Feng shui tips for beginners and experienced practitioners

By reading the first chapter of Karen's book you'll get a quick introduction and some great tips on how to enhance your life with Feng Shui.

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If you want to create a sundae that would put Jenny Craig into a spin, you need some tools: a bowl, spoon, Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream, and calorie-laden toppings. If you want to create a life worth living, you also need some tools: a living environment, an idea of what you want out of life, good intentions, and an understanding of the ancient Chinese secrets of feng shui (better say it right: fung schway). Translated, it means wind and water.

Feng shui is just a term borrowed from the Chinese. Since they have honed it throughout the past centuries, let's honor them by keeping their name. But don't just think of it as local Chinese wisdom - think of it as universal common sense. Everyone, regardless of culture or creed, has employed some system of thoughtful placement with regard to their living environment and furnishings. Simple spatial organization actually comes quite naturally to most humans. It's when things get complicated with contraptions like computers, microwaves and all terrain vehicles that mistakes are often made.

Proper feng shui is purposefully arranging the stuff around you to affect you positively. What stuff, you ask? All stuff your worldly possessions, your desk at work, your toothbrush, your underwear. Just as that Chunky Monkey sundae affects your body when you eat it, each object you place in your living environment affects you as well. You also affect each environment you encounter. Wouldn't it be nice to know how? This book will give you that answer. Consider it the proper nutrition guide for your home.

I want to emphasize that last point a bit more because I have been asked by a few clients and friends if feng shui is a religion. Some others have asked if it can conflict with their organized religion. Although I don't claim to know the dogma of every religion, I do know that feng shui is not meant to replace or challenge anyone's religious values or ideas. It is simply a collection of environment-oriented information just as a cookbook is a collection of food-oriented information.

If you are still questioning about this, here's a quick test to help you find your answer. If knowing how food affects your body interferes with your religion, then perhaps knowing how feng shui affects you would too. OK, nuff said. Let's get on with it.

Everything consisting of matter in this three dimensional universe is placed next to something else. By its mere definition, this relationship is feng shui. So really, feng shui has been around you as long as you've been around. It is the type of feng shui that this book addresses. Instead of thinking everything is not feng shuied until you feng shui it, think of everything always being in some state of feng shui, and you changing it for the better.

For all you scientific minds out there, I asked Mr. Barry Gordon, a physicist as well as a feng shui practitioner, to briefly explain how and why feng shui works from a science perspective. He sees feng shui as "the intelligent use of intention through environmental metaphor." In more detail:

"If we accept the message of both quantum mechanics and the great spiritual teachers, then every smidgen of our universe effects every other. From this viewpoint there is no inside or outside. Everything is contained in consciousness which has no boundaries. So the placement of your bed has meaning in relation to the rest of your experience. The bed is a representation of your beliefs and emotions on the physical dimension, which manifest differently and seemingly disconnected by you, on other dimensions. When your bed is moved with intention, the belief and emotion dimensions also move. The great Eighteenth century scientist and mathematician Leibnitz discovered that photons, the basic particles of light, exhibit intention and purpose. If we take light to be the whole spectrum of vibration, not only visible light, then everything is composed of photons. That means the universe is intentional. And since we have been given the ability to intend, we are co-creators of the universe that we individually experience. Every thing, even the sticky front door that doesn't open all the way has meaning. Every thing, every action is intentional, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious. Feng shui brings the unconscious in our environment back into consciousness. That brings the beliefs and feelings back into consciousness. Then we have choice and can create our universe consciously."

I don't know about you, but that's about all the science and quantum mechanics I can take in one sitting! Let's get back to changing your life...

Consider this chapter the feng shui toolbox. It's not exactly the kind of toolbox that Bob Villa totes around, but it's just as important. It explains the feng shui basics: exactly what you need to know to make your dreams come true. And don't worry if you get a little spun around in this chapter. There are entire books on feng shui that attempt to explain the information I am dumping on you in chapter one. As the rest of the book unfolds, this information is repeated in different ways, giving you several chances to absorb the specific wisdom that is pertinent to your life and home.

Don't skip this chapter either. Although it may look enticing to skip ahead to the prosperity or relationship chapters, I wouldn't advise it. You wouldn't eat a sundae without the correct tools (technically, you could slurp the ice cream straight out of the container, but that looks pathetic). So don't try to use feng shui without the correct tools.

