Healing Advances in Light and Color

2015 was declared “International Year of Light and Light-based technologies” for a good reason.

Light, which in its visible wavelengths we call color, has immediate and deterministic impact on our lives, our circadian rhythm, our moods and behavior.

Beyond light therapy, there is a growing trend aimed at addressing how our bodies metabolize light for health and well-being and development of every-day products that will foster environmental comfort.

Philippe Rahm’s Spectral Light for Artemide          Image Courtesy of Artemide and DesignBoom.com

The most recent issue of Azure Magazine (one of my favorites) carries six significant articles about advances in lighting products and designs being which further foster health and well-being, for the planet, humans and animals.

You might imagine that my favorite of these articles is entitled, Natural Rhythms.  Addressing the harsh effects of “bad lighting” — something we may not consider adversely affecting our ability to stay focused at work and healthy in life–Oivind Slaavato took to designing a better light fixture.  After suffering a concussion, Oivind Slaavato, was unable to cope with bright light becoming physically ill when exposed to what he calls “bad light.”

Using sacred geometry of the Fibonacci series, this pendant not only shields the body from harsh effects of light but adds a beneficial and therapeutic effect.  The fixture will be produced by the Danish brand Louis Poulsen.  Read the digital article here.

Other products:

1. The Drift Light, a low-blue bulb designed to dim at the same pace as the setting sun, allowing the body and mind to gradually relax, found at drift-light.com.
2. Called the “Life Enhancer of the Year” this table-top lamp helps to balance circadian rhythms which are vital to health. Changing from energizing blue in the morning to calming amber in the evening, this light can be found at elenoredelisse.com
3. Studiotoer.com has designed a wall sconce that acts like a clock, thereby connecting us to the sun’s movement and re-calibrating our body’s internal clock.

See the lights and decide for yourself here.

Full-Spectrum Lighting

Philippe Rahm, Swiss architect and installationist who has designed a series of spectrum specific lights.

Rahm designed a pendant of 36 LED bulbs each emitting it a single wavelength which then come together at the light’s core combine to create a rich white light.

By offering the specific spectra that interact with the human body, according to Elizabeth Pagliocolo, author of the Azure Magazine article: Spectral Light, “The portion of LEDs selected for humans mixes specific wavelengths in green, yellow and ample blue, which blocks our pineal gland from secreting melatonin to keep us alert through the day and ward off SAD.  The rest are combined to benefit pets and plants.”

More information about Philippe’s light for Artemide can be found at DesignBoom.com, another “don’t miss”  online magazine that I love.

Other articles of note in this recent edition of Azure include:  Turn Down the Volume, (p. 58) which features acoustical light fixtures that  absorb sound, Come Together, (p. 60) introduces Ommatidium, a street light in London that acts as an internet hub and makes the streets lighter and safer, Q&A with Lee Broom (p.62) the British lighting designer talks lighting design trends: contemporary inspired by traditional, and Special Effects (p.64) cutting-edge design trends that will influence our lighting designs in the future.

 

 

Quick Holiday Feng Shui

 

Quick Tips for A Delightful Holiday

What’s on YOUR list?

If you find that you are harried and hurried and not enjoying those feelings (sometimes being frantic it is a LOT of fun), this list will give you a few ideas to add some time and delete some scattered-ness from your life.

