Q&A Sunday: Bad Feng Shui Plants

Guest User February 14, 2021

Hi Anjie! Are there any bad feng shui plants I should stay away from?

I get this question often, so I thought it was a good one to answer for Q&A Sunday. First, I want you to think about your own voice, and the way that you label things. If you’re labeling certain things as “bad,” you’re probably taking a fear-based approach. This isn’t how I approach feng shui, and in my opinion there are no bad feng shui plants. There are plants that may not be ideal for you or your space, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad.

I do have something to say about feng shui plants that get a bad rap. Often, spiky plants like cactus or snake plant are labeled as bad feng shui plants because they’re sharp, and there’s something to this. If you decide to place a plant in your relationship corner because you want to invite in a partner, and you choose a really sharp, prickly cactus, that might tell you something about the kind of energy you’re putting out into the world when it comes to relationships.

This isn’t a bad thing, however - it can actually be helpful, because it’s giving you some insight into what you need to work on, and what you can explore with curiosity in this area of your life. The fact that you were inclined to put a prickly cactus in this area can give you something to think about when it comes to why you’re having trouble attracting a partner. When you think about a sharp, prickly cactus, what comes to mind? We usually want to keep our distance from them, and they’re very protective, which could be the reason someone is drawn to putting a cactus in the relationship corner.

Alternatively, there are situations where it may be appropriate to put a protective plant in the relationship corner. For instance, maybe you’ve recently gone through some trauma, or you’re working on healing yourself. Sometimes you’re focused on taking care of yourself rather than looking for a partner, so a spiky, protective plant might be just what you need.

Another thing people ask me about is whether they need to get rid of a cactus or prickly plant that they already have and love. I want you to think about that. If it’s something you love and feel connected to, then don’t get rid of it. It’s a living thing, so see if you can find the most appropriate place for it in your home, or work with a feng shui consultant to figure this out. In general, though, you don’t need to get rid of things that you love just because you read somewhere that it’s not good feng shui.

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

5 Feng Shui Tips to Celebrate Chinese New Year

Guest User February 10, 2021

Photo by Karolina Kołodziejczak on Unsplash

Anjie Cho was featured on Saatva

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year and Spring Festival, is quickly approaching on February 12.

The holiday, which lasts for 15 days, marks the beginning of spring on the lunar calendar and is one of the most important celebrations in Asian culture, especially Chinese culture, says Anjie Cho, feng shui and meditation teacher in New York City, feng shui expert at The Spruce, and co-host of the Holistic Spaces podcast. “It’s very similar to how we look at our regular New Year on January 1,” she says.

To get ready for Chinese New Year, many people sweep, clean, and decorate their homes before the holiday begins. The goal is to create the optimal feng shui to enjoy good luck, health, and prosperity all year long.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice. It involves arranging the pieces in your home in such a way to create harmony between your energy and the energy within your surroundings.

Below, Cho explains how you can use feng shui to usher in the Lunar New Year.

…read full article

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: My Favorite Feng Shui Crystals

Guest User February 7, 2021

Photo by DDP on Unsplash — Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels

I’m curious about working with crystals, but not sure where to start. Do you have any favorites?

Thanks for your question! Crystals have been really popular lately, so I get a lot of questions about them. First, I’d recommend you read my post on following your intuition when choosing a crystal. It’s always beneficial to trust your intuition and choose the things that resonate with you the most, whether it’s colors, crystals, or healing modalities.

To give you some inspiration, I do have some favorite crystals to work with! First, I want to point out that in feng shui we often recommend faceted crystal balls, which are actually made of glass, and not a naturally occurring crystal. I recommend getting a crystal ball like this instead of a cheap glass one, because they refract the light so much more beautifully than plain glass.

When it comes to naturally occurring crystals, one of my favorites is clear quartz. I’ve had the same piece of clear quartz for some time - it’s been in my refrigerator, as well as other places in my home, and I sometimes even take a bath with it. I like to connect clear quartz to the bagua area called Dui, related to children, completion, metal energy, and the color white.

Clear quartz is a natural amplifier, and you can program it to amplify any positive intention that you have. For instance, your refrigerator represents your health and nutrition because it holds and cares for the food that you eat to nourish your body, so I like to program my clear quartz to amplify the nutrition of the food in my refrigerator. A great way to program your clear crystal is to first clear it with salt or sunlight, and then very humbly ask the crystal to receive your intention to increase the digestibility, nutritional quality, and life energy of the food in the refrigerator. It’s important to create some ceremony around this: meditate and calm your heart before you program your crystal, instead of rushing to fit it in between your everyday activities.

I also love rose quartz, which has a gentle pink tone. Rose quartz is calm, soft, and soothing, with a really warm, feminine energy, and it cultivates healing and self love. It’s a great stone to work with if you want to soften your heart or heal your heart to invite in love and partnership. For us to invite a partner into our life, we have to actually heal our own hearts and heal ourselves first. When we feel whole is when we can really attract someone to us that’s going to be a partner in our life, rather than someone who we think is going to fill a hole where we feel empty. We need to learn to fill our own cup.

Naturally, I associate rose quartz with the Kun area of the bagua, related to relationships, self love, partnership, marriage, the mother element, and the feminine principle. Kun is also connected to the earth element.

One way to work with rose quartz is to place it on your nightstand, because your nightstand is very close to you and a private place. If you want to invite a partner into your life, place a pair of rose quartz crystals to represent your openness to work on healing yourself and caring for yourself, in order to invite a partner that you can also care for.

If you want to go deeper when it comes to inviting love and partnership with feng shui, I encourage you to check out Mindful Design’s Feng Shui Love Story course!

by Anjie Cho