Ch'i (pronounced "chee," like half of cheese) is another word for energy. Energy is what's moved around when you apply the rules of this book to your environment. By shifting the energy with "cures," you can make shifts to better your life. A cure is just another name for balance. You "cure" (balance, or enhance) something by specifically placing an item somewhere to help you in life. Without correcting poor object placement with cures, you expend your own energy to make things happen in your life. Why waste your own energy when you can get a lamp or mirror to do the work for you? Bonus: inanimate objects don't whine about whose turn it is to expend energy.

Everything that happens in life can be boiled down and placed into nine categories or life situations. These categories are spatially represented in your living quarters. Each one is called a "gua"(pronounced "gwa").The sum of these guas put in a particular order is called the "Bagua." The ba of bagua means eight, giving the bagua eight sides (See illus. #1). The eight sides plus the middle make up the nine areas that relate to the different life situations (See illus. #2).

The following are the nine different zones that make up the bagua and the specific life situations associated with them:

1. Prosperity. This area relates to wealth: having money for the good things in life (not for the crappy necessities in life like food, rent, and phone bills). This gua is considered a power corner by many because money is seen as power, and power can get you what you want. Think Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and the person who invented Velcro. If big money is what you are looking for, work on the prosperity corner.

2. Fame and Reputation. This is the area in the home that supports you as a person out in the big world. It deals with how you are perceived by others, which makes a big difference with concerns like how and where money and relationships come to you. It also has to do with your own integrity and honesty, which can also make a difference in things like marriage and relationships. So, if you are a jerk, or at least people think you are, don't despair. The fame and reputation area can help you out.

3. Relationships and Love. If you are looking for a relationship, looking to make an existing one better, or simply looking for a shagedelic good time, look no further. It is vital that this part of your home is balanced so there is harmony in relationships of all kinds. So before you give up and choose to join a cloistered convent or a group of chanting monks, check out this area.

4. Creativity and Children. This section of the home relates to thinking creatively. You might consider beginning with this area so you can come up with creative cures for the rest of your home. This locale is also associated with children, since children usually think creatively (like when they figure out how to put a Poptart in the disk drive of the computer). Anything to do with kids - yours, not yours, your siblings, or your future kids - this is the spot to work with them.

5. Helpful People and Travel. This part of the home is set aside for calling upon people who make your life easier (easy teachers, sympathetic IRS agents, efficient waiters, the cleaning lady, truthful car dealers and networking peers). Maybe it's someone you know, or perhaps it's help that appears out of the blue. And, of course, sometimes it's an angel from the "other side" who helps. It's also about being treated fairly and honestly. Also, if you would like to do more or less traveling, or have a move coming up, this section applies to making these situations flow more smoothly as well.

6. Career and Life Path. This area of the home is linked to what you are supposed to be doing in life, whatever that is. Whether it's hardcore business, traversing a more spiritual path, or creatively mooching off others, this area of the home is dedicated to getting you on the right track in life.

7. Skills and Knowledge. This part of your home affects how you learn, store, and use knowledge. Although the energy in each gua will affect the other eight, this one is especially worthy of attention. For example, if you don't have the smarts to manage the money you make, it may erroneously appear that your prosperity section is not working for you. If you are in school, this is the area to enhance, especially if you think serious studying is when you calculate the bartender's tip on the last pitcher of Michelob.

8. Family. This section is associated with family issues. Montel, Jerry, Rikki, and Jenny would be out of business if everyone paid attention to this area. It also holds the energy for everyday coinage paying for rent, food, and other necessities in life (chocolate, Chapstick, bamboo steamers). So, if you don't have this area juiced up, your prosperity (major coinage) area may never reach its potential.

9. Health and Other. The center of the bagua contains all other life situations not mentioned above. It impacts health as well. Since this area lies in the middle of the home, it touches all other areas geographically, and can literally and figuratively affect all other areas by association. Like they say, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything (except doctor bills and a lot of medication that is obviously not working).

Take a moment to redraw the "simplified" bagua illustration (with the nine life situations inside the boxes) in your notebook. You will probably want to refer to this illustration often as you read on, and it may be easier if you have it handy in your notebook.

