Linda Varone | Nurturing Spaces Feng Shui

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Feng Shui Home Analysis: Recognizing the Good in Your Home and in Yourself

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A young family asked me to do a pre-purchase Feng Shui home analysis.. It was a beautiful Arts and Crafts home on a partially wooded lot. I noted some Feng Shui vulnerabilities. But what struck me most was how good the energy of the house was. Here was a house that had been truly loved.

arts and crafts house with blooming trees in front, feng shui home analysis
A Blooming Arts and Crafts House

Some Feng Shui books focus on what is wrong with a home rather that what is good about a home. This approach increases readers’ anxiety that if something isn’t perfect bad things will happen. I was fortunate that some of my early teachers showed me not only how to correct the vulnerabilities in a home, but strengthen what is good in a feng shui home analysis. In strengthening what is good in your home you support and strengthen what is good in you and your loved ones.

 “When you recognize the good in something it will blossom. This is especially true about your home.”  – Denise Linn

Denise also writes about the “Spirit of the House.” When a house is neglected or unloved its energy sags. When a house is well maintained and well-loved its energy lifts. House love makes a huge difference in the energy of a building – more than mere maintenance – and makes a house a home. No house is perfect. Most are a work-in-progress.

Feng Shui Home Analysis: What do you love about your home?

  • Is there a place where everyone hangs out and feels comfortable and connected?
  • Is there a space that catches the morning light?
  • Is there a quiet corner where you can relax alone, or snuggle with one of your kids…or your sweetie?
  • Do you have a space outside where you can bask in the sun or catch cooling breezes?
  • Do you have a place where you can display your personal treasures: the objects that remind you of the people, places and events you love most?

Take a look around and identify what you love about your house. If you don’t have one, then create it.

Metaphysical Bonus for You:

Feng Shui is about your house as a mirror of yourself. Most of this thinking is focused on decluttering and the Ba-Gua. If your house is a mirror of yourself and you have a hard time loving it, warts and all; then maybe you have difficulty loving yourself, warts and all. (Damn that inner critic). Working on something concrete outside of yourself paves the way for the work of inner growth. Ask your house what kind of love it needs. And then take care of your home’s need for nurturance. As you do so you will practice nurturing and loving yourself.

Happy Ending/New Beginning

: This family had already fallen in love with the house. The Feng Shui vulnerabilities where easy to remedy. Their offer on the house was accepted.

  • Fall in love with your house again.
  • Identifying the good in your house.
  • Create a home that you love,

Contact me for a consultation.

photo by rictor and david (Note: This is not my clients’ house. I protect the privacy of all my clients. The home in this photo is a Charles Greene-designed house in Pasadena.)

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

Decluttering is NOT Feng Shui: Towards a Spiritual Approach to Feng Shui

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More often than not, when I meet someone new and they hear I am a Feng Shui consultant the response is “I really need someone to organize my _________ (fill in the blank).” As if Feng Shui consultants are mystical professional organizers. This is an understandable mistake, because of the emphasis on decluttering in so many Feng Shui books and blogs – including this one.

Cluster of deep pink roses
Balance and harmonize yourself by connection with Nature.

Decluttering is NOT part of traditional Feng Shui. I have been studying Feng Shui since 1989 and the earliest books and lectures on the subject by Asian teachers never mentioned clutter, decluttering or organizing. Why? Clutter is not a problem in Asia. But when the first Chinese teachers brought Feng Shui to America they realized that Americans were drowning in clutter. This had to be addressed because the best Feng Shui interventions are ineffective when clutter is clogging the Chi of a space and a person.

More than twenty years later, we get it. Clutter is not good.

Let’s take a spiritual look at Feng Shui. Feng Shui is about living in balance and harmony with Nature. Ancient Taoist sages viewed Nature as a reflection of the macrocosm, the Universe, and the microcosm, Humankind. To live in harmony with Nature is to live in harmony with the Cosmos and with ourselves.

How can you live in harmony with Nature?

  • Live more simply – think twice before you buy something. Is this what I need? Is this what the planet needs?
  • Be mindful to consume less: goods, energy and the time it takes to care for your possessions.
  • Practice gratitude for what you have – both material and non-material – your true blessings.
  • Shift to a level of simplicity that is comfortable for you.
  • Connect with Nature itself.

You know that Nature balances you. When you are frazzled, taking a walk calms you; when you feel down, time in Nature lifts your spirits.

  • Time in Nature opens your eyes and your senses to the wonder that surrounds you.
  • Being with Nature teaches you about the cycles of life, lessons honored by the ancient Chinese, but overlooked by us.
  • Set up your home to make the most of your connection with Nature.

Read these articles on how to set up your home to connect with Nature:

Are your window treatments getting between you and Nature?

Bring the power of Nature into your home

Declutter your outdoor life too (Mea Culpa)

What is your favorite way to connect with Nature? How does connection with Nature help you? I would love to see your thoughts in the comments below.

photo by coloredby

 

The Kitchen Altar: An Old Tradition for Your Busy Modern Life

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In Chinese folk religions, one of the roots of Feng Shui, the most important domestic god is the Kitchen God, Zao Jun.  It is believed at special times of the year he goes to heaven and reports to the Jade Emperor (chief deity) on the activities of the family. Based on what Zao Jun says the Jade Emperor gives the family rewards or punishments for the coming year. Traditionally a plaque of the Kitchen God and his wife would be above the stove. To ensure good luck, offerings of food and incense are made to them.

Magnolia blossom in sun face vase with angel figurine
A simple kitchen altar

Some of my  Feng Shui clients ask me to help them find a place for a personal altar as part of their spiritual practice. These altars are usually in the bedroom to support private meditation. Create a special place for spiritual centering where you can see it more often during your busy day. Borrow the Chinese tradition of a kitchen altar or spiritual reminder.

Your altar could be:

  • An image or figure of a divinity or special teacher
  • A written prayer or blessing
  • A plant or flower

You could place your devotional object:

  • By the sink to have something pleasant to meditate on while doing the dishes
  • By the stove to remind yourself of your gratitude for having food to cook
  • By the window to remind yourself of the blessings of Nature

Do you have a kitchen altar or something similar? Share your ideas and experience in a comment, below.

Read more about creating an altar in your home.

photo by Nieve44/Luz