Autumn is the season of Metal, the consolidating element the symbolizes our natural tendency to pull things together as the weather chills and the seasonal cycle draws to a close. 

Enjoy the article — and please be sure to leave a comment to let Teresa and me know how you liked it!

Check out my previous articles on Seasonal Wisdom!

• Springtime Feng Shui For Your Home

She’s also the founder and guiding presence at the Western School Of Feng Shui, from which I received my Feng Shui Practitioner’s Certificate.

I felt so lucky to travel to California in 2006 to study with Terah and soak up her warm, witty and wise approach to Feng Shui in person!

My graduating Feng Shui class, 2006.

Terah has recently launched a series called “Feng Shui Rock Stars,” and I’m honored to have made the grade!

Listen in to my Feng Shui Rock Star interview as Terah and I explore the ways I’ve applied her teachings over the years, from working in difficult rental apartments to supporting my clients’ efforts to become pregnant, and much more. 

As you listen, maybe you’ll decide to pursue some Feng Shui studies of your own.  Terah is bringing her entire Practitioner Training Course online early next year, making it easier than ever to study Feng Shui with her.

(P.S., Can you spot me in the photo above? I’m just behind Terah, back row center )

 The episode will be entitled “Healthy Home.” It’s all about using Feng Shui principles to stage a home and attract the highest-quality buyer.

I worked with Core Real Estate broker Lisa Graham and the professional stagers at Sold With Style to create a welcoming, positive atmosphere in a fabulous Manhattan duplex apartment.

Last night I attended a party that unveiled the transformed property to prospective buyers and real estate professionals.  

Here’s a shot of the camera crew setting up for the party:

And here I am with Ashley, one of my VIP guests:

My Feng Shui episode is scheduled to air on HGTV in January 2013 — I’ll let you know the exact date just as soon as I find out!

Enjoy!

If Mother Nature’s warmer temperatures are giving you a serious case of Spring Fever, why not bring that natural energy and beauty into your home and urban garden now? Here are three of my favorite spring plants:

Ranunculus: Cheerful ranunculus blooms in colors from purple and soft pink to bright red. The frost-hardy plants are perennials in warmer climates (Zones 8 through 11), but transplants can be found in local nurseries now and grown as annuals in spring.

Planted outdoors in full sun, Ranunculus grows well in window boxes, garden pots or other containers with well-drained potting soil. They’re lovely planted with forget-me-nots and Iceland poppies. A vase of these old-fashioned flowers also adds an elegant touch to any home, as you’ll see above.

Violas: Pansies and violets are sweet symbols of spring, and come in many delicious colors. The cool-season flowers will wake up your garden now, and couldn’t be easier to grow. Give these plants partial sun and moist, rich soil with good drainage. In cooler temperatures, they tolerate full sun.

Deadhead blossoms regularly to keep them blooming longer. A pot of violas also can be grown in a south or west-facing window indoors.

Primroses: These bright flowers are among the earliest-blooming in spring. Plant primroses in partial sun; sheltered from extreme weather. They’ll tolerate full sun in cool weather.

The charming plants prefer moist, rich soil with proper drainage. Mix primroses with other cool-season plants like violas, or massed together for impact.

Don’t Miss! Teresa’s previous guest post, Plants Add Life To Winter Gardens.

Author’s Note: Teresa O’Connor is a national author, speaker and consultant about gardening, food and folklore. Co-author of Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing & Preserving Fresh Foods, Teresa is a trained master gardener in California and Idaho. She’s also known as Seasonal Wisdom from Facebook, Twitter and her blog – SeasonalWisdom.com – which TV personality P. Allen Smith recently called one of the “Ten Great Garden Blogs.”

Check out my new video by the super-talented videographer Jalanda James.

Jalanda did a great job capturing the simple, practical and effective approach to Feng Shui that I’ve developed over the past few years as I’ve had successes with more and more clients .

What else would you like to know about Feng Shui?

The resulting article, Creating A Happy, Harmonious Home Using Feng Shui, gives an excellent overview of what Feng Shui is all about as well as some of the specifics of how she works with it in her international Feng Shui practice.