Although we will be discussing this information at length later in this chapter, please note the "doors" in the illustration. The location of the main door plays a specific role in the orientation of the bagua in a room or home.

Just as you eat a big, juicy Wendy's single to cure the effects of a hangover, in feng shui you "apply cures" to get what you want out of life. Remember, that's the fancy term for adding or moving stuff in the areas around your living space to balance it. There are nine categories of traditional feng shui cures (Have you noticed a fixation with the # 9? It's a powerful number in feng shui.) These cures have been used for thousands of years to help solve problems so much for calling feng shui a new fad. Almost without exception, you can add any of these cures to a space to help change its energy for the better. Here are the nine categories of traditional cures:

1. Light. By adding light to a specific area, energy is activated and will eventually foster change. Light can come from candles, electric lights, oil lamps, fires (hopefully contained within a fireplace or candle top), lava lamps, or your old Light Brite. This category also includes reflected light from mirrors, crystals, or shiny objects (the aluminum foil covering your sandwich or the chrome retro toaster).

2. Sound. Adding a pleasant sound to a space can create a change in the energy vibration and enhance your digs. Appealing sounds such as moving water, music, singing birds, chirping crickets, chimes, bells, and musical instruments all have a positive reaction to the energy of the space. Toilets flushing, belches, and gurgling garbage disposals usually don't count.

3. Living Things. From fish to flamingos; animals not only make great pets, they're great energy enhancers for a sluggish space. Just make sure these non-human companions are clean, well-kept, and healthy. A Habitrail full of hamster poop not only reflects negative energy, but makes your house smell like that nasty pet store in the mall. Plants are also alive with energy, provided they are actually alive. A little water and Miracle-Gro can go a long way in fulfilling your feng shui dreams.

4. Weight. Items that weigh a lot, or symbols of things that are heavy are used in feng shui to ground a space. Grounding is needed when you live above the ground floor or if your head is always "in the clouds." Tiny elephant statues and big boulders can both work. While a picture of John Candy or Chris Farley works, it would be in bad taste.

5. Color. Each area of the home corresponds to a specific color. Using the right colors in the correct area reflects positively on the person who lives there. It can be as obvious as painting the walls or as subtle as colored construction paper behind a couch; as long as the color is there, it will work for you. Various colored food stains on the upholstery and carpet don't quite meet this criteria.

6. Moving Objects. Moving objects seem to be alive and therefore are capable of greatly energizing a space. Mobiles, chimes, water, butterfly wings, fans, and curtains blowing in the breeze are a few of the many things that exhibit these good qualities. Scampering roaches technically qualify, but usually infringe upon dinner parties and make guests expend all their energy running from them.

7. Electric Power. Your TV, computer, alarm clock, vibrator, and automatic potato peeler are charged with electricity. So make them, and all other electrical appliances, work to your benefit by placing them in appropriate spots in the home. Use caution, though, when planning the location of vibrators or other sex toys (see chapter 4).

8. Symbolic Objects. This category includes intentionally placing items in the home that have symbolic meaning in order to shift the energy. One symbolic "traditional cure" example is a bamboo flute. Flutes can be used as a ch'i uplifter and enhancer in certain circumstances. At one time, they were a symbol of the coming of good news. Today's equivalent might be things like church bells, a trumpet, a wedding invitation, or a doorbell. Although bamboo flutes don't usually fit into Western decor, feel free to use them in settings where you feel comfortable. Or if you want to fool your guests into thinking you're some hot bamboo flute musician, leave them lying around in prominent places.

9. Other. This category has the potential to be the most powerful, even more than Wonder Woman and Madonna combined. It is the category of cures that encompasses all other possibilities for creating a nurturing environment. The cures in this category should be personalized and have great significance to you, either symbolically or literally. Move Your Stuff - Change Your Life concentrates on this category and explores some unique situations and cures. You can either follow an example of what someone else has done before, or be a rebel and follow your heart by doing something uniquely suited to you. After reading this book, you will know the difference and realize the power behind both options.

Not sure what section you want to work on first? Here's an exercise to help you assess your life and guide you to where you might focus your feng shui energy.

