Feng shui is an ancient Chinese belief that creates harmony and balance in your life. Following these simple rules of Feng shui can bring health, prosperity, love and more into your home. Learn how to create a positive energy flow known as qi by following these ancient principles.
You will see that it is not hard to bring positive energy into all parts of your home and yard to create that harmonious and alive feeling.
Just be rearranging a piece of furniture, adding a different color or some décor can work wonders for the entire home. This is what feng shui is all about.
The Five Elements of Feng Shui
Some of the tools of feng shui include the use of colors, yin, and yang, nine star ki, compass directions, and materials, which are based on the five elements. In balance, the five elements are:
- Water - moderates fire, keeping it from raging out of control
- Fire – warms metal, allowing it to become more flexible
- Metal – moderates tree, making sure it doesn’t rise up too fast
- Tree (wood) – moderates Earth (soil), keeping it from becoming too solid
- Earth (soil) – moderates water by keeping it flowing and not becoming stagnant.
When out of balance these elements can be destructive in creativity, harmony, health or finances in your life.
The elements and their own characteristics are:
Element
|
Color
|
Items
|
Symbolizes
|
Water
Fire Metal Wood Earth |
Black/dark colors
Red
White/ pastel colors
Greens and blues
Yellow/earth tones
|
Water, glass, fountains, crystal
Candle, fireplace, light
Rock/stone and all metals
Plants/flowers and wood
Soil/ceramics/pottery
|
Spiritual
Emotion/passion Focus/mental acuity
Intuition
/inspiration
Grounded/ health/loyal
|
Feng Shui Colors
Color is very important in feng shui, the color of your walls, clothes, and objects in your home. Colors can influence harmony in your life. Look how color has been used in advertising as well, colors influence people and emotions.
With everything in life, you can overdo it with colors, and too much of certain colors can worsen what aspect of your life you are trying to strengthen.
For example, too much red can cause anger or aggression, too much blue could make you feel blue.
Another tool in feng shui is the bagua (pronounced ba-gwa) sometimes called the pa kua is an octagon chart that tells you what parts of your home or office corresponds to the various aspects of your life.
You can make a square or octagon bagua chart for yourself using tracing paper, then make a drawing of your home and lay the bagua chart over that.
The Feng Shui Bagua
Another tool in feng shui is the bagua (pronounced ba-gwa) sometimes called the pa kua is an octagon chart that tells you what parts of your home or office corresponds to the various aspects of your life.
You can make a square or octagon bagua chart for yourself using tracing paper, then make a drawing of your home and lay the bagua chart over that.
That way you can look at each part of your home as it corresponds to the bagua and see what areas you can change.
To do just one room of your home, you can lay the chart over the drawing of this room and organize it that way.
To do just one room of your home, you can lay the chart over the drawing of this room and organize it that way.
If you want prosperity, you can do something as simple as putting something purple in this area of your home or room according to the bagua chart.
Colors are used to enhance an area and also to tone down an area, the bathroom is full of water, looking at the above chart you wouldn’t want to paint it with dark colors
Bagua chart with associated colors and the areas of your life it helps
Some say they are mirrors are important in feng shui and others say they are not important. The ones who say mirrors are important believe that mirrors can reflect good and or bad energy. For example you wouldn’t want a mirror reflecting the bathroom into your kitchen.
Mirrors are supposed to be able to expand positive energy flow if positioned in the right places in your home.
Colors are used to enhance an area and also to tone down an area, the bathroom is full of water, looking at the above chart you wouldn’t want to paint it with dark colors
Bagua chart with associated colors and the areas of your life it helps
Purple/gold
Wealth
Money and Prosperity
Southeast
|
Red
Fame
Reputation
South
|
Pink/reds/whites
Marriage/love
Relationships and partnerships
Southwest
|
Green
Family
Unity and bonding
East
|
Yellow/earth tones
Health
Physical & mental health
Center
|
White/pastels
Children
Creativity
West
|
Blue
Knowledge
Learning and spiritual growth
Northeast
|
Black/dark colors
Career
Promotions, jobs and job changes
North
|
Gray/white
Helpful people
Assistance, beneficial people and travel
Northwest
|
There are two schools of thought when placing the chart over the drawing of your home, one uses the compass directions and one doesn’t.
Using the compass directions, you place the bagua over the drawing of your home with north in the north direction. You can use a compass to be exact.
Using the non-compass method, the bottom of this chart should be aligned with the front of your home. You might use other doors more frequently to enter your home, but the front door is the entrance.
Your home probably isn’t a perfect square, it might be U shaped with a vacant area, which is okay as long as it has something in that area that will enhance your home in some way, something like a nice house plant or a container garden to fill up that area.
Using the non-compass method, the bottom of this chart should be aligned with the front of your home. You might use other doors more frequently to enter your home, but the front door is the entrance.
Your home probably isn’t a perfect square, it might be U shaped with a vacant area, which is okay as long as it has something in that area that will enhance your home in some way, something like a nice house plant or a container garden to fill up that area.
Your front door might be different, recessed, or a vacant area which can be enhanced in subtle ways.
If there are rooms in your home that are not used except where you might just throw things in to, look at the bagua chart to see what area of your life this room falls into and then see how you can fix it. Might be as simple as organizing it to organize that area of your life.
Maybe you have a totally empty room in your home, see what area of the bagua is in that room, does that area of your life feel empty. Look at the bagua corresponding colors and items you can put in that room so it won’t be empty anymore.
If there are rooms in your home that are not used except where you might just throw things in to, look at the bagua chart to see what area of your life this room falls into and then see how you can fix it. Might be as simple as organizing it to organize that area of your life.
Maybe you have a totally empty room in your home, see what area of the bagua is in that room, does that area of your life feel empty. Look at the bagua corresponding colors and items you can put in that room so it won’t be empty anymore.
 |
| Bagua / By Shandi Greve Penrod [CC BY-SA 3.0] WikimediaCommons |
Mirrors
Some say they are mirrors are important in feng shui and others say they are not important. The ones who say mirrors are important believe that mirrors can reflect good and or bad energy. For example you wouldn’t want a mirror reflecting the bathroom into your kitchen.
Mirrors are supposed to be able to expand positive energy flow if positioned in the right places in your home.
For example, if you have a mirror positioned in a place that reflects your flower garden into your home, that could provide positive energy. You could also use a feng shui octagon mirror.
Wind chimes
Wind chimes can also play an important part in your home, some say it’s as simple as placing the wind chime on the corner of a patio or porch to discourage negative energy and enhance the positive energy and harmony.
The use of wind chimes in feng shui can go further according to the direction, number of chimes and are they metal or bamboo wind chimes.
The use of wind chimes in feng shui can go further according to the direction, number of chimes and are they metal or bamboo wind chimes.
Does It Feel Good to You
How does your home feel to you? Do you feel gloomy in your home or in a certain room, using feng shui can make that area more pleasant.
When you drive up to your home, does it feel good? Is the front door pleasant, is the yard kept nicely and the trees and flowers all healthy looking.
If you have a neighbor who a yard that isn’t pleasant, there are things you can do in your yard to create harmony in your yard and home.
If you have a neighbor who a yard that isn’t pleasant, there are things you can do in your yard to create harmony in your yard and home.
Even if you live next to a parking lot or a freeway, there are feng shui ways to make it more pleasant with positive energy flow.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Copyright © 2009-2018 Sam Montana
