Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui and Morning Rituals

Anjie Cho June 28, 2020

I would like my home to feel more like a sacred space, especially now that I’m spending more time there. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for your question! One thing that really helps me incorporate more sacredness into my day is ritual. Ritual has been really important to me, even when I was little. I’ve always felt very connected to the ritual aspect of feng shui, and it really helps me feel connected to my home.

How do we bring more ritual into our lives using feng shui? There are a lot of ways to approach this, but a great way to start is to look at what happens when you first get up in the morning, and to create a morning ritual that really supports you.

I’ve been reading The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron, and I really love what she says about ritual. She writes, “Ritual is about joining vision and practicality, heaven and earth, samsara and nirvana.” How can you join vision and practicality in your home? How can you join heaven and earth? In feng shui, heaven is the ceiling and earth is the floor. Earth is always there to ground you, and heaven represents guiding principles, spaciousness, and openness.

For instance, I wake up to an alarm clock that emulates sunrise and sounds like birds chirping, and then I do my beauty rituals. Your ritual could be preparing a cup of tea or coffee, or making your bed. Whatever your chosen ritual, having that daily structure in your home gives you a sense of sacredness in your daily life. Feng shui is mindfulness for your home. It’s about paying attention to all the details in your environment, and noticing how your space affects you and how you affect your space. When we’re aware of this, we start to see that we’re not separate from our environment.

Morning rituals can look different for each person. If you’re not sure what to incorporate into your ritual, I would suggest looking at which of the five elements is most supportive for you. You can take my quiz here to find that out. For me, water is really nourishing, so part of my morning ritual is going to the East River and sitting in meditation by the water. Other ways to connect to the water element in the morning are to take a shower, drink a big glass of water, or listen to water sounds when you first get out of bed.

If wood is really nourishing for you, you could make sure one of the first things you see when you wake up is connected to the wood element, like a houseplant or something green or blue. If you’re fed by fire, you could sit in a room with a lot of sunlight first thing in the morning, or turn on the stove to make a cup of tea. To connect to earth in the morning, make sure the first thing you see when you wake up is brown, or sleep in earthy colored sheets. If metal is most supportive for you, try sleeping in a white room or in white sheets, so that’s what you see in the morning.

Thanks again for your question, I hope that helps!

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui questions!

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui check out the Mindful Design Feng Shui certification program. Laura Morris and I launched our program in September 2018. To get on the list about it, sign up at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com.

Dive deeper into feng shui to transform your life!

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Create sacred spaces that support, and nourish.

Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com

Q&A Sunday: Prayer Wheels on Ceiling Fans

Anjie Cho March 1, 2020

Thank you for your podcast. I have a question about making a prayer wheel from your ceiling fan. I have always been interested in prayer wheels, but I was wondering if the prayer wheel (ceiling fan) turning counterclockwise during the summer is still auspicious. Perhaps the direction that the fan spins does not matter, but I wanted to make sure that if I print mantras and attach them to the top that it is spinning in the correct way to enhance the benefit.

Barbra, Pittston Twp, PA

Hi Barbra,

Thank you for your email! I love that you are interested in making your ceiling fan a prayer wheel. I personally think this is a beautiful adjustment. Your question is very thoughtful!

It is thought that in order to utilize their ceiling fans year-round, people can switch the direction from counter-clockwise, during the summer, to clockwise, during the winter. This adjustment switches the fan from pushing cool air down, when it turns counter-clockwise, to slowly pulling cooler air up and redistributing warm air, when it turns clockwise during the winter. We're assuming you do this!

Traditionally the prayer wheel is turned clockwise. In Buddhist walking meditation, we also walk clockwise. The clockwise direction creates a tightening, whereas a counter-clockwise loosens. Like a screw, righty tighty and lefty-loosey, right? I just learned recently that most of the planets, including the sun, rotate counter-clockwise, which makes sense because the universe is constantly expanding. It’s loosening, rather than getting smaller. You can read about it here!

But when we read in western culture, we read left to right, which corresponds to the clockwise direction. Therefore, I agree with you that it’s more effective to place the characters or syllables of the mantra so that when they're positioned, they are unfolding in a left to right direction. But if you've had it set up so it does not read in the left to right direction, remember, your intention is what's more important. Also the direction of the fan changes depending on how you look at the fan. Whether you look up or if you are above looking down, your perspective on the direction changes.

Creating a prayer wheel without taking this into consideration isn't necessarily wrong, but it can enhance this adjustment if it's something you've noticed and are thinking about. Whether the fan is turning clockwise or counter-clockwise is really all in your perspective, so adhering to this guideline is the best way to go.

Ultimately, I would recommend not letting the process get too complicated and remembering the intention! Remember that BTB feng shui is all about intention, and if you're going through the effort of creating the prayer wheel in the first place, chances are you have this down!

by Anjie Cho

Visit the Holistic Spaces Store

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui Adjustments for Powerlines and Manholes

Anjie Cho February 16, 2020

Anjie, I listen to your podcasts as soon as they come out, while driving to work. Very cool! Thank you for doing those. You had a phone consultation with a woman that you aired on the podcast. She asked about gas pipes in the back yard. I have something even worse (I think) - a sewer manhole in the middle of the back yard, and front of house looking at high voltage electric lines. How do you think those two effect us and what can be done to remedy them if they have a negative effect?

Alex Y., Gaithersburg, MD

Hi Alex

Thank you for listening to my podcasts! I’m happy you are listening to them.

The first part of your question is about manholes in your backyard. A manhole is like a drain of sorts, where resources can become depleted. In BTB feng shui we use a ritual called “sealing of the drains” using cinnabar and a mantra to close off and seal the drain energetically and with intention. It’s a cure that’s shared through a consultation - so unfortunately I’m not able to post it publicly online. However, you can contact me for a consultation. Otherwise you can try placing a pot with a flowering green plant on top of the manhole to bring more positive life energy to the drain.

SUBSCRIBE to Above Average: http://bit.ly/LlHUTM The Headcrusher crushes businessmen's heads on Wall Street Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AboveAverageProductions Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/AboveAv The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy group formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson.

Now on to the second part, the issue of high voltage electric lines in front of your house. High voltage lines may impact your environment because of the EMFs (electromagnetic forces). Energetically you can try to cut those lines by taking a pair of scissors and symbolically cutting them with the intention that they are not harming you. Now you’re not really cutting anything. It’s kind of like that Kids in the Hall skit, “Head Crusher,” where Mark McKinney "crushes" the heads of random people from several feet away with his fingers.

Another way to deflect this negative qi is to use a bagua mirror, the kind you find in Chinatown. You can place this on the outside of your home facing the electric lines. However, be careful as this may also deflect opportunities from your life.

As with many conditions requiring feng shui adjustments, each of these issues, and the circumstances surrounding them, can be different on an individual basis. These basic remedies should work, especially with good intentions, but if you're really worried about the adjustments, I would definitely recommend finding an expert who works well with you.

by Anjie Cho