Mind, Body, Home: Transform Your Life One Room at a Time (36 page)

munity spaces, lounges, and other nontraditional office environments

within the office.

Hospitals and health-care facilities are also starting to understand

the need for better design and how it affects the health of the patients.16

Using research from Columbia University physicians, Delos Living

(www.delosliving.com) has set out to create a new standard of living by incorporating wellness into spaces, including hotels, offices, and homes.

Even sports teams such as the University of Kentucky basketball

program have tapped into this secret. One of their recruitment incen-

tives is to pour millions into a high-end facility for the players.17 Space design is part of their strategy. Studies in environmental psychology are showing the positive effects of space on productivity and overall happiness in our workday. The same is true when we come home to a space

we love to be in.

It is my hope that everyone has access to information or resources

to bring peace, love, and harmony into their living and work spaces.

For this reason, I have started a social project called
Feng Shui for the
Planet
to help make this happen. Whether it is providing new linens to under-served communities, providing feng shui services to non-profit

spaces, or teaching others how to use feng shui principles in their individual spaces, my goal is to bring awareness to our spaces in order to

help bring in a higher consciousness. For more information on how you

can help, please visit www.fengshuifortheplanet.org.

16.
Spaces That Heal
, Fast Company, Dec. 2012/Jan 2013.

17. http://www.sporttechie.com/2012/09/20/kentucky-basketball-keeping-

up-in-ncaa-facilities-race/.

Integrating Your Mind Body and Home 233

QUICK REFERENCE OF

MIND BODY HOME CONNECTIONS

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Air Filter

• Filtering toxins from

• Breathing issues

your life

particularly pertaining

to inhaling.

• What are you taking

in that is not in your

highest and best

interest?

Ants

• Annoyances in

• Under-utilizing or

day-to-day life

misdirecting your

• Industry; productivity,

energy.

efficiency

• Re-examine day-to-day

• Distractions

routines

Attic

• Higher state of con-

• Relates to the 7th

sciousness, connection

Chakra

to Higher Self

• Headaches

• Spirituality or Religion • Feeling disconnected

• Inherited belief

• Feeling lost, confused,

systems

or lonely

• Old family patterns

• Goals and aspirations

Balcony

• Special and unique

• What skills or talents

talent or skill

are you underutilizing

or not taking

advantage of ?

Basement

• Subconscious mind

• Relates to 2nd Chakra

• The past

• Small intestines

• Old identities

• Reproductive organs

• Repressed emotions

• Excretory organs

• Feelings of guilt or

regret

• Stagnation

• Holding on to the past

• Lack of trust

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Bathroom

• Self-care

• See associations for

• Releasing

individual components

within the bathroom

Bathtub

• Self-care

• Detoxifying the body

• Nurturing oneself

and/or emotions

• Cleansing

Bedroom

• Intimacy

• Taking time out for

• Relaxation

relationship with self

• Rejuvenation

or others

• Tranquility

• Restoring personal

• Dreaming

energy

• Partnership love or

self-love

Bonus Room (or

• Recreation

• Do you incorporate

Recreation Room) • Fun

enough fun into your

• Hobbies

life?

• Children

Burglars

• Allowing others to

• Where are you

take your energy

allowing yourself to

• Violation of personal

be violated?

space

• Where are you giving

away your energy?

• Where do you need a

wake-up call in your

life?

Ceiling

• “Glass ceiling”

• Feeling expansive or

• “The sky’s the limit”

constricted

• Perspective

• Ability to spread your

wings

Closet

• “Skeletons in the

• Fear of being yourself

closet”

• Authenticity

• “Coming out of the

• Denying an aspect of

closet”

yourself

• What do you not want

to look at?

• What are you hiding?

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Cockroaches

• Survival

• Fear of the unknown

• Spiritual cleansing

• Confusion

• Scattered

Clogged Pipe

• Bottled-up emotions

• Inability to communi-

• Control

cate emotions

• Unable to release

emotions

Clogged Toilet

• Unable to release

• Constipation or

emotions

diarrhea

• Hanging on to toxic

• Intestinal disorders

emotions

• Tension or stress

Deck (or Patio)

• Extension of energy

• Where are you under-

utilizing yourself ?

Den (also Living

• Our personality

• Heart and lungs

Room)

• Basic beliefs and values • Are you able to

• Daily living routine

personally express

• Family

yourself ?

Dining Room

• Nurturing

• Digestion

• Warmth

• Are you taking

• Communal

adequate care of

• Family

yourself ?

Door

• Opportunities

• Shoulders, hips, joints.

