10,000 Blessings Feng Shui Blog

Day 2 of the 9 Day Feng Shui Challenge: Gratitude and the Bagua

Day 2 of another Feng Shui 9 Day Challenge--we're travelling round the Bagua of our homes and listing at least 9 things for which we're grateful (because gratitude is a mighty power and lifts our chi so quickly!)  Please show me your lists, too, by leaving a comment, o.k.?

 Today it's the Helpful People/Mentors/Travel/Invisible Helpers gua.  I offer thanks to:

1.  Beloved Kuan Yin

2.  All of my extraordinary spiritual teachers

3.  My fabulous assistants Holly and Tammy

4.  All of my wonderful clients, apprenctices, students, readers

5.  Every single referral and testimonial I receive

6.  My incredible friends and family

7.  My business mentors

8.  The super syncronicities that happen all the time

9.  Getting to travel for pleasure, deepening my spiritual life, my Feng Shui consulting

 

A Feng Shui Garden: Tips to Increase the Light

In Feng Shui, we love the enhancement of light to increase the chi and life-force in both your body and environment.

Here are 9 simple tips to help you increase the light in your garden this summer.

1.  Use electric lighting to illuminate, spotlight or silhouette trees, plants or deity statues at night time

2.  Catch the light--as well as double the abundance!-- by placing mirrors behind plants, statues or water features (you can symbolically double your wealth, for example, by placing your water feature in the "hsun" or "fortunate blessings" area of your garden and placing a mirror behind it)

3.  Hang clear or colored 40mm faceted Swarovski crystal spheres in the branches which will shimmer and shine so beautifully (you can order some from me, if you wis, for $27 each)

4.  Use electric light or candles in lanterns

5.  Use mirrors beneath water

6.  Place colored glass reflecting balls among your plants

7.  Use a fire pit, fireplace or fire bowl (ideally in the "li"or "fame" area of your garden) at night

8.  String electric lights among the plants or across the space for night time

9. Use solar lights or tall glass novena candles to line your garden paths and steps

A Feng Shui 9 Day Challenge: Gratitude and the Bagua

Alright, my friends, it's time for another 9 Day Feng Shui Challenge!  This time it's an opportunity to express gratitude. In Feng Shui, appreciation and gratitude elevates your own personal chi and makes you attractive to receiving even more.

Over the next 9 days, you'll visit each of the 9 Bagua aspirations in your home and heart and make a list of 9 things you're grateful for in each place.  Please post some or all of your revelations so I/we can all enjoy, o.k.?

So it might look something like this:

DAY ONE: HEALTH

1.  Deep sleep

2.  The energy thrumming through my body

3.  Being able to breathe deeply

4.  The natural rise of chi I feel after drinking green tea or apple cider vinegar

5.  My incredible health care providers (thank you Randy Hewitt, Carrie Bleiweiss and Wendy Kohatsu!)

6.  My heart having so much less stress and pain

7.  The weight beginning to fall away

8.  Being able to walk, dance, swim

9.  Being able to see, smell, hear, taste and feel this incredible world we live in

Feng Shui Philosophy--The Tao

 

"There was something formless and perfect

before the universe was born.

It is serene.  Empty.

Solitary. Unchanging.

Infinite.  Eternally present.

It is the Mother of the Universe.

For a lack of a better name,

I call it the Tao.

It flows through all things,

inside and outside, and returns

to the origin of all things." 

(The Tao Te Ching)

The 9 Day Feng Shui Challenge: Clear That Stagnant Chi!

Alright, my friends, just DO IT!  Join my 9 Day Feng Shui Challenge: Clear That Stagnant Chi!

For the next 9 days, please choose 9 actions you can do that will move and remove any energy drains, clutter or stagnation from you, your life, your home, your car or your your office.  Choose actions that will give you immediate relief, happiness and ease.

9 is the most 'yang' of the numbers in Feng Shui and it is the number of completion so let's use it's mighty power and move the funk!  Remember, chi begets more chi!

MY nine actions are going to be:

1.  Clear out our master bedroom closet

2.  Tidy up the linen closet

3.  Walk every day

4.  Drink at least 3 cups of detox tea each day

5.  Burn chen pi throughout the house

6.  Do a Feng Shui Blessing Ceremony

7.  Treat myself to some reflexology

8.  Clear out the garage as well as schedule time for it to be painted (a Zen green!)

9.  Refresh my office and car Feng Shui cures

Please lt me know what YOU'RE up to and how it's going each day by leaving comments here--I'd love to hear from you! 

 

Feng Shui Meditation and Tea Garden

I have been spending time resting in our Meditation and Tea Garden out behind our townhouse.  

In the mornings, I love to sit out here with pots of lapsang suchong tea and just BE--listening to the gurgling of the water feature next to Kuan Yin and the birds. 

