Tag Archives: 27 Bedroom Feng Shui Concepts

Spring Into Your Dreams Feng Shui Style

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“If you believe the impossible, the incredible can come true.”
– Terrance Mann, Field of Dreams

Are you as excited as I am about the arrival of April? Tulips, daffodils and sweet smelling hyacinths sprinkle the neighborhood flower beds, their resplendent glory bookmark this miraculous season called Spring. Their life force a harbinger that we benefit from the many pleasures Spring delivers when we bring the outside into our homes.

Feeling the urgency to make something happen? Spring is persistent. It pushes forward. It encourages our psyche to tap into our best self, to reclaim our vitality and to pioneer our aspirations. Its uprising force bolsters our enthusiasm, pressing us to believe we can do it all. If this is you and you’re ready for change, I think you’ll welcome the high vibration adjustments that replenish your career; grow a family member back to good health; plant seeds for a lasting relationship and help you bloom during difficult times so you can remain focused on realizing your field of dreams.

Boost Your health
Where do you go to make an impression on your immune system? The front door! The front door represents the entire household: your career, your future, your reputation, your head but also your health. Place nine potted plants on the inside of the front door to improve the health of a family member who is dealing with cancer or an illness.

Squash the Back Fence Talk
Popular plants for the front entry and walkways are New Zealand flax. Flax are spiky plants and spiky plants in the Feng Shui metaphor may invite scoundrels or people who are jealous of you and gossip about you. It may also indicate that the inhabitants will become distant, their energy becomes withdrawn, isolated, and “strange”. Use flowering and non flowering plants with round ovate leaves to remove the temptation that could destroy your reputation.

Banish Pandora’s Box
Place a large vase with a cut cherry blossom branch in the foyer or a dining room side table or living room coffee table. For in the Chinese metaphor the blossom represents beauty, courtesy and modesty. The fruit itself symbolizes immortality. And it is believed that cherrywood keeps evil spirits away. In ancient times cherry wood statues stood guard in front of aristocrats homes.

Pour Your Heart into Others
If you are a coach, a mentor or wish to teach, place an image of a plum tree in your home in most any area of the house. But if you want to share your wisdom effectively place it in the Knowledge gua. Here it will foster the qualities of a charismatic teacher and student relationship. The metaphor of plum means students everywhere (around the world).

Start Love on the Right Foot
Before you seriously seek a love relationship look around your bedroom. Is your bed in the right place? What color are your sheets and bed cover? What images have you hung on the walls? The peach is associated with luck, long life and the divine fruit of the gods. The Chinese believe it can make people perpetually young. The peach petals create an intense trance of love. The peach tree represents longevity and the peach wood wards off evil. As you begin your search place peach blossom petals in a bowl in the Relationship gua of your bedroom. Once you have found your beloved remove the petals (for you might attract another suitor) and replace them with an image of a peach tree to create a long lasting relationship. When you are certain of your partner take the image down and either plant a pear tree in your back yard or hang an image of a pear tree in your Relationship gua. The sound of pear in the Chinese language is the same as sharing.

Stage a New Chapter in Your Career
Your office desk and chair are the seat of your power. Whether at home or at work if you sit too close to the door your voice will not be heard. In other words, your boss and colleagues will dismiss what you say and treat you as an underling. Or if the side of your desk is facing the door, you may experience a headache on one side of your head. Both distract you from moving forward in your career. If you cannot move the desk, place a lush plant between you and the door to protect your Ch’i.

Bloom During Difficult Times
The persimmon fruit in the Chinese language sounds like “booming market”. Plant it as an adjustment for your business to prosper. If you cannot find a persimmon tree as a cure for wealth and prosperity or it does not grow well in your area, you can use an orange tree instead. And if you cannot plant a persimmon or an orange tree because you do not have property, a small orange tree in a pot will work. Find the Wealth gua on your lot or in your home, that is a good place for the orange tree.

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”… start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Breast Cancer Never Takes A Day Off!

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“The only person who can save you is you: That going to be the thing that informed the rest of my life.”
–Sheryl Crow on being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Breast cancer never takes a day off. About one in eight (12% in the US) women will experience this invasive, malignant shadow over the course of their lifetime. For me it came home the moment my oldest sister, Grace, heard the words, “You have a malignant tumor in your breast.” Her world came crashing down and her dreams dissolved into a puddle on the floor. For 18 years she “battled” nausea, pain, depression, sadness, stress, anger and the despair that she would not get the life back that she once knew. Though Grace didn’t survive cancer, she was a survivor.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You may not think of turning to your home to address your health however neuroscience continues to uncover evidence that indicates your environment is a large part of your wellness package. As you know from my blogs and if you have had a consultation with me, I share that multiple factors influence our life’s situations, particularly when we are dealing with illness.

