Healthy Living FS & TCM Connections

Healthy Living
Connections Between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Feng Shui
Five main groups of study and practice, known as the Five Arts, are an integral part of Chinese philosophy, culture and tradition. These five complex Arts and their respective modalities have been a fundamental guide to Chinese life since earliest times until today. They collectively encompass the entire span of wellbeing and lifestyle practices. Each Art is complete in itself; they are however all interconnected and their commonality is the concept of Qi energetics, essentially yin and yang balance and five elements relationships.

The five Arts are: 1 Medical (Yi) ie.Traditional Chinese Medicine, includes acupuncture, herbal prescriptions and healing: 2 Observation (Xiang) includes Feng Shui, architecture, writing and appearance: 3 Philosophy (Shan) includes Inner cultivation practices and martial arts: 4 Fate (Ming) includes Bazi and Zi Wei horoscope metaphysics: 5 Prediction (Pu) includes divination and cosmic destiny.

Let us take a closer look at the fascinating similarities and inter-relationship between Feng Shui and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), because to be healthy is to achieve a harmonious balance between your body, your heart/mind and your environment. I always think of a building as being a living organism with feelings, a heart and soul. It needs to be taken care of, nurtured and loved to be able to support its occupants.

Whilst Feng Shui focuses initially on the environment and TCM addresses the human body, they have a similar therapeutic approach to a person’s individual situation - both essentially aiming to facilitate optimum well being. Their shared holistic premise is that everyone is different and supporting each person’s unique state and needs is the absolute priority.

Methodologies used to establish what can be done to help a client also have some remarkable parallels. A Feng Shui practitioner will ask the client to describe the problem/s they are having, what they like and dislike about their surroundings, their personal and work life and so on as a brief to address and will observe whether any areas are too yin or too yang and where the qi flow has obstructions or is over-active.

When taking a client’s case history, a TCM practitioner asks questions, observes the face, skin, general appearance, temperature and tongue and reads pulses to identify what is termed ‘Patterns of Disharmony’ to provide clues about underlying causes of health problems. The three basic influences are lifestyle, emotional outlook and the environment. The five elements correlate to the five paired yin and yang organs and other parts including orifices, tissues and fluids. Different qualities of qi flow through meridian channels to reach the body’s ten organ systems.

Seasonal environmental changes naturally influence whether you keep your home warm or cool and its windows and doors closed or open. The five elements have seasonal correlations in both Feng Shui and TCM. Wood element, for example, correlates to Spring and the colour green, as well as to the liver, gall bladder and various associated body parts and functions in TCM. That is one reason why every Chinese meal has a variety of dishes and colours so that it can be well balanced and responsive to seasonal changes, prioritising yin or yang foods to adapt to the body’s condition and needs throughout the year.

So whilst Feng Shui introduces remedial solutions and physical adjustments to harmonise living spaces in order to help people thrive healthily, in parallel TCM has remedial systems to re-establish a body’s balance and release blockages so that it is better able to heal itself. If you wish to explore the nuances of TCM in far greater depth than this short article can possibly cover, I can recommend reading the hardcover book ‘Encyclopaedia of Chinese Medicine’ by Dr Duo Gao.

Warmest wishes,

Sylvia

Smarten Uo Your Space

Successful people are smart about what they keep around them. You will often see keepsakes of their interests and achievements, signs of projects in progress and always a well organised space. There may also be a comfortable chair to sit quietly whilst contemplating decisions. What you wont see is clutter, junk or an ailing plant, nor piles of old magazines or paperwork, dreary, uninspiring artwork or displeasing hand-me-downs.
Get your surroundings to nourish and support you to the full. It is acknowledged by behavioural psychologists that when you see things around you that uplift you, inspire you and bring you a sense of joy, you are more likely to feel well and interact positively. A tidy clear space that looks great, maybe boosted by some cheery colour accents, has a huge beneficial effect on health, mood, concentration and productivity.
When children grow up and leave home, it is an opportunity to repurpose a bedroom and create new space for yourself, for work, hobbies, exercise or tranquility; a sofa bed will suffice for occasional overnight stays. When it is time to move, it will help to sell your home faster and more successfully if you declutter all your possessions before the viewings commence. Definitely do that before moving. Taking old baggage with you will only bog you down, rather than freeing you up to enter a new phase of your life.
Here are a couple of stylish Feng Shui design solutions to manage challenging situations. Lighten up dull areas and dingy corners by placing a plant there and concealing a low-level uplighter behind it, their illuminated joint effect is magical. Turn an empty recess into a smart functional space by installing floor-to-ceiling display shelves for decor items like crystals, battery operated candles and plants or flowers, plus books and essential folders
with matching decorative covers. Placing baskets along the lower shelves is a stylish storage solution for often-used small items. Alternatively, add doors to the lower shelves to create a cupboard for toys, games and so on.
Before you give up on tarnished paintwork, try cleaning it with white spirit vinegar and washing up liquid added to warm water. Add a few drops of deodorising essential oils such as Lemon, Lemongrass, Ho leaf or Litsea to the rinse water, then buff to restore a good- as-new sparkle.
In addition to what you can see around you, this is a quick revitalising method to spruce up the unseen subtle energy in your living space. First of all open windows and remove stuck negative energy by clapping your hands or banging on a metal object whilst walking round, paying attention to the corners and beneath furniture. Then spray the air with your favourite essential oils diluted in water and have positive thoughts while you do it. Shake the spray bottle before use to blend the molecules. It can be done whenever you feel the desire or need to refresh the atmosphere.
The prime smart move is to clear your own head space by avoiding decision fatigue. Streamline your wardrobe to simplify choices. Split complex tasks into several mini-steps, making realistic achievable deadlines for each one and sticking to them. Develop the skill of delegating certain chores to give yourself spare time for doing more important things, or just use that time to relax.
An inspiring worthwhile read:
“Getting Things Done, the Art of Stress Free Productivity” by David Allen More ideas for smartening up your space: http://www.fengshui-living.com/blog/2023/4/13/innovative-clutter-clearing

