Feng Shui for Your Dining Table

Guest User July 21, 2021

When was the last time you used your dining table for dining? What about the last time you used it for something other than dining? We often tend to use our dining tables for other activities, including working. This is probably especially true recently, with so many people working from home. Sometimes, we even use our dining tables as a storage area.

Your dining table is a space to nourish your body, and a place to connect with your friends and family. It represents how you take care of yourself as well as your relationships. Your home represents you and is affected by you, so when you neglect certain areas of your home, it can reflect upon how you treat different areas of your life.

If possible, take time every day to eat mindfully at your dining table. Just like you wouldn’t want your friendships or nourishment to become neglected, it’s important not to neglect your dining table and allow it to get cluttered or dusty. If you are working from home currently and space is at a minimum, it’s possible that you do need to use your dining table as a desk as well. Instead of eating amongst your work papers at the end of the day, take a moment to put away the items connected to your work before you sit down to eat. Sometimes we’re in such a rush because we have a poverty mentality and we think we are running out of time. In reality, it doesn’t take that long to set up a nice meal for yourself and eat mindfully.

If you don’t have a dining table, create a small space dedicated to eating mindfully, at least once per day. I encourage you to make a dedication to take care of yourself in this way. This might mean clearing off the coffee table, turning off the TV, and finding a beautiful placemat and dish for your dinner each night. Details like this can make your meal a more nourishing experience. By making space for a lovely meal, you’re making space to nurture yourself.

If you want to learn more feng shui tips for each room in your home, be sure to check out my book, Holistic Spaces: 108 Ways to Create a Mindful and Peaceful Home.

by Anjie Cho

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

5 Common Room Layout Mistakes to Avoid, According to Feng Shui

Guest User March 31, 2021

Anjie Cho was featured on Real Simple

Feng shui is a philosophy that looks at how to improve the flow of energy in our homes. Feng shui originated in ancient China, and was developed to assist people in how to place their homes in relationship to environmental conditions. In the modern world, I like to define feng shui as "mindfulness of spaces." When we can be aware of the details in the spaces around us, we can connect to and create homes that nurture and support us.

One of the many ways you can begin to incorporate feng shui principles into your life is to fix five of the most common home decor layout mistakes. Luckily, most of these are simple to correct. But if you can't, remember to do the best you can with what you have.

.…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: Home Office in the Bedroom

Guest User March 21, 2021

Is it ok to have my home office in my bedroom?

This is something that has come up a lot this year with so many of us working from home. Sometimes the bedroom the only area where you can set up a workspace, especially if you normally work at an office and weren’t prepared to work from home.

In general, my advice is to do the best with what you have. Feng shui isn’t magic—it’s not going to add another room to your home or make one of your rooms suddenly bigger. You have to make accommodations and compromises based on your situation.

In general, it’s not ideal to have a workspace in your bedroom. If you can move it to another place in your home, I would recommend you do that. A separate room is best, but you can also carve out space in another room in your home, one that is not dedicated to sleep and relaxation. For example, perhaps there is a corner in your kitchen that would work well as a dedicated home office.

If you must have your home office in your bedroom, there are a few ways that you can make the most of the situation. First, make sure you have a separate space dedicated to work within your bedroom. You don’t want to work on your computer while sitting in bed, because you’re mixing two different types of energy: yin, the more passive energy of rest and sleep; and yang, the active energy of work.

Next, do your best to create a visual separation between your workspace and the rest of your bedroom. You can do this with a freestanding bookcase, room divider, or fabric panel. If you can’t fit something like this in your bedroom, you may want to cover your desk with a beautiful piece of fabric at the end of each work day to create more separation between your work and personal life.

If you have questions about your specific situation, I’d recommend working with an expert. If you do have the opportunity to work with a feng shui consultant, they can help you locate a better space for your home office, or figure out how to best accommodate the workspace in your bedroom if that is really the only option.

by Anjie Cho