What Feng Shui Is All About

I love many of the things Sarah has to say in this article, among them:

• “I think the green movement has been wonderful for Feng Shui as people are realising now more than ever how the world is sentient and interconnected and how we treat our space directly affects us.” 

• “Let’s face it, the world is an organic being, not just a map which we walk, drive, eat and sleep upon!”

• “Feng Shui is not just about techniques to try to master a situation and improve your fortune, but at a deeper level it is also about your soul and its journey.”

Feng Shui Master Sarah McAllister

Sarah practices a unique type of Feng Shui from the ancient Chinese Chue school. Check out more of her thoughts on Feng Shui in the article and let me know what you think after you’ve read it!

(Photo credits: Luo Pan Compass – freshome.com, Sarah McAllister – FengShuiAgency.com)

Feng Shui has plenty of good advice for taking care of yourself every day of the year, but I wondered specifically how singles could take good care of themselves on this “singular” day.

So I asked relationship expert Christie Nightingale for a few Valentine’s Day tips for singles.  Here are Christie’s words of wisdom:

Surround Yourself With Love On Valentine’s Day

Being single on Valentine’s Day can be tough. Television commercials run rampant with images of guys giving their gals jewelry, whether it’s a bracelet, necklace or that elusive diamond ring.

This kind of imagery makes anyone feel less than great, even if they are single by choice. So if you’re single, it’s important to find other ways to surround yourself with love to keep feelings of loneliness at bay.

Since Valentine’s Day is the day for men to court their ladies, it can be an especially difficult day for the single ladies out there.

But being dateless on Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be the worst thing to ever happen to you.

Remember, it’s a commercial holiday. As if that revelation isn’t enough for you, here are a few things you can do  to treat yourself like the special person you are, on Valentine’s Day:

• Stay away from all those happy couples. This should be a no-brainer, but do not go out to eat on Valentine’s Day. Even if you usually like dining out alone, do something else. Ask a single girlfriend to join you at a casual spot if you insist on dining out.

• Plan a girls’ night: If you have other single friends in your life, plan a night out with them. Or better yet, cook a meal together. Bonding with other singles will make you remember that you do have love in your life, even if it’s not in the form of an intimate relationship.

• If you’re single and you don’t want to be: What’s getting in the way of getting the relationship you want? Do you struggle with issues from past relationships? Take your focus off finding that dream guy for a while and focus on yourself. And who knows? Love might find you when you’re least expecting it.

About Christie Nightingale

Christie Nightingale, Principal of Premier Match, is a sought after New York City relationship expert. Her firm has been featured on numerous national TV networks & magazines.

Learn more at www.premiermatchmaking.com. Or find her on Twitter @PremierMatch.

(Photo credits: Girls Night Out – SheKnows.com; Women Cooking – Top10point5.com)

(Photo of Battery Park, NYC in winter by TammySimmons on Flickr.)

Old Man Winter might bring freezing temperatures and blowing snow where you live. But that doesn’t mean you can’t attract positive Chi to your outdoor spaces, with healthy plants that survive even in the dead of winter.

(Conifer photo by Randall C. Smith, courtesy of Iseli Nursery.)

Evergreens
It’s easy to understand why evergreens have been cherished since ancient times. While many plants are dormant and dead-looking now, evergreens stay green in freezing temperatures.

From pyramid shapes to round balls, evergreens are ideal for creating focal points in your winter garden.

‘Green Velvet’ boxwood (Zone 4) retains color in winter.

(Photo by Park Seed.)

Energize your outdoor spaces with fragrant evergreens. Mark doorways with matching boxwood.

Accent a stagnant area with a cypress topiary that sparks the Chi in pleasant ways.  Or, plant a protective border with conifers that block unpleasant sights and improve air quality.

More at The Amazing World of Conifers.

Ornamental Cabbages and Kales (Brassica oleracea)

Ornamental cabbages, copyright Kerry Michaels.

When I moved north, one of the first things I did was plant ornamental kale in window boxes. The kale thrived in our Zone 6 garden – and the first freeze only made the green, purple and pink colors grow deeper in intensity.

