Clear Your Space: Clear Your Mind and Body

Posted: November 5, 2014

Attention to detail with emphasis on beauty, clarity and intention is an expression of the Metal element and is well-demonstrated in feng shui.  Feng shui has become well-known in western culture as the ancient Chinese art of placement within living spaces.  The shape of a house, the arrangement of rooms within, and the placement of furniture and decorations within individual rooms are recognized as influences on our well-being.  In turn, our well-being does influence the ways in which we organize, or perhaps fail to organize our living and work spaces.
The precision of feng shui creates spaces that are beautiful and harmonious.  However, precision in placement is not the intent of this ancient art.  Feng shui promotes well-being by promoting the movement of energy, or qi, through the home or office just as acupuncture does for the body.  Thoughtfulness in arranging a space so that it best supports the function it is designed for (creating a bedroom that promotes rest, a kitchen that supports a safe, healthy and nurturing place to prepare food, a living room that encourages intimate conversation) is an example of how precision is supportive of our health. The elimination of danger (for example of precarious piles that may fall over or objects on the floor that may cause tripping)  is the most basic principle and one with immediate practical effect. On a more subtle and advanced level, feng shui balances the Five Elements in an area to create balance and flow in our external environment which supports the balance and flow of energy within our bodies, our internal environment.
A lack of thoughtfulness in the arrangement of our homes can be diagnostic of inner imbalance.  For example, cluttered closets and objects in piles can reflect an imbalance in the colon which relates to our capacity to know what does and does not have value, as well as our ability to release what is no longer needed.   (The colon serves us by absorbing much needed water from our food before releasing what is not useful from the body).

 

Observe the impact on your body of entering a cluttered space and entering a tidy space.  Simply imagining these two different types of spaces, notice how your breath responds to each.  How does your posture or muscular tension react to an imagined clear space?   A cluttered space?  If you notice more ease in your breath or body in response to one of these, use that as a clue that your well-being will be supported by that space.