A good indicator of what needs most work in your home is to honestly evaluate what is going on in your life and the lives of those who live with you. Your environment is what supports you either weakly or strongly. Either way, it definitely affects you. Ideally everyone who inhabits the home should be involved in the process, but if that is not possible, simply keep them in your awareness as you proceed. They may snicker as you put strange items behind the couch and microwave but I promise you'll have the last laugh.

Are you satisfied with your career? Is that assistant managerial position at Beauford's Video and Bait Store challenging and stimulating enough for you? Do you just barely make rent each month? Ever heard the words "savings account?" Stuck in a dating rut or a boring marriage?

In your notebook, write down anything that's bothering you or coming between you and true happiness. Categories will become evident eventually, so don't worry about that now. Just keep writing, and know that they will be tended to later on in this process.

If you are having trouble being thorough, carry a paper and pen with you at all times (but no pocket protector, please). Every time ANYTHING bothers you, and you hear a complaint of some sort running through your head, write it down. It could be as simple as "I have a stomach ache" or as complex as "My boyfriend never listens to me." Even if you are being repetitive, write down the complaint each time. You may notice a pattern of complaints or a repetitive complaint that you didn't even know you had. The following questionnaire may help you start to uncover some of your complaints:

Career - Are you fulfilled in your current career? If not, what is it about the career that is less than optimal? People? Money? The type of work? Location? Traveling? Late nights? Stress? Lecherous boss? Boss not lecherous enough?

Skills and Knowledge - Are you content with your current level of education? Having a hard time in school? Seem to repetitively make bad decisions and wish you were wiser? Want to change careers but don't have the skills to master your dream? Feel like an idiot when you watch Jeopardy? Rely on Entertainment Tonight for your hard news?

Family - Do you have a good relationship with your family? Wish to be treated like "one of the family" even when you're not a part of the bloodline? Want to start a family? Is it hard making enough money just to pay for the basics? Have they ever based an After School Special on your family?

Prosperity - Do you live paycheck to paycheck? Do you have a yearning for a material item, but the main ingredient stopping you is lack of money? Make a fair sum of money, but it goes out as fast as it comes in? Would you buy a pair of Farragamo Salvatore shoes in lieu of a month's supply of groceries?

Fame and Reputation - Does it appear that people are talking poorly about you in public, hurting your career, family, or feelings? Want the courage to do something you can't seem to make yourself do? Does fear stop you from fulfilling dreams and being happy? Have you received a phone call from someone who got your number from the bathroom wall?

Relationships and Love - Are you content and fulfilled with current relationships (family, spouse, business associates, children, friends)? Feel depleted from your relationships with certain people? Wish to be in a committed relationship, but can't seem to find the right person? Need an exorcist to fight off the partners you attract?

Children and Creativity - Are you having trouble having children? Having trouble with your children? Are the children leaving home too early or too late? Wish you were more creative? Burnt out or bored in your work, hobby, or life? Feel limited, like there is no opportunity? Is switching shampoos the most creative thing you have done lately?

Helpful People - Do you always do everything yourself? Have a hard time finding the right person to help with things such as babysitting, home improvements, spiritual guidance, health issues, business ventures, etc.? Travel too much or too little for your liking? Do you "get taken" frequently or "played the fool?" Have a permanent "Kick Me" sign stuck to your back?

Health and Other - Do you have any complaints about your current state of health or the health of someone else living with you in your home? Find yourself eating Ho-Hos and drinking Yoo-Hoo while you ride the exercise bike? Always seem to be the first to catch the latest strain of flu going around? Think you should be happy, but can't find your funny bone anywhere? Is "Clutter" or "Pack Rat" your middle name? Have any other complaints that did not seem to fit in any of the above categories?

Also take inventory of what is working. Get the total picture to compare with what is going on in your home. Refer back to this list later onto see if your feng shui is working for you. Sometimes a "shift" can go unnoticed because some people tend to forget the troubled times. Keep extensive notes on how things are at the start so you can laugh at those times when they are gone.

You may want to prioritize the items on the list starting with the ones you feel need immediately balancing, (i.e., "I want a meaningful relationship") and ending with items that are less of a priority (i.e., "I want better shoes") This will help you choose which items to implement now and later if there are cost concerns.

