Feng Shui Practitioner

It's official! I received my Feng Shui Practitioner Certification the other day and I could not be more excited! That means that I can legally practice Feng Shui as a certified practitioner and set up my own design business. When I tell people what I do they are a little taken back. There are many people who don't understand Feng Shui. It very fascinating so I thought that I would give a brief description.

To basically explain a very complex practice, Feng Shui is using personal intention to arrange your environment to support your goals and objectives in life and more importantly to create harmony and balance using chi. Chi is basically energy. You possess it and the items and your home itself possesses it. Its about creating a perfect balance for the chi to continually flow which results in a healthier outlook in life. If you have blockages of chi such as clutter, awkward arrangement of furniture or dark corners then your life will have blockages.

Have you ever entered a home or an office where you felt comfortable and you found yourself wanting to linger? The chairs seemed to relieve your stress, the ambiance was intriguing and you found yourself breathing easier? On the other hand, have you ever entered a home and felt incredibly uncomfortable, closed in, unhappy and all you could do was get out and once you were in the open air had to take a deep breath and let your body recover? You've experienced Feng Shui and chi.

There are four different aspects that I focus on. Before any consultation I give some life assessment questions, kind of on the deeper side, that help you to evaluate where you are in life, whether you are yin or yang, what element you are and what you most want from your home. I enjoy these because it really forces you to ponder about your situation and where you want to be. It's kind of a backwards assessment of your life's goals and purposes. It's pretty thought- provoking and interesting.

Yin/Yang balancing. Each one of us is predominantly yin (sensitive, quiet, slow, light, safe) or Yang (busy, fast, risk takers, social). With yin./yang balancing you arrange your home to balance yourself. For example, if you are yin you would make you home more yang and vice versa. Of course, this is a delicate balance and all depends on how predominant the yin or yang is in your body.

Chi Flow. Chi flow is just how it sounds. How well does the chi flow in your home? I like to think of chi as a breeze. You open your front door, which is your main source of chi, and the breeze enters. Where does it go? Is it stopped by poorly placed furniture? Is it trapped in corners or speed up in empty hallways or stairs? Are there places in your home that aren't used because they feel uncomfortable?

5 Element Theory. We are starting to get a little more complicated so bear with me. There are five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. There is a cycle that creates life such as Wood feeding Fire, Fire's ashes creating Earth, Earth creating Metal, Metal's condensation creating Water, and Water feeding Wood. There is also a destructive cycle. Metal chops down wood, Wood grows out of control in Earth. Earth dictates where water can go, Water puts out fire, and fire melts Metal. Now, you yourself have an element that is predominant in you. For example, I am earth. The characteristics of earth are nurturing. Jon is Wood which is very intense, outgoing and succeeds easily in complex business situations. Metal people are very strict rule followers and like thing a certain way. Now, sometimes our environment does not support our element. Let's take Jon. He is wood but after studying Feng Shui I found out that our room was also wood mainly because our room was painted green which is a wood color. This added to his wood which created an inability for him to sleep since wood fuels thought and decisions. He would lay in bed and think all night and not be able to fall asleep. So, here in the near future I will be painting our room a steel blue which is a metal. This will help to "chop" up some of his wood energy so that he can relax. Have I lost you?

BaGua Mapping. This is the most complicated of all so I am just going to barely skim the surface. BaGua mapping is a map that you place on top of your current floor plan. It consists of nine equal sectors. Each sector represents something different. You have Self Knowledge, Journey, Helpful people, Creative Offspring, Intimate Relationship, Fame and Recognition, Abundance, Family Heritage and Health. Each of these sectors has one of the five elements associated with it. What I do here is take your goals and objectives and use these sectors to assist you in achieving those goals. Basically it is using your home as a gigantic "motivation board." For example, if you are having problems being recognized for achievements that you have made then we activate your Fame sector. If you need more time for yourself then we activate your Self Knowledge sector.

Anyway, that is a brief summary of what Feng Shui is. It is definitely more complex than that and will take me years of practicing to understand fully. But, I am very excited about this and I really believe that your environment can help support you in every aspect of your life.