I believe education is an important part of our health picture. In holistic health Feng Shui is part of the cure. I have included some design features that deplete your Ch’i. Plus I have included Feng Shui cures and natural solutions to help you fight off illness and cancer, because I want you to believe you can take your health into your own hands and survive anything.

General Illness
Environmental
If you are sensitive to toxicity in the environment such as carpet off-gassing or paint fumes, one of the ways to address this is to:
–Plant a garden. The greenery has beneficial affects on your vitality, nervous system and general well-being.
– Go outside, walk barefoot in your backyard or in a park. “Just touching the earth, which is electrically conducive, neutralizes free radicals in your body and brings you back in sync with the earth’s energy field. Upon contact, the negative ions from the earth’s surface rush into our bodies to discharge the many unpaired positive ions (or free radicals) we’ve picked up from modern living.” – “Healing By Grounding”, Radical Beauty, Harmony Books, Deepak Chopra, M.D. and Kimberly Snyder, C.N.
If you know you have toxins in your body, you can neutralize them by performing “Ice-Cold Heart in a Jade Teapot”.*

Reoccurring
If you want to minimize the reoccurrence of illness:
Make an adjustment to a house that is situated too close to the front of the lot and especially if the lot is rounded at the back.

Fluctuating
If your health is constantly seesawing:
– Make an adjustment to a building with many levels, especially if it is a residence.
– Adjust a stairway in the center.

Persistent
If your illness never ceases and just persists:
– Make an adjustment to a dead tree that is planted directly in front of the main door.
– Make an adjustment to a sickly tree that is planted directly in front of the main door.
– Make an adjustment to a tree that protrudes and pokes at you as you walk up to the main door.

Chronic
If your condition is chronic.
–Make an adjustment by removing dead plants from the front door.

Breast Cancer
H. H. “Professor” Lin Yun’s first and foremost advice:
Find a doctor who is a specialist. Seek a second opinion.
Seek an oriental doctor. If these avenues do not prove helpful seek holistic healing.
Feng Shui
– Adjust the Relationship gua and the T’ai Ch’i position (the center of the house).
– Perform the Red Slipper Cure* (for cancer in general). It is also a cure for other illnesses, bad luck and legal problems.
– Place nine vital plants around the front door (for cancer in general).
– Practice the Sunshine Buddha Exercise.*
– Plus practice the Medicine Buddha Six Ch’i (Sound) Healing.*

If you are in the Pacific NW, I will be at Nu Life Chiropractic and Sports Medicine, Thursday, October 6 5-7 p.m. as part of their Women’s Wellness Event to promote breast cancer awareness. Please stop by. I would love to meet you and answer your questions. The address is: 14 SE Grace Avenue, Battle Ground, WA 98604. See you Thursday!

*Please contact me, 503-232-2543, if you have a health concern or you are dealing with cancer.

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”…start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Take Command Of Your Sleep, Start With Feng Shui Design

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“By helping us keep the world in perspective, sleep gives us a chance to refocus on the essence of who we are. And in that place of connection, it is easier for the fears and concerns of the world to drop away.”
– Arianna Huffington, The Sleep Revolution

In July I shared with you I will be part of an anthology, Recipes For Living Coloring Journal. It’s no surprise my chapter is devoted to how Feng Shui bedroom design helps you sleep better. I truly believe the bedroom is the most important room in the house. So when I read Arianna Huffington’s account of her “wake up call” in The Sleep Revolution, I knew that the benefits of Feng Shui design need to spread throughout the world.

“We are in a sleep deprivation crisis,” writes Ms. Huffington. “I experienced firsthand the high price we’re paying for cheating sleep when I collapsed from exhaustion.” She goes on to say, “If we look at our lives as a spiritual journey, sleep becomes a key paradox: when we completely identify with our persona in this world–with our job, our appearance, our bank account–we are asleep to life’s deeper dimensions….We are living in a golden age of sleep science–revealing all the ways in which sleep and dreams play a vital role in our decision making, emotional intelligence, cognitive function and creativity. And how lack of sleep is often the culprit behind anxiety, stress, depression and a myriad of health problems.” (Harmony Books, The Sleep Revolution)

Consulting with my clients I have discovered a similar loop. Usually it takes the form of an underlying anxiety that monitors their decision making where their choices are based on a stress response. For nearly everyone of them this stems from an exhaustive bedroom design.