• “Pre-PROGRAM” EACH DAY:  At the beginning of the day (or any event) see it going smoothly and effortlessly.  When you re-script your day and see things working out the way you’d like them to, you begin to draw to you the things that you need.  It seems magical, but “Any sufficiently advanced technology is usually indistinguishable from magic.” (Arthur C. Clarke)   Write the script for your day, see yourself beautiful, happy, easily accepted and hold the feelings.  You will be amazed.  For more on that, see my post about Intentional Feng Shui; it works!
• PRIORITIZE Everything according to your heart:  When considering Holiday events and activities but them through the test:  Which ones bring you most joy?  Most Peace?  Most return on your time and energy investment?  Saying “NO” to things is not going away from those you love or respect, it is an act of personal power.  Give yourself a day to respond to invitations and then be true to you and what you value most.  You’ll have much more to give when you are fully centered, poised and present.  You will be giving yourself and the world a precious gift…You.
• OUTSOURCE:  Your most precious resource is your time and feeling nature.  When you actually look at the amount of time you spend on a task, you may be surprised that your hourly rate might be less than minimum wage.  Decide what you really, really love to do, do that and delegate…once and for all and let it go.  You might be surprised how well things actually do go.  (I let Whole Foods cook my Thanksgiving Dinner and it was fantastic; I got to cook just the dishes we really love and enjoy my family all day long.).
• GIVE LOVED ONES FUN JOBS:  A young mother at Starbucks was making my coffee and mentioned how frustrated she was with her young children bickering and fighting.  I told her they needed jobs to help direct all that extra energy and excitement.  She said, “I tell them to clean their rooms and do their chores,” and I interrupted:  “those aren’t fun jobs”…Here are some fun jobs to give kids and family members a sense of your joy in making this time of your special:  1) Ask them to decide how they want to decorate their rooms by drawing a picture of it for you.  (spends time drawing and gets them excited)…then tell them they’ll have to clean it up before they decorate so it looks just perfect!  2) Put out a few crayons and papers and ask them to draw their Santa’s list.  3) Engage them in your tasks:  ask them to make suggestions for the menu on Christmas Eve, or how they’d decorate, or whom they’d seat next to whom at Christmas Dinner, have them make place cards and see what happens–don’t forget to wink at them.  4) Ask them to put all the Christmas books and movies together in one place.  5) Ask them to go through their toy collection and put in a laundry basket everything that they don’t use so that they can donate it to charity.  6) Ask them to place all broken or parts of toys in a special box to make room for what Santa will bring them.   Kids (and adults) just want to be useful and kids’ currency is attention, they’ll do just about anything for attention–good or bad.  When they think they are contributing and getting your attention for helpful things they do, you’ll discover a side to Christmas you always knew would be there
• KEEP LUXURY TIME AND FUN ON YOUR PRIORITY LIST:  Every day schedule and do something that will enliven your Spirit.  (after all, it’s not called the “Rat Race of Christmas”…).   A warm cup of your favorite tea, a nap, saying NO to that extra load of laundry, looking for the morning star, smiling at yourself in the mirror.  Schedule some corn-y old fun: I guarantee you you’ll have memories that make you smile.
• FENG SHUI TIPS:
  ~ Keep the knives out of sight and remove the carving knives from dinner table; this will help keep arguments to a minimum.
  ~ A round or oval dining table gives the best energy for an enjoyable dinner.
  ~ Add something yellow or golden to the center of the table, place a beautiful saying underneath each chair (“I am healthy and happy, safe and loved.”)
  ~ Limit the amount of red this holiday, focus on softness and gentle peace.  ~ Focus on you, your own place in the world and stepping up to be the best version of you.  There’s a lot of extra emotional fire energy flying around, opt for soft gold, glowing blues or rich greens.
  ~  Allow for breathing room:  out with the old, in with the new (or newly loved and re-freshened).  When adding your decor or any gifts, remove whatever else you can.  Patty Kraemer, of Kraemer Connect suggests:  “one thing in, and two things out!”  Clear all last year’s clutter, donate all you can’t or don’t use, leave some things empty and open.  This will bring freshness and more light into your entertaining.
• WRITE YOUR WISH LIST:  Just because we are ‘grown-ups’ doesn’t mean the magic of Santa isn’t really there.  The metaphor of Santa is even more powerful as we understand that we always get what we are asking for.  There is no degree of difficulty for the Universal Life Force:  it can create a person as easily as a mountain, a planet and a Universe, so get on it and ask.  Make your list of what you want and put it away until next year…then check off all that you got!  It can be things, events, feelings, anything!    Be honest, don’t edit it, just ask! What would I love to do next year? What do you want to say at the end of  next year about how 2011 went for you?  What’s on your list?

You are the expert in your life:  did you have fun?

Doors — Make us Forgetful? Push Away or Invite Vitality and Opportunity?

A welcoming and open doorway, this home could use a little protection from additional landscaping and a bit more color to attract attention.  Photo courtesy of Houzz.com

It seems that the whole world is beginning to understand the impact doors have on our lives.

