Feng Shui Your Way to Better Health

featured this month on Examiner.com, by Cheryl S. Grant

As we get ready to spring clean our closets, now is the perfect time to create a sense of peace and harmony within your home. Anjie Cho, architect and author of 108 Ways to Create Holistic Spaces, offers up five tips for elevating your life and living space.

General health:
The Health area of the Feng Shui Bagua is called TAI CHI, which is related to your overall health, signified by earthy colors yellow-orange-brown, the number five, square or flat shapes, and the element of earth. The energy of the center affects physical, mental and emotional health.

The health area is in the center because it affects, and is influenced by, all eight bagua areas around it. This central area touches all aspects of your life, so of course it influences your health and well being.

A yellow toned square rug in the center of your bedroom, living room or home provides centralized stability, which is a great way to support your overall health.

Relieve stress:
Your bed, desk, and stove should be positioned so that you can see the door, the expanse of the room and you have your back against the far wall. You don’t want to be directly in front of the door. Instead, across the room, diagonally from the door, is typically the most ideal position or the “commanding position.”

This helps to curb your physiological response of fear that you may experience when you cannot see the door or what may be coming your way. Even if you are not consciously aware of it, it does affect you. It is like a stone that has water dripping on it lightly for years; the stress levels begin to wear down at you, “ says Cho. 

Kitchen nourishment:
The kitchen is the room where we are able to nourish our bodies with food. A kitchen with an open plan, cabinets that maintain between their tops and ceiling and white walls are ideal for promoting energy and proper nutrition.

Your refrigerator is also important so remove all expired or spoiled foods and keep it de-cluttered. 

Clear the Air:
The indoor air quality of your home is essential to our health and healing. Since we spend the vast majority of our time indoors we must eliminate toxic chemicals from your living environment. These chemicals are absorbed easily through the air and skin, and are also extremely dangerous if swallowed.

Non-toxic, green cleaning products are easy to find now at your local grocery stores. It is also easy to make your own with household items like vinegar and baking soda.

Cho’s favorite DIY recipe is for an all-purpose cleaning solution is to mix 1 part white vinegar and 3 parts water, with 9 drops of essential oil. Eucalyptus and tea tree oil are good options, as they are naturally anti-bacterial and anti-microbial. Shake up all the ingredients in a spray bottle and you’ve got a homemade, non-toxic cleaner. 

14 Easy Tips That Will Help You Be Happier In Your Home

featured this month on BuzzFeed, by Mackenzie Kruvant

What is feng shui and why is it important?

Feng shui looks at how energy (also called chi) moves through your home. If there is an area where the chi is moving too quickly or is stuck then that can represent either an area where you’re stuck in your life or things that you need to improve on.

There are two ways to look at your apartment. You can think, "This is just my apartment" — or you can look at it as an ecosystem, an environment that affects you. If you choose to look at it the second way, then feng shui can help you achieve good energy and a space that will get you over your energy funk — and it’s easier than you’d think. We asked feng shui expert Anjie Cho to show us how.

1. Make sure your entranceway reflects who you are — it’s how energy comes into your home.

“Your door represents how opportunities come to you. It’s where energy comes into your home,” Cho tells BuzzFeed Life. “That’s why it’s so important that it reflects you.” It’s also important that you have a clear number or name written somewhere. “If you don’t have anything on your door it may stop people from being able to find you,” Cho says. If possible, try not to crowd the door. “Make your entry look nice, because it’s your face to the world. Have a clean and positive doormat for clean and positive energy.”

...read full article

by Anjie Cho

Getting Organized: Insights from Janine Sarna-Jones

Today is Organize Your Home Day! In honor of this day, I have an interview with Janine Sarna-Jones, a talented professional organizer. And since many New Year's resolutions are about organization and de-cluttering, I interviewed her on this topic to help all the readers and learn about organization from a non-feng shui perspective.

AC: When you see a disorganized home or office, how does it hold people back?

JS: I do not judge a space by what I see. I can only determine that a home or office is disorganized by how the person feels about their space. Disorganized spaces hold people back in thousands of ways, both logistically and emotionally. Sometimes it is as simple as not being able to find stuff; in other cases the individual feels deep shame and incapable of inviting people into their space.

 What is the biggest benefit you've seen after organizing someone's home or office?

It’s hard to pick just one benefit, but one of the biggest is the realization of an organizational system that is in tune with the way that individual thinks and operates.

What are areas that are often overlooked?

The key to getting organized is to start in the places you actually use. In my experience, rather than overlooking areas that need to be organized, people tend to focus their efforts on the least important areas. For example, begin organizing their attic rather than the desk they sit at every day.

How have you created a holistic space for yourself in your home or office?

For me, this is a work in progress. Living with my family, as I do in a New York City 2 bedroom apartment, creating a holistic space involves creating homes for everything and jettisoning things that are no longer useful.

What are three simple tips that you can offer readers in beginning to organize their homes or offices to create a holistic space?

1. Stop thinking about organizing as a task you put on your To Do list and block off a Saturday to accomplish. Start working on small organizing projects, for example, one drawer. Daily!

2. Evaluate what you are keeping in your “prime real estate” areas. For example, do you have clothing you consider memorabilia (and you would never consider wearing again) hanging in your closet? Then put it in a container and move it to a less accessible place. 

3. Let go of items that have outlived their purpose and/or no longer serve your needs.

by Anjie Cho

Janine Sarna-Jones is founder and president of Organize Me Inc. She is a Certified Professional Organizer® and an Evernote Certified Business Consultant and has been helping people get organized at work and at home since 1992. Janine has achieved the distinction of being a member of the Inaugural group of Certified Professional Organizers® (2007) and attained a CD Specialist Certificate from the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD). As a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) since 2001, Janine has contributed her expertise in a variety of leadership roles. In 2007, she was elected to a three-year term to NAPO’s Board of Directors and served two terms as President of the NAPO-New York Chapter from 2005 to 2007.