Sleep not only helps you work efficiently but be a productive part of society. Yet productivity is but one piece of the well-being matrix. Living fully and consciously means tapping into your creativity, your rich well of emotions and you soul’s purpose.

Of all the Feng Shui design advice I give on the bedroom, I have found “placing the bed in command position” carries the most weight in addressing productivity (yang) and creativity (yin) of our everyday lives. And for those who constantly deal with anxiety, worry and depression, it is a gift for the soul. Bed placement creates a palpable shift in your emotions and I have seen a positive attitude change as a result. Choices come from confidence rather than the seat of the pants. Clarity eliminates self-sabotaging behavior that cycles into stress. Inspiration flows freely as the brain functions at its optimal capacity rather than run on auto-pilot.

If you’ve had doubts why changing your bed position is a good idea, I’ve included a short list. You may be surprised how it influences your health and peace of mind.

  • Heart troubles. Where your bed is positioned can place stress on your emotional heart. Prolonged stress can develop into physical heart troubles including a murmur and arrhythmia.
  • Illness along the midline. Your major organs from your brain to your kidneys can be affected.
  • Insomnia and restless sleep. Our brain is responsible for our survival. It we’re too close to an entrance, either facing it, to the side of it or behind it, this placement triggers the amygdala (the fight-or-flight mechanism). Our brain never shuts off and this weakens the immune system which depends on releasing toxins and building tissue in sleep.
  • Missed opportunity. If you sleep in line of the door your body never lets down at night to rejuvenate. During the day you may be preoccupied with a low grade headache which will invariably eclipse a chance meeting or being considered for promotion.
  • Mood swings. If your bed is on the door wall, you cannot see who is coming, you may feel a sense of danger and you may be blind-sided.

Command position is based on H.H. ”Professor” Lin’s Theory of Relative Positioning which states, the energy that is closest to you affects you the most. Think of the gunslinger in the old westerns. He always had his back to the wall and his eye on the saloon doors. Never too close and not in line of those swinging doors.

  • Your bedroom door determines command position.
  • The door should be within eyeshot of the bed.
  • The bed placement should allow the widest scope of vision of the door.
  • The best placement when feasible is the farther wall from the bedroom door.

As you lay in bed tonight take a moment and observe your surroundings. What do you see? What do you feel? Self awareness is key to getting a good night’s sleep.

Have you decided this will be your year? “Boldness has genius”…start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

How Emotions Are Decorating Your Space

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“An interior is the natural projection of the soul.”
– Coco Chanel

Decorating should be the fun part of moving and home improvement but if everyday something comes up, you feel anxious, some event triggers an unhappy thought and you just can’t get started…your emotions are decorating your space. Here is what Jeanette discovered. Her family decided to move across country so her husband could take a new position and they could be closer to her parents. She had one week to choose a home for her family. The home she fell in love with had vaulted ceilings, a view of the back yard from the front door, a large master suite that stretched from front to back, a three car garage…it was certainly the right neighborhood and the school was perfect for her children. Once they settled into the new house she thought everything would be as before. But the stress of moving never dissipated. A barrier progressively developed between she and her husband. They were silent at the dinner table and he stopped coming home at reasonable hours. Her 13 year old son did not like sleeping in his room. It was so good before the move, what happened? 

Wanting to find the husband she had lost, to help her son stop his nightly wandering and bring some happiness to herself, she called me for help. Jeanette’s story is a powerfully moving scenario and not unlike the stories clients share expressing their profound loss and disbelief over what has happened to the life they once had. She had read several Feng Shui books. She suspected the emotional issues between she and her husband, her son’s distraction and her moodiness were stemming from her home. And she admitted she didn’t feel good being there. When I shared what I saw, my words immediately resonated with her. She had no trouble making a plan and her next step would be decorating using Feng Shui design.

I believe design education goes a long way in creating awareness that our home influences our well-being. With that in mind, I composed this Feng Shui guide to help you make better choices when deciding on your new nest. And if you are already settled in your space, you might recognize one or two design features that may be limiting your freedom and curbing your peace of mind. 

Want a picture? Here is a helpful companion blog on floor plans, “Unraveling Your Home’s Floor Plan With Feng Shui.