Published in the Quarterly  Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2011, performed by Gabriel Radvansky and her team at Notre Dame look at the ‘event model’ for forgetting things as we pass through doorways.   Susan Gilbert of Notre Dame explains:

“We’ve all experienced it: The frustration of entering a room and forgetting what we were going to do. Or get. Or find.

New research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses.

“Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains.  (Read more here)

Doors, doors, doors  (and not “The Doors”)

Everything is relative in Feng Shui.  Not only are the forms and colors we live with important, they define our experience in a deeper way than we thought possible–unless you’ve studied or paid mind to Feng Shui’s thousands’ year old wisdom (oh THAT old line again?  sorry).

Doors do create event boundaries, as above; part of the reason why the bagua map is relative to each room individually, why more than one door in a room creates a particular energy flow, and why doors are so vitally important to address the doors in your life, energy which leads you to your Life Purpose, your journey and career and why it’s only one part of the entire picture, but an important one.

PS As I am writing this, on the radio is the tune:  “Let my love open the door…to your heart.”  Awesome.  

Here are a few things to think about when making friends with your doors:

• According to Feng Shui, Doors open us to opportunity.  Our front door is the Mouth of Ch’i which brings fresh Life Force into our homes and our lives.  Really look at the entrance to your home.  Is it obvious, beautiful and well cared for?  Stand at your doors, inside and outside and look around:  what do you see?
• Are your doors beautiful? Do they look inviting and work perfectly? They can send off fresh life or invite all our goodness to find us. Here’s how Feng Shui looks at doors and what to do to make yours work FOR you.
• If you see a beautiful view, if your eye is led around to entrancing views, you are on the right track! If not, clear anything that is clutter and anything that takes your energy down.  What we see speaks a language of metaphor to our subconscious, as well as the language of energy and emotion.
• Doors directly across from each other ‘steal’ energy.  If your neighbor’s front door or garage is across from your front door, you are losing energy and life force.  Place some landscaping between your door and the other or at the very least, if you can, hang a bagua mirror above your front door.  If you cannot do that, place a wreathe on your front door and place a small round mirror facing toward the offending door.  Other options apply, if you have questions, just email me.
• A home or door that is hard to find, a walkway that is in disrepair or overgrown by plants, hidden street number or not-well-lighted doorway all signal that we are unavailable for the goodness in our lives.
• Make sure it’s well lighted, that your handle, hinges and your doorbell work perfectly.  If not, put this on the list for you handy person or whoever handles your ‘honey do’ list.  Even make sure your garage door works perfectly, the light works, the remote works, etc. and everything is easy and welcomes you home beautifully.
• If you have cats, think about installing a cat door on a closet door to allow the kitties to have access to their litter but keep it out of sight.

Feng Shui TIP:  Your main entrance is vitally important in your ability to live the work that feels like play to you.  Not your daily entrance but the front door that the post office tags your address to.  If you don’t use your front door daily, it is equivalent to covering your mouth and trying to live your fullest. Your front door is known as the Mouth of Ch’i…if you are not using it daily, you are not getting your full breath of fresh air and opportunity. 

 Open your front door daily, welcome the new, and use it often! The Life Force doesn’t listen to ‘Reason’ or excuses, so invite it in with positive arrangement of your entrance, make sure the doors open completely and onto a beautiful view.  Have you tried to have a conversation with a storm lately? It’s an advanced move.

For today, make sure your doors open completely, with nothing blocking them.  Note which doors need to be repaired, which ones might need to have a spring-hinge that will keep them closed, like bathroom doors, especially ones that open onto the foyer or other rooms like a bedroom.    Clear the space behind and around your doors.   Remove items from the stairs and be sure your walkways and hallways are open and clear.

Everything matters, so also, make sure your car doors work perfectly.  Hit the hinges with a little WD-40, wipe the door frame and clean the door itself.  You’ll be so amazed at the difference it makes, all around!

Scientifically Proving How Space Affects Behavior

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”  T.S. Eliot

Color, design, and placement of décor have much deeper of an impact on us than surface appeal.

A new science, called Neuro-Architecture, is our modern way of looking at life from the ancient and natural Feng Shui perspective.  To me it only matters that we take the time to learn to view and adapt the human experience of space to fulfill the purpose of the room.  With knowledge of  line, shape, color and “just paint” used artfully will dramatically change the architecture of a room where its occupants can begin to thrive.

