Linda Varone | Nurturing Spaces Feng Shui

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4 Feng Shui Ways to Prevent Winter Doldrums, Now

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Feng Shui Prevents Winter Doldrums Creating Balance with Nature and the Seasons.

Prevent Winter Doldrums, Now. Before the Hectic Holiday Season Starts.

How do you survive winter with spirits and sanity intact? Nesting.

Autumn window view, beat winter doldrums
Enjoying a view of Autumn is capturing nourishing Chi.

Autumn is the time when wild critters prepare for winter hibernation. You may not stock up on nuts or want to add an insulating layer of fat to your body, but you can prepare your home nest to give you comfort and coziness.

 
 

You can:

  • Conquer the dreary days of winter with the wise use of light.
  • Stay connected to the beauties of Nature.
  • Snuggle into your nest with attractive accents.
  • Create moments of connection with family and friends…and your creative self.

Results: Contented smiles all around.

4 Ways to Make Your Home a Nurturing Nest for Body, Mind and Spirit:

    1. Lighting – Light is a form of Chi energy. Check the function, wattage and placement of lamps. Lamps near where you sit, gather and work will welcome family and friends while energizing you and your activities.
    2. Windows – Nature is rich with balancing Chi. When it is cold outside you will be connecting with Nature from the inside. Make sure you have comfortable views of Nature.

    • Clean windows
    • Window treatments that pull back or up to open your views of nature and access natural light.
    • Position a comfortable chair to enjoy your favorite view: your garden, your neighborhood, the sky.

    3. Throws and pillows – Color and texture have Chi energy.

    • Set up your seating for coziness and snuggling.
    • Freshen you throw blankets and accent pillows: wash, dry clean, buy.
    • Arrange them for appearance and comfort. (Make sure there is enough room on the chair for the pillows and you.)

    4. Alternatives to Television – Nourish your Chi energy. Farmers of old didn’t spend their winters watching TV (no electricity). They would prepare for the Spring by repairing their tools and farm implements. Farmwives make clothes and functional and decorative items for their families and their homes.
    You can set up your home for:

    • Reading – books, eBooks and audiobooks
    • Games – board and card games
    • Handcrafts – knitting, felting, needlework
    • Larger craft projects – painting, mosaics, collaging
    • DIY projects to improve your home

You:
☑ Winterize your car,
☑ Winterize your house, Now
☐ Winterize your Spirit.

How do you prepare your home nest for winter? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Plan Ahead. Prevent Winter Doldrums, Today
☐ Contact Linda for a consultation on how to make the most of your home. Before the Holiday craziness begins.

image: Marilyn Peddle

Create Your Own Feng Shui Cures to Enhance Your Chi

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Feng Shui is about Chi energy: universal Chi and personal Chi. Feng Shui seeks to balance the Chi of your home or office with your own Chi (5 Element Feng Shui).

When I work with Feng Shui clients I encourage them to display meaningful personal treasures and mementos to lift their personal Chi and enhance the Chi of the space. Personal is the keyword here and nothing is more personal than hand-made art either by a local artist or a loved one (or even yourself). Manufactured items that are not emotionally connected to a beloved person, place or event have no soul and no Chi.

The best way to bring soul and Chi into your home is with hand-made or hand-crafted items. I have a needlepoint pillow on my sofa. I originally made it as a gift for my mother. Every time I look at it I see its flaws (missed stitches and a twist in the decorative binding), but more important it also has a soft handworked feel to the tapestry and I remember how it had pride of place on my mother’s sofa.

If you don’t have the time or inclination for a needlepoint pillow then how about a quick craft project?

sand art mandalas, personalized feng shui cures
Sand Art party mandalas. Creative fun becomes personalized feng shui cures

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a sand art party at ArtBeat.  We gathered around a table and in an hour (including brief instructions) we had created beautiful designs with colored sand and adhesive cards. We sprinkled and patted and etched our way to bliss.  As we were working on our projects, we were “in the zone.” Time stood still, we were relaxed and totally focused. And we could have kept going a lot longer on our projects if we had the time.

Not only did we create something lovely, but we experienced the joy of un-pressured creativity. It was a peak-flow experience that stayed with us for the rest of the evening.

