This week we got the opportunity to connect with Feng shui experts, Lauren Bragg and Pamela Abbott-Mouchou from The Feng Shui Collective in Santa Barbara, California to chat with them about feng shui and its practice in helping us live healthier lives and create healthier environments. This mother-daughter duo helps their clients reach their goals through the practice of feng shui. “If you're crystal clear on your goals, you learn where that energy centre is in your home, you move things around in that area, positive change occurs,” says Abbott-Mouchou. Find out what else they had to share, by reading the article below!
What is Feng Shui?
Feng shui is a Chinese natural science that has been around for thousands of years. It’s often used when an individual is trying to invite healthy energy into their life and help reach their goals. Feng shui (風水) more literally translates to "wind and water". When you apply this concept to your everyday life, your thoughts are the wind – something you CANNOT see, and your surroundings are the water – something you CAN see. When you combine the two together, change occurs. A simple way to imagine this is if you were in your home and your room was messy, you might find yourself less productive - when your environment is less cluttered your thoughts become less cluttered as well.
To have develop a healthy home, you must be intentional with the way you place your furniture and décor in order to invite good chi (or energy) into your space. When you aim to practice feng shui in your home, there are multiple areas with different aspects that you need to consider. See the bagua map below and pretend your home is this rectangle...
There are nine areas that you could incorporate into your home depending on your goals. If you want to improve the romance aspect of your life, you'll want to avoid single elements in that space in your home. Abbott-Mouchou explains, “You want pairs, not necessarily threes or single things. So, when you're talking about your bedroom, and the crystals and the candles, keep in mind to have pairs of things.” Your surroundings will help you attract healthy chi into your home. And remember, nobody’s home is a perfect rectangle, so make sure to adjust the bagua map to your home and find the best placements for your specific environment and needs.
How do Plants Play into Feng Shui?
Healthy plants are a huge part of feng shui because plants help us stay connected to the natural world. With the use of biophilic design, which claims that humans naturally gravitate towards nature, we can actually reduce the stress in our environments and inherently our minds.
Any plant could help brighten a gloomy space and make it feel more alive however, for feng shui the most important part about plants is the shape. You want to match the shape of the leaves to the type of area in your home. If your goal and focus area is on abundance, you could place more plants that have round leafs, like a Chinese Money Plant or String of Turtles.
Generally, the most important area in your home is the entrance. This is the space where you can invite good chi into your home and block the negative energy. For an entrance space, focus on placing plants that have protective energy such as the Snake plant.
Beginner Tips for Practicing Feng Shui
Identify the areas in your life that you want to improve. Write them down or create a vision map that could help you collect your thoughts. After you have a clear picture, look around your house and find the areas that need change. If you feel like your space feels too small begin by decluttering and removing everything that feels it is distracting you from achieving your goals. Take it slow and be intentional with each room in your house.
Once you feel like you are satisfied with the number of belongings you have in your life, try to arrange your furniture in a way that helps you achieve your goals. If you want to spend more quality time with your family, place the sofas and chairs facing towards each other, and consider moving the TV to another area allowing this space to promote more meaningful connections with your loved ones.
As you declutter and relocate the things that you already have, you can also bring new items into your home as long as they have purpose and are used with intention.
By Liz Shiro