Using Colour In Feng Shui design

Colour has a prominent role in aesthetic Feng Shui design and a vital influence on how our life feels.  Each colour vibrates at its own unique frequency which influences every cell of our body and arouses our senses, although for the most part we take it for granted. Every colour in existence is associated with one of the five Feng Shui elements, each of which are assigned to either one or two compass locations. But that is only the beginning of the story. There are several other considerations that we would draw on in traditional Feng Shui design to reach the most desirable and harmonious colour palette for a client.

How colour is perceived largely depends upon the quality of light it receives and, by degree, upon climate as well. For example, in the temperate Northern hemisphere, a predominance of blues or greys in a North-facing bedroom can look and feel cold, even diminishing intimacy. On the other hand, too much red in a South-facing room can transform passion into aggression. In the Southern hemisphere the reverse would happen. By contrast, the bright, clear Mediterranean light plays wonderful interactions with cool blue hues, whilst vivid warm tones dance with inspiring spirited exuberance.

Apart from orientation of a property, the window dimensions, the function of a room, its ceiling height, whether its shape is wide, long and narrow, or irregular, all play a part in how a room responds to a chosen colour scheme. So in Feng Shui design decision making, we find that the concept of assigning elemental colour choices to their corresponding compass areas is not always effective. We can be far more aesthetically aware, creative, adaptable and effective than that.

Another approach for deciding which colours would work best in a particular room is to balance its yin and yang essence. All colours have many facets, each with variations of tone and clarity, shades, hues and tints. Dynamic bright colours increase the level of yang energy in a room. Sombre, dull colours and earthy textures generate yin energy. For example fiery red is obviously yang, but a gentle pink tint is a gentler, more yin version of red. Appropriate colour balance based on yin and yang creates a space that feels calm and relaxed yet stimulating and satisfying.

Dynamic colours increase the level of yang energy in a room. Subdued colours and earthy textures generate yin energy. For instance, a touch of cheerful turquoise, orange or purple will enliven a room that feels too yin. Conversely, neutrals, taupes and greys will cool down a predominantly yang space. As a rule of thumb, active living areas and the home office space require some yang colour accents. Bedrooms and other quiet areas work better with tranquil, nurturing, more yin colour schemes.

The mood of a space can be strikingly enhanced by introducing appropriate colour accents. Wall paint choice is only one aspect that creates aesthetic colour impact. Artwork, decor accessories, soft furnishings, mood lighting, even houseplants and goldfish, can be used to bring desired colour tones into a room. This Feng Shui design approach to balancing colour energy works very effectively to help create harmonious, peaceful, welcoming and nourishing living spaces.

If you wish to learn more about Feng Shui design, “Unlocking the Key to Feng Shui” an interactive free Introduction seminar with Master Howard Choy, will be held live on Zoom on Saturday 9th September 1pm -2.30pm UK time and our six months ECOFS professional level training course commences on 20th October.

Please contact me to express interest and to join us.

More information about Howard Choy and our European College of Feng Shui courses can be found on fengshui-living.com/coursesdetails

With warm wishes

Sylvia

Sylvia BennettAccredited Feng Shui Master Practitioner

ECOFS Training Courses Coordinator

Architectural Design Consultant

Subtle Environment Surveyor