Check out your local craft store/craft studio for projects for your kids, for your family or for yourself.  I am very lucky ArtBeat is nearby. If looking for crafts find those things that fill the creative zone between a blank canvas (which can be intimidating) and connect-the-dots (which allows for little originality and is boring).  Also avoid things with media character connections – they are limiting, people simply reproduce what they have already seen.

Take a little time to tap into your creativity. It will expand your mind, relax you and bring good Chi to you and to your home.

My next project? A decoupage folding screen/vision board [link], inspired by ArtBeat, to decorate my home and hide my home office desk.  I am amazed how quickly I get into “the zone” when I am sitting on my sofa and cutting out the pictures for my screen. Lots of enjoyable quick little steps toward the bigger result.

Feng Shui Basics for Home: Feng Shui Look vs. Feng Shui Feel

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The Key Concept of Feng Shui

Many Feng Shui blogs and articles (including my own) seem to only offer decorating tips and furniture arrangement ideas. Something has gotten lost – the key concept of Feng Shui: Chi. Feng Shui decorating and furniture placement should be in the service of enhancing, balancing and harmonizing Chi energy for your benefit.

Chinese calligraphy of pictogram for Chi
Each brush stroke of this calligraphy for “Chi” has a meaning.

Let’s take a minute and discuss: What is Chi?  and  Why do we need it?

What is Chi?

“Chi is the invisible, intangible, animating energy of the universe.”  – Stephen Post

Chi is the “life force” or “breath of life.” Ancient Taoists believed everything in the universe contained Chi.

  • There is Chi in the heavens – Celestial Chi – Compass school Feng Shui
  • There is Chi in the earth – Earth Chi – Land Form and BTB Feng Shui
  • And there is Chi in our bodies – Traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and Tai Chi.

Why do we need Chi?

You absorb the Chi in your space – good, bad or stagnant. This is experienced as energy, and physical and mental health – good, bad or stagnant. Feng Shui seeks to bring harmonious Chi into your environment to support your personal Chi.

How does Feng Shui help you receive Chi?

How do you get Chi into your home or workspace?

“Chi floats like air and is drawn to water.” – Chinese proverb.

The words “Feng Shui” translate to “wind” and “water”. Chi is omnipresent in Nature. It enters your space through the designated front door or “mouth of Chi”.  Chi is a nourishing energy.

Chi can be blocked from entering your home or office by clutter. Decluttering is an important precursor to Feng Shui, not because being organized makes you a better person, but because clutter sucks up Chi. As Chi moves through your space it scatters its energy around like fairy dust. You then absorb that energy. Chi can be lost if it leaves your home too quickly.

If the Chi of your space is out of sync with your personal needs (your 5 Element Energies)  you will  miss this fine-tuning of your Chi.

If the Chi of your space is too Yin or too Yang it works against the feeling and function of the space for you.

Want help improving the Chi of your home or Office? Contact Linda Varone.

 

If you liked this review of Chi and would like to learn more about the core concepts of Feng Shui, please comment below. Let me know what you would like to learn in these blog posts.

Chinese calligraphy by Russell Eng Gon

How to Have The Best Feng Shui: Express Yourself and Raise Your Chi

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I say this to my Feng Shui clients: The best kind of home is one that expresses who you are and what you love. And as a bonus, when you personalize the decoration of your home, you raise your Chi – whether you are Feng Shui-ing your home or not.

“I see it every day: People trying to create a home that somebody else tells them they should have….if it doesn’t represent you, you’re not going to be happy. Take a beat and say ’Is this something I want to live with, or am I just buying it because I saw it on a TV show?’ ” – Nate Berkus, interior designer, television host and author.

“… your home should not be a presentation to your friends. Surroundings should relate to who you are, what you love, and to what you deem important in life.” – George Lois , mass media expert and advertising provocateur – just don’t say he is the original Don Draper of Mad Men.

