Feng Shui for a small apartment

Striving for harmony is in a human nature. And while European tradition pays more attention to help one find himself, gain harmony of thoughts, wishes and actions, the East worked out thorough rules of a human's co-existence with outward things, which it perpetuated in a very popular now Feng Shui doctrine.

Believe or not It's you to decide whether believe Feng Shui postulates or not. But before you blame this doctrine in incapacity, it will be useful to remember that in China it has already exists for more than 4 thousands years and holds its positions till now. Moreover, it gains popularity among educated and cynical Europeans, who are pretty tired of sparseness and chaotic state of modern world.

May be, our stresses, diseases and other troubles really come from wrong arrangement in space and careless treatment of energy of "live Earth"? Anyway, we always have choice. When you feel everything goes wrong in your life, you may give way to despair and stay in this state endlessly, and you also may try to change something and why not starting this process with your own home?

Fight with reality Kind intention to change your home, taking into account correct redistribution of energy, usually faces impossibility to observe all necessary conditions thoroughly. And enthusiasts often leave the road right on this stage. They do want to do everything right way, but constrained conditions don't allow taking into account surrounding landscape.

Of course, you cannot interfere in the process of laying of foundation, change arrangement of lavatory, remove sky-scrapers, towering nearby, but surely you still can do something. Firstly -

Down with rubbish Cleanness and absence of rubbish - is one of Feng Shui principles, necessary for normal circulation of Ch'i energy (energy of life). Start your changes with general cleaning. Pay attention to each corner, sort out each wardrobe, arrange cleaning of stockroom. Get rid of unnecessary things, broken cups, vases and tights cruelly. Don't keep old slippers and completely broken fridge.

Present unclaimed things to your friends, poor people or bring to church. Rules of good form state - if something is still untouched in your wardrobe for more than a year, this mean it is useless for you and you can bravely pass it to "good" hands.

But before you arrange grandiose cleaning, look in lunar calendar. This event should be planned on waning moon. And you should not dust the floor towards front door (you will sweep out money), but towards kitchen.

Fumigation After all old dust is removed, and excess rubbish finds its shelter in a garbage can, pass to next stage of energy cleaning of room - fumigation. You can do this process with help of a candle, aromatic sticks or a tuft of herbs. You can replace fumigation by douching with holy water.

During the process of cleaning you should move from threshold clockwise, stopping in each corner (negative energy is accumulated there). After cleaning take a shower. While you were fighting for "clearness of environment", the whole bad energy accumulated on you. The best of all would be using cold water, of course, if your health slows you.

To fix a result of energy cleaning, use amulets. They can be traditionally eastern: statues of elephants, dogs or flying dragons (they stand guard over front door). Bunches of onions, garlic, herbs or special Feng Shui amulets will be ok too.

In small scales After you clean the whole apartment, it is right time to think about its correct d?cor. Here you will have to reveal great keenness of wit and inventiveness. First of all, you should determine parts of the world, using compass, and decide, which zones (of wealth, health, carrier, family etc.) you would like to accentuate this moment.

Choose necessary parts of apartment, according to your priorities. You can do it with help of different wall-papers, "multi-layer" lightning or furniture. For example, to activate a zone of knowledge, it will be god to put book shelves there, zone of family will be accentuated with additional lightning, and in a zone of glory you can put "witnesses" of your achievements (medals, diplomas, cups).

Center of apartment brings a special loading. From it energy disperses in all other sectors. That is why it is so important to stir up this zone correctly. The simplest way is to put a rug or crystal bright chandelier in it.

Behind a screen Bunk requires special attention. While we are sleeping, our body fills with power and health. So you should not put a bed near window or home plants (they take energy away), and also near "achievements of progress" (computer, TV-set, CD-recorder), which evolve bad energy.

And you should not also hang any shelves above your bed. Apart from the fact that conglomerations above a bed prevent energy from circulating, they are also rather dangerous.

In small apartments a bed also plays a role of a sofa too. Of course, Feng Shui does not like furniture-transformers, but what should we do. A screen will help you to correct this situation. In the night it will enclose your bunk, in the afternoon - writing-table.

Useful space In small apartments each meter is important. In Feng Shui too. You should not miss attendant rooms: kitchen, bathroom, toilet, pantry and balcony.

In kitchen you need to separate elements of fire and water. If your gas-stove is situated too close to a sink, separate these zones with something made of wood, for example with a cutting board.

