Feng Shui to Welcome 2022

Guest User January 5, 2022

Serene bedroom with white bedding and white walls — Photo by Anjie Cho Architect PLLC

I think everyone can agree that the last couple of years have been especially challenging. As humans here on this earth, we can acknowledge that we’ve experienced some trauma during this time. We’ve been working with challenging emotions and situations, and this has activated our fight-or-flight response.

One of the most important aspects of feng shui is to look at this phenomenon of fight-or-flight. We all have a yearning to feel safe, and there are ways that feng shui can help us to cultivate feelings of safety and stability in our homes. In feng shui, we can create environments that support us, even when there are so many ups and downs in the world around us. You can start to welcome this new year by taking some time to get quiet, and just listen and connect to your home.

I would also encourage you to look at the feng shui concept called commanding position. This is a basic principle in feng shui, and the idea is to set yourself up in your home to reduce any challenges that exacerbate your fight-or-flight response. This is one way to set up your home to feel more safe, which is especially important right now since we’ve already experienced so much fight-or-flight.

To begin working with the commanding position, I recommend starting with your bedroom. You want to make sure that when you’re lying in bed, or sitting in bed with your back against the headboard, that you can see the door to your bedroom without being directly in line with the door. Usually this will put you in a position that is diagonally across from the door. You should also have a wall behind the headboard, which will help you feel more secure and supported. Being in the command position allows you to know what’s coming towards you, so that you can sleep and rest with more ease, and less fight-or-flight activation.

When your bed is set up with the door behind you, it actually creates more stress and difficulty and activates our fight-or-flight response. If you’ve been feeling especially raw or traumatized because of the happenings in the world, I would really recommend you take a look at your bedroom and set up your bed in the commanding position. If this is impossible because of the design details of your bedroom, you can instead set up a mirror so that you can see a reflection of the door while you’re laying in bed.

I hope this helps you welcome the new year in a supportive and nurturing way. First, recognize and acknowledge that this has been a very difficult time, and then find the ways in which you can create a home that supports you. Most importantly, make sure your bed is in command so you can soothe and heal yourself while you’re sleeping, which is a very healing and passive time.

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Feng Shui for Friendship and Community

Guest User December 29, 2021

wooden dining table with chairs next to living room with big windows — Photo by Anjie Cho Architect PLLC

I’ve noticed that a lot of people are yearning for more friendship and community right now. The holiday season in particular brings up a lot of feelings around belonging connections with other people. It’s a time when many people are thinking about creating a greater sense of family, whether that’s with their family of origin or their family of friends.

There are a few places in your home that relate to friendships, and one important one is your dining table. A lot of people nowadays aren’t using their dining tables for the purpose of dining. Especially since the pandemic began, many people are using the dining table as a substitute desk for their work-from-home space. Even before the pandemic, I found that many people didn’t end up eating around their dining room table. While eating around the kitchen island is fine, it’s also important to eat around the dining table sometimes if you want to invite more friendships into your life. Your dining table represents how you connect to your community. It’s the place in your home where you can break bread and enjoy a meal with close friends.

If you are looking for more friendships, deeper friendships, or more community, take a look and see if your dining table is being neglected. If it is, one simple thing you can do is to just start using it. Even if you have to use your dining table for work or other purposes as well, try cleaning it off and giving it some attention. Then, start eating some of your meals there.

You can also notice whether there is enough space around your dining table for the friends you want to invite into your home. If there’s just enough room for you and your immediate family, you might want to make space for more friends by adding an extra chair.

If you live in a smaller home and don’t have room for a dining table, do the best you can with what you have. You might need to make accommodations when you do have friends over, and move some of your personal things out of the way to make space for them. You can also create smaller place settings so that there is more room for people to sit and move around. It also might be that you need to go out in the world more, and create connections with friends at restaurants or at other people’s homes.

by Anjie Cho

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui, check out Mindful Design Feng Shui School at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com

Feng Shui for a Small Home

Guest User December 15, 2021

Have you ever wondered how to use feng shui in your small space? Even if you live in a tiny studio apartment, there are still ways that you can apply feng shui principles.

If you do live in a small home, I invite you to consider the metaphor of a plant. I used to live in a really small home, and I got a plant at the time that only had two very small leaves. Now, that plant has grown into a much bigger plant, and I’ve also taken many cuttings from it that have rooted and become bigger plants as well.

In feng shui, plants represent the wood element, which is about growth and generosity. Instead of thinking about how small your space is and coming from a place of lack, think about what you can cultivate in the space you do have. In life we have the opportunity to grow and cultivate and receive the gifts that the universe has for us. Then, you can also create many gifts to share with other people.

One way you can apply this concept in a small space is to actually find a tiny plant and bring it into your home. Learn how to take care of this tiny plant, and watch it grow. Once it gets bigger you can be generous, and create cuttings to give to other people.

You can also find a friend who you believe really exemplifies generosity, prosperity, abundance, and authentic kindness, and tell them that you admire and appreciate these qualities in them. If they have houseplants or a garden, you can also ask if they would be willing to give you a cutting of a plant. This cutting that you receive from your friend can be the tiny plant that you learn to cultivate in your home, and then share generously. In feng shui, we talk about the concept of qi, which is life force energy. When you receive a cutting from someone who genuinely embodies the qualities that you aspire to, that energy will also be in the cutting, and you can start to cultivate those qualities in your own life.

Make sure you start with a plant that you have the ability to accommodate in the space that you have. This goes for everyone, even if your space isn’t small. It’s important to do your research and make sure that the plants you bring into your space will be able to thrive in your home’s conditions. Then, take the time to learn how to take care of this other living thing, and see how you can start to cultivate your generosity, your qi, and the qualities that you admire in your friend, in your own way.

by Anjie Cho