Say Hello to Your Home

Guest User February 23, 2022

burning incense on tray with other objects in soft focus in background — Photo by Denis Oliveira on Unsplash

In feng shui, we talk a lot about qi, which is life force energy. It’s very similar to prana, but it’s more than just your breath. For instance, when someone is no longer alive, they no longer have qi. They don’t have that sparkle in their eye anymore.

Your home also has qi, and the qi in your space can influence your past, present, and future circumstances. It has the imprint of qi from previous inhabitants, including people who lived in the home as well as visitors who spent time there. It also has your energy, of course, because you live there, and the energy of people who have lived on the land. Your home also holds the energy of people and things around it.

This goes for anything you bring into your space as well, including second hand objects or old furniture. In the feng shui that I practice, which is called BTB feng shui, we look at energy being imprinted on our space, and the energy of our home means the home is alive. It’s a shamanic practice.

We want to acknowledge that our spaces have energy. If you’ve been feeling unacquainted with your home, if your home doesn’t really feel like home, or if you feel chaotic, it might be a good time to check in with your space. Say hello to it. You can offer your home a gift, or you can simply speak to it and thank it for all that it’s done to support you, especially over the past couple of years.

Another thing you can do to reset the energy in your home is to do a space clearing. One of my favorite ways to clear space recently is with palo santo and a candle. A candle is a great way to bring some fire energy into a space, and you can also use it to light a botanical that you use for space clearing. Instead of palo santo, you could also use sage, a bay leaf, another type of plant, or even incense.

I encourage you to take some time to say hello to your home, and to feel gratitude for how much your home supports you. Then, you can bless your space and clear it by burning a botanical.

by Anjie Cho

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

I Ching Divination to Welcome the Lunar New Year

Guest User February 9, 2022

Photo by Aleksandr Ledogorov on Unsplash

Happy Year of the Tiger! Last week, on Lunar New Year’s Eve, I did a collective I Ching reading for my blog readers and Instagram community. The I Ching is a book of divination that is deeply connected to the bagua, yin and yang, and the five elements. I Ching divination is one of the practices that we teach our feng shui students in the Mindful Design certification program.

When I asked what the Holistic Spaces community would benefit from learning at this time, I got hexagram 62, which is made up of Thunder over the Mountain. This is wood energy over earth energy. This hexagram is described as Conscientiousness, or the Preponderance of the Small.

The oracle advice is that we could all be a little bit more conscientious in our dealings with the world at this moment. We can benefit from paying attention to the details around us and making sure we don’t overlook things as we attend to our day-to-day matters. It’s really about mindfulness. How can we be more mindful and pay attention to the details of our lives? This is really what feng shui is about: noticing that we’re interconnected and interdependent with our environments.

Be conscientious of all of the things in your life right now. Is there anything that is being neglected? Now is the time to take advantage of this energy, to look more carefully and to have more dignity with your affairs in the world, and to pay attention to your relationships. Are there any relationships that you’ve been neglecting? Give your friends a call and connect with your community. It’s also a good idea to pay attention to financial interactions.

The oracle also says that you may find your hands full of trivial emotional concerns, so be careful not to let yourself fret over those things. Instead, how can you start to see the bigger picture? Now is a good time to really work with your inner development, and approach it with some humility and humbleness. If you do that, and you apply dignity and conscientiousness in all areas of your life, you will find good fortune.

Lastly, what is pulling the strings and what’s happening beyond your control is that this is a time to reform. It’s described as Biting Through. As you experience obstacles, how can you bite through them? How can you move through challenges rather than letting them stop you? Work with this feeling of conscientiousness and mindfulness, and pay attention to anything that you may have been neglecting in your life.

by Anjie Cho

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

Feng Shui for a Small Home

Guest User December 15, 2021

Have you ever wondered how to use feng shui in your small space? Even if you live in a tiny studio apartment, there are still ways that you can apply feng shui principles.

If you do live in a small home, I invite you to consider the metaphor of a plant. I used to live in a really small home, and I got a plant at the time that only had two very small leaves. Now, that plant has grown into a much bigger plant, and I’ve also taken many cuttings from it that have rooted and become bigger plants as well.

In feng shui, plants represent the wood element, which is about growth and generosity. Instead of thinking about how small your space is and coming from a place of lack, think about what you can cultivate in the space you do have. In life we have the opportunity to grow and cultivate and receive the gifts that the universe has for us. Then, you can also create many gifts to share with other people.

One way you can apply this concept in a small space is to actually find a tiny plant and bring it into your home. Learn how to take care of this tiny plant, and watch it grow. Once it gets bigger you can be generous, and create cuttings to give to other people.

You can also find a friend who you believe really exemplifies generosity, prosperity, abundance, and authentic kindness, and tell them that you admire and appreciate these qualities in them. If they have houseplants or a garden, you can also ask if they would be willing to give you a cutting of a plant. This cutting that you receive from your friend can be the tiny plant that you learn to cultivate in your home, and then share generously. In feng shui, we talk about the concept of qi, which is life force energy. When you receive a cutting from someone who genuinely embodies the qualities that you aspire to, that energy will also be in the cutting, and you can start to cultivate those qualities in your own life.

Make sure you start with a plant that you have the ability to accommodate in the space that you have. This goes for everyone, even if your space isn’t small. It’s important to do your research and make sure that the plants you bring into your space will be able to thrive in your home’s conditions. Then, take the time to learn how to take care of this other living thing, and see how you can start to cultivate your generosity, your qi, and the qualities that you admire in your friend, in your own way.

by Anjie Cho