Feng Shui -- the original Green discipline

Every feng shui training that I've taken includes a unit on indoor air pollutants. Think about it: if the atmosphere inside your house is full of toxins, how does that affect the chi? Getting rid of industrial chemicals in your house will do more to improve the feng shui of your living space --and your health-- than will hanging a crystal or moving the bed!

One major source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) polluting your house is the dishwasher. The name brand dishwashing powders or liquids give your dishes a chemical bath to make them look "sparkling fresh." When the dishwasher is in its "dry" cycle, it off-gases VOCs through the vents, directly into your kitchen. You can make a positive change by switching to a non-toxic, plant based dishwasher soap. Seventh Generation makes these products, as does Earth Friendly Products. (We like Wave Organic Lavender Auto Dishwasher Gel).

And to clean tile or linoleum floors in kitchen and bathroom, here's a quick, inexpensive cleaner that you can whip up in a few minutes:

NON TOXIC FLOOR CLEANER*

Ingredients:
2 gallons hot water
1/4 liquid non-toxic dish soap
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
6 drops peppermint oil
big plastic bucket

• Fill the bucket with 2 gallons of very hot water.
• Add the vinegar, baking soda, and liquid detergent. Add 6 drops of peppermint oil.** (Or, for a variation, you can add orange or eucalyptus oil.)
• Stir it up and start cleaning.

If you have left over solution, use it to clean the toilets.
 
*best on tile; not for wood or laminate.
**If you don't have essential oils, you can purchase a basic aromatherapy starter kit over at Lake Mountain Annex. (At the bookstore, look in Feng Shui Enhancements.)

Essential Oiling

Finally got my act together to try this, and it works! Opened up some of the little bottles in my Essential Oils kit because I ran out of cleanser for the kitchen counters. Put 10 drops of tea tree oil and 5 drops of eucalyptus oil in a spritzer with about 3/4 cup of distilled water. Voila! Cleaned the counter up good. Smells great. Then, I thought, why not try it on the butcher block? Works there, too. Non-toxic and highly antimicrobial.

I was on a roll. Why not add a few drops of lavender oil to the bath? Ahhhhhh.....

I had been somewhat deterred from trying things because the formulae in the Essential Oils Handbook were a bit more complicated than I was ready for. I only have the basic oils that came with the kit, so I couldn't whip up all the concoctions that I read about. But the book was helpful, because the author, V.A. Worwood, gives a complete run-down on all the properties of the different oils.  Bottom line: you can experiment and come up with your own concoctions.

Just about every yoga and pilates studio that I've gone to uses a tea tree oil mist to clean their yoga mats, so I figured I could start with that. Then I added eucalyptus because 1) I love eucalyptus, 2) it's a tree!, and 3) the book says that eucalyptus oil is antimicrobial, antiseptic, and deodorizing.  Since Tom cooked scallops with pesto last night, a little deodorizing was in order.

So, if you're ready to wean yourself away from commercial cleaning products--to save money and be healthier--you could try experimenting with the essential oils.

(The book and essential oils kit is available at the Lake Mountain Annex Store.)

Snuggle Up, Part II: Beds

Where does the bed go? That's the A-Number One question I hear from clients who want to feng shui their bedrooms. Good question but-- trickier  than it sounds. 

Feng shui says:

• The bed should be in the "command position," kitty-corner from the door
• There should be access to the bed from either side (i.e., the bed is not pushed against one wall)
• It should not be under a beam
• It should not be in front of a window
• It should not be facing a bathroom
• The bed should have a solid headboard (not slatted)
• the footboard (if there is one) should not be higher than the mattress

Lotsa rules. Yes, there are good reasons for these guidelines. Unfortunately, physical constraints posed by the actual floor plans of contemporary houses and apartments make it hard to follow all the recommendations. One wants the effects of good chi flow to support health and relationships but one may be stymied by room size, intrusions or extrusions of bathrooms, walk-in closets, awkwardly placed windows or electrical and cable plugs. (One reason people hire me. . .  ;-))

The bed position is both the starting point and the key to success. Architect Vincent M. Smith writes: "As strange as it may sound, every couple I have know who later divorced or had a very difficult marriage had a major problem in the Feng Shui of their bedroom. In most instances, it has been the location of the bed."

Here are the best bed positions:
1st preferred:

Here the bed is in the "command position," facing the door and having the widest view of the room. It's a great place for a bed, but the position also creates a  new challenge. To wit: it creates triangular spaces behind the headboard and on either side of the bed. So by positioning the bed correctly, you are violating the rule about having a solid surface behind the headboard. It's a problem because you don't want this corner to fill up with stagnant chi (not to mention dust bunnies). But there are a lot of ways to compensate and balance out this problem. One solution is to place an uplamp on the floor and hang a delicate mobile (e.g., bamboo fish) from the ceiling. Short round stools may serve well as nightstands on either side of the bed.

2nd preferred:

The bed faces the door but is not in the "command position." This is still considered a good position for the feng shui of a bedroom. You should be aware,though, that the side of the bed with the shortest pathway to the door is considered the "doorkeeper" position. The person who sleeps on this side may feel more responsibility for the family. To compensate for this inequality, increase a sense of balance, and solidify the relationship, make sure that the bed has a single, solid headboard and nightstands on either side.