List the nine life situations in your notebook, and then place each complaint from the life inventory in one of the nine categories. The nine areas are, once again; (1) Prosperity; (2) Fame and Reputation; (3) Relationships and Love; (4) Creativity and Children; (5) Helpful People and Travel; (6) Career; (7) Skills and Knowledge; (8) Family; and (9) Health and Other.

Sometimes the problem falls into several categories. For example, if you are having trouble in school, you may want to place that complaint in the Skills and Knowledge area (for obvious reasons) and the Helpful People area (for tutors, reasonable teachers, smart friends, and Mr. Cliff and his notes). Every gua could have a complaint in it, or perhaps just a few do. Look at it as an easy reference pointing to the problem places in your home.

This exercise should make you feel empowered because now you have all the things you want to fix in your life written down in one spot. It's time to turn these mis-fortunes into fortuity! Ancient Chinese Secret The mere fact that you have put energy into carefully evaluating your life and writing this list will start to cause change for the better immediately. So, congratulations, you have already begun the process!

As you found out earlier, each gua is associated with a life situation. But that's not all: each gua also has its associated colors, shapes, symbols, body parts, etc. Of the nine bagua areas, five have elements assigned to them. Study this chart for a minute to learn what symbols and elements are associated with each of the nine guas. (Insert chart on next page here)

I know you haven't learned what most of this stuff means yet, but I wanted you to know now that there is a cheat sheet included in this book that displays the gist of Move Your Stuff's information (I think every how-to book should have them!). Use this as a quick reference when applying cures later on, or to spout unique trivia to impress friends. It may appear technical and drab now, but I think you will appreciate its simplicity later.

If you have ever played the round and round "rock, paper, scissors game", you will easily understand what I am about to explain (and you thought that games were a useless waste of time). As you can see in the chart, the five elements used in feng shui are wood, earth, metal, fire and water. When these five are balanced in your home, you have better balance in your life and a better chance to have what you want out of life. Then your home is working for you and not the other way around. The way to use these elements is to place them in the appropriate area of the home and give intention that they work for your particular cause. Don't worry, they don't mind. They like to work. As well as merely placing the associated element in the appropriate spot in the home, there are two additional ways to use elements. These two ways are; 1) the Creative Cycle, and 2) the Destructive Cycle. In the creative cycle order, one particular element "creates" another - like water "feeding" or creating wood. In the destructive cycle order, an element can overpower another as water "dousing" or destroying fire. In the creative cycle, water feeds wood, wood fuels fire, fire makes earth, earth creates metal, and finally, metal holds water (See illus. #3).

Using this information, if you want to work on getting a better reputation, having a fireplace in the fame and reputation gua would be a great cure (fire is the element for fame and reputation.) Other fire cures would be red items, objects such as candles, triangularly shaped items, and those many boxes of wooden matches you may have lifted from restaurants.

If it is not practical or desirable to have a fireplace or other fire symbols there, you can use the element that "feeds fire," which in this case, is wood. Either use actual wood, as in furniture or picture frames, or a symbol of wood like a picture of a forest or George Washington's teeth. So remember, if you do not wish to place items in the space that directly relate to its element, try to place the element that "creates" it there.

Now let's say, for example, you are in love with your white walled, white carpeted, and white furnished home and want to keep it that way. From a feng shui standpoint, it would be considered very "metal" (which probably would suit Metallica fans). Why? White is associated with the creativity gua which has metal as its element (once again, refer to the chart above). This would energetically be out of balance. In order to create a more balanced situation you could use the destructive cycle to balance the space. Don't think of the word "destructive" as bad (that's just an old perception). Simply think of it as another potential way to understand and balance the elements. In the destructive cycle, water douses fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood pierces earth, and earth dams water (See illus. #4).

In the white-walled example above, you would use symbols of the "fire" element because, as you can see in the cycle, fire "melts" metal which would lessen the energy of having so much metal in one place. A fireplace or lots of candles starts to lessen the impact of the metal. If you are opposed to adding red accents or other symbols of fire in the space because of the decor, hide the symbols. Place red cloth or paper behind pictures and under the couch cushions (don't forget to look for spare change) to get red in the space. You don't have to see it for it to work. Color vibrations know no walls. Ancient Chinese Secret There is no such thing as "hiding" in feng shui. Fortunately and unfortunately, it works both ways. Just as items placed out of view work for you in feng shui, things like clutter, dust, and dirt work against you. Your entire living space - yes, even the corn chip encrusted couch crevices - are a part of your feng shui energy vibration.