In February, my kales finally croaked from exhaustion, earning a well-deserved rest.

Cabbages have smooth leaves, while kale has fringed or serrated leaves. Both have colors that contrast well with snow.

Pop these stars into planters, window boxes or tiny garden spaces.  You’ll wonder how you lived without them.

Container Tips

1. Plant with potting soil. Don’t use garden soil.
2. Use winter-proof containers with drainage. Avoid clay or ceramic pots that can crack.
3. Select container plants hardy to two zones colder than your region. In Zone 6, safe bets are Zone 4 plants.

More from Ohio State University Extension.

Don’t Miss! Teresa’s guest post, Celebrate Spring With Three Flowering Favorites.

About the Author: Teresa O’Connor is a writer and speaker about gardening, food and folklore.

She was trained as a Master Gardener in California and Idaho, and co-authored the book Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Foods. Thousands know her as Seasonal Wisdom on Facebook, Twitter and her blog, which tastemaker P. Allen Smith called one of 10 Great Garden Blogs.

Please post your own thoughts about all this in the Comments!

* The science of environmental psychology is beginning to confirm some of Feng Shui’s most treasured concepts. For example, Jan Cisek explained, sitting with your back to the door releases the stress hormone cortisol, whereas sitting facing the door releases the “love” hormone, oxytocin.

This supports Feng Shui’s idea of placing your furniture in the Command Position.

* Thinking of adding an aquarium for good Chi in your space? Jan cited a survey of pet-owners, which found that folks who own fish were the happiest.

Goldfish in a Feng Shui aquarium

* What is Feng Shui?  The “gathering of Chi,” according to metaphysics researcher KB Lim, who came all the way from Singapore to speak.  “Good” Feng Shui occurs when Chi gathers easily and gracefully; “bad” Feng Shui when Chi opposes itself.
I love this new way of looking at Feng Shui.

*The Indian science of Vaastu (pronounced Wah-stew) has fewer parallels with Feng Shui than is commonly believed.  For example, Raymond Catchpole explained, it uses a Five Elements system, but the elements and their symbolism differ from those in Feng Shui.

* Foods grown organically have a much larger, smoother and more active energy field than those grown non-organically, as can be seen via the Kirlian photography shown us by scientist Harry Oldfield.

You can be sure I’ll be using only organically-grown oranges in my Space-Clearing ceremonies from now on.

* Finally, we gained insights into the history of the Luo Pan Feng Shui compass from earth-energy expert Richard Creightmore, and learned about Peach-Blossom Feng Shui from Vancouver Feng Shui consultant Jerry King.

A Luo Pan, the Feng Shui compass

It was a wonderful day of learning and information, wouldn’t you agree? Here’s to the lifelong learning that IS Feng Shui!

(Kirlian photo courtesy of Feed Your Imagination)

Here are the first of my top takeaways from a fantastic day, which I hope you will find useful as well

(You can go on to read London Feng Shui Conference – Part 2 here.)

* Every space, occupied or not, is packed with energy — the energy of past inhabitants and their experiences, the energy of the land underneath the property, and so on.

* The concepts of Yin & Yang have been applied throughout architectural history to create a sense of wholeness and balance in buildings.

You can see this in such iconic buildings as Chartres Cathedral, as shown by Feng Shui architect Christian Kyriacou.

Chartres Cathedral labyrinth: Yin & Yang.

* Why do some cities become so mighty? Feng Shui Master Sarah McAllister explained three powerful cities: Teheran, the “overheated” capital of Iran; Kyoto, the gentle former capital of Japan; and London, whose financial strength is due to its “gathering Chi:” gentle surrounding hills and nourishing river.

* Locate the best energy in a place by finding where the oldest churches were placed!

Chartres Cathedral: good Feng Shui!

* What are the two most important places in your life?  Your bed and your desk, because that’s where you’re likely to spend the majority of your time.

The conference was packed with these kinds of insights.

You can go on to read more about it in London Feng Shui Conference – Part 2.

Were you at this conference, or past Feng Shui Society conferences? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments!