Do you Feng Shui?

[valschickens]

I just read a book on feng shui, drew out my home and charted the "bagua."

Anyone else into this? Does it really work?

Val

[moopups]

Not going to touch this one, but rest assured - not in public.

I think I am correctly guessing I need to place an apology for these words, I have a weird sense of humor and an equal sense of weird reality, understand it is not meant to be anything vicious. Just my self orientated reality.

The seriousness of your question was ignored for my own benefit of response. I apologize for that fox paws. I fully understand that you are asking about an Asian directional orientation via living space orientations, I am just not able to control my outbursts. Maybe you ladies could come over and whip me with your feathers? I am speaking to hens here, right?

Told you the humor was weird....

[sisterpine]

dont know if you could say I do it but I did have a gal come in and help me set up my office with these rules in mind. So far every single client has told me how comfortable they feel in my work space! sis

[hunter63]

Choke.... cough.........moonpups, little warning, please. spit out my soda.......guess great minds works alike........
ANY WAY:
For years I used "mystically correct",( made up this term) to arrange things, was told that it was a crude form of feng shui, seemed to work pretty well?

You know, curved sidewalk, (evil spirits travel in straight lines ?), flat rocks not being happy where placed , (so keep pulling up), don't live over a garage (would guess this would have to do with carbon monoxide, though?)
Guess I wouldn't use the, "kill a chicken, throw him/her and let him/her run around with out a head, to place door location" (Rather use south/east facing).
Stuff like that?

[momlaffsalot]

A really simple way to look at the validity of Feng Shui is to think of the difference in how you feel when you walk into a room that is dark and crowded and piled with stuff vs walking into a room that is clean and neat. It has an effect on you mentally. I do try to arrange my home according to some of the rules but since I am not one for dogma, don't go in for all of it.

[SeptemberWolf]

the best Feng Shui book I ever read was a short one by a chinese Feng Shui master who advised "use your intuition, don't be rigid, use corrections that are meaningful to YOU (e.g. a statue of a saint rather than of Buddha)" . Feng Shui helps one become aware of balance. By and large, it seems very practical (a la carbon monoxide observation), but can be poetic, artistic, personal and mystical all at the same time.
,,,, moopups, a package of plucked feathers is on its way - you gotta do your own whippin'.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by valschickens

I just read a book on feng shui, drew out my home and charted the "bagua."

Anyone else into this? Does it really work?

Val

I do not at my present home. However, I will be more attentive to these concepts when we move to the homestead (hopefully, my "forever home"). I have already planned to put our bed so it does NOT face down the hallway even though it fits better that way. I have also started putting the toilet seat down and shutting the bathroom door. We have two windows that are directly across from each other so I will be doing something to fix that too. My garden will have a fountain.

There are lots of good books on the subject but most are a bit too in depth and complicated. I don't want a PhD in it, I just want to make my house more comfortable and safe and prosperous.

donsgal

[Spinner]

Yes I do and yes it does.

[Trixie]

Well, shoot.

What am I to do. It finally came to me that the spare bath/laundry room would be a really good place for the litter box. Now if I have to keep that door shut -

[suzfromWi]

Moopups..... giggle giggle......I only know that i cannot have things in straight lines. Things have to be off just a little....sorta like me....

[Jenn]

Few concepts- don't have your back to the door etc.- make sense but seems like hooey to me. Our dear former neighbor an INdian princess hired an expert and DH and I had great fun teasing her and her pretty unwilling royal Navy DH about it. Their house was nice but that was more their stuff and altars to gods and ancestors and just their hospitality- the wind chimes were a bit annoying sometimes.

[suzyhomemaker09]

Install a cat flap door.... less that $20 at most big box hardware stores...pretty simple to install.

[Trixie]

Cat door - not that sounds like a plan.
I hope I can be forgiven for not thinking of that. We are a couple of old geezers working on a 100 year old house and I guess my mind just balked at adding one more thing to our list - no matter how small.

If this litter box in the bathroom works out, we may put in a door. Thanks.

[farmergirl]

Yes, I did/do use feng shui principles when arranging our homestead.

[Cornhusker]

Originally Posted by moopups

Not going to touch this one, but rest assured - not in public.

...

I was thinking the same thing.................
Everybody Feng Shuis, but nobody talks about it.

[seedspreader]

I've been known to Wang Chung occasionally. In fact I think everybody should Wang Chung. So I am making a proposal...


..
..


wait for it...



Everybody Wang Chung tonight.

[mightybooboo]

Windows should face south.Clutter is uncomfortable.

Does that count?

BooBoo

[Maura]

Feng shui uses basic design principles. You can find similar thoughts in other cultures. Basicly, the front hall should lead you directly to the center of the home. This could be the fireplace, but it might be down a long hallway (with parlor and library and den on either side) to the kitchen, where everybody is. For another family, the hall should take you to the living room, where everybody is. Good design makes the place comfortable. Make it easy to find the spot you should be in (kitchen, living room, waiting room,...) Don't make you or your visitors duck under a a branch or spider web. Put your things away so you can find them when you need them.

What I really like best about feng shui is the attention to clutter busting. If you go to a feng shui class or read a book on the subject, you are guided to really look at and feel your place of work or study or recreation and make it work for you.

One good design concept is that your front and back doors should not line directly up to each other. Good luck runs in one door and out the other. If you take that same thought in a western approach, when people enter your home, they are being led right out again. So, unless the hallway leads to the outside and the outside is the swimming pool and patio where everybody congregates, it's a bad plan. Stairways should not be set directly in front of a door. Again, it sends the wrong vibes (plus your kids can sneak in and out without your being aware).

To answer your question, yes. The bagua helps you to put order into your plan. I especially like being able to say, this is the romance area- put a photo of us and a vase of flowers here.

[COSunflower]

I have used feng shui principals for many years and use it esp. in my classroom. Everyone else wonders how I can have so many 8th grade Alt. Ed. boys in one room (and it is small) and have them working and happy instead of fist fighting I owe it all to feng shui It really does work. I am renewing my yard this summer and have been collecting things the past few months to use in giving it a feng shiu feel...I have many books and took a class last year - it was really fun. Not only can you use the Bagua map to do the house as a whole, you can use it to map out the different areas of each seperate room.

[valschickens]

Thank you all ~ including you, Moopups ~ for your input!

Somehow I managed to get my bathroom in Wealth, and the master bedroom in Knowledge....guess that's why DH is so content!