How to Apply Feng Shui

Do you avoid feng shui because you think you’ll have to use crystals, wind chimes and little trinkets from the souvenir shop in Chinatown? Well, fear not! You can add feng shui to any home and receive all the wonderful benefits that it brings (more money, love, health and well-being). Since your intention is the most important ingredient, you can use your personal style to create your feng shui “cures.”

Steps

1. Sketch your floor plan.
2. Superimpose the Bagua Map, the essential tool of feng shui, over the sketch of your floor plan by aligning the bottom of the map with the front door.
3. Place the item that represents your goal in the area where your goal resides.
   • Lower left: Knowledge. Knowledge is the sector of your room involving wisdom. Naturally, one should place objects pertaining to wisdom; for example, books.
   • Lower-middle: Career. If you’re not doing well in work, try improving this area by adding some trophies, certificates, or anything that reminds you of prior accomplishments in the work force.
   • Lower-right: Travel and helpful people. Helpful people means everyone you interact with on a daily basis: it’s the driver to your right that let you in their lane, your barista, banker, everyone. When considering how many people one deals with every day, this sector is very important. Keep objects that promote good energy towards others in this area, like travel souvenirs. Helpful people is also a good area to have reminders of heroes and people of influence.
   • Middle-left: Family and health. Harness this area for better relationships, since this also extends to coworkers. You can put pictures of your family or souvenirs from family vacations here, or anything special relating to your family.
   • Center: Self. All other squares influence the overall concept of health and your personal well-being. You can put everything that is important to you and that has to do with your style here.
   • Middle-right: Child. Child basically means “creativity” as well. If you do any sort of art, play a musical instrument, write poetry, etc., place it here to enhance it. If there is anything you made or did when you were younger that is important to you, place that here, too. Also, place anything you have made and worked hard on here.
   • Upper-left: Wealth. If your finances are down the drain, look to your finance corner. Keep things neat and clutter-free. There are many tokens of luck and good fortune to place here– your piggy bank, receipts (if they’re in good order since if they’re not it will lead to spiraling finances) or ledgers.
   • Upper-center: Reputation/Fame. Your fame and reputation is pretty crucial in the role it plays towards all other sectors. A good reputation leads to promotions, better relationship with the family, trust from others, etc. Place any medals, trophies, and other kind of stuff here. Brightness and lighting are important here.
   • Upper-right: Relationships/Marriage. Place tokens of love here.
4. Assess your room based on the five elements: water, earth, fire, wood, and metal.
   • Water: Water resides in the career area (bottom center). Its shape is wavy. So, goldfish and fountains can be used to give this area a good boost. Although it is bad feng shui to have a water feature in located in the bedroom, as it brings energy of worry to the bedroom.
   • Earth: Earth resides in the center of the room. Plants or flowers are great to place in this part of room. Never use fake flowers. In fact, don’t even use dried flowers since as beautiful as they can be, they’re still dead and bring bad energy.
   • Fire: Fire is in the career and fame area of the room (top center). Candles, anything red, and anything triangular or in a pyramid shape is good for this area.
   • Wood: Wood is in the family sect (left center). If you have a nice wood bureau or shelf, place it here.
   • Metal: Metal is in the child/creativity area (right center). Its shape is circular, so any metal design that’s circular is great. Wrought iron designs can really help circulate chi and creativity. Metal picture frames are another suggestion.
5. Mix and match the elements accordingly.
   • Based on the powers harnessed by the elements, some elements compliment each other while some elements counteract or destroy the power of other elements. Fire burns wood. Wood absorbs water. Water erodes metal. Metal destroys Earth. Earth dampers fire.
   • The elements can also compliment, or enhance the other. Water helps wood grow. Wood helps flames burn. Fire helps earth anew. Earth wields metal, and metal gives life to water.
   • Elements each have their own color and shape. Fire is red and pointy. Water is black and wavy. Wood is blue/green and tall/slender. Metal is rounded and white. Earth is square, boxed, and yellow.
   • Use at least some of these shapes, colors, and elements when designing your room.

Tips

• Sometimes there’s no getting around a toilet stuck in your relationship corner of your room’s layout. If there’s something unlucky about an object you can’t move elsewhere, there are a few remedies: try placing a mirror on the bathroom door to deflect the chi from entering. The use of wind chimes can also help, as can hanging a crystal.
• If the elements do not correspond with some areas of your house (for example, your sink is placed in the fire area of your home), you can use the other elements to counteract it. Place red candles on the sink, or use elements of earth to weaken the water element. Similarly, if you have a fireplace in the water area, place a wooden shelf over the fireplace or add a small goldfish on the wooden table next to the fireplace. One can also use all five elements in one area since they will all act harmoniously with each other.
• Know the history of your house and your furniture. The previous residents undoubtedly have left-over energy circulating throughout the home and in your furniture. The chi remaining in your bed is especially imperative: ideally, one should purchase their bed new to avoid bad energy.
• Like many things in life, “Keep it simple.” Living with as little clutter as possible is the key to an open, clear mind which has great bearing on every experience.
• In feng shui, the home is thought to be equivalent to the body. If you maintain your home in an orderly, clean fashion it is said that your body will express the same appearance as your home.
• It is very helpful to add positive intentions for the outcome of your goal. Skepticism and doubt can negate feng shui cures.
• The front door is the door a guest would use on his first visit.

Warnings

• These instructions for the placement of the Bagua Map are for the Black Hat Sect of Feng Shui. For other schools such as the Original Form School or the Compass School, you will have to reorient the map according to their rules.
• Be very careful about where you place your bed. Your bed should never be directly facing the door, as that is highly unlucky and is the funeral position as well. The best placement of the bed is farthest from the door in a position where one can always see the entrance.
• Don’t use feng shui as a miracle cure for any major life problem. Having good chi helps enhance your life and works as a good guiding force; ultimately, it is you alone that will do the actions necessary for life change.
• Watch out for wooden beams and vaulted ceilings, since they bring bad chi. To remedy this, hang a crystal from the beam.
• Never use wavy, cracked, or sub-par mirrors since they bring bad energy.
• Do not get mad at others if they don’t believe in this stuff. They might call it hooey or something like that. If they do it enough to annoy you, just never invite them over again to keep bad forces out, and show them how much they offended you.

Things You’ll Need

• The Bagua Map
• A sketch of your floor plan
• An item that represents your goal in life

Related wikiHows

• How to Create a Kitchen With Warmth and Style
• How to Decorate Your Home on a Budget
• How to Give Your Kitchen a New Look
• How to Use Ideas from Feng Shui Without Learning the Entire System
• How to Stage Your Home for a Sale
• How to Apply Feng Shui for Better Love and Romance Luck
• How to Make You Framed Artwork Hang Like an Asian Wall Scroll
• How to Live With Less

Sources and Citations

• You can find more information at http://www.space-lift.com. Click on the “Cool Tools” page for more information about Bagua Maps. Keep in mind that this site will charge for the e-book download.
• You can find more information at http://www.fengshuilondon.net/fengshuitips.html

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Tags: Feng Shui, Feng Shui Living, Feng Shui Living Room, Improve Your Life, Improve Your Life with Feng Shui, Improve Your Living Room

This entry was posted on February 17, 2011 at 10:32 pm and is filed under How to Apply Feng Shui. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.