Bathroom and toilet "wash out" energy. To avoid this, you need to shut doors to these rooms carefully. As well as a lid of lavatory pan. In combined lavatories you should separate main parts (bath - lavatory pan) with a screen from each other. If sanitary arrangements turned out to be in a health or wealth zone, due to an unhappy planning, try to bring a negative effect of this situation to minimum. For this you just have to place mirror doors to these rooms, this way they will "disappear".

As for pantries, you should not create a storehouse for unnecessary things of it. Some things, necessary in your everyday life should be kept there: vacuum cleaner, fan, ironing-board.

You should also clear balcony off various rags, bottles and broken skis. As for a form of a balcony, it is better, if corners of your "verandah" will be round or splay (form of trapezium).

After you change your apartment, making it comfortable and attractive, wait a little, look what you will get. Your life will start changing, following your home. If good events will come, then this means you did everything correctly. If no, you still have something to work with.

Yana Mikheeva is the creator of All about women site, it is an on-line resource for women and about women. Here you can find articles on various subjects, such as: diets, receipts, health, cellulite, figure, aromatherapy, wholesome food, psychology of relationships, pregnancy, parenting, fashion and many others. She also has Blog for women

10 Tips For Feng Shui Decorating

Feng shui refers to the ancient Chinese belief that focuses on arrangement and placement of things on certain places.

Though there are very few written documentation about the first existence of feng shui, it has survived time and tradition by oral communication and actual practice by the Chinese people.

One might notice that several regulations are derived from common sense and intuition. For example, a cluttered room or office is believed to imbibe bad feng shui, which, in actuality would really hinder productive work due to stress that might be a result of inability to find needed documents from a cluttered table.

Literally meaning "wind and water" feng shui is not simply a style of decorating. Most feng shui practices coincide with various decorating or arrangement styles. In fact, a certain room that accommodates feng shui regulations is more visually attractive and well-coordinated than those that had not been subjected to its practices.

Arrangement of furniture or other materials are considered so as to allow the entrance and passage of "good energy" or chi.

Good feng shui means that the arrangement coincides with nature. For example, the sink should not be placed beside the stove since the water (sink) puts out fire (stove), meaning one element overpowers the other.

Below are 10 tips taking into consideration Feng Shui decorating principles:

1. If possible, before a purchase of any house or a property, the surrounding area must have the following "support".

The first on the list is to look for a "Tortoise" behind the house. This pertains to any man made or natural formation that generally gives a look of protection or support to the over-all structure of the area. A mountain, low trees and a simple fence may do.

Still, all of these must not be higher than the house so as to obstruct sunlight.

A "dragon" must be found on the left side. It would be better if it is higher that the front of the house. A simple fence or a tree might do for its place

A "white tiger" should be on the right side of the house. If it is higher than the "dragon", it would be good for the women of the house. If the "tiger" is lower than the "dragon", is good for the men.

A "phoenix" should be in front, the best of which is a river or a circular flower bed. This may also be a tree or another house.

Simply put, the stated four sides can be attributed to the four sides of a car, it should have 2 side doors, a rear and a low bumper to have a good view of the front lane. All of which are designed to protect the person inside the car.

2. The garden at the back of the house should always be larger than the one at the front

3. Spiral staircases should be avoided. If it is already installed, the bad energy emanating from this can be toned down by placing a faceted crystal sphere.

4. Overhead beams. In general, beams have the notion of carrying the weight of what it supports. Having a lot of beams inside the house (especially if it is exposed) may be the cause of many problems, according to feng shui.

Focal points such as beds, working table, children's study desk should not be directly under beams since this carry around a heaviness sort of feeling to the individual who works or rests under the area.

5. The general outlook of the whole area (land, plants and house structure) must be in good condition and is easy on the eyes.

Good indications are healthy-looking plants and trees around the area and that the house is not so irregularly shaped (with lots of extension protruding from various sides).

The usual square or rectangular shaped houuses are still always the best kinds.

6. "Poison arrows" that is directly in front or pointing to the house should be avoided. A good example is having a lamppost or telephone poles that are directly at the front of a house or is directly across the street of one's home.

To tone down the bad energy that comes from it, a Bagua mirror should be placed in the area where a poison arrow is directed.

7. Long narrow paths that lead to the front door must be avoided.

8. The front and back door should not be facing one another, that is, it should not be in a straight line.

This allows the good energy to only pass through the house.

9. Additional structures that overpower the look of the house should be avoided. This includes swimming pool, gazebos and ponds.

10. Trees at the front of the house must not be higher than the highest point of the house. The ideal length of trees is 6 feet.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://www.bedroom-designs-and-decorations.com/ where you can get great bedroom decorating ideas.