Feng Shui is the art and science of energy flow promoting healthy relationships and balance in all areas of life including your family.
Feng Shui is not just practiced in the Chinese culture anymore. It is a very complex study that can take years to fully grasp, but the basics are simple.
Before practicing Feng Shui, identify areas that need improvement and set a goal. It could be work, health, relationship, children, and so on. Then apply the knowledge of Feng Shui to tackle these areas. Pick a Feng Shui cure that best works for the surrounding and inner self and apply that cure to promote a better life and healthy family relationships.
What Does Feng Shui Mean?
The art and science concerned with the flow of energy is called of Feng Shui. Ancient Chinese promoted healthy relationships with all things by exploring the principles of balance in all areas of life. Feng Shui refers to the energies that flow through everything, like the movement of wind and the flow of water, which can be directed, harnessed, or blocked. This living energy source is called Chi. Feng Shui is working with this force and removing obstacles to enhance health, wealth, and happiness.
History of Feng Shui
The earliest form of Feng Shui was used to orient the homes of the dead rather than of the living. The term first appeared in the Book of Burial which dates back to the 4th century CE.
During the 3rd century, in the recorded text Zangjing, Feng Shui became concerned with the geographic progression of the earth and weather patterns. This type of Feng Shui is known as the Form School. During the Song Dynasty, Feng Shui developed into systems of home placement, creating the Compass School. Spinoffs of the Compass system include the Ying-Yang Theory, The Theory of Five Elements, the Lo-Shu Square, and others. The Black Hat sec of Feng Shui Form School started in 1960. The Black Hat sec has become one of the most popular forms during modern times according to the book, Mystic Foundation.
Feng Shui: Chi
Feng Shui encourages the accumulation of Chi, but is mostly concerned with the quality, not the quantity, of energy. The Chi must keep flowing to effectively bring blessings into lives. Slow-moving water and air encourages good Chi while fast moving water and air dissipates Chi. Disharmonious shapes, harsh corners, sharp angles, and clutter can interrupt the flow of healthy Chi. Harmonious shapes encourage its healthy flow. Careful placement of household items is used to slow Chi and encourage positive flow of energy.
Feng Shui: Pa Kua
Most systems of Feng Shui work with the Bagua, 8 trigrams, of the 1 Ching, arranged around an octagon called a Pa Kua. The Pa Kua pattern is placed over a single room or floor plan and used as a method of laying out objects. Practitioners working with a room or dwelling aligns the front door (or most used door) with the side of the Pa Kua that has Knowledge, Career, and Friends.
Feng Shui: Eight Trigrams or Nine Stars
Another method, known as the Eight Trigrams or Nine Stars method, aligns the Pa Kua to the compass directions. The flow of chi and the state of harmony or disarray will affect the corresponding area of life. Many in the West encourage the use of intuitive Feng Shui, using either your own intuition or other Mandela system to feel the flow of energy that is best suits you.
Many critics of Feng Shui say that its principles are based on China’s weather patterns, climate and culture and do not meld well with the Western world; however, the principles of harmony, flow, and health resonate with every culture. If you find sound advice that works for you through Feng Shui, intuition, or other system then by all means use it.
Feng Shiu The Basics To Learn
There are levels of Feng Shui that is easy to use in your daily life that are believed to bring you good fortune and maybe love and romance! Below are some of the basics to begin with, but they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Feng Shui as a whole.
Feng means Wind and Shui means Water. In China, wind and water means good health and this is associated with good fortune. Chi means energy and the theory is that the land is alive and full of Chi. One concept of Feng Shui is the art of placing 5 Elements correctly in your home.
The basics to start out learning in the most simplistic way are: The Feng Shui Five Elements Theory and The Feng Shui Yin Yang Theory.
The Feng Shui Five Elements Theory
The Feng Shui Five element Theory are Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Metal.
These 5 Fend Shui elements have a place in the home and represent something important, but they have to come in certain shapes and sizes and be placed in correct settings.
- Wood represents the beginning of new life. You must keep live wood in your home to be creative, generous, social, and ethical.
- Water is the basis of our existence. Flowing water signifies influence, travel, learning, and communication. Stagnate water can signify something unfortunate.
- Fire is considered to be the most yang of elements. Fire is attractive, active, strong, and impulsive.
- Earth is soil combined with something like clay or stone. It is solid, reliable, patient, and stable.
- Metals are Gold, Copper, Silver etc. They signify power, intensity, success, and money.
What Is Yin And Yang?
The Yin and the Yang are opposites that when combined they are in a cycle of constant change. They are black and white representing dark and light, right and wrong, female and male, etc. They are two parts that are ultimately a whole. Yin and Yang are opposites that must always be in balance.
In the Tai-ji (the Yin Yang Symbol) there is a small piece of Yin in the Yang and within the Yin, there is a small piece of the Yang. Each part of the duo cannot exist without the other. Chinese do not see things as right or wrong, but rather the duality must be equally present to maintain balance.
Feng Shui To Improve Family Relationships
Whether you have a breakdown in communication with a family member, or want to improve on something good, Feng Shui can help. Whether a relationship is good or bad, the intricacies of each person’s temperament and psyche are fragile and no connection will ever be exactly like another.
Feng Shui For Family Happiness
If your relationship with a family member is good, Feng Shui can help to make it better. If your relationship is tenuous, Feng Shui can turn it around. The wrong Feng Shui can make a strong bond weak, just as the right Feng Shui can heal.
Few relationships are as complex as those you have with members of your family.
Where To Locate Your Family Gua
The area of your bagua that deals with family is the center of the left wall (or the left boundary of a room, as you enter). If you imagine a bagua overlay on a particular room or on your whole home, focus on the left wall, specifically the middle area. That is your family Gua.
Wood – The Element of the Family Gua
The element for the family Gua is wood. A wooden table in this area of your Bagua could enhance your chi with family members. When looking at the Bagua of your living space, if your dining area is located in the family Gua, you have a built in opportunity to enhance your relationships with siblings, parents, and other family. A round wooden table invites conversation, trust, and openness with each other.
Other Ways To Improve Family Chi
If you want to mend broken family relationships, you can work with the family Gua in other rooms of your home, not only the dining area. In your bedroom, you can hang wooden wind chimes in the family Gua. Wind chimes are a common Feng Shui cure. Depending on the situation you are working on, and the primary element of the particular Gua, wind chimes made from different sources enhance your Chi.
If you want to use Feng Shui in your front room to improve family relationships, you might hang family photos of happy times in the specified Gua. A comfy sofa, a pleasant light, and a piano are all symbols of reassurance and calmness, both conducive to positive Chi.
Garden Feng Shui
Feng Shui in your garden could be the best area for you to focus on Chi surrounding your family relationships. A well-tended flowerbed can symbolize new or ongoing life, be it child being born, rejuvenation of a dormant relationship, or ongoing success in a relationship you have now.
When you have issues with members of your family, your heart needs to heal. Feng Shui may be helpful in building or rebuilding a treasured part of your life.
Bad Feng Shui symbolizes bad luck or misfortune in the Chinese culture, therefore learning some level of Feng Shui and practicing it in your life may bring you the good fortune you are looking for. By applying some of these basics of Feng Shui, you can change your decor, learn home remedies, and even feel healthier and more harmonious with family members.