3rd preferred:

Similar to the number 2 position, this placement gives a direct view of the door but not the widest view of the room. Also, one side of the bed has less space around it than the other does. This can lead to inequality in the relationship and additional feng shui remedies should be employed to prevent disharmony.

 Here is the worst place for your bed:

Notice that the bed directly faces the bedroom door. This is referred to as the "corpse position," in China. The equivalent in English would be to isay the occupant is leaving the premises "feet first." Of course, you also wouldn't want to have one side of the bed pushed up against the wall as in this drawing, but that is a secondary issue. Even if the door were in the center of the opposite wall, positioning the bed in the corpse position is bad feng shui. It will make the person feel vulnerable and uneasy, negatively affecting sleep and rest patterns.


That covers some of the basics for bed positioning in feng shui. If you want to read more, I recommend, SantoPietro's Feng Shui: Harmony by Design and Smith and Lyons' Feng Shui: A Practical Guide for Architects and Designers.  Both these books (and others) are available at the Lake Mountain Annex Bookstore.

The next post in this series will be about using color and texture to enhance your bedroom's positive feng shui.

Good chi, everyone!

Snuggle Up: The Bedroom Series, Part I

Lake Mountaineers have been calling for Feng Shui'd bedrooms. Since there is a large body of material devoted to bedrooms in the different feng shui schools, I will devote a series of posts to the topic.

To begin:  What are bedrooms for? Why are they so important in Feng Shui?

Bedrooms have clearly defined core functions. The Primary Purpose of the bedroom is to support physical renewal through sleeping, sexual intimacy, and recuperating from illness. These are all restorative activities that reinvigorate one's mental and physical being. Anything that detracts from these purposes of a bedroom undermines a person's health and comfort.

Thousands of pages in feng shui books have been devoted to the proper set-up of the bedroom. This is because bedrooms are complicated! Here are some of the things that affect the feng shui of a bedroom:

• Physical features of the room (room shape, placement of windows, closet doors)
• Wall and ceiling colors
  
• Light and ventilation (overhead fans, window facing direction)
  
• Sound conductivity of walls and flooring (insulation quality)
  
• Location of the bedroom within the house (traffic patterns)
  
• Bed placement (on door wall or not)
  
• Connected master bathroom (sinks and/or toilets visible from the bed)

All facets of your bedroom should contribute to a relaxation response--not to a fight-or-flight response. So, if you're having trouble sleeping or getting up in the morning, having relationship (or the lack thereof) issues, chronic illness, lack of energy-- by all means, feng shui your bedroom!

To start, eliminate from your bedroom those objects that make you think of work, that get you wound up or stressed, that represent unfinished projects, or that call to mind relationships (past or present) that don't belong in your bedroom.

The two big bedroom feng shui no-nos are ubiquitous: televisions and computer work stations. Many, many people have these in their bedrooms. Often people resist the idea that there's anything wrong with a TV or computer in the bedroom. If this happens to apply to you, consider this:

•  The last thing you see at night and the first thing you see in the morning is your laptop and a pile of work papers lying on a desk in your bedroom.
• You fall asleep to the ball game and are startled awake when the local news blares a story of violent assault that occurred nearby.
• You set the TV timer and are almost asleep when a commercial suddenly comes on at twice the volume of the normal program.
• Your computer and television are turned off, but they are still drawing power. Those electrons are humming around you while you sleep.

These machines are invading your personal sanctuary! They keep you connected to the daily buzz and make your body and mind strain to achieve a relaxed state.

Just try moving the TV and/or computer out of the bedroom on a trial basis. Try it for a week. Bring in some books or program your iPod with relaxing, sleepy music to listen to before you turn in.

If you're not ready for the big move, even on a trial basis, take a piece of fabric (or tablecloth, or curtain panel) and cover up the TV or computer before you go to bed. That way, you won't be looking into a black hole or at a pile of unfinished work when you wake up.

Please Help Rescue Efforts in Haiti

Hello, Lake Mountaineers. The people of Haiti need our help. Here are two ways to donate quickly to reputable organizations involved in disaster relief.  Pre-set donations (added to your phone bill) can be sent via text message or you can choose your own amount to send through Google check-out.  On the Google page there is also updating news feeds and other information.

The following organizations are accepting SMS donations in the US only:

• SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
• SMS text "YELE" to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts 

Donate to UNICEF or CARE via Google check-out.

Thanks, everyone.

Need a lift?

I know, I know . . . you're having that sinking "gotta go back to work now" feeling. Holidays are over, we're back at the roost.

So if you need a little lift to spark up your mood, here's a simple tip.

Eat a tangerine --or orange, or clementine. Save most of the peel. Put this  rind into a small china or crystal dish and place on your coffee table or night stand.

That's it.

Tangerine rind is used for space clearing. Orange oil is used is numerous remedies and for cleaning. The orange-y aroma will add a little freshness to your room and hopefully lighten your mood!

Now let's go back to work.

Happy New Year, Bollywood-style