Achieve A Balance - Feng Shui All The Way

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese belief that involves studying natural and the built environments. The arrangements of these objects affect the yin and the yang, as well as the energy of a room. Feng Shui has developed into many different versions based on religion, geography, symbolism and culture. One commonality of all Feng Shui practitioners, Of course, is the belief in energy. Different schools of Feng Shui have progressed into seven different forms.

1. The Compass School

The first school of thought is the Compass school. The compass school uses 8 trigrams of the I-Ching. These 8 trigrams are known collectively as Pa Kua, that is based on the eight main directions of a compass. Each of these directions is associated with a specific chi. A southern direction, for example, is vibrant energy and is associated with the middle of the summer.

2. Eight Mansion School

Another school is the Eight Mansion School, also known as the Eight House Feng Shui. This school of thought is based on the individual number of a person. The number of the man living in the home is used to bring harmony and balance to the home. Furthermore, people using this system have both lucky and unlucky numbers, with the west numbers being 2, 6, 7, and 8 and the east numbers being 1, 3, 4, and 9.

3. Form School

The Form school of thought is based on the landscapes shape and uses four symbolic animals. These animals are used to identify the type of landscape. The Form school is easy to use along with the Compass school to increase chi both in and out of the home.

4. Black Hat Sect

The Black Hat Sect is another school of thought. The Black Hat Sect used a fixed entry point for determination of the life areas. It is similar in philosophy to the Compass school, but the areas are different. In addition, the Black Hat Sect mixes psychology, Buddhism and basic design principles, as well.

5. Nine Star Key School

Another school is the Nine Star Key School. This form used stars to help identify lucky and unlucky days. Using complicated math formulas, this school can pinpoint when a person will get married and the astrological sign of the person to be married to. This form is very inflexible and is based purely on science. The Nine Star Key will also tell the practitioner what house he lives in and makes suggestions on how to live based on the house.

6. Flying Star School

The Flying Star philosophy is the most common Asian form of Feng Shui and is based on astrology and numerology. This form is difficult to understand and to learn. It, too, is based on mathematical principals and is used to determine a persons fate.

7. Four Pillars School

The final school of thought is the Four Pillars. This form is not very common and is based on astrology according to the persons date of birth, right down to the minutes. This form is also used to determine a persons fate.

8. The Five Elements

After determining that school of thought is best for an individual, it is important to also understand each element. These five elements are: Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood. The elements are capable of destroying each others energies and forming a continual cycle. Through the use of these elements, balance and harmony can be created in a home. If these elements are used incorrectly, Of course, the energy can be destroyed or lessened.

Each of the five elements is also associated with a color, direction, and number.

Earth (Brown/Beige) - 2,5,8 - Southwest

Fire (Red/Purple) ?? 9 - South

Water (Blue/Black) ?? 1 - North

Metal (Grey/Reflective) - 6,7 - West

Wood (Green) - 3,4 - East

Each of these elements has both a destructive and a productive cycle and must be used carefully.

The productive cycle uses the following pattern:

Water ?? Wood ?? Fire ?? Earth ?? Metal

Water feed feeds Wood for it to grow. Wood then feeds Fire and produces Earth. Earth, in turn created Metal. Metal holds water and, thus, continues the cycle. To keep this cycle flowing, bring into the room the elements before and after the main element

The destructive cycle reduces energy and can be used in a room where one element needs to be lessened. It follows this pattern:

Water ?? Fire ?? Metal ?? Wood ?? Earth

Water puts out Fire and Fire melts Metal. Metal cuts Wood down and Wood clogs Earth, while Earth muddies Water.

9. Using Feng Shui

Every room needs to be balanced with each of the five elements. Some elements can be heavier than others due to size; chair might score as three counts of an element while a throw pillow only counts as one.

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Feng Shui Tips for the Bathroom

The bathroom has a bad reputation in feng shui, and in some ways this is deserved, as you will discover. But it's not all negative. Comfort, cleanliness, and convenience are key ingredients to good feng shui, and our modern bathrooms provide them all.

One of the challenges posed by the modern bathroom is that there's no good place for it in the ba gua* [the feng shui map of a space], which long predates indoor plumbing. We can look at the ba gua and see at a glance that the Family area would be a good place for the living room, that a home office is well-placed in the Knowledge, Wealth, or Career sectors, and that the Marriage corner of the house is a great place for the master bedroom. But where does the bathroom go?

The bathroom is a little out of place anywhere, although some locations are more troublesome than others. The thing to keep in mind is that bathroom plumbing has a draining effect wherever it is located.

Some very difficult bathroom locations are next to or above the front door and on the second floor directly above the kitchen. These locations are particularly difficult because:

- A bathroom in the front hall, close to the door, can drain chi away before it has a chance to circulate through the rest of the house.

- A second-floor bathroom above the front door floods the main entry to your home with negative energy.

- The water energy in a bathroom above the kitchen will extinguish the hearth's fire energy, and flood the entire kitchen with negative energy. This is potentially damaging to both health and prosperity.

The worst location for a bathroom is in the center of your home, where it will destabilize the energy of the entire home. If you suspect that the bathrooms in your house are affecting important spaces, there's no need to panic. Use these simple feng shui remedies to help keep your health, wealth, and happiness from flowing down the drain:

- Problem: bathroom in an important feng shui area (wealth, fame, marriage, etc.)
Solutions: a full-length mirror on the outside of the bathroom door helps deflects chi so it won't be drained away; keep sink and shower drains closed when not in use; keep the toilet seat/lid down when not in use.

- Problem: bathroom in the center of the home
Solutions: paint the walls red, and place a stone, large crystal, or other earth-type object (such as a heavy ceramic bowl, vase, or statuette) in each corner to help stabilize the energy; a mirror on the outside of the door is highly recommended for this bathroom location.

- Problem: bathroom over the front door or over the kitchen
Solutions: hang a faceted crystal in the center of the room; place a three-inch round mirror on the ceiling directly above the toilet to visually reverse the downward flow of water (use double-sided tape to hold the mirror in place); place earth-type objects in the corners of the room to stabilize the energy; add an image such as a bird or tree to the downstairs area below the bathroom to help lift the energy there.

Bathrooms are places for purification and cleansing, so a clean, sanitary bathroom strengthens and supports this important energy. A dirty bathroom, on the other hand, emphasizes the negative qualities of this room. If your bathroom occupies any of the more challenging locations described above, it is essential to keep it sparkling clean, tidy, and well-lit.

After implementing the necessary precautions described above, you can further improve the chi of the bathroom by making it as pleasant a space as possible. This is where you begin and end the active part of each day, so the more attractive and inviting you can make it the better.

Most of us live hectic, stressful lives, and are in serious need of soothing places where we can relax and unwind. A clean, tidy, nicely appointed bathroom invites you to soak your worries away in a hot bath with lavender-scented bath salts. Make this pampering experience even nicer with candlelight, soft music, and a pile of fresh fluffy towels with which to dry off. All-white bathroom decor can seem cold and clinical; add warmth with pastel-colored towels and accessories, colorful scented candles, and attractive artwork.

Excerpted from The Pocket Idiots Guide to Feng Shui by Stephanie Roberts (Alpha Books, 2004)

2004 Stephanie Roberts

*To learn more about the feng shui ba gua and how to use it effectively in your space, click here.

Stephanie Roberts is the author of the popular Fast Feng Shui book series, available at Amazon. com and Fastfengshui.com. Subscibe to the Fast Feng Shui Newsletter and receive FR(EE) Feng Shui tips in every issue. Visit Fast Feng Shui.com for details.