This weekend I attended a talk by a friend of mine, entitled Pristine Home with Feng Shui. She’s a 15 years local expert in what she calls energetic organization of homes and business environments (you know who you are 🙂 ). I must admit, though, that I’m not too convinced of the modern hype of the word energetic, unless it refers to people’s internal, mental energy. I think that people, not things, are the true source of energy. A sane mind and healthy body should always be our prime priorities. Nevertheless, according to the crowd of people who attended her conference, this seems a very popular topic nowadays. And surprisingly, a few themes resulted to be interesting for me.

Particularly, I think that a stellar moment of our meeting was her inspiring presentation of 5 directions for a pristine home (or business) via the Chinese practice of Feng Shui. By pristine she meant recovering your place’s proper flow and balance of energy, which ultimately promotes development and health of its guests. I know some of my readers like Feng Shui, therefore I would like to share these “golden” rules with you. Basically, these rules are related to perception and location of some relatively common elements, which follow:

1. Plants: Plants are always a nice companion, but they must be located in gardens and not on some isolated corner of the house or building. Plants represent the Wood element, whose expansive energy is linked to growth and spring, where everything sprouts and is reborn. Wood follows the duality principle of Yin Yang, or positive-negative equilibrium. Thus, location of plants in interior spaces must lean on a study of the house, comprising its construction date, the birth dates of its occupants and its geographical orientation. Plants only emit positive energy in East and Southeast. They stimulate personal development and relations.
2. Ponds: Element Water. Generally, it’s recommend to place ponds or aquariums near the main door of the houses and buildings. As fishes absorb the negative energies, they must be replaced after dying. A special study for pinpointing the area of the building with the biggest concentration of positive energy may help in locating ponds in other sites. Anyway, we must be cautious about using ponds or aquariums everywhere, for their help may be absolutely null if located in the wrong places.
3. Mirrors: Basically, mirrors are used in Feng Shui in order to increase the received money and overall business’ income. It’s also indicated to place mirrors in the house and business main entry for rejecting the bad energies of visitors and outside areas. I do remember a Chinese restaurant in the capital whose main door was “guarded” by a frontal mirror, and a lateral pond, with orange, big fishes. By the way, it was a very prosperous business. Perhaps that restaurant was the first image which came to my mind when the Feng Shui mirrors’ role was presented in the conference. Care must be taken, however, to not place mirrors indiscriminately, because they may easily become into a disturbing element. Mirrors should reflect joy, but not people sleeping.
4. Dinner room: In families with impaired affective ties, bad energies are the norm. The dinner room is the ideal space for enlivening those affective bonds. Thus, the dinner room must provide sufficient security and intimacy. The main chairs of the table, and also chairs far from doors, must be occupied by the family members in more need of developing self-confidence and security.
5. Mobile metal pieces (Windchimes): Element Metal. These pieces activate wealth and glory, and besides block out negative energies. Windchimes are made of metal tubes that, combined with the wind, emit a special sound which is used in Feng Shui to offset very negative energies. 6-tube windchimes are preferred, and we should locate them in exteriors where they are able to better impede the transit of negative energies. Again, be careful, as windchimes may also hinder positive energies if used indiscriminately.

These are neat tips for balancing our home and business energy flows. But always remember that there is a place more sacred that houses, buildings and business: you. Take care.