Feng Shui for Your New Apartment, Round 2

Photo and design by Anjie Cho Architect PLLC

Earlier on the blog we talked moving into a brand new place, clearing the space, laying the bagua and more. Of course, there are many small feng shui adjustments we can make when turning a new apartment into a holistic, nourishing home - so many it's a bit much to cover in one post! So this week we're back with a few more tips on saying "Hello!" to your new home in feng shui-style. 

Add Nine Plants

Yes, nine! It may seem like a big number, but adding plants to your new space is a great way to welcome more life energy. Plants symbolize the Wood element in feng shui, which relates to new beginnings, life, joy and flexibility, all of which are wonderful for creating a new holistic space. Plants also bring nature into your home, which has been proven to increase quality of life, and work tirelessly to enhance indoor air quality. Why nine? It's the most auspicious number in feng shui!

Add a Welcome Mat

Plants welcome positive energy into your spaces, but they aren't the only way. Pick up a black "Welcome" mat, about the same width as your door, and place it at the main entrance to your new home. Keeping a welcoming entrance is great not only for you, when you come home, as well as your guests, but also for positive chi! Black is the most absorbent of all colors and can attract, absorb and transfer positive energy into your holistic space. In addition, black is representative of the Water element, which can increase career success when used in this area.

Fill in Cabinet Space

We're not talking the inside of cabinets, here. Depending on how the kitchen and bathroom are designed in your new apartment, you may or may not have empty space between the top of your cabinets and the ceiling. If you do, it's important to pay attention to these areas, as they can serve as a space for dead energy. Dead or stagnant energy in your spaces can manifest itself as problems with health and prosperity, and no one wants that! To adjust for this, add a plant (maybe one of the nine mentioned above!) or a personal item to this space to transform it into a place of positive energy. 

Hopefully your new apartment is starting to feel more and more like a holistic space every day! These feng shui tips are pretty easy to implement but can make such a huge impact! If you've just moved and are trying out these adjustments, please share your experience and / or send us photos. We love to see the difference feng shui makes in your lives. :) And don't forget to keep an eye out for the final set of feng shui tips for your new space!

by Anjie Cho


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

Love Note from Anjie: Gratitude

Photo by Matt on Unsplash

gratitude

another quiet cool afternoon in New York City. it's not Saturday (when I usually write these), but it feels like Saturday because the holiday… which brings us to the topic of the moment.

Gratitude: “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” –Oxford Languages

after looking up the definition, as well as contemplating lojong slogan #13 (see below), I was invited to consider gratitude in way that includes, rather than rejects. Gratitude can offer us a different path that includes all of our experience as good, meaningful, as well as essential. All parts of me, including what I consider ugly, inadequate, or shameful, are valuable and deserve acceptance, appreciation, and kindness. all of your experience is included.


 

Photo by Darius Cotoi on Unsplash

LOJONG SLOGAN #13

Be Grateful to Everyone

Remember this holiday season that we can also offer gratitude for those in our life that we find the most challenging, who are often our family members or the ones closest to you.

They “blow your cover” as Ani Pema Chodron says here. Trungpa Rinpoche also taught that “if everything were lovey-dovey and jellyfish-liked, there would be nothing to work with. Everything would be completely blank.”

The obstacles are our greatest teachers and make us who we are, and teach us true compassion.


UPCOMING IN-PERSON/VIRTUAL CLASS

Clearing Your Space: Feng Shui for Abundance

Our inner and outer environments are interconnected and interdependent. Our homes are our bodies. We’re approaching the end of 2022. In feng shui, it’s helpful to clear your space during transitional times like this.

Anjie Cho smiling and sitting on the floor surrounded by flower petals

Photo by LOTUSWEI

In this workshop:

  • Let go of the qi no longer serving you to invite space for new

  • Learn about clearing your space with feng shui for abundance

  • Review five different ways to shift the energy of your home

  • End with a virtual space blessing

Hope to meet you IN PERSON!

Sun, Dec 12 at 6:30 PST (3:30 EST)

$33 In Person at RA MA Los Angeles or $26 Virtually on RA MA TV


Open for enrollment

Reset Your Home and Spirit

Our annual New Year Reset Package is now open for enrollment!


snowflake

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

COMPLIMENTARY CLASS:

Winter Feng Shui

Activate the mandala of your space for the Winter Solstice

Join me and the RA MA crew for the complimentary events for the RA MA Holiday Wellness Salon

Wed, Dec 7 at Noon PST (3pm EST) Virtually on RA MA TV


ON THIS WEEK'S PODCAST

Gratitude Bagua Mandala

Laura and I put together a super fun episode all about gratitude this week on the Holistic Spaces Podcast.

My favorite part is where we go through the entire bagua mandala and offer suggestions as to how you can energetically offer gratitude from a feng shui qi perspective using color and bagua location.


with heartfelt gratitude,

Anjie

p.s. would you like to receive these love notes directly to your inbox right when they’re written? Join our newsletter and you’ll also get special perks only for subscribers!

Love Note from Anjie: Celebrations

Photo by Skylar Zilka on Unsplash

celebrations

today is quiet, the air crisp and dry. I'm visiting my in-laws in Athens, Georgia for my nephew's bar mizvah, an honored rite of passage and celebration at the age of thirteen in the Jewish community.

In feng shui, this time - the fall - is also considered a time celebration, a time to offer gratitude and enjoy the fruition of the harvest. it's important to look at and acknowledge time.

I was thinking about why I like to title these weekly love notes by date. and why I begin by noting the weather at the moment. for me, it's a little celebration to stop - feel - and notice the phenomenal world. what will you celebrate today?

 

Photo by Alexander Tsang on Unsplash

from the Shabbat opening meditation:

WELCOMING DOORS

May the door of this synagogue be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love, all who are lonely for friendship.

may it welcome all who have cares to unburden, thanks to express, hopes to nurture.


a feng shui ritual

One Good Deed a Day

The first feng shui adjustment my mentor Rosalie prescribed for me was "One Good Deed a Day." My go-to deed at that time was to open doors for people. I would literally run to get the door for anyone. But what happened was by opening doors for others, I was opening doors for myself.

Try "One Good Deed a Day" for 27 days...and see what doors you can open in your life!

Photo by Rowan Freeman on Unsplash


Photo by Anjie Cho

Did you see this?

Smoke Blessings

offering tools:

  • dried botanical (you can dry your own tangerine peels or juniper)

  • a candle

  • firesafe container

instructions:

  1. start at your front door, the mouth of qi.

  2. circumambulate the space clockwise, hugging the wall on your left

  3. chanting OM MA NI PAD ME HUM

  4. visualizing the smoke is filling your home with love and protection

  5. close with a humble offering of gratitude


May all you walk through doorways with compassion,

Anjie

p.s. would you like to receive these love notes directly to your inbox right when they’re written? Join our newsletter and you’ll also get special perks only for subscribers!