Think Outside The Travel Channel – Feng Shui Travel Cures

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
 Maya Angelou

Minimizing stress on a trip makes for more relaxation and fun. I want you to have a great time so here is my Feng Shui A list that have worked for me. I believe these travel cures will help you experience an out-of-the-ordinary vacation, complete with feeling safe, at ease and when an unusual circumstance happens, you can respond with an open heart. 

Travel With The Buddha Purchase a small Buddha statue, one inch is a good size. Place it in a container that holds heat such as an incense holder or a cauldron. Place this in a private area like the top of your bedroom bureau for nine days. Each day offer incense, visualize this is your “Traveling Buddha” and it will protect you when you travel and bring good luck. Let the incense burn down and allow the ashes to fall onto the Buddha. On the tenth day take out the Buddha, do not brush off the incense and carry with you. See you are protected wherever you travel.

Start On The Right Foot The Red Carpet ceremony is performed when departing your home for an business appointment, wedding or trip. Create auspicious opportunities and safety by placing a six-foot red cloth over the threshold of your front door. As you step down onto the carpet (cloth) with your left foot, visualize your trip is accident free and negative energy is cleansed. Make eight steps and end with the ninth step, your left foot, stepping of the the carpet. Fold and take with you. Do not go back into the house.

Boost Your Immune System Jet lag, time change, activity fun can catch up pretty quickly. Color influences how you feel. Make sure you pack a scarf or ensemble that has the five elements-black, green, red, yellow and white. At the first notice of overall weariness change to this and start to feel the vibrance, radiance and balance of these colors. Visualize you are receiving what you need and paid heed to what advice your intuition is giving.

Remove Old Energy It might be old, it could be negative. It could be whatever. Don’t take chances on who or what has resided in your room even if it is five star Hilton. If you forgot to carry orange spray or mister made with true essential oils, you can also use the peels of an orange to clear out stale or negative energy. Cut nine circles, rubbed them in your hands then place them under your pillow for a great night’s sleep.

Use Insight Over Anger Probably the biggest influence keeping the trip upbeat and good luck coming. If anxiety flairs quickly for you: before you say something you will regret, step back and “Swallow Your Saliva”, nine times. First create the saliva with the tip of your tongue on the upper palate of your mouth by moving your tongue back and forth 27 times. Then swish the saliva around your gums and teeth. While doing this think whether what you have to say will cause harm. Swallow then speak. It connects all the meridians in the body. Not only will this create positive relations with your family and travelers but strengthen your organs, in particular, your stomach and spleen.

photo credit: Bubo Blog, A New York City Dad

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.

Unexpected Death And Feeding (One’s Own) Hungry Ghosts.

Three years ago my life changed. My sister passed away. Everything about it was sudden and raw. Her departure cracked open an agonizing hole of grief. If you have experienced this deep distraction then you understand my life was filtered through a glaze of sadness. I began casting about, restless for relief. Not more than a month after she died, I was thrown a life line. I was quietly led to the Portland Japanese Garden, a place Marianne loved and found solace. There I discovered a comforting tradition, O-bon, the Spirit Festival . Persons who have passed on within the year are honored, ancestors are remembered and the importance of family ties are acknowledged. It all begins with dancers beckoning the audience to join in the folkloric dances of Bon Odori. After the liveliness of the hand clapping and twirling about, members and friends proceed with their votives down to “The Strolling Pond Garden”. 

It is a theater of hushed reverence. A Buddhist monk strikes the singing bowl, burns incense, calls to the spirits with mantras and the names of the deceased are memorialized while participants say their prayers and bid their ancestors good bye. Towering conifers, the expansive sky, the sun dimming behind the hills, gold and red koi, drawn to the burning fire, swim in and out of these spirit clusters of light. Nature conspires with the sublimity of the ritual and Toro Nagashi (literally lantern floating) light the way home for the spirits of ancestors to go back to heaven.

After experiencing this rich tradition I saw a link between the O-bon, Spirit Festival and what the Chinese call The Ghost Month. The seventh lunar month is when the Gates of Hell spring open to allow ghosts and spirits access to the earthly plane. They visit their families, feast and look for victims. But this custom has a precautionary tale. Residents in villages are warned to be careful in going outside during the evening. It is inauspicious for them to travel, move their home or start a new business. To appease and honor the hungry ghosts, the first day of the Ghost Month, foods are placed in makeshift altars outside the house. This year, August 20, 2013, is the 14th lunar day of the Ghost Month, the day that the spirits are out in full force. Taoist and Buddhist families prepare a grand feast to bring good luck to the family. Every year a Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on this day with a parade and lanterns atop decorated floats. The procession finds its way to a river, pond or lake. The lanterns are lit and released. They give direction to lost souls and help ghosts and deities find their way to the food offerings. 

The hungry ghosts who never leave.
Occasionally a home owner will complain of feeling displaced. A cold chill comes over them or furniture will unexpectedly tip over. It is a real phenomena that a hungry ghost has not found its way back to heaven. With respect to the spirit, I help my client make offerings. We begin with the preparation of uncooked rice, high proof liquor and ju sha (cinnabar power). The ingredients are stirred together with the middle finger and the power of chanting mantras transforms the food into a sacred meal. We take this spiritually charged rice mixture, walk the property and along the path toss handfuls down to the ground, planting seeds while the mantras fill the air. We pray and visualize the land is blessed and the troubled spirits are fed, sated and either leave or remain as helpful spirits. It is a custom I perform at least four times a year on my property to ensure the beings remain happy and offer kind assistance. Also I know that in my mind the blessing of the ritual offer relief and feeds the hungry ghosts that come to trouble my heart.

Whether the ghosts are howling in Lunar July or you are boarding a plane, I want to share this gift of protection to keep you safe.

Orange Peel Protection
Cut nine round pieces from the skin of an orange. Carry them on your body (in your bra, your pants pocket or in a pouch around your neck). Orange is auspicious, brings good luck and offers protection. It need not be a Ghost Month to carry orange peels with you. Carry them when you travel, go to trial or a funeral. We never know when a roaming spirit might take up company with us.

One thing 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.