At night, Gregory and I light candles, the fire-bowl, incense and the over-head lights as we moon-gaze, listen to the frogs and drink sleepytime tea.

Although small, this wee garden has lots of fantastic  Feng Shui: all five elements are represented; there is sound and movement with the bird-feeder and wind-chimes (not visible in the photo); the chi is easily able to meander through the space; it was deep cleaned to remove all stagnation; there's moving water with the fountain (with the flow going towards our home, not our neighbors'!); and it's filled with lots of love and prayer!

How Chinese Astrology Affects Your Feng Shui

I read a very interesting interview in the International herald Tribune with Feng Shui Master Raymond Lo who was explaining the bad start to the 2008 Olympic year for China.

"In fewer than four months, China has been pelted by crippling blizzards and riots in Tibet.  These were followed by chaos on the interational legs of the Olympic torch relay, fuelded by pro-Tibet demonstrations.  Then came a bloody train crash followed by [the] deadly 7.9 magnitude earthquake in central Sichuan province.

Lo, who lives in Hong Kong, tried to explain some of the occurences in terms of Chinese astrology...Lo said part of the problem may stem fromt the birthdates of China's current political leadership: president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.  Both were born in 1942, the Year of the Horse.

In Chinese astrology, 2008 is the Year of the Rat and, according to Lo, this is part of the problem.

'In animal astrology we know the horse clashes with the rat...so if you are born in the Year of the Horse, because of the clash against the rat, you will have a turbulent year'.

Lo offered a remedy.  He said carrying an ox pendent...could help ward off problems, because the ox is seen as a friend of the rat.

The other reason is that the Year of the Rat is symbolized by earth and water, an unstable relationship in 2008...that means natural disasters are very common this year.'"

Feng Shui Tips for Business Owners: Don't Make These Mistakes!

• Are you making these Feng Shui mistakes with YOUR business?
2. You don't run your business from the "Commanding Position" (meaning you sit with your back to a solid wall facing the door--but not in front of the door--at the farthest diagonal from the door)

You have failed to use Feng Shui in the branding of your business so you don't have unity in your physical environment, marketing materials, how you dress and your overall business perception

The Yin and Yang energies are out of balance not only in your environmnet but also in YOU--you are always pushing and never resting OR you keep contemplating your business but never take action

You drain your own energy and prosperity by being surrounded by stagnant chi and clutter and your don't practice energy or time management

You don't activate your "Fame and Recognition" are (or "li" gua of your space) so you are invisible to your clients and customers

You have an invisible or poorly activated "Mouth of Chi" (or fraont entrance leading up to and inside your front door)

You don't put enough value in creating strong "Benefactor" or "Helpful People" chi in your business

You don't marry the "Heaven" actions with the "Earth" vision each day

 You have a weak foundation for your business with a glass desk-top or any kind inherited from a down-sized or bankrupt business

You sign a lease on a building before checking in with a Feng Shui consultant to see whether or not you should sign or keep looking

You don't take the "Predacessor Chi" seriously and fail to have a blessing ceremony on spaces that have had bankruptcy, sat empty for months or years or have had very negative energy from the previous owners

If you need help, please visit here for information about on-site and telephone consulting for businesses.

Feng Shui and the Shofar Blessed House

I had the great fortune to do a house blessing recently where the couple was already singing the most hauntingly beautiful song in Hebrew when I arrived and as I was setting up the altar. 

It was so fantastic to integrate their traditions and hear the blowing of the shofar as we cleared the predacessor chi from the previous owners.  The shofar is a wind instrument (remember, the "Feng" of Feng Shui means "wind"!) made from a ram's horn blown in a ritual way to "wake up from slumber" which is exactly what we were doing with the chi of the house.

What is magnificant about Feng Shui is it welcomes all spiritual and relgious beliefs while not being a religion itself.  Our Grandmaster--and I love this--is very very clear about encouraging people to pray to whomever they love--Buddha, Jesus, Allah (or no one, if they prefer) during ceremonies.

To find out more about a Feng Shui Blessing Ceremony for your own home or business, please visit here.

Feng Shui in "Forbidden Kingdom"

I went to see Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan and Jet Li (whom I adore) and was so tickled to see how the wu lou had a starring role in the film.  You can see Jackie Chan holding one in the photo--they are dried gourds that are Taoist symbols of longevity and good fortune and hold the elixir of immortality.  You will also see Buddhist deities holding them full of what is considered holy nectar (such as Kuan Yin holding a vase of amrita or nectar of compassion, in which she dips her willow branch for blessings).

In Feng Shui, we use them for both health cures as well as to ward off danger and accidents.   We place them beside beds,  near the front door, hanging from rear-view mirrors in cars as well as round the neck.

If you'd like to see a trailer from the film click here.

You can also read some essays of Jet Li's at his website where he writes about his teachers.