 Depletion That Paints You Into A Corner
• A hidden front door is when you cannot see the door from the street. Feelings of isolation can develop over time. What Professor Lin would call “strange chi.” At an office there may be loss of income, feeling frustration, depression and loss of motivation.
• An obstacle (blocking tree, wall, utility pole or column) at the front door can limit opportunities.
• Double doors can create confusion, especially if the door to enter is not marked properly.
• A slanted front door creates a slant on daily interactions that explode into unexpected events related to all areas of life.
• A blocking wall inside the front door can impede the forward movement of everyone in the household. Everyone may struggle with their career. Faith in the future may be lost.
• Front door /back door alignment may possibly create a split through the whole house. The closer the doors the worse this patten is. Parents may feel a barrier between them and lead separate lives. Parents and children lose touch. Money may leak and opportunities dry up. Money, motivation, reputation, health and good luck may fly out the back door.
• A split at the front door can affect all areas of life dramatically. The brain is activated unevenly and the two sides will start to lack coordination. The inhabitant may act more and think less. Or think more and act less. In either situation there is an imbalance. As a result illness along the midline can development. Also confusion and the lack of sound decision making can cost a family their health or business. Non-stop arguing and violence can result with a split at the front door. Extreme marital, family and business interactions can take place here.
• A split stairway (typical of split level homes) aka Mandarin duck stairway creates an environment where everything begins to fall apart; it can even shatter a person’s peace of mind. The different levels affect partners where they are more likely to experience miscommunication or not speak at all; children have difficulty feeling accepted; finances fluctuate wildly. Invariably health is unstable. When it is a company and affects all the employees, the consequences can be disastrous.

 Bad Luck That Colors Your Morale
• Seeing a cemetery, a morgue or a deserted house from your front door may bring illness and sudden expected disasters.
• If your home is at end of a “double T” intersection your luck may dwindle in all areas but in particular health and finances.
• A narrow driveway or path. The opportunity to expand your heart and mind may never happen. And if you see opportunity you won’t be able to grasp it, feeling shut down.
• A toilet over the front door brings bad luck to the entire household or business.
• A stove that is backed up to the toilet that is on the other side of the wall affects your luck to the point it may run out.
• A dead door is a door that is nailed shut or that cannot be opened. This feature may stifle’s one’s voice completely. If the original door has been closed there can be a sudden downturn in fortune or slow loss of resources.

Details That Design Conflict
• Arguing Doors are two doors that when they are open bump up against one another. The clashing is jarring to the senses and disturbs the inhabitants equilibrium. Conflict results. It may run throughout the house.
• Biting Doors are doors that are out of alignment with one another. Visualize walking out of your bedroom and seeing part of a door entry and part of a wall. This design feature creates a split and has the effect of a front door split. Biting doors create discord between parents and parents and children. In a child’s room it can create a bully. You may lose friends and neighbors can turn into enemies. In an office setting there may be gossip, back stabbing and power struggles. Biting doors at the front door are especially detrimental as the conflict and verbal fighting can reach into the neighborhood.
• Piercing Heart Doors are three or more doors which you could walk in a straight line. They create an invisible obstacle through the house which impedes relations between partners, partners and their children and between siblings. Alienation and separation tear the family apart.
• Many doors opening into a small space. I think we all have this one, especially around the bedrooms and bathroom. A door is a “mouth”. This area can be especially noisy because all the voices are trying to speak at once. Listening is difficult and family members may end up quarreling. This design feature is the underpinnings for health issues, particularly the digestive organs.
• Too many doors in relationship to the windows and the adult voice may be too powerful. This ratio may silence the voice of the children. In a business situation management (the adult) may not heart the feedback of employees (the children). There may be a conflict of wills.
• Too few doors in relationship to the windows and the children may create havoc. On the job, employees may strike or rebel.

Architecture That Exhausts All Your Emotional Resources
• A door that is below the level of the street make every movement feel like an uphill climb. Time becomes altered and energy depleted. There is an inability to follow through and complete projects.
• A contrary door is a door that opens to a wall instead of the main part of the room. Everyone who lives in the house may find they are laboring and not enjoying the results of their work. They may feel exhausted and disappointed most of the time.
• If a stove is in line with the front door, family problems may never be resolved. There is constant worry and pressure which can exhaust everyone who lives there.
• If a bedroom is the first room an inhabitant sees when entering the house, they may be too tired to take care of their responsibilities and daily duties.

