Demystifying Feng Shui

There are scientific principles being connected to how our environment affects us and the way we live. There is research being done on how medical facilities can create a more healing environment and neuroscientists and psychologists are connecting the environment and architecture to effects on the brain. They are coming up with what the Chinese have known for thousands of years, which are known as the Principles of Feng Shui. In China, Feng Shui is called the “original natural science”. There is a new “Evidence-Based Design” concept that is entering the conversation where researchers are actually connecting the physical environment to the wellness of the people occupying that environment, whether it be a medical facility, office building, classroom or home. These back up Feng Shui theory … Your environment and/or space matters.

“Evidence-based design, or EBD, is a field of study emphasizing credible evidence to influence design. This approach has become popular in healthcare to improve patient and staff well-being, patient healing, stress reduction and safety. Evidence-based design is a relatively new field, borrowing terminology and ideas from disciplines such as environmental psychology, architecture, neuroscience and behavioral economics.” -Wikipedia
Feng Shui literally means “wind” & “water”, it comes from ancient China, it observes the relationship between the seen and unseen forces of nature. Essential Feng Shui ® principles are based on the form school version of Feng Shui and it very easily fits in with western culture today. Combining art, science, intuition and intentional design to create an environment in which you thrive … with abundance, great relationships and opportunity.

Feng Shui has been called woo-woo, mysterious, mystical, a religion, new age and a cult. Meaning that it cannot possibly be based on reality and it’s just a bunch of nonsense. In my experience, that is just not the case. Sometimes it takes many years for something to become mainstream, like the music of Elvis, yoga or an email address. Things become mainstream when enough evidence is shown that whatever it is is not as bad as once thought and has some great benefits. That is what Feng Shui is on the road to becoming … a concept that can benefit everyone.

Let’s do a little visualization. Close your eyes and imagine your living room … clean (no clutter or piles), nicely decorated with things that you love, you feel safe, comfortable and ready to take on the day. Then visualize your living room cluttered, dirty, with pictures you hate, lots of extra stuff to trip over … you feel like a hoarder and would never want anyone to see how you really live. Feel the difference of the two rooms, can you relate to one or the other? Can you see the benefits of the first room over the second room in how you generally approach life. Winston Churchill said “We create our dwellings and then our dwellings create us”. The environment in which we live has a direct correlation to the quality of that life.

Universities around the world are now giving classes on neuroarchitecture. The study of the environment on the human brain. Evidence-based design is now being widely adopted throughout the medical community. Environmental psychologists have been studying these concepts for decades. What they are teaching and discovering are really Feng Shui principles. The main difference is semantics.  There are even people who do not believe in Feng Shui but use it because it really works.  “I don’t have to believe in Feng Shui, I do it because it makes me money.” ~ Donald Trump

Feng Shui has more tools in the bag than what I have described here to bring your space to life.  Not so mysterious after all, eh?

Feng Shui is now demystified for you and I hope I have removed any barrier for you to bring Feng Shui into your life.

Essential Feng Shui ® is a registered trademark of Western School of Feng Shui ™