“My kids always perceived the bathroom as a place where you wait it out until all the groceries are unloaded from the car.”

— Erma Bombeck

Anyone else?

We wanted to start off this issue with humor, because there can be a lot of stress around bathrooms. For example, when you are remodeling: we think about design choices, layout, upgrading our home and getting the biggest bang for our buck. Bathrooms are often one of the most functional rooms in the house; the sanitation is super important to maintaining health and freedom from disease. And yet, did you know that nearly 60% of the world does not have access to a safe, clean toilet to manage waste? (Source UNICEF.)

So, we are dedicating this newsletter to the issues surrounding bathrooms. What about plants? What about the lid up or down? It’s all here from our experts. You might find some differing opinions – and that is absolutely ok. With the diversity in our membership, through their unique approaches and perspectives to Feng Shui – we don’t worry about it. There are a lot of ways to do something in Feng Shui. Even in preparing for this newsletter, we learned a few things we didn’t know before. How cool is that!

We always say, “take what resonates with you – and leave the rest.” So scroll on with that in mind…it’s a great collection of tips and insights into feng shui bathrooms. Enjoy!

See what we mean about differences and ways of doing feng shui…
“In classical feng shui, bathrooms are looked at as something that presses down luck. As such, they should not be made into feng shui shrines with flowers, plants, candles, and lots of decorating. In Black Hat, bathrooms are often enhanced with all manner of activators, such as fountains and flowers.

“In classical feng shui, bathrooms are typically viewed as the place where waste is eliminated, so plants should not be placed here to symbolically “grow in waste,” and the water here is draining water that has no prosperity value. Drains are recommended to be plugged at all times in Black Hat, which is always practical, whereas classical feng shui simply recommends that the bathroom door should be closed at all times.

Katie Weber, Red Lotus Letter

Myth Buster: Bathroom in the Wealth Gua

From Bridget Saraka, Feng Shui by Bridget

Below photo note from Bridget: This vignette is over our en suite loo. The bathroom is not in wealth, but is designed as if it was.

Q: “I just read that a bathroom in the wealth Gua is bad Feng Shui! We can’t catch a break!”

So let’s look at this thought process and let’s be grateful that you have indoor plumbing and you are not having to run out in the middle of the night to the outhouse in minus 45 degrees celsius.

From a Feng Shui perspective there is no good place to have an indoor bathroom. But there are certain Guas that are less challenging than others. The reason that feng shui is concerned about indoor bathrooms is the effect water and plumbing has in both the environmental energy and health of the residents.

Water is seen as the flow of money and abundance. Think liquidate assets, cash flow. So, toilets and plumbing fixtures are considered potential avenues of money loss. A toilet lid that is up is best closed to stop the loss of cash. Shower curtains are best closed to mitigate the same.

I prefer toilet lids down for esthetician and cleanliness reasons. You do know what gets dumped in there right? I also prefer shower curtains drawn for design purposes. A beautiful shower curtain is much more appealing than the inside of a tub and shower unit.
A bathroom can feel opulent and the fact that a bathroom reno can cost 10,000 minimum should indicate that it’s an excellent place to apply some decadent design details.

Even a small bathroom can look and feel amazing.

• For a bathroom in the wealth Gua, choose a shower curtain that is floral, woodsy, has branches with leaves, striped or has earth tones.
• Hang artwork that coordinates with the shower curtains. Avoid matching to specifically.
• Install a beautiful light fixture. Again I love a chandelier in the bathroom.
• Add a couple of real or faux plants.
• Remember to think opulence and that your manifesting abilities starts with your alignment.

What Bathroom Cluter Reveals

From Karen Kingston, Expert Clutter Clearing

Bathroom clutter is one of the most common types there is. It’s also one of the easiest to deal with, so it’s a good place to start when clutter clearing.

Your home is a mirror of yourself
A photo such as the one above is very revealing because it’s an external description of a person’s inner state. What’s on the inside is not always portrayed on the outside, but what’s on the outside is always a reflection of something on the inside.

The busyness of this bathroom mirrors the busyness of the owner’s life and also shows how stressful it is, with so many things to consider and cope with. It also shows how her life is running her instead of her running it. If this is how she starts her day, then much of her life will be out of control.

Simplifying the number of items she uses in her daily grooming and keeping them tidy and organized will give her a completely different approach to each day, which in turn will help her to take back control of other aspects of her life too.

What your bathroom says about you
The state of a person’s bathroom gives a very good insight into their level of self-care. So after reading this article, I invite you to walk into your bathroom and take a good look at it, as if you didn’t know whose bathroom it is. What does it say about you? If you share it with others, what does it say about you all?

***There is so much more to this story…read the whole thing and see how the transformation of this bathroom took place, more lessons learned, and how managing and being intentional with your bathroom clutter can give you a calm and ordered start to each day will make you look and feel better too. Read the full article….

Now, let’s hear from two consultants who have different thoughts and approaches on bathrooms (and toilets) and Feng Shui.

What they have in common: there is nothing to fear – nothing to stress over.

Feng Shui Bathroom Basics

From Laura Morris, Morris Feng Shui and Mindful Design Feng Shui

Laura presents the basics of Feng Shui bathrooms from a Black Sect (BTB) Feng Shui perspective, placing the bagua, and what to look for and some adjustments you can make.

Toilets and Feng Shui; Fact or Superstition?

From Candice Berlanga, Learn Feng Shui Now

Candice addresses one of the biggest questions and concerns in Feng Shui: toilet placement from a Classical Feng Shui perspective. As with most subjects in Feng Shui, the toilet is misunderstood. Can a toilet “drain your wealth” or affect your relationship? There is an origin to these beliefs that stem from ancient times!

In the mainstream, from Realtor.com

Down the Drain: 7 Feng Shui Mistakes You’re Making in the Bathroom

Featuring consultants Ping Deters, Anjie Cho, and Kim Julen…simple tips anyone can choose to use in your bathrooms. Read the full article…

Final Thoughts: Transforming an Office into a Glamorous Soaking Tub Room

From Julie Ann Segal, Metro Interiors
Maybe you don’t have the ability to transform an existing bathroom into the dream space you desire. Have you ever thought of reclaiming a space from another part of the house. Much simpler than adding on to an existing building, renovating and thinking outside the box to transform a room with one purpose into a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT purpose is a cool way to create the dream that you love.

It’s also a great demonstration that as time moves on, our lives and needs change. Being open to those changes, seeing them with feng shui eyes, and then taking action – often with a delightfully creative designer like Julie Ann – can make all the difference!

Click here to see the dramatic before’s/after’s that Julie created for her client.

BONUS: You will be inspired to look at every room (and closet) in your world in new ways.

This newsletter published May 4, 2023.  Want more like this?  Click here to subscribe and receive our monthly articles, tips, and best feng shui guidance from the experts at the IFSG – FREE in your inbox each month!

How do you start to create a home that is truly for your soul?  One direction would be to consider Feng Shui.  Find out more from LuAnn Cibik, founder of Inner Harmony Feng Shui; teacher, consultant, and lover of all things energy, nature, and feng shui.

There are so many different types and forms of Feng Shui, but they all have the same goal. 

That goal is to enrich, enhance, and make your life the life you want it to be. Now, many times, those of us who love Feng Shui – we read a lot of Feng Shui books and we get involved with a lot of details of five elements and the bagua.  But sometimes the most important things you can do include some basic, powerful steps to create your home as a home for your soul. 

One of the things that I find most powerful with so many of my clients is that in looking at creating a home for the soul, we have four different key areas. And a lot of times they are missing one of those key areas. So even though they’re doing some corrections, enhancements  and wonderful things in that area, it still doesn’t make me feel like it perfectly supports them and their life because they’re missing one of those four key areas.So, let’s talk about those those four key points so that you can take a look at your home and see if you are maybe out of balance in that area. 

So, the first key item is that your home needs to make it feel like you belong there. Now that is a huge area to take a look at. That is everything from when you walk in the front door. 

• Does it represent who you are? 
• Does it represent your goals, your values, your interests, your hobbies? 
• Are there pictures of your beloved’s in there, your family, your your friends, your pets, your totem animals, whatever it is. 
• Does it reflect who you are? 

