Most of the information that is available concerning
Feng Shui is highly
over-simplified. It often comes in the form of out-of-context eastern
principals, mixed in with basic interior design horse sense from the west, to
form a hybrid which many professional Feng Shui analysts agree can be as harmful
as it is helpful. Feng Shui is more than just choosing certain colours, or
“getting rid of clutter”, as many books and articles will have you believe. It
is actually an extremely complex system of mathematical formulas that give
highly specific advice based on the type of home, its layout, and its time of
construction. There are no simple answers in Feng Shui, however there is
something we can learn from the methods the ancients used to derive these
principals.
Real Feng Shuiis a system that has been evolving over thousands of years. The
concept behind this design form is the idea that energy or “chi” flows through
everything. Feng Shui is an attempt to maximize the flow of positive chi through
a space to benefit the lives of the people within that setting. Feng Shui is
originally based on the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text of mystical origins.
Over the years successive schools of thought have come to dominate this
decorative philosophy. As each new movement came to power, they refined the
formulas and functions of previous schools. In this ongoing process of
refinement, every possible arrangement of objects was tested against numerous
people’s emotional and spiritual reaction to them over thousands of years. These
reactions allowed the ancients to slowly improve their diagrams for the
placement of objects.
This ancient mathematical formula for laying out the design of a setting does
seem to be a sound method for improving the quality of a room’s décor. While
this may be due to the ancients having determined the way chi flows, their real
accomplishment might instead have been to develop a systemized mathematical
representation of a wide scale, long term psychological study. While trying to
determine the flow of energy, they may have instead determined the basic
principals of design that elicit positive responses in humans, by experimentally
testing and recording peoples reactions to different object settings.
Real Feng Shui is extraordinarily specific, and complex. The only way to do real
Feng Shui is either to become a student of this art, and painstakingly learn the
many principals and subtleties it requires, or to hire a professional to do an
analysis and work over of your home. Either way, use of this design style
requires a large sacrifice, and is outside the realm of most people’s time and
money budget.
However, Feng Shuidoes teach us something that is very useful when decorating
your home. The ancient thinkers who developed this idea derived it by simply
paying attention to the feeling of objects in different spaces. This is a
process that every person has it within their power to do. Everyone has taste,
everyone has feelings. By simply getting in touch with your inner critic, you
can become the source for your own personal Feng Shui. No matter how specific
they were, a Philosopher from a thousand years ago is not going to understand
the spiritual and emotional nuances of you, your family, and your home as well
as you do. By using the strategy rather than the formula of Feng Shui, you can
develop a highly personalized design that is a true expression of yourself.
Walk into a room, and see how it makes you feel. Notice the colours, the
objects, and their placement. What do they evoke in you? Is the room
comfortable? Is it calming or invigorating? Maybe there is something wrong in
the room, even if you can’t tell exactly what it is, register that feeling. If
you are attentive, you will start to get sensitive to the psychological
influences that placement and design have on your own mind.
Colour
Colours have very strong and individual effects on people. Different shades will
have radically different results on people’s mental behaviour. Dark colours can
either be relaxing or depressing, light colours can be uplifting or annoying,
and extreme colours can be exhilarating or aggravating. Pay attention to how
these colours make you feel. When you visit other peoples homes, or even their
shops or offices, pay attention to the effect that walking into a room has on
you. Sometimes you will enter a space and feel naturally relaxed. Other places
can have a negative effect, making you feel uncomfortable or agitated for no
apparent reason. Remember the colours and the shades of these rooms, especially
if you have a particularly strong response to one.
Colours also affect the nature of interactions, and when you enter a new space
you should always pay attention to the way people behave to one another. If
there is a room in your home where people tend to get into arguments, reassess
the colours in that room. Bright or extreme colours can irritate people’s eyes
and increase their metabolism, making them more likely to fight. Darker rooms
can put people in a bad mood and make them lethargic. Colour and placement are
not the only things that influence interactions, but by paying attention you may
be able to understand the subtle influence it can have.
Flow
In traditionalFeng Shui, the goal is to maximize the flow of positive chi in an
area. While you will probably not be able to detect the essence of the energy of
a space, you can increase the feeling of flow in a room by paying attention to
the way people and objects move through the space.
The flow you want to achieve is in the essence of the room. You want there to be
easy access for people moving through the room, as well as in and out of it. You
want objects to be able to move from their storage, into use, and back without
adding to clutter. This kind of flow is a mixture of organization and design
that focuses on removing blockages and allowing easy movement through every
area.
You will be able to feel whether a room has flow just by walking into it. There
are tiny currents of air that run through every space. We do not generally
notice these currents, however using your intuition you can just barely perceive
this air. The difference between greater and lesser currents will be translated
into your mind as greater or lesser flow. As always, make yourself sensitive to
the subtleties of the space.
EXPERIMENT
It is important to allow yourself to be wrong. If you don’t make mistakes, you
won’t learn anything. Pay attention to emotional variations you feel from
placing different decorations and colours in different spaces. At a certain
point, stop and simply exist in the room, remaining attentive to the feel of the
space. Occasionally, make small changes, and observe the emotional and
interactive differences.
If you don’t have the time or strength to constantly move furnishings and
furniture around, then try visualizing different scenarios. Sit somewhere quiet,
close your eyes, and imagine the room in a different style. Imagine yourself in
the room, and try to incorporate every detail in the room into the setting. Feel
how your emotions respond to such a setting. Pay attention to any problems you
may feel. Allow yourself access to the subconscious of your mind, and trust its
natural inclinations, as it will pick up on problems and solutions that you
won’t consciously understand. Use colour charts and pictures to help with the
imagination process. Feng Shuiis a very respectable form of interior decorating with a long
and rich history. However, it was originally based on simple trial and error, as
ancient Chinese thinkers explored the many different ways that positioning and
design can affect the most subtle workings of the human mind. Today you can try
to recreate that method, by experimenting with yourself and your surroundings to
produce a room that will affect you and your family in a positive way. While you
probably won’t achieve the accuracy of the ancients in your first attempt, each
try will educate you as to the style and design that suites you best as well as
the way it affects you. Exploring this further can allow you a creative outlet
enabling you to get in touch with the very basic nature of art that exists
within you.
Joey Lewitin is an author, artist, and designer of home décor accessories made
from imported stone. Original designs from him and other artisans can be seen at
The Stone Décor Store
Joey Lewitin is an author, artist, and designer of home décor accessories made
from imported stone. Original designs from him and other artisans can be seen athttp://www.pebblez.com
