even the small things in our environment, because small things cumulatively add up to have big impacts. For an example, I want you to get up right now and get the closest picture you can lay hands on (or a book you have read if no pictures are available), sit down, and look at it.
How does it make you feel? What are the memories evoked by that picture (or book)? Are they positive or negative, uplifting or depressing? Does it add life to your life, or suck it out? As you mindfully consider this object, you will begin to see that it does indeed have an energy effect on your wellbeing. It does not matter that you were not conscious and aware of that energy transfer, the energy is always moving.
Now multiply that one instance by the thousands of objects and things you interact with every day, and you begin to grasp the magnitude of the change you can make in your life by applying the principles of Feng Shui.
Now, Feng Shui has been around for hundreds of years and books about how to practice it are numerous and varied. The core idea that I want to leave with you is one you can start to practice, right now, and make a shift in your life to having a higher energy level.
Realize that every person, object, and environment in your life have an effect on your energy and wellbeing. Mindfully consider what of these are the most positive, and most negative, by which I mean those things that add the most life and energy versus those that suck the life out of you. Choose one thing in each category, then focus on bringing more of the positive into your life, while eliminating or minimizing the negative outflow of energy. Work on this one person, object, or environment today in a mindful manner, with purpose and intent.
If you have a drama queen for a friend, mute her social media and put he on pause for a while. If your workspace is messy, clean it. If you haven’t hung out with your best friend for a while, or seen an awesome sunset, get out and do it! Mindfully observe your environment and make changes that invite more and higher energy into your life. That is the core of Feng Shui.
Living mindfully in the present moment is the best way to create our preferred future, and Feng Shui is a powerful, positive tool to help us on our way :-)