Getting out of the box

A few lights seem to be coming on in the business world. The icon of great office furniture, Herman Miller, is starting to realize that the cubicle, a design pioneered by Miller, tends to isolate and objectify workers.   A small movement (may it grow and grow quickly) is happening, a movement to get a more natural relationship for people who work together. Tres Birds Workshop was commissioned to concept, design and build an art installation in Downtown Denver. The purpose? To encourage people get out of their offices for daily fresh air breaks. “We highly recommend it.  It’s wonderful to see that more people are realizing the more we make workers feel like they are filed in storage lockers, and then free them into collaborative relationships, the more we can create harmony and productivity.”  All the vegetation used in the installation was reused and/or recycled afterwards – including the furniture!

Another forward thinker is proudcing a movie “Three Walls” about just how wrong boxing people into cubicles is. You can watch a preview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4qMtBTeLs0

Where did Feng Shui orginate? Observing the ways of Nature. Hmmmm.

A film festival and Feng Shui

What could a film festival have to do with Feng Shui?  Well, where I live (Ashland, OR) the Festival is about independent films tending to focus heavily on documentaries. Documentaries are usually about things out of balance (think Sicko or Supersize Me!)  It gets a bit depressing when you start to realize how very very out of balance this society is, and the possible consequences we are inviting unless correcting steps are taken.  Feng Shui is about bringing things into balance.  And while I would never pretend that a Feng Shui practitioner could bring many of these larger issues into balance, it just shows me the importance of having one’s home, one’s family, one’s relationship in balance.  Without that?  Let the craziness take over.  Not good! And not necessary.  Do what you can, and what you can’t do, engage the best Fen Shui master you know.

Is your car cluttered?

I’m often surprised at how hip Costco can be.  They have surprised me more than once by being on top of clutter clearing tips.  Now, from Novia Scotia comes a timely article on why car clutter is dangerous to your health. Take a gander: http://tinyurl.com/carclut Send this to friends who can use the this! Or follow me on Twitter @sugeet     And, as if you didn’t already know, clutter is the biggest obstruction to the good flow of chi.  😎

Needing to Sell?

Here in the Rogue Valley, tradition has it that all you have to do is put your house on the market and somebody, sometime, will buy it.  And, until a couple of years ago, that was true enough…sometime.  Then something happened and we now have at 18month-2year supply.  And still folks don’t think what a good Feng Shui analysis can do to let their home stand out from the crowd.

Problem often is owners have an emotional attachment to their home.  Realtors want to keep on good terms with the owners so they tend to go alone with that attachment. Well, it isn’t Kansas anymore Dorothy, and folks would be wise to contact their consultant and ask for help. We bring an unbiased view tilted toward balancing the energy of the house and making it feel as nourishing as possible. The longer a potential buyer stays in the home, the more likely the owner is to get an offer, and these days, that’s important!

Traditional Feng Shui objects

Recently a student of Feng Shui appeared at my door wanting to buy various Feng Shui objects.  He was disappointed that I did not carry these as a favor to my clients. But I find such things unnecessary to invoke the full effect of a powerful Feng Shui analysis and correction.  In fact,in my experience it is often more effective to use the Five Elements and their interactions for correcting unfavorable situations. Moreover, when done in good taste, the cures add to the beauty of both business and home.

Chinese restaurants are often decorated with all sorts of Feng Shui symbols, and that probably keeps the owners mindful to intend good fortune.  But it is not a requirement. Beauty calls forth it’s own favorable Feng Shui.  Play with it and see what results you get.

Ancient calendars and Feng Shui

The latest issue of my newsletter briefly speaks to the history of the calendar as we approach the Year of the Rabbit.  It’s fascinating that the ancient world, whether Western or Easters or Middle Eastern all seem to have a 12 month calendar.  As long as there have been women, this should not be surprising. Between a woman’s period and observations of the longest and shortest days, the year forms itself and divides very nicely.  But I did turn up on interesting fact which contradicts much of what has been discussed & wrtten about in the New Age movement for years.

The Mayan calendar ends in 2012.  What this implies has often been interpreted as ‘the end times’ or whatever.  Yet if one looks into Mayan mythology, one find that the date actually marks the beginning of a new cycle, not an ending.  The same is true in the Vedic tradition, as we are ending the cycle of  the Kali Yuga, The ending of that period is predicted to be very unpleasant, as the demon goddess Kali is is finally defeated and we enter a new Yuga, the Satya Yuga.

What does this have to do with Feng Shui? I hear you ask.  Quite simply, the effective use of Feng Shui to remove blocks to harmony and prosperity helps anyone/everyone get through the hard times we are witnessing.  And we’re just beginning! You might want to sign up for the newsletter just to keep one viewpoint in your pocket.

Mainlining Feng Shui

Recently a couple of articles have crossed my desk  trumpeting  a graduating class of Feng Shui majors leaving major interior design Institutes. Think, feng shui is going mainstream even if at a snails pace. And while it might be trendy to include Feng Shui on the curriculum, the deeper truth is experiencing how effective Feng Shui can be. Those of you who keep up with this blog, already know that I find the principles of Feng Shui being used under other names. If you want absolutely contemporary feng shui, learn Permaculture.

Disaster Feng Shui

We are just beginning to learn and are going to continue to learn that the DeepWater Horizon oil is apocalyptic.  And while we let out yowls of protest, do not foget that it is you and I who demand gas for our cars and plastic for everything else.  It all comes from oil. As long as there is demand, there will be companies ready to go to any  length to get it and let us pay for it.  It took Eastern Masters hundreds of years observing the way nature moves energy to come up with the principles of Feng Shui. And because those principles work, Feng Shui is used widely with great positive effect.

Now we have an oil giant who skipped over the most basic safety precedes to drill for oil a mile under the water. It had not been done before and was based largely on theory. No observation of what might go wrong or what the consequences might be if anything did go wrong. We have already killed most of the world’s coral reefs (one of the foundations of the food chain) and now the results of BP spill threaten the entire sea and all it’s life.  It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.  And this is no Shui to go! And unless we lemmings slow down our mad dash, what awaits us is more of the same.

Widening the Field

The more I study Feng Shui, the more I understand that what began “how to site your ancestor’s graves,” has important implications for the troubled world we live in today.  I just finished teaching an introductory course, the sort of thing retired folks might like to hear so they knew the Chinese were not sending voodoo into the US.  It went very well until the final session, when I wanted to use some video about Permaculture.

After all, good Feng Shui comes from observing how nature works and then augmenting it, letting it be even more bountiful than it usually is.  It was an excellent way for my seniors to start to grasp a bigger concept.  Several of them were bothered that ‘this isn’t Feng Shui.’  They certainly are to be honored for their choices, but I would like you, dear reader, to consider that Feng Shui can widen and widen.  May you find new uses, and when you do, let me know?  Thanks.

How Green is Feng Shui?

With climate change and going green being the hot topics of the day, it’s not unreasonable to ask how green is feng shui? At first, it doesn’t look very green. But if we take the feng shui blinders off, we discover that this ancient art and science is cutting edge environmentalism.

Feng shui studies how nature moves energy through a space, and how to best arrange that space for the most harmonious flow. A true feng shui master is sensitive to how energy moves, or doesn’t move, through a space. Adjustments are then made to remove blockages, and to make the flow is smooth. The most dramatic example of this work in the West is permaculture.

Bill Molison made a series of four short documentaries for PBS, taking four were dramatically different environments, and applying the principles of permaculture to each. In every case the results were dramatic, inspiring, and bursting with life.

See for yourself follow this link:

Check out the website as well: Creative Visions Feng Shui