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Feng Shui Principles for Your Home

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Written by Sonal Panse
Our surroundings have a great impact on our overall well-being. Have you ever walked into a beautifully arranged room and experienced a feeling of contentment? Or found a dark, cluttered place claustrophobic? Both situations concern Feng Shui, an intuitive science of spatial and design arrangements that studies how natural land forms, man-made structures and objects, as well as invisible cosmic energies, natal charts and people, affect us.

Using the concepts of Chi (the vital Universal energy present in all animate and inanimate things), Yin-Yang (the opposing and complementary Universal aspects), Five Elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Wood, and Metal) and Eight Trigrams (created by Yin-Yang energies and associated with Chi energies), Feng Shui determines what design measures, changes or alterations can promote a positive energy and bring about better balance and harmony.

This, by the way, is more logic and commonsense than religion and mysticism. Everything in the world is interconnected and making constructive changes in certain areas of your life indisputably affect the other areas for the better.

How Feng Shui Works:

Different Feng Shui schools prescribe different remedies to cure bad ‘Chi’ or ‘Sha Chi’ and bring about good ‘Chi’ or ‘Sheng Chi. Traditional Feng Shui uses tools like the octagonal Ba-Gua Map and the eight-point Lo-Pan compass for analysis, considers only the Five Elements as cures and has two main schools –

The Landform School (San-Ho, San-Yuan and Hsuan-Kung) – which use the Xing Fa or Form Technique, consider the flow of Chi around, over and through natural and man-made structures, determined by shape, location, appearance, direction, flow and surroundings.

The Compass School (Pa-Chai, San-Yuan and Hsuan-Kung) – which follow the Ba Zhai or Eight Mansions system and the Xuan Kong Fei Xing or Flying Stars system, consider the internal characteristics and dynamics within a structure, the surroundings, the natal charts of the occupants, the elements of the eight cardinal directions and the invisible cosmic energies.

Modern Feng Shui includes –

The Eight Aspiration System – which uses the Ba-Gua and the Front Door as a starting guide to divide a place into different sectors according to different directions – Profession, Knowledge and Studies, Health and Family, Wealth, Fame and Recognition, Relations, Creativity and Children, Useful People and Travel.

Black Sect/Black Hat Feng Shui – which uses relative positioning rather than compass directions to determine the specific areas of importance within a home.

Feng Shui is not a one-size-fits-all science, so being acquainted with the various methods lets you discover which suits your particular situation the best. If possible, do consult an experienced Feng Shui expert.

Let’s consider Feng Shui principles for the home –

Implementing Feng Shui principles in your home can set the stage for the good things in life. For this –

• Use Feng Shui tools to locate the problem areas in your home: Feng Shui frowns on –
  • Pie-shaped or cul-de-sac plots (these constrain Chi energies; redress with landscaping)
  • A bathroom adjoining a kitchen (for hygienic and aesthetic reasons)
  • A kitchen at the entrance (as it is the central part of the home) or poorly designed (well-designed kitchens promote better cooking and eating habits and so better health and prosperous personal/professional lives)
  • A bedroom with electronic appliances (to minimize electromagnetic radiations and outside influences in a restful area) or above the kitchen (in case of fires).
  • Directly facing windows and doors (to prevent Chi rushing in and directly out)
  • Stairway directly opposite the main entrance or before a bedroom, and stairs that are sweeping, circular or with open gaps between the steps. (these deplete the Chi energy)
  • Sharp corners (these are ‘Poisoned Arrows’ in Feng Shui – rounded corners are more aesthetically pleasing and more aligned to nature)
• Locate the power areas in your home: The following are good Feng Shui –
  • Well-delineated main entrance (east or south facing, red-painted, with a curving path leading to it; curving paths slow Chi’s headlong rush)
  • Square or rectangular rooms, with flat ceilings and sufficient natural light and ventilation (poor-lit, ill-ventilated rooms or odd-shaped rooms with slanted ceilings have confusing energies and are awkward to live in.)
  • Appropriate colors for room function (consult the Trigrams, but follow your intuition and preferences)
  • Furniture of room-appropriate size and design (must allow easy movement and the sight of anyone entering)
  • Harmonious décor incorporating the Five Elements (a pond, fountain or fish tank for the Water element; clay pots, terracotta tiles or porcelain ornaments for Earth; a red front door, red objects and red lights for Fire; indoor and garden plants for the Wood element; and chimes, bells or brass figurines for Metal)
• Keep your home uncluttered, clean and well-maintained: Efficient organization ensures everything is in its proper place and easy to find. By getting rid of all that is unnecessary, unused and unappealing, you free up physical space and activate the mental energy needed to be more creative. Living in a clean home makes you healthier, and repairing or fixing everything that needs to be repaired or fixed minimizes wastage and rids you of real or metaphysical hurdles.
• Cultivate your garden: Flowers and fruit trees attract birds, butterflies and bats, and promote peace and abundance.

Feng Shui remedies should be unobtrusive and natural. You should get a feeling of comfort, not exhibitionism.

Examine and question every Feng Shui principle, and implement only those you think right. Feng Shui after all is about creating a happy environment for you.

Photos –

Luo-Pan Compass – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Luo_pan_Kompass.JPG

Feng Shui Symbol – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Feng_shui.svg

Light Sitting Room – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:LYS32light_sitting_room.JPG

Kitchen – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Apt4kitchen.jpg

Modern Kitchen – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Modern_Kitchen.jpg

Japanese Garden – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Japanischer_Garten,_170705_014.jpg