How would you like to make a positive difference to your health, income or relationships? Feng Shui has helped thousands of people with these areas and many more.

Let's begin by clarifying exactly what Feng Shui is.

Feng Shui originated about 4000 years ago in China. When translated it means wind and water which is a metaphor for the chi or vital energy that the practise is based upon. It is concerned with the interaction between ourselves, the buildings we inhabit, and the wider environment. The practice of Feng Shui aims to influence this interaction in order to enhance our quality of life.

To many westerners, Feng Shui may seem a mystical practise because of our unfamiliarity with the notion of Chi, which does not only move around our bodies but also our homes, offices and beyond. Like water, healthy chi is moving chi. Sometimes chi can either move too quickly or can get stuck and become stagnant. When this occurs in the home Feng Shui is used to balance and harmonise the energies, so bringing about a happier, more prosperous and healthy life.

Feng Shui sees your home as a reflection of you. Therefore problems in the home reflect problems in your life. Correct the problems in the home and your life begins to change automatically.

With Feng Shui there are certain things that you can safely do yourself and certain things that only well-trained consultants can improve upon.

Where there is disharmony in a home a good consultant will examine several influencing factors.

Clutter

All too often, popular Feng Shui talks about adding things to the interior in order to boost certain aspects of your life, but I have found that the greatest benefits achieved come from removing harmful influences first, and clutter is certainly one of them!

So what is clutter and what isn't?

Clutter can be defined as anything which is not:

• Genuinely useful
• Genuinely cherished or loved
• Orderly
• Also, anything which is broken, unfinished or out of place counts as clutter until it's sorted.

Clutter restricts the flow of healthy energy and stagnates the space that it's in. Getting rid of it can create a huge amount of positive energy in the body and cutting off the chains with the past. January is a particularly good time to clear clutter as it can really help you to move forward more positively into a brighter future.

For those who are perhaps a little sceptical about the benefits of Feng Shui, modern science can provide a wealth of research to back up the simple fact that our environments do substantially affect us.

Colour Therapy

The use of colour is very important in Feng Shui and a substantial body of scientific research highlighting the significant impact that colour has on our mood, now backs what Feng Shui has been saying for centuries.

Red represents fire in Feng Shui. It has been shown to be very stimulating to the brain and overuse can lead to excitability, anxiety, migraines, impatience and irritability. For this reason red should be treated with care, (like fire) and used in smaller amounts to add zest where appropriate.

Green represents the Tree element and has been shown to stimulate creativity, optimism and ideas as well as bone growth and good posture. By contrast the Blue end of the spectrum particularly violet at its far extreme, representing the water element, has a very calming effect on us and is particularly good for restful sleep.

Earth tones (principally yellow, terracotta, pink and peach) provide supporting, nurturing influences and can also be quite restful as long as they are not too vivid. Yellow has been shown to enhance sociability and communication and reduce introspection and can therefore be a useful asset to reduce bickering. Yellow flowers are a classic Feng Shui cure for ongoing arguments.

A Picture paints a thousand words

There's also mounting evidence to show that artwork can affect our mood and even our physical well-being. The last impression we have as we close our eyes should be of a clear, tranquil space with positive, harmonious images around us. Artwork and ornaments should be peaceful and non-confrontational: the last thing you want to see before going to sleep is a picture of a bullfight or a poster from a scary movie!

I suggest that you take a long hard look at all artwork in your home (or office) and ask yourself, 'do these images reflect the essence of what I'd like my life to be about'? If not, change them. Of course the specific placement of certain pictures is very important but we don't have time to go into that here.

Science has also shown many other aspects of our buildings can affect us.
These include:

The types of materials used in the structure, decoration and contents of the home; (e.g. sensitivity to toxic paints, furniture and cleaning chemicals). If re-decorating try using natural paints, carpets and other materials rather than synthetic ones. Once installed, try cleaning with simple water. (or at least the less toxic cleaners)

Electro-magnetic frequencies (EMF) from your mains supply and appliances. Try moving all electrical equipment at least 3 feet away from you in bed. Install batteries into your alarm clock or place it on the other side of the room which make it a better alarm clock anyway!; try pulling your bed 6 inches away from the wall to see if you feel better (walls often give off the highest electrical fields due to the cables they carry or dampness)

Plants

There is no better way to enliven and freshen the interior than through the use of plants. This is perhaps the most obvious way of bringing nature directly into a building to create harmony. Plants may have many positive attributes:

• They help charge the atmosphere with negative ions which have a positive
  effect on our physical and mental health.
• They enhance the supply of oxygen in our surroundings.
• They help soak up electro-magnetic radiation from computers and other equipment.
• They enliven a space through colour and beauty.
• NASA recently discovered that certain plants absorb toxic gases from the air

The list goes on.

Most of the so-called 'esoteric' side of Feng Shui can also be explained through the recent advancements in Quantum Physics, but that's another story.