Everything matters — Purpose, proportion, line, shape, nature and full-spectrum light and color.

Myriad research and a new field, Neuro-architecture, explores how one’s environment can be a trigger for hormones that either promote happiness and calm or add stress and anxiety.  More than a marketing spin, Neuroarchitecture, at its most basic, looks at how we and our spaces are wired for success. (See Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture.)  In another post, we’ll look at how full-spectrum light and full-spectrum color create a healthier human experience.

How space affects behavior

In one study showing the connection between our minds and our habitats,  Professor Joan Meyers-Levy of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management studies the effect space has on purchasing behavior.  [“The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing People Use,” Journal of Consumer Research, August 2007]

Any scientist will tell you energy expands to fill the space allotted and this is no different for humans in their environments.   In our public buildings, offices and as well in our homes, our perception is stretched or compressed due to our brain’s interpretation of the walls.

High ceilings, for instance, activate sections of the right brain associated with freedom and abstract thinking. In low-ceilinged rooms, thought is more constrained.*

Too much space will create ungrounded-ness, lack of intimacy, inability to focus on details,  we will not stay in those spaces very long, after a while feeling too expanded and pulled out of our center (think of the expansive feeling of a symphony hall, a large library or a beautiful church).  We will seek to balance ourselves by moving innately to another realm, however easily [leaving the room] or painfully [quitting the job, divorcing your spouse, etc.] it will occur or create illness.  Ancient Chinese saying: “the bigger the bedroom, the higher the divorce rate” is one example of the expansive area pulls us away from intimacy.

Too little space will cramp us, make us sleepy, lethargic, overly detail-oriented, stunt growth opportunities, and basically “cramp our style.”

Feng Shui is an ancient science studying how spaces will assist humans to revert to an experience of health fostered by   being in balance. Spaces out of alignment with our goals creates tension, disharmony, and dis-ease.

It is important to use all the rooms of your home, and with use of color to define architecture, rather than follow it we can design rooms to fully foster the proper purpose of the room and honor our human “animal-body” wisdom to move in rhythm with our needs.

By scientifically defining how aspects of architecture can influence the way we live, breathe and relate, Neuro-Architecture provides right-brained proof for the ancient wisdom.  Either way using this knowledge allows us to go deeper into the synergy between human and space, both affecting each other, hopefully providing positive results.

Ceilings affect our thinking and creativity

To the Rescue: How’s and How To’s Suggestions and tips for raising or lowering your ceilings.

Raise the ceiling to create expansion, vision and ideas

As much as you may want high ceilings in certain rooms, it may not be in the budget to ‘raise the roof.”   Ceiling height affects ability, mood and intimacy and is best to be relative to the activity you’d like to have occur.  High ceilings in the bedroom will decrease the ability to be intimate and the Chinese know, “The bigger the bedroom, the higher the divorce rater.”

•Paint your ceiling a soft, receding blue/grey, like one of these colors:

◦PPG Pittsburgh/Porter’s 348-2 Stratosphere

◦PPG Atmospheric Collection ATC-62 Winter’s Breath.

◦I also love Donald Kaufman Color DKC-44

◦Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light (No. 235) or Skylight (No 205) or Parma Gray (No. 27)

•Paint the wall and the ceiling the same color.  Our eye and brain read edges to create a picture for us to recognize.

No difference in color means “no edge” to read and our brain then looks quickly for something else to define the space and create a picture for us.  Don’t be afraid, just because the can says “ceiling white” doesn’t mean you have to have a ceiling that is white.

• Add upward directed lighting by using touchier or sconce lights.

Lower the ceiling to create intimacy, nourishment, sleep and detail awareness

To effectively ‘lower’ the ceiling, you can determine a height that is of ‘human scale’ [depending on how tall you are, somewhere between 8 and 10 feet will do nicely] but remember to look at the entire wall height and room because proportion is as important as perception.  You can ‘draw the line’ in a number of ways:

•Align the window treatments and large artwork so that the upper edge effectively creates a line around the room.

•Use a ‘Block of Color’ to create the ceiling height.

◦This is one way to get some rich color into your spaces without fully committing to an entire wall or room (once your risk it however, you will be enthralled by living with color.)

