Clear Your Space with Oranges

Guest User September 23, 2020

Space clearing is an important practice in feng shui. Our homes and spaces are made up of energy that impacts us, so it’s important to make sure we are surrounded by supportive, healthy energy as much as possible. Clearing space in your home helps to remove stagnant, stuck, or negative energy that has accumulated to make room for new, positive energy.

Space clearing is especially helpful during times of transition. This could be moving to a new apartment, starting a new chapter in life, or even a change in seasons. The transition from summer to fall that we’re currently experiencing in the northern hemisphere is a great time to clear your space.

One of my favorite ways to clear space is to use oranges. In feng shui, oranges have a lot of yang energy. Yang energy relates to brightness and sunlight. It’s the opposite of night, which is related to yin energy.

Take a moment to close your eyes and visualize peeling an orange, and imagine the experience through all of your senses. Oranges are visually bright and cheerful, like the sun. The color orange is a protecting, uplifting, and vital color. The smell of oranges can also instantly uplift any space. As you are visualizing an orange, or even as you’re peeling a real one, notice the smell, the way it looks, the taste, the way it feels in your hands, and even the sound as you peel it.

A great way to clear your space using feng shui principles is to use a mist with orange essential oil. You can purchase some here or make your own. To clear your space with oranges, open all your windows and doors for at least 15 minutes and allow air to move throughout your home, then spray the orange mist all over your home. If you want to make it more of a ritual, start at your front door and go in a clockwise direction around the perimeter of each room. This makes your space clearing more of a special, sacred experience, and not just an everyday activity.

As you’re clearing your space, set the intention that you’re filling your home with bright orange light or sunlight, along with feelings of joy, contentment, and vitality. This will help set the stage to welcome in positive energy and opportunities.

by Anjie Cho

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

Q&A Sunday: Hanging Artwork in Your Home

Guest User September 20, 2020

I’m curious if you have any tips about hanging art. I’m downsizing to a smaller apartment, and I’m not sure where to hang my art or if I will have space for it all.

Thank you for your question! To answer the first part of your question, it’s generally a good idea to hang paintings and other art a little higher than you think you should. This is especially important if you have a tendency towards depression. When the art in your home is placed too low, it can depress your qi. Placing your art higher, as well as choosing light fixtures that point upwards, can lift your gaze which also helps to lift your qi. After six months of a pandemic, I think all of us can probably use an extra lift!

When it comes to the size of your space and whether you’ll have room to hang all the pieces you own, I’m reminded of one of my favorite books, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa. In the first chapter, he speaks about our tendency to collect. Some of our collections are internal: maybe you are always collecting new information, or learning about yet another spiritual modality. In this internet age, people often want to collect as much information as possible rather than really receiving and working with one thing. Because your home is a manifestation of what’s going on inside, how you collect things in your home may also indicate how you collect things in your life.

Chögyam Trungpa compares our collections to a shop. We may have started out with one beautiful item, but over time, our space becomes so full of things that it becomes more like a junk shop. Even if the individual items are beautiful, too many things placed in the same space can lead to chaos.

You may have beautiful artwork, but will you be able to enjoy its beauty if your walls are completely full of things to look at? When we have too many things, life becomes oppressive. Practices like meditation and feng shui are about focusing on one thing at a time, paying attention to the details, and simplifying. What if we chose to fully appreciate individual things in each moment, rather than feeling the need to bring them home and add to our collection?

I hope this gives you some inspiration as you decide which artwork to hang in your new apartment, as well as what else you choose to bring with you!

by Anjie Cho

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday". If you have personal questions, we encourage you to check out Practical Feng Shui or hire one of Anjie's Grads.

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

Q&A Sunday: How to Feel More Inspired at Work

Guest User September 13, 2020

I am feeling uninspired in my career. Are there any feng shui cures that can help me?

Thank you so much for your question! I’m sorry you are feeling uninspired in your career. That’s not a good feeling, and you are most certainly not alone. I think most of us have been in work environments where our gifts are not nurtured, and when this happens we end up losing inspiration and passion for the work we are doing.

In feng shui, inspiration is related to the fire element. I would suggest you take a look at the li area of the bagua map, since that’s the area associated with fire energy. To find the li area of your bedroom, check out my blog post on the bagua.

Before you make any feng shui adjustments, I would first observe what’s happening in this area of your home or bedroom. Do you regularly give attention to this part of your home? Does it need to be cleaned? Is it easy for you to move around in this area, or is your path blocked? This information can give you a clue as to what might be happening in this area of your life.

Sometimes, when you are not feeling passionate about your work, it is because you are not being recognized for your unique gifts. When we feel like we are being overlooked, it’s easy to lose inspiration. If this is the case, I would again look to the li area, since li and the fire element are also connected to recognition, fame, passion, and reputation. Think of a fire, big or small, and what kind of energy it has. The flame of a candle is illuminating, and can bring luminosity, clarity, and attention. In the same way, fire energy can bring these qualities into your life.

One of my favorite ways to activate the li area is with new green plants. Plants represent life energy and growth. When placed in the li area, they can infuse the energy of growth and new life into how you are inspired and how you’re seen by others. Plants also represent wood energy, which feeds fire. Think about it: fires need fuel to burn. Since your lack of inspiration is specific to work, I would also recommend placing a new green plant in the li area of your desk, since your desk represents your career. A flowering plant can be especially helpful in this area.

I hope this helps you find more inspiration in your career! As always, if you want advice that is more tailored to your unique situation, I recommend working with a practitioner or studying feng shui more deeply.

Even if you decide to move on from your current work situation, a bonus of activating the li area is that it can help you gain public support if you are starting a new endeavor. So, if you decide to pursue a new career or even start a business, you will have a boost there as well!

by Anjie Cho