Do You Rent? 9 Feng Shui Tips That Will Make You Feel Like An Owner

Do you rent the place you live in? Are you eager to make it feel like home without having to make the massive changes landlords usually resist?

From a Feng Shui perspective it’s important that your space feel safe, beautiful and comfortable, but as a long-time renter I know what a challenge it is to bring these qualities into a space you don’t own.

Rentals can be tough, but with a few tips from Feng Shui you can feel like an owner until the day you move out (taking all your great ideas along with you!).

Follow these Feng Shui tips for best results — I guarantee you’ll feel like you own the place!

1. Place the Bagua over a floor plan of your home to understand how the energies are flowing. When you know how your rental space is mapped you can place artwork, colors and furniture to anchor your intentions and help you take possession of the space.
2. Personalize your home by replacing things that can be switched back easily when you move out. Adding your own switch plates, doorknobs, and even toilet seats can go a long way towards making you feel like the place is really yours.
3. Unblock the Chi by taking down unnecessary doors. Many rentals have doors that go unused or just get in the way. If you find yourself fighting with doors to closets and hallways, simply take them down and store them away until you move. You and your Chi will move through your space with greater ease.
4. Keep clutter to a minimum by following the best clutter-clearing and organizing advice you can find. The more respect you give yourself by keeping the space beautiful and organized, the greater your sense of ownership.
5. Place furniture using the Command Position. In a rental the Command Position is especially important because you have less control of this space than you would a home you owned. Placing your bed, couch and desk where you can clearly see the door gives you the sense of power you need to feel safe and secure.
6. Paint with rich colors if you’re allowed to. Nothing makes a house feel more like home than beautiful, rich colors on the walls. This is something landlords often object to, but they usually relent when you guarantee that you’ll repaint the walls white when you move.
7. Enhance or create views of nature, and balance the Five Elements at the same time, by either putting up curtains to frame a great view or hanging landscape art that carries your eye into the distance and distracts you from a not-so-great view.
8. Use mirrors strategically to give depth to narrow, difficult spaces and reflect light and nature. Be sure to use big, beautiful mirrors that light up the space all by themselves!
9. Have a Feng Shui space-clearing ceremony to cleanse the space and transform any negative energies that might remain from previous tenants.

Please don’t hesitate to call if you’d like advice or guidance for bringing these tips to life. I’m available for consultations in rental-happy New York City, and long-distance, too!

Lose Weight & Get Healthy with Feng Shui

The benefits of Feng Shui extend into many parts of your life, as it brings its positive effects to your health, your wealth, your relationships and more.

You’ve learned a few Feng Shui bedroom tips for getting a good night’s sleep, but what about other health matters, like staying in shape and losing weight?

Feng Shui has excellent ideas about improving and maintaining your health. Here are a few that will help focus your intention on slimming down and getting healthy this summer.

Is your kitchen in sight when you enter your home?
The first thing you see sets the tone for your experience every time you walk through the door of your home.

A first view of your kitchen – especially your stove or refrigerator – may trigger hunger pangs even if you’re not hungry. Diminish its impact by screening it from view or disguising the appliances.

For example, clearing magnets from the refrigerator will reduce its visual impact and “magnetic attraction.” You might also cover the front of the fridge with a material that helps it blend into the background.

Are your counters clear — or crowded?
A cluttered countertop creates a sense of confusion that can distract you from just how much you’re actually eating.

Bring order to the kitchen by clearing the counters of everything but the items you use every day (that’s every day).

When Chi energy has room to flow, this sense of clarity extends to the foods you consume. You’ll be more likely to prepare only what you need, when you need it.

For more great info about tuning up your kitchen, check out these Top-Ten Kitchen Feng Shui Tips.

Is your diet aligned with the seasons?
Feng Shui extends to the particular foods you eat, keeping your body in balance by eating foods that are in season.

Summertime, for example, is the season of the Fire element, characterized by hot weather, long days, and conserving energy in the heat.

The best foods for summer refresh and cool you down – salads, fresh fruits and vegetables, light carbohydrates, and raw foods.

By contrast the best foods for winter are hot, expansive things like stews, casseroles, dried fruits and beans: food that warms and nourishes us as we expend energy in the cold.

So in summer you need to watch out for a very modern challenge: air conditioning that “fools” your body into thinking it’s winter. You may be eating heavy “winter” foods just when you need to be at your lightest.

If you’d like to know more about the Feng Shui of food, please let me know.

Do you have a “cluttered diet?”
Avoid eating between meals and drink lots of water to keep your body clear, stay energized and give yourself a feeling of fullness without calories.

Is your body’s Chi energy moving?
Finally, what would a health and weight-loss article be without a reminder about the benefits of exercise!? Chi energy reacts to your attention and intention.

Keep moving and your Chi will respond with good health and a feeling of lightness, energy and clarity.

Great Chi Energy Coming To Times Square

Newsflash: A river is coming to New York City this summer when Times Square’s streets will be painted like a river (!).

I’m not sure NYC’s Department of Transportation realizes it but this artwork will add an extra dose of great Chi energy to a city that already has loads of it, cooling down one of the hottest spots in town during the high summer months. (Read more about New York City’s great Feng Shui here).

Come to NYC and take a dip!

And thanks to Gothamist for the heads up on this fantastic project, by Brooklyn’s own Molly Dilworth.

I can hardly wait to see it.

Photo rendering courtesy of NYC’s DOT.

P.S., In related news, the Champs Elysee in Paris was transformed into a temporary farm over the weekend!

Feng Shui & the Icelandic Volcano

The ongoing eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull (!!) volcano in Iceland gives us a lot to think about, Feng Shui-wise.

As the volcano imposes worldwide travel disruptions, it forces us all to slow down. Humanity seldom has an opportunity to be as much in the moment as we all are right now, waiting to see what nature has in store for us.

This is the Fire element at work, destroying and creating in equal measure.

In Feng Shui, Fire weakens Wood, the element of ambition and growth. It destroys Metal, the element of detachment and sharp thinking. And it creates Earth, the element of stability and nourishment.

It’s a great moment to respect the message nature seems to be sending about our ambition and self-absorption.

Let’s take this moment to slow down and honor our amazing planet Earth.

What do you think? Has the volcano — or its drama — affected your life in any way so far?

photo courtesy of The Guardian

Feng Shui at the Museum of the American Indian

I recently had the privilege of visiting the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.

From a Feng Shui standpoint it’s a thrilling experience. The museum doesn’t seem to have one single straight line in its design, inside or out.

The Chi energy flows.

I learned so much that day about the tragedies, traditions and development of America’s native societies. And the discovery that these cultures have so much in common with Feng Shui only added to the excitement of the day.

Have you been to the museum? How did you like it?

Are there other public buildings you know of with amazing Feng Shui like this?