◦If you have smaller artwork or pieces you love, highlight them or architectural features with a block of color that stops at the height where you would like to draw the ceiling.

•Around the perimeter of the rooms, use crown molding to draw a perceivable line a distance from the ceiling; paint the upper portion of the wall the same color as the ceiling. You can paint the molding an accent color or stain or the same color as the upper wall and ceiling.

•Painting a ceiling a very dark color will not always make it seem lower, a deep black can make it recede even further, depending on how you treat the space where the ceiling meets the wall.

Our architectural resources expand exponentially and our ability to positively impact human interaction and lives  when we look at our spaces through the Ancient science of Feng Shui, which makes the old adage almost true,  “There are only two professions, Architecture and Physician.”

Green OR Healthy? Why the Choice?

On the road to personal and global health, we shouldn’t have to choose:  Green OR Healthy…Let’s do Both!

Consider this:  fluorescent light bulbs have been linked to  migraine headaches and worse.

Modern life has brought new exciting developments, most of which make life and living more fun, none of which alone would have a negative affect, but added together, our bodies have trouble adapting.   As we take a look at these influences and how to shift gently we can lessen our experience of ‘allergies’, illness and crabbiness, to mention a few.

The Light Link

Although florescent bulbs use less electricity and run cooler than incandescents, the use of these lights has been linked to minor and even more severe health risks.   Migraines, epileptic seizures, decreased immune system function, nervousness, inability to focus and depression are some of the problems linked to time spent with fluorescent lighting.

What are our options?  We have a few:

• Install New Fixtures
• Use full-spectrum bulbs
• Integrate natural daylight
• Use new LED replacement bulbs for florescent fixtures (avoid blue spectrum bulbs if you can)

The Canadian Center for Occupational Health says that some of the problem comes from the “flicker” effect of the fluorescent light bulbs.  That ‘flicker’ effect is inherent in the operation of the bulbs as bursts of electricity ignite the gas inside the tubes. The effect is worse in older fixtures.  According to the CCOH, you can reduce the ill-effects of ‘flicker’ by buying new fixtures which have electronic (rather than magnetic) ballasts, by replacing your bulbs frequently and making sure all parts of the fixtures work perfectly.

A study done by the CCOH also showed that employees whose offices were located on upper floors (where there is greater exposure to daylight) suffered less ill effects from the bulbs.

Question: If there is a way to reduce stress, inability to focus and immune system suppression, and help our children in schools, our employees everywhere (hospitals, banks, prisons, you name it) shouldn’t we DO IT?

“Flicker” is not the only issue.  Most of us use ‘cool-white’ bulbs, and Jacob Liberman, OD, Ph.D., in his groundbreaking and hopeful book Light: Medicine of the Future, suggests that we can reduce the ill-effects even further IF we use the correct fixture and ‘full-spectrum’ bulbs.  These bulbs are more costly initially but when that cost is weighted against our ill-health, increased crime rates the figure becomes minimal.

Consider just this ONE study:

“…The development of full-spectrum artificial lighting…prompted Ott to further investigate the possible negative effect of improper lighting on health and performance in human being.  In 1973, Ott and the Environmental health and Light research Institute undertook a study involving four first-grade classrooms in Sarasota, Florida.  Full-spectrum, radiation-shielded fluorescent light fixtures were installed in two of the window-less classrooms in Sarasota, Florida.

“Full-spectrum, radiation-shielded florescent light fixtures were installed in two of the windowless classrooms, while standard cool-white fluorescent fixtures were installed in two other identical windowless classrooms that served as controls.  Concealed time-lapse cameras took random sequences of student and teachers in the classroom. Although teachers were aware of the program, neither they nor their students were aware of when they were being photographed.

“The photographed results were significant.  Under the cool-white fluorescent lighting, some students demonstrated hyperactivity, fatigue, irritability, and attentional deficits.  In the classrooms with full-spectrum lighting, however, behavior and classroom performance , as well as overall academic achievement, improved markedly within one month after the new lights were installed.  Furthermore, several learning-disabled children with extreme hyperactivity problems miraculously calmed down and seemed to overcome some of their learning and reading problems while in the classrooms with full-spectrum lighting.

“This study additionally demonstrated that children in rooms with full spectrum lighting developed one-third the number of cavities in their teeth as children in the classrooms with standard cool-white fluorescent lights.”  Liberman, Jason, Light: Medicine of the Future, Rochester, VT:  Bear & Company Press, 1991

Empower your home:

• If you must use fluorescent bulbs, use new electronic fixtures and full-spectrum bulbs.
• When possible, daylight is best.   Take advantage of the healthy properties of sunlight.

Think you can’t more daylight into your home?  Think about installing Sun Tubes (aka Solar Tubes, Sun Tunnels…do an Internet search) which allow natural daylight to enter even your ‘captive’ rooms.  There are many companies making and selling them; be sure to use a reputable installer.

Here is a link to the Daily Mail article:
Energy-Saving Bulbs Causing Migraine Headaches

Awesome News! Houzz.com study shows we are ready to make our homes flow better

And 83% of those undertaking renovations are motivated to: “improve the look, feel, flow or layout of the home…”

Houzz.com, one of my favorite sites today sent results of their second annual Houzz & Home report.  This apparently “Largest-ever Study of Home Remodeling and Design Reveals Top Drivers, Challenges and Spending for U.S. Renovation Activity” and the full report can be linked to below.

You can go to Houzz for my Feng Shui advice for some common designs: Feng Shui Good or Bad

No matter what your renovation, the things to remember are:

1.  Hire a professional to help you get it right

2.  Money spent up front is always the best money you will spend

3.  When choosing colors for your home, choose your paint color LAST!

4.  Every change you make influences the energy flow and “Feng Shui” of your home.  Before you make changes, consult with a Feng Shui expert to make sure you are not inadvertently robbing yourself — “robbing Peter to pay Paul” as my parents used to say.

The majority of those surveyed (over 100,000) say they will hire a professional to help them get it right.  All those reality shows have done a great job of showing us the true reality of a renovation when taken on without help.  The more you do up front the better will be your renovation and the better your home support you for the rest of your life, and make a resale when you are ready happen smoothly and effortlessly.

Majority of U.S. Homeowners Believe Now is a Good Time to Renovate, Houzz Survey Finds

The 2013 Houzz & Home survey is the largest survey of remodeling and decorating activity ever conducted, covering historical and planned projects, the motivations behind these projects, and the impact of the economy on home building, renovation and decorating plans among Houzz users across the United States and around the world.

Some of the findings include:

• Significantly more U.S. homeowners are moving forward with renovation projects compared to last year
• A majority of homeowners surveyed believe now is a good time to remodel (53 percent)
• 58 percent of those planning projects in the next two years will hire professional help
• 81% of Houzz homeowners say reviews are “very important” when it comes to hiring a professional for their project, only 8% said “lowest cost option.”

Together with last week’s Commerce Department report showing the rate of single-family home construction at its highest level in four and a half years, the results of this study point to a strengthening economy, housing and renovation market.

Read the press release

Download the full report

How to Use Mirrors in Feng Shui

One of the biggest benefits of Feng Shui is that it can take a less-than-optimal environment and shift the energy to be nourishing and positive. Once you learn what to look for, and how to see through the “eyes of Energy,” you have taken the first step.

 Many people who begin to study Feng Shui become overwhelmed and concerned that their homes and offices are “all wrong” but don’t fret.  Feng Shui translates aswind waterbut I say it really means “It Depends.”  I often say that their is neither good nor bad…only: does it work for you or not?

Remember: Your spaces are NOT all wrong, they are a reflection of where you are now and with Feng Shui wisdom, we can see and make simple changes to rebalance and harmonize you and your spaces.

Mirrors

The mirror is one of those powerful objects used in Feng Shui to redirect energy. Called a Feng Shui ‘cure,’ mirrors have many different effects depending on what is around it, how close and who is viewing it. For these an many other reasons, mirrors are used very gingerly in Feng Shui.

Mirrors will, at the same time:

1. expand space 2. add ‘water’ energy to a space 3. activate a space 4. double what it reflects 5. redirect and reflect energy 6. draw boundaries 7. repel negative energy 8. more…

1. Expand Space

A mirror will expand space, calling in light and energy from other rooms or the outside view.

Take for instance an entrance to a home. Walking into a cramped entry where it’s pinched and dark will have a negative effect on us. As we walk into a space, when we have the feeling of open and expansiveness, our bodies and subconscious translate that to our phsyiology and the feeling of opportunity, welcome, and space. A mirror will easily open up a space and make it seem larger, but depending on how far from the door you place the mirror you could be pushing beneficial life force away. In an entrance, it’s recommended against placing a mirror across from the door if the wall on which the mirror is hung is less than 6 feet away. The front door is the “mouth of ch’i” and where the life force enters your home and your life. The alternative to a mirror in that position would be to expand the space by placing a beautiful ‘long view” painting or artwork in that space. (Be sure you don’t have art with a waterfall flowing toward the door, as that will do the same thing as push the energy/life force out)

To open a space, placing a mirror to the side of the door is more acceptable, but be sure you know what it reflects. For instance, reflecting the powder room, where folks forget to close the door is a negative. (A spring hinge is easily placed on the door to correct that issue.) Also, a mirror (or water feature such as a fish tank) to the right of the door is not-so-good in Feng Shui and is seen to cause day dreaming and wishy-washiness.

2. Add Water energy to a space

Balance is  key to life:  just enough and not too much of any one thing.  Water is fundamental to life and the Feng Shui element that allows us to move in harmony with our life’s purpose, brings freshness, spiritual connection, emotional depth and more.   Too much water and we can become wishy-washy, bogged down, sleep too long, see our fortunes and life force running away from us.  To little water and we can become rigid, shallow, opportunities bypass us, our life force is not fresh and nourished, our ideas seem to dry up.  Just the right amount of water or water energy is what we strive for.

In the Bagua position of Journey, Life Purpose, using a mirror to add water energy would be helpful, depending on the other factors like what it reflects and it’s proximity to the door. In a home or room where the fireplace is located in the Health or Wealth sector, using a mirror over the fireplace would help to quell the Fire energy that would be burning up the health, family relationships or wealth. In a bedroom however, a mirror is recommended against on two factors: 1) adding water energy to a space that is primarily associated with deep rest could cause excess restful energy and cause ‘sleep hangovers’ or lethargy or 2) mirrors activate a space and a space meant is best to be quiet and calm.

3. Activate a Space

Mirrors are considered active because mirrors move energy around, reflect it back and also reflect motion.

Because they reflect and capture motion, often mirrors are used to put people in the “Power Position” , where the person would otherwise be facing a wall, such as in a work cubicle or a cook who faces the wall with her back to the crowd. In this case, a mirror strategically placed to signal an approaching person would be recommended to help the body to relax from its alert status and allow more creative thinking and efficiency.

4. Double what it reflects

Whatever the mirror reflects will be doubled.  Be careful when placing a small mirror at your desk or in a room to open it up.  If the mirror is reflecting a large stack of work, bills or the powder room you could be working against yourself again.  Allow it to reflect something beautiful and wealthy. Also, a mirror that reflects the drain of your vanity sink is a negative so place the mirror above the faucet. Remember: water flowing toward the center of the home brings beneficial energy into your life; flowing out translates as energy and money flowing out.

5. Redirect and reflect energy

As in the case above of water flowing to or from the home or office, a mirror can be used to redirect the flow. Many corporate buildings have a waterfall that flows toward the street. This position is beautiful for the community but is draining to those in the building or complex. The simple answer is to place a mirror, even a small mirror to reflect the energy back into the building. Of course scale matters, but even a simple small mirror will have a dramatic impact. This can also be used in a bedroom above a garage, for instance, as one way draw the boundary between the spaces. Place a mirror under the bed facing toward the garage (shiny side down). Mirrors can be used to deflect energy from a bedroom or bed that is located above a garage or refrigerator, near an HVAC unit or adjacent to a bathroom or any other overpowering structure. If possible, avoid having a bed/bedroom in this position, but with the use of mirrors and other feng shui cures (color, shape, placement) we can help to rebalance the space for harmonious and nourishing sleep.

6. Draw Boundaries

A mirror can also help to draw boundaries: mirrors can ‘call in’ missing areas on a floor plan or lot plan.   The mirror need only be as small as 1/2 inch diameter and can be found at craft stores.  These little mirrors become power ways to send away negative energy.   These small mirrors can be used as ‘laser points’ to call in missing areas of the bagua when it’s placed over your lot plan or floor plan or room plan.