 Exterior And Interiors That Are Blueprints For Illness
• An industrial park or factory next door may be overwhelming. The distraction and pollution create physical and mental imbalances. Being empty at night they create a yin presence. All of this affects your ability to concentrate, be clear and effective.
• A bathroom in the center of the house or office can deplete all life situations. Poor health can plague every inhabitant year after year, effecting succeeding generations.
• A fireplace in the center of the house can burn up money, create infamy and heat up passion so it is burns outside the house, drying up your creative juices. The flow of your career may come to a drizzle and your inner growth may be non-existent. Your vitality is depleted and your emotional capacity to lift your life to joy is severely restrained.
•A stairway that ends too close to a wall may impede the flow of Ch’i in the building and the bodies of the inhabitants. You may feel blocked physically, emotionally and in your career.

If you want to receive a cure for any one of these design features, I will ask you to honor the red envelope tradition.

Have you decided this will be your year? ”Boldness has genius”…start with one hour of Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

February 7 New Moon I Tiger Burning Bright

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“You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.”
– Life of Pi

February 7 new moon, the Chinese Lunar New Year and the entrée of Tiger month birthed a new year. Chinese New Year customs were originally dispersed via folkloric oral tradition from father to child, grandparent to daughter and so it is that great lessons are learned from parables and tales. This month Tiger teaches profound lessons. We delve into the watery depths like Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Castaways on a vast mysterious ocean, this spiritual parable demonstrates that life is transcendent when you are on a boat with a tiger. Richard Parker (Bengal Tiger) and Pi form one of the most intensely profound “friendships” ever penned. One that would influence Pi for the rest of his life. “Richard Parker has stayed with me. I have never forgotten him. Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart.”

With such intensity for living this is often where Tiger finds itself, on an extraordinary adventure. And true to Tigers’s character, the Life of Pi sea odyssey speaks to Tiger’s passion, their love of adventure and their addiction to excitement. Fearless and courageous they will stand up for what they believe in to the bitter end. A cat whose home is the jungle, where they must be keen and sure to stay alive, glides through the shadows with full Yin Yang embodiment: “tigers are tempestuous yet calm, warm hearted yet fearless, courageous in the face of danger yet yielding and soft in mysterious and unexpected places.” Rarely at a disadvantage this Monkey year is an exception. Tiger position is in the most ”direct conflict relationship” to the Year God, the Monkey. Tiger’s odyssey will be colored by worry and mental and physical exhaustion. Their lesson from this: to exercise harmony even when bad luck comes in waves; to be forgiving; to let go and to live in peace by performing good deeds.

Discover what odyssey winds around your Chinese Zodiac animal in the Month of the Tiger. Rat: this Tiger month reveals hidden worries. Expect as much misfortune as auspiciousness. Counter act any bad luck by attending a wedding, something happy to lift your Ch’i. Ox: endeavors will be smooth and you can expect wealth and happiness to surround you. Career is very positive too however be mindful of your mental and physical health. Tiger: both joy and sorrow are around. You will be aided by Helpful People on your travels. Pay attention to mistakes in pressing affairs they may likely show up unexpectedly again. Rabbit: success is yours with celebration, money, enhancing family name and marital relationships. However beware of your speech, do not boost. Dragon: you can expect an influx of wealth and happiness. Seize any opportunity or chance for further achievement. Snake: a most confrontational month. Beware of bloodshed, traffic accidents and be mindful of safety when you travel. If you decide to take a trip perform “Walking on Six Feet of Red Cloth” cure to ensure your safety. Horse: you are in a Three Harmony luck. Career will go well and financial luck will be strong. There will be helpful people and those with malicious intent be aware of the ones who have designed schemes. Take time to be with family and celebrate to alleviate any tension during the month. Ram: you will experience good fortune but Ram is in the “mouth of the Tiger” so take precautions and avoid being manipulated or cheated by others. Monkey: you are enjoying better luck this month but under the surface you are suffering from grievances. Be advised to seize opportunities and set new records at work. Watch your health and do not visit homes of the bereaved. Rooster: family reunions during the Chinese Lunar New Year bring peace and happiness. This is a busy and dynamic time where you may find you are traveling for business and pleasure. If you decide to take a trip perform “Walking on Six Feet of Red Cloth” cure to ensure your safety. Dog: luck of the month is a Three Harmony and all adversity will turn to auspiciousness. It will be a busy and dynamic time. Endeavors will be prosperous and you will have money luck. But beware of loss of personal property. Watch doors and entrances, thieves and pickpockets. Pig: lucky days! Helpful people will be at your assistance and family business will be successful. Go on trips and maintain a dynamic schedule to avert disasters brought forth on by destructive relationship of the zodiac signs. Have a great month, Zodiac friends!

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