If your head is spinning right now trying to figure all this creative and destructive stuff out, don't worry. The information is repeated several different ways throughout the book. You'll get it soon enough.

Now it's time to overlay the bagua on to your specific home. You can work with a blueprint or a hand drawing of your home, of simply figure things out as you walk through your home. Which ever way is easier for you to understand is best. The goal is to divide your home into nine equal areas (no measuring necessary) like the bagua. Orient it correctly by placing the skills and knowledge, career, and helpful people edge against the wall that includes the front door. For some, overlaying the bagua onto the home is a snap. But for some, the location of the front door is so funky, it's hard to know where to begin. When I say the "front door," I am talking about the door of either the entire home, or a single room within the home. The bagua can be overlaid to both. So if you live in a dorm room, rent a room, or live in an apartment, use the front door of your personal unit. If, for some reason, you can't figure out which door is the formal front door, try getting in touch with your feelings for a second and use your intuition to orient the bagua. Walk up to and through each door as if you are a guest, or walk through with your eyes closed and "feel" if one door gives off more of a "formal front door" impression. Or try to feel which way the energy flows and the bagua seems to want to be oriented. (See illus. #5)

In the first example the owner felt that the bagua should be oriented differently than the front door told him, because he knew the door was built into an old porch that had been enclosed, and that the "real" part of the house started once you entered in the door and turned right (the original location of the front door) - that's how he felt the house was organized. He used the original threshold as the mouth of ch'i. As you can see, he also had an accent in the family section. To calculate that you measure. If the part that pokes out is less than half of the distance of that whole side, it is an accent. Likewise, if a part that pokes into your home is less than half the distance (as in the next example) it is considered a missing piece.

Another client (shown in example 2) had a new home with the front door located on a slanted corner to the whole house. She felt that the door brought you into the home from the front to the back and oriented the bagua accordingly. With this orientation, she had a piece missing in the relationship gua.

The third example shows an opaque fence and gate connecting the home in front. It felt like once you entered through the double door "gate," you were in the private space of the house. So the client and I agreed and aligned the career gua up with the gate. In this example you would decorate the courtyard appropriately as an "outdoor room." Declare that your home be aligned a certain way and go with it.

Remember, for the most part, the "formal" front door (the one the architect designed to be the front door) is the main door of the house. Even if you always enter your home through the side garage door, that would not make it the main entry or, as the Chinese describe it, the "mouth of ch'i."

If you have found which way to orient the bagua, you are half way there. Now all you do is go around on the main floor (the one the front door leads you into) and find the space representing each gua. The basement, second or third floors should be taken into consideration when applying feng shui principals, but the main floor is the most important.If you live in a split level home, try to intuitively follow the path of ch'i and apply the cures to the floor that seems most like the main floor of the home.

Feng shui can work for anyone - and work fast. But using it as a substitute for taking responsibility in your own life is certainly not recommended. You've got to do your part. The feng shui panacea police will sniff out those people who think they can simply use feng shui instead of engaging in such mundane events as doing homework in school, balancing a checkbook, or getting out from under the covers in search of a meaningful relationship. If you do your part, good old "Mr. Ch'i" will do his.

Now you have the basic tools needed to gear up your feng shui. Although it is best to read chapters two through eleven in order (especially if you are a novice), you can actually read them in any order you wish. If you are still plagued by questions like, "How does this work for my two-story house?", and, "How does my detached garage come into play?", "What do you mean by intuitively follow the path of ch'i to find my way through the home?'", go immediately to chapter 11. You will find fast answers to these and other questions. Otherwise, just be sure to check out chapter 12 when you are through with the rest of the book. It is an important chapter offering additional ways to pump up the power of your feng shui cures.

When you are first using feng shui, try to concentrate on fixing the problems you are currently having in your life by enhancing those specific bagua areas rather than making drastic changes in all areas. There's plenty of time to refine your feng shui after initial changes start to bring you more into balance.