HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR to my readers!
Listen to me discuss with Ian Power of Vancouver’s CKNW Home Discovery Show, Feng Shui considerations for the Lunar New Year.
What is Feng Shui? What are considerations for the year of the Horse?
Interview Transcript:
IP: Anjie Cho is a Feng Shui interior architect based in New York City and Los Angeles and is a sought after expert in the fields of Feng Shui and Green Design. She’s also the founder of the online blog, Holistic Spaces.
AC: Good morning Ian.
Kung Hei Fat Choi.
Happy New Year to you too.
Well, Feng Shui is an ancient art of placement that was developed thousands of years ago, specifically in China, and it really seeks to enhance and improve the flow of energy through your space, whether it be your workspace or your home space, to maximize the potential in your life.
Is that the same as chi?
Well, chi is the energy that I referred to. So in Feng Shui, we call that energy, that life force that moves through all of us and it also moves through your space, we call that chi.
Okay. Who is it for?
Well, everyone could be interested in Feng Shui. So I practice Feng Shui but I also apply it in my home. I do architecture and interior design, so I can apply it to peoples’ homes, I can apply it to their offices, you can even apply Feng Shui principles to your desk, to your bed, to your body...so anyone can use Feng Shui. Actually, almost every culture has some form of Feng Shui. Ancient cultures looked at what was the best place to locate your home or your farm or your business based on the environment around you and to create the most positive impact.
With the Lunar New Year upon us, are there any special considerations? We’re in the year of the horse, what significance does that play in Feng Shui?
I think in Western culture, we look back at what we did and try to repair that, but we really just absorb. So how do we welcome the new energy that’s coming in to the year? That’s really what the Chinese zodiac is about. Each year has certain characteristic, so for instance, last year was a Water Snake year. If you think about a snake, how does a snake move? It moves indirectly. It goes left and right, and it kinda slithers along, and it’s more subtle. It’s indirect, very serpentine in its direction. So that was the energy of last year. But when you think of a horse, a horse really moves straightforward. It’s very direct, and they work in teams, and they gallop together, and they’re just charging forward all the time. In one way, we look at how do we welcome this new energy, and the best way to welcome the new energy is to do a little space clearing. What that means is taking the old energy in your space and letting it go. Clearing some clutter in your home, maybe there is a box that’s been sitting in your closet for years, and maybe it’s a good time to look through it or just maybe throw it away if you haven’t touched it on years. Also you can literally clear the space by opening up your windows, use fresh orange peels. Orange peels have very strong, yang, life-affirming energy. When you peel an orange, that smell just makes you happy…
It sure does.
… it’s very brightening.
Orange peels are also good for cleaning.
Yes, absolutely. So they can physically clean, spiritually clean, energetically clean as well. It’s all the same thing.
If there’s one thing, what would that one thing be that you would recommend they do?
The first thing that pops to mind is what I talked about with clearing the space so, opening up your windows, literally letting out the old air, open up your closet. Something else that I think is really important is starting in your bedroom and looking at your bed, what’s going on with your bed? A lot of people have a lot of stuff under their bed, and in Feng Shui, it’s actually not a good place to store anything. If you have to store something, you could store bed related things like blankets, pillows, soft things. I know a lot of people who have, pictures or letters from ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, energetically negative items under their bed, and that really influences you. Because think about it, you’re passive in bed for 8 hours a day. You spend so much time in your bedroom, and that energy really affects you so I think that’s a really great place to start.
I’m thinking about all those socks that are under my bed.
I think socks are okay, but it might represent that you’re always moving forward. Because it’s your feet, right, and when you think about your feet, you’re walking along a path. People who have a lot of shoes too, it might be that that they’re always on the go or walking away from things.
Yeah. I’m thinking of the horse too, and we’re just about out of time so I gotta move this along, but I am thinking, with the horse and the horseshoe, is there any kind of a luck component to this?
Well you know how I said we can apply it to any religion or culture? Because in Western culture the horse shoe represents good luck, absolutely, you can use it. I think that’s a great way to tie in the Eastern and Western together, because, traditionally, if you put the horse shoe up above a door, that’s a good luck charm, right?
Mhm. Anjie…
I think that’s great.
As always, a pleasure and a lot of fun talking to you.
Thank you, Happy New Year.
Happy New Year to you. Anjie Cho, a Feng Shui interior architect based in New York City and Los Angeles and is a sought after expert in the fields of Feng Shui and Green Design. Look for the Home Discovery Show podcast at cknw.com. We’re also on Facebook for Zahir Muslin, who is our technical producer and Steve Seaborn, the little contractor, and my name is Ian Power. We’ll be back next week on The Home Discovery Show, here on the Corus Radio Network.
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