Is your home decorated or staged? Feng Shui uses home decoration/interior design as a vehicle to enhance and balance Chi. But if you are looking for inspiration to create a home with warmth on television, in magazines or online you will be challenged. Two clients I worked with recently were using what they saw in the media, unedited, as the template for the decoration of their living rooms. One followed a theme décor right down to the objects on her coffee table. It was beautiful, but none of it expressed who she was. Another client was inspired by a photo to have deep teal walls. It was beautiful in the photo, but would not work with the rug she wanted to use in her living room. Both clients were open to my suggestions: one to personalize her space and the second about why the teal wall worked in the photo but not in her living room, and what alternative she could use to compliment her rug and get a similar effect as in the photo.

What you see in the media are staged rooms. Not rooms for people to live in. Take time to look at the entire photo and see what elements are working together. Then figure out if it will work for you:

  • Does the room that inspires you have higher ceilings than yours?
  • How big are the windows in relation to the size of the room?
  • Do the colors work with the colors of your rug or sofa (unless you will be getting new everything)?
  • Be aware that a bold color on the screen or the page will look and feel very different when room-size.
  • Where can you place or display your personal treasures? Will they work with the photo décor?
  • Is the lighting adequate for how you want to use the space?
  • Could you really live in the space in the picture or does it represent a dream lifestyle that is not yours?

Trust your instincts and take the inspirations you see and adapt them to make them your own.

When I work with a client, I like to use their personal treasures as Feng Shui cures whenever possible. When I see a photo, painting, or memento I ask them “Please, tell me about this.” When I see their face light up as they describe where they got it, who gave it to them or who or what it reminds them of, then I am literally seeing their personal Chi rise. This response indicates that this object is a very powerful cure. I then collaborate with them about where is the best place to put this cure, relating to the theme of the picture or the emotional association of the object.

Sometimes I work with a client who has few or no personal treasures in their home. Sometimes they will say that a piece of art is a “place saver.”  Life is too short to surround yourself with anonymous art. If you don’t have an emotional connection to something, at least have something that makes you catch your breath when you first see it – that you love for the sheer beauty of it. (This sudden inhale is also a sign of rising personal Chi.)

This rise in personal Chi occurs even if you are not consciously seeing or connecting with this memento of the people, places and events that have positive and nourishing meaning to your life.

Have you decorated your home according to someone else’s idea of “good taste” or the “latest trend”? If so, it is not your home, it is their home.  Express yourself through your treasures. Re-claim your home.

If you doubt your taste or instincts remember: If you are happy with your home, your guests will be happy. Personalize your space.

What have you displayed in your home to help you remember the people, places and events that warm your heart?  I would love to hear from you. Share them as a comment, below.

Feng Shui, Light and Human Consciousness

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“The energy of human consciousness may share an affinity with light that we do not yet understand. Turning  toward that light, we might find it the source of all our inspiration and creativity.” – Tarthang Tulku, Knowledge of Freedom

I came upon this quote years ago. I confess I don’t completely understand it, but is has inspired some thoughts on how light applies to Feng Shui.  

sun rising behind clouds with rays of light shining outward
Light and human consciousness
  • The sun is the primal fire of our solar system.
  • Fire is the element of Fame and Reputation of the Feng Shui ba-gua – being in the spotlight.
  • Yin and Yang: dark and light. We would not know what light is if we did not have the dark.
  • In northern China the Feng Shui for entrances to ancient homes were oriented to face south. This provided heat and light to the interior of the house from the sun.
  • Navaho hogans (homes) are oriented with the door facing the east, so they can greet the morning sun with prayers.
  • Ancient Chinese sages and Feng Shui practitioners knew that sunlight was a form of energy.
  • Modern physicists have demonstrated that light is sub-atomic photonic energy.
  • Light is a metaphor for seeing reality clearly and moving beyond illusions and confusion.
  • Eco-psychologists note the importance of connection with nature, sunlight and fresh air by calling it “Vitamin G”.

How do you make the most of light and chi in your home and in your life?

  • Do you have a special outdoors place for relaxation and reflection?
  • Do you have beautiful window views of nature and make the most of them with an inviting chair nearby?
  • Do you bring nature indoors with plants in your home and/or workplace?
  • Do you have appropriate lighting for nighttime and overcast days?

There is something nourishing – just as chi energy is nourishing – about sunlight. Maybe someday science will identify it. In the meantime connect to the energy of sunlight and nature every day.

How do you experience the nourishing energy of light? Share in the comment box below.

Photo by Sean MacEntee