A Holistic Holiday Gift Guide of NYC Experiences

featured this month on 6sqft by Hannah Frishberg and Anjie Cho

The catharsis of shopping and gift giving does not come without monetary guilt, but in a city as commercially diverse as New York, it’s possible to spend locally and come away with products bringing long-term relaxation and mental balance. No one wants to give or receive a gift that feels empty of emotional value and purpose. Here are some ideas for purposeful products and experiences that can be bought within the five boroughs for friends and family (or yourself!) this holiday season.

1. A yoga class

The pressure to workout is high enough when you’re the one who invested in a class, but when you’re gifted the paid opportunity to do yoga, an added element of etiquette raises the stakes even higher for you to find the time and energy to attend.

On the Lower East Side, Golden Bridge Yoga has no minimum for its gift certificates and RA MA Institute New York offers both yoga and meditation programming in its studio. Classes at both locations start at $22.

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by Anjie Cho

Q&A Sunday: Encouraging Change in the Home

Are there some simple things I can do to change the energy and encourage my dad to de-clutter the place?

Jane H., Bronx, NY

Hi Jane, 

Thank you so much for submitting your question to the Holistic Spaces blog. It's a great question! So, you're wondering if there are some simple things you can do to change the energy in your home and encourage your father to declutter the space. 

My first thought: If you've read or are familiar with Marie Kondo, in her book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, she actually suggests working on yourself first. Take a look at your own personal space, start with decluttering that area and, by example, you'll encourage others (your dad) to do the same. If your personal areas aren't particularly cluttered, you can even work on clearing out shared public areas, like the kitchen or living room. So, my first suggestion here is to work on changing the energy of the space for yourself.

My second recommendation is to move a few things around in your home. Moving nine things with intention in your space can help to change the energy in your home, not just for your father, but for you as well. These don't have to be big adjustments. They can actually be rather small, even a matter of inches. You could move a lamp nine inches in one direction or move your dishes from one cabinet to another. Or you could completely remove an item from one room or from the home completely. As long as you take the time to stir the energy in your space by moving these nine things with thoughtfulness, you will begin to create changes for you and your dad. 

Finally, use space clearing techniques to promote change and more peace in your home! Space clearing can shake up the energy in your space and clear out stagnant energy so positive qi has room to flow. And it's really easy to do! Check out our post on using orange peels to clear space, or you can use orange essential oil to make an orange spray. Alternatively, you can buy an orange mist or try palo santo, both of which we offer at the Holistic Spaces store. You could also grab a bottle of our white sage spray, which I love. In fact, my intuition here tells me that the white sage spray would be best for you, and I feel it would really help . If the sage spray isn't within your reach, you might try buying sage and smudging like you would with palo santo. As a note, if allergies are an issue, opt for one of the sprays or palo santo, as they tend to be less irritant.

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!

Q&A Sunday: Recommendations for Geopathic Stress

For a long time I have believed our home makes us sick. I was just reading about geopathic stress, and this really resonated with me. As moving is not an option (teens, schools, work) what type of cure do you recommend? I have been space clearing and de-cluttering since New Year and it will probably take me until the end of the year.

Naiomi P., Toronto, Canada

Hi Naiomi

Thank you for your question, and for listening to the podcast! 

I’m so sorry to hear that your home is causing sickness for your family. I’m not an expert on geopathic stress, however i spoke about it with my mother-in-law, Shabari Bird Lovel, who is familiar with geopathic stress. 

First, it sounds like it may or may not be geopathic stress, but in order to find out, you can work with an expert dowser. Shabari said that many accomplished dowsers can move geopathic stress lines. She also recommends reading The Divining Hand by Christopher Bird. He was my husband’s late stepfather.

Most feng shui practitioners do not have experience with geopathic stress without additional training, but it does relate to the energy of your space. Essentially, geopathic stress results from spending time in a home that is above or near certain factors, including underground streams, mineral concentrations, fault lines, etc., which can disturb the natural energy of the earth through weak electromagnetic fields. 

I asked my teacher, Katherine Metz, and she did have some recommendations for dealing with this issue. First and foremost, it's important to determine that this is, in fact, the problem. The problems you're experiencing could be caused by geopathic stress, but they could also be caused by bad feng shui, toxins, EMFs themselves or any number of elements. Katherine's first piece of advice is to move step to step to determine what the real cause is. 

To do this, we recommend you activate the Benefactors area of your home's bagua to attract the best helpful people to you to find out what the issue is. You can also work on the Health area to work with the overall health of your family and try to counteract the stress. 

I share ideas on how to activate the Benefactors area on the Holistic Spaces podcast here. You might also look for practitioners who are trained in dowsing, like my friend Beth Grace. You can read more about her here! It may be the case that you don't even have geopathic stress and can actually make some simple adjustments to solve the issue! 

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!