Small Mirrors as found in craft stores can be used to make amazing changes.

Mirrors can be used If you are unable to ‘anchor’ the energy of the bagua with other methods such as placing landscaping, lighting or other features relative to the particular area (for instance in the wealth area, wind catchers or upward lighting can help redirect the energy).  I talk about this in my seminars and if you have questions, be sure to email me, as it would take a while to explain it here in this post.

The small mirrors can be used to send off negative energy of a crabby co-worker or neighbor as explained below.

7. Repel Negative Energy

Mirrors can be used to deflect and repel negative ch’i, whether it be from oncoming traffic, overhead power lines, unsightly neighboring environment or even cranky neighbors or co-workers. (Elinminate Negative Energy)

Feng Shui uses BaGua mirrors, placed only on the exterior of a building, to deflect negative chi and encourage positive ch’i.

Concave Bagua Mirror, Early Heaven Sequence 3 solid lines at top — only use outdoors

BaGua mirror placement is very specific: I use primarily concave mirrors (because they absorb negative ch’i rather than send it back to the person/place/thing.

I also use only what the Chinese call Early Heaven Sequence: where there are 3 solid lines at the top of the octagonal mirror. This mirror is placed above the front door or above a window, or even on the side of a building if necessary, but never inside and not in an apartment building. http://www.fengshuibestbuy.com/SL10272-Bagua.html

You don’t need to use a Bagua mirror, if that is not in line with your philosophy or decor. You can
deflect or repel energy away by using a mirror (or even a reflective surface) to reflect back the issue/person/etc. and it can be subtle and invisible. (No need to exacerbate a negative situation by engaging disdain or ridicule if having this piece above your door would do so.) You can place a mirror on the outside wall (or on the inside of your space-shiny side toward the offending issue/person-you’ll see the back of the mirror and can cover it with a piece of art). The mirror can be small (1/4 inch round available at hobby shops like JoAnn Fabrics and Michaels.) If you hang it inside your space (home,, office or work cubicle) it can be hidden from your view under a painting, at the baseboard (painted to match the color of the baseboard), behind a drapery or curtain-always facing shiny side toward the negative energy.

One of my favorite Bagua pieces, that hangs outside my own front door is the Lady of Nine Heavens Bagua.

I use the company  www.fengshuibestbuy.com and recommend them if you are interested.

This part is very important: Thoughts are things…detach from the drama of any negative situation and allowthe others to have the right to be as miserable or objectionable as they want. As you are placing the mirror, say, “good luck with ‘that’ over there.” When using cures, never curse the other person or interfere with their free will to live their lives as they wish; otherwise the energy will become stronger – as though you have essentially held out the tug-of-war rope and you are now tied to them.  Release them, drop the rope and they will move on.

What usually happens: the person will calm down, get a transfer or quit to move to a different position…with your good wishes, perhaps they will open to a better place for themselves. Either way, you have stopped giving it your power and the Feng Shui has worked to assist you.

8. More…

There are many notes about mirrors and here are a few more:

• Use large mirrors that reflect as much of the person as possible; don’t cut off the head or make them squint to use the mirror
• Use clear and clean mirrors; faded, cracked mirrors are a negative and will inhibit clear thinking and clear vision
• Use whole mirrors…pieces of mirrors or segments of mirrors fracture a person’s image and also fracture the person’s view of herself/himself and life.
• Avoid placing mirrors directly across from each other as this creates what Feng Shui calls “infinity” and creates confusion and disorientation.
• Clean mirrors often — I always do a mini space clearing when cleaning everything: “Good healthy reflections and increase of happiness and abundant love and wealth flow into my life and my home…” or something like that. What you focus on when doing any task is the energy that gets into that area…may as well do a wonderful job!
• Esoterically speaking: in some realms it is believed that a mirror across from the bed will confuse the dream traveling part of the spirit as it attempts to return to the body after traveling through dream worlds. I cannot speak to that but want to include it as it may be relevant to some of my readers.

I have many, many stories, and personal experience with the power of mirrors used this way. As always, Feng Shui puts you in the center of your Universe and helps you look at how energy is moving through your spaces and moving YOU. Let me know if I can help! fawn@fawnchang.com