• Possibilities

• Being open-minded

• Being seen

Doorbell

• Messages

• Being receptive

• Being open to

• Being open-minded

opportunities when

they come

Doorknob

• Making connections

• Hands

• Having a “handle” on

• Misconnections

things

• Over-controlling

Driveway

• Transition between

• How connected or

home and the world

disconnected are you

• Pathway between the

from the rest of the

known and unknown

world?

• What is a safe distance

from the world?

235

236 Integrating Your Mind Body and Home

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Electricity

• Power

• Nervous system

• Life force

• High blood pressure

• Energy level

• Overworked

• Exhausted

• Lethargy

Electrical wiring

• How one channels

• Short or quick-

energy

tempered

• High strung

• Confused, scattered

• Attention deficit

Fence

• Boundaries

• Not setting adequate

• Being “on the fence”

boundaries

• Indecisiveness

Fireplace

• Family

• Digestive fires

• Warmth

• Heart-related

• Traditional values

• Escape of energy

• “Heart of the home”

Flies

• Mental annoyances

• Scattered

• Inability to focus

Flooding

• Cleansing or clearing

• Colons. Analogous to

• Detoxing energy that

colonic hydrotherapy.

is no longer a vibra-

Related to 2nd chakra

tional match for you

clearing

• Letting go.

Flooring

• Division between lev-

• Energy leaks

els of consciousness

• Feeling tired, lethargy,

• Proper boundaries

overused and

• Grounded

underappreciated

• Not a clear sense of

self

Floors or Stories

• Levels of conscious-

• See association for

ness. Where the

each individual floor

“stories” of our life

take place

Integrating Your Mind Body and Home 237

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Foundation

• Having a solid

• Feet, knees, or legs

foundation in life

problems Mental

• Family issues

anxiety

• Indecisiveness

• Blood-related

• Ungrounded

disorders

• Immune system

• Issues relating to

1st Chakra

• Feeling flighty or

scattered

Framework

• Internal architecture

• Bones

• Misalignment in

skeleton

• Misalignment in

skeleton

• Unexpected trauma

Front Porch

• How one portrays

• Chin

themselves to the

• Face

world

• Foot

• Welcoming

• Neighborly

• Putting your “best

foot forward”

Frozen pipes

• Emotionally frozen

• Poor blood circulation

Garden

• Abundance

• Money

• Growth

• Happiness

• Expansion

• Joy

• Gratefulness

Garage

• Utilitarian

• Clutter

• Functional

• Stagnant

• Mechanical

• Overwhelmed

• Inefficient

Ghosts

• Allowing others to

• Underutilizing oneself

take up your space

• Not feeling good

• Not fully owning your

enough

space

• Feeling a lack of some-

thing in your life

238 Integrating Your Mind Body and Home

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Hallways

• Veins and arteries of

• Breathing

the home

• Short of breath

• Connectors

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Transition spaces

• “Walls coming in”

Heating & Air

Breath of the home

• Respiratory system

System (HVAC)

• Breathing

• Exhaustion

• Overworked

Hot Water Heater • Emotions with fire

• Emotions bubbling up

power

to the surface, most

likely in the form of

anger

Insects

• Annoyances

• See associations for

• What is “bugging”

specific insects

you?

Internet

• Connection

• Inability to connect of

• Communication

communicate with the

world

• Feeling aloof

• Needing alone time

Kitchen

• Nurturing center of

• Related to the heart

the home

and breasts

• “Heart of the home”

• Feeling the need to

nurture oneself or

family

Key lock

• Information

• Not wanting to come

• Answers

home

• Anxiety

• Misunderstanding

Light Switch

• How you control your • Being “on” or “off ”

energy or power.

• Yin and yang

Living Room

• Our personality

• Heart and lungs

(or Den)

• Basic beliefs and values • Are you able to

• Daily living routine

personally express

• Family

yourself ?

Integrating Your Mind Body and Home 239

Symbolism or Meaning Mental/Emotional/

Physical Association

Main Level or

• Present consciousness • Mental clarity

Floor

• Reflection of daily life

• Ability to focus or

• Personal expression

concentrate

• Obsessive-compulsive

Mouse

• Holes in your life

• Where are others

• Energy leaks

taking your power?

• Taking power over

• Do you need to take a

your life

stand on something?

• Taking up space in

• Are you under--

the world

exerting your power

in the world?

Patio (or Deck)

• Extension of energy

• Where are you under-

utilizing yourself ?

Plumbing

• Channeling of emo-

• Colons

tions

• Excretory organs

Recreation Room • Recreation

• Do you incorporate

(or Bonus Room)