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integrating spirituality and green design to find beauty in simplicity and balance. we design harmonious living and work spaces that resonates with clients from both the inside and out.
Anjie Cho integrates beauty, spirituality and green design. She creates and enhances balance and harmony by designing spaces with an understanding of sustainability and informed by the ancient practice of feng shui. Her focus is to create a nurturing and supportive environment for each of her clients, at whatever level they feel comfortable.
my favorite piece of Citrine, sits in the abundance area of my desk #fengshui#crystals #abundance
the 12 zodiac animals strung together can bring harmony into the home#fengshui #chinesezodiac #holisticspaces
#beforeandafter new paint flooring furniture windows! #living #home#renovation
feng shui in the bedroom with the five elements - water (image), wood (plant), metal (white walls, earth (brown furniture), fire (LED lamp)
#41. do not wear shoes as a hat. #ChogyamTrungpa #lojong #shambhala
what's your vedic numerology?!? mine is #3, Jupiter. look at holisticspaces.com #vedicsquare#sacredgeometry #numerology
happy #mantraMonday. today DURGA yantra, for rebirth. Mantra: Om Hring Dung Durgaye Namah Om. Durga is a Hindu goddess, a symbol of the divine mother. In Sanskrit, Durga means “invincible”, as she also destroys evil and transforms it into harmony and balance in the world. This is a powerful yantra because it can create destruction, but for the sake of universal harmony. You may need to let things go before you can welcome the new. The overlapping triangles also invoke fire energy. Fiery passion is required to destroy and bring forth new beginnings. This Durga yantra mandala is the symbol in the Holistic Spaces logo because we seek to establish balance in your spaces. #mantra #yantra#mandala #healing #vedic #holisticspaces
dont you just love this kitchen?!?#beforeafter gut renovation where we opened up the kitchen to the living room
A cute little model we just did to do paint color studies #3dmodel #interiors#architecture #rhino
Today is Garden Meditation Day. There may not be a holiday more in tune with the principles of feng shui, in that Garden Meditation Day appreciates the need for inner peace and mindfulness and cultivates an appreciation for nature, which we are directly a part of. In honor of the holiday, I'm happy to share my experience with a very similar practice known as kado.
In her book, Heaven and Earth Are Flowers: Reflections on Ikebana and Buddhism, Joan D Stamm writes: “to contemplate a flower, a natural mandala of vibrant color and perfect form, is to glimpse the face of the divine."
Last week I attended a Spring Kado retreat at a Shambhala center with Marcia Wang Shibata, a Master Shambhala Kado Instructor. Kado means “the way of flowers” and is a contemplative practice of flower arranging using classical ikebana forms.
I am in love with ikebana and Kado practice and use the offering of flowers as part of my meditative practice. This practice brings me so much joy, and I wish to offer to you, my readers, three remarkable things I learned last week from Marcia Shibata and the flowers.
In our first arrangement, we were given hosta leaves. This plant has full soft green leaves with delicate stems. I tried for several minutes to arrange my leaf exactly where I wanted it. I had this vision in my mind and I really wanted the hosta leaf to stay in this “perfect” spot. While sitting there frustrated with my hosta, I heard my neighbor grumble. When I peered in his direction, I couldn’t help but giggle. His hosta leaf also had a mind of its own. And although it’s not a flower, this hosta leaf taught me not to expect something from it which it cannot give.
After my finishing my first arrangement, I got up and looked at the others in class. I suddenly felt uneasy and insecure. Mine looked busier than the others. Did I do it wrong? I started moving things around in my arrangement, but it still looked crowded. I really started to doubt myself. Marcia came by, and with hesitation I said, “Um, I think mine is too busier than everyone else’s”. Marcia looked at me directly and firmly said “NEVER compare yourself with others”.
There were some irises that were purchased for the class. None of the flowers had yet opened at time of purchase. We patiently waited a day or two, and some of them started to open up, showing off brilliant purple and yellow colors. Sadly, there were quite a few that never opened. The flowers remained tightly shut, with dried and shriveled tops. Marcia noted that they likely were traumatized during their travel to us in the US (probably from Holland). She reminded us that when traumatized, fragile things don’t open. It was truly a beautiful poetic statement. She also said that “like our hearts, each is flower is different, delicate and beautiful.”
In our modern worlds, we have sadly lost touch with some of our rituals and traditions such as feng shui and ikebana. Feng shui isn’t just moving furniture around. Ikebana isn’t just arranging flowers. They are both traditional contemplative practices that teach us how to live in harmony and in balance with ourselves and with the spaces we inhabit.
When you get the chance, spend a little time contemplating how things in your life are arranged. Are they too cluttered? To empty? What you surround yourself with matters immensely, so these practices are absolutely worth the time.
Anjie Cho Architect is an architect and feng shui expert, founder of Holistic Spaces. Creating beautiful and nourishing spaces for living.
Anjie Cho Architect PLLC | 457 FDR Dr, New York, NY, 10002, United States
