Could Feng Shui be the Antidote for your Sleeplessness?

Guest User March 25, 2020

Anjie Cho was featured on Refinery29

Of the 8,760 hours in any given year, each must be dispersed amongst a fairly standard set of categories: Social Affairs, Business, Pleasure, Philanthropy, Other, and, of course, Sleep.

Alas, no matter how you choose to arrange your priorities, that last one remains a requirement; sleep is a prerequisite for functionality. And while many of us do, in fact, find slumber to be a decidedly pleasurable pastime, according to a 2016 survey, nearly 68% of Americans — I among them — have regular trouble falling or staying asleep.

There is, of course, a stock explanation here: Our screen dependencies make it near impossible to turn ourselves off (technology is to blame etc. etc.), especially in an era that places a high-stakes premium on productivity. Not to mention, stress and anxiety may also contribute to sleep disorders.

On the other hand, the catalog of professed sleep solutions is quite lengthy. CBD was last year’s buzziest acronym, direct-to-consumer mattress brands are trending, and boutique vitamin distributors promise more restful nights — in addition to the roster of prescription medications and OTC supplements available. And yet, for all the recent market growth in the sleep sector, plenty of us continue to lie awake at night. So perhaps, alongside the next seed-funded cannabinoid-melatonin startup, we should also consider something old-school — historic, even.

Enter: feng shui.

…read full article

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: Extra Mirrors in the Bathroom

Anjie Cho March 22, 2020

I have been listening to your podcast and throughly enjoy it!! You have done some great episodes on the bedroom and office, so wondering if you will touch on the bathroom? If so, I look forward to that! However I have one specific, and very current question as we make a decision with our bathroom remodel.

We currently have a tub/shower, and would like to convert it to a walk-in-shower. My struggle is that the current tub/shower has the sliding doors, and one of them is glass and one is a mirror...which I love! If we convert to the shower only, we will have to do a new sliding glass door, and I have found that it's very standard for those to be available in glass only. I'm considering doing a custom door, in order to again have a mirror. However, I'm curious about how feng shui applies to having that additional large mirror in the bathroom.

Carly M., Oshkosh, WI

Hi Carly

I’m so happy to hear you like the podcast! And also thanks for writing in with your question.

First, I will definitely do a bathroom episode, just for you! Keep your eyes open for it. In the meantime, we have some blog posts on bathroom feng shui here, here and here. Hopefully that will help!

Q&A Sunday - Extra Mirrors in the Bathroom - Floor Plan.jpg

Second, your question regarding a new sliding glass door for your shower - you wanted to know if there are any feng shui concerns regarding having an additional large mirror in the bathroom. Or if there’s a feng shui reason to opt for clear glass over mirror for a shower glass enclosure.

This is actually more a mundane or practical issue and not a feng shui concern. Mirrors are used in many feng shui adjustments, because they can reflect, expand and have many other auspicious uses. In this case, with your floor plan, I don’t see any reason why a mirrored shower enclosure would have any negative impact. And it might instead be positive, because you love having a mirror there so much. So, I will encourage you to go for the custom option.

One occasion where there may be an issue with the mirrored shower door would be if perhaps the bathroom mirror were in line with the bed and the bathroom door was kept open. Your bathroom location is not like this. But in that case there is another reader who has this situation, please read our other post where we discuss how mirrors facing the bed directly may be at your disadvantage.

In most situations, having a full-length mirror in your bathroom is actually a positive move, especially if it brings in additional light or includes plant-life nearby to encourage better qi flow from water to earth to wood. I think it's especially positive in your case, since you seem to love the mirror so much! Hopefully this helps and our bathroom posts will tide you over until the podcast feature!

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 or Green Design questions!

Visit the Holistic Spaces Store

Female Architects Celebrate the Women Who Inspired Their Careers

Guest User March 18, 2020

Anjie Cho was featured on Houzz

In the projects we highlight, designers we profile and events we cover, Houzz regularly celebrates creative and inspiring women in design. For Women’s History Month, which commemorates the valuable contributions that women — often unsung — have made throughout history, we wanted to let the inspiring female pros on Houzz tell us about the women who’ve inspired them.

We asked women in architecture, a field still dealing with gender inequities, to describe the designers in their lives who have mentored, guided or otherwise positively influenced them in their careers. The answers we got include everyone from world-renowned design pioneers to a generous mentor who helped secure a designer’s first architectural internship. Here are 10 of our favorite answers, from the architects in their own words.

Anjie Cho on architect Diane Naiztat of Naiztat + Ham Architects

“She was one of the first architects I worked for in New York City. I learned so much from her about how to work with clients, contractors and people in general. She was soft yet tough, and I think a lot of my best skills came from her mentorship,” Anjie Cho says. “It was the first time I worked for a woman who owned her own firm. I’ve worked for a few other architects since, and she still stands out as the most upstanding, kind and influential person from when I started on my architecture path.”

…read full article