So many times people go with a trend. And there’s a very minimalist trend right now, which is cool. But it creates a space that is devoid of personality that doesn’t feel like YOU in there. Then it’s not ever going to really feel like your home. So you could still have a minimalist space. But take a look at those key things that are on display. Are they just what cool thing you saw on Pinterest or are they something that truly reflects you? 

And that could be anything from a favorite color that you use as an accent. It could be a picture of a place that you adored going. It could be something that represents you and your family heritage, anything that would connect you to that home and give you that sense of yes, you belong here. You also want to look at those things for everyone who lives there, do they all have a place to sit at the table? Is there a place for everyone? Because if we don’t actually create that place for everyone, there’s a sense that somebody doesn’t belong. 

So be a detective – take a look at your home. See if you have everyone represented who lives there, and a sense that they belong. Your family could be the traditional kind of family members or your family could be your four-legged friends. Everybody needs to have their place and feel like they belong.

Second, is that your home or your space needs to connect to nature. And I’m sure you know, you’ve heard the term biophilic design and that’s where we’re pulling representation of nature into our homes. It’s because as human beings, that part of us really relaxes the best when we’re around things from nature ; as architects and designers are finding out more and more. That’s the way to create this design that makes us really feel at home.

Now, how do you do that in your home? There are lots of ways. 

• You can use colors that are from the nature around your home. So for a color scheme, look outside, walk outside, see what color the actual earth is, what color the bark of the trees are, the leaves of the trees, the things that are in your natural surroundings. As you start to pick those up and bring them into your home, it connects your home with nature. 
• Another way to do that is through artwork in your home. Maybe you’re going to have pictures of favorite places in nature. Maybe your artwork is of animals or flowers. Maybe you incorporate that through the textures on artwork (not just artwork), of wallpaper, or designs on pillows, like think of all of those little ways that you can bring in that connection to nature. 
• Of course, you can bring actual nature in, right? Rocks and stones and crystals. There is such an emphasis on live edge countertops, and having natural stone. All of those things bring nature into your home and it’s a great way to reflect that. 
• Another way we can look at that is through the lighting in our homes.  Lighting can be as simple as opening up the blinds and the draperies so we let the sunlight in, or even choosing what kinds of light and lighting is within our homes through our light bulbs that give a more natural light. It also means taking a look at honoring the seasons in that way that we turn the lights down at night. So don’t keep all the lights blaring until you’re ready to go to bed, right? Start to decrease it at night so it feels like a more natural progression. And I’m talking about seasons. It’s also seasonal decorating, right? Keeping in line with what is going on outside and bringing that energy in. Those are all ways that you can connect your home to nature, no matter what your design style. 

The third key area might seem really obvious, and that is your home needs to feel safe. This is key! In that Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we need to feel safe. 

But it’s more than just having locks on the doors. It is about feeling safe to be who you are. And so many times I see people creating their home so that when their acquaintances and friends come over that there’s nothing that might feel controversial in their home. But if you are somebody who adores oracle cards, you need to have a place in your home where you can do that. If you want to be a writer, then you need to create a space in your home that honors the fact that you are a writer. So feel free to be who you are in your home, it needs to be expressed. 

There are times when an individual is living in a family situation where they don’t even feel safe to be who they are within their own family. So, find that essence – maybe in a bedroom, in a closet. There’s a way to express who you are and be safe. This is a key to creating a home for yourself.

And the fourth key – and no less important – is sacred space. Your home should feel sacred. It should feel like a place where you and the divine can connect. So whether you do that through intention altars, or something else – you create sacred space for yourself. Your home should be a reflection of your belief and your spiritual beliefs as well. 

LuAnn Cibik is a Master Educator of Interior Alignment®, which is the Feng Shui and Space Clearing school founded by Denise Linn, well-known author and teacher. LuAnn has been a full time a Feng Shui professional since 2002.  And she is proud to be an active member of the Foundation Council for Interior Alignment® and past member of the IFSG Board. Prior to creating her own business, she worked in the corporate world in IT and healthcare.  She now runs her successful school, Inner Harmony,  teaching feng shui. soul coaching, space clearing and more through her online and onsite programs.

Feng Shui reveals the everyday items around us that anyone can use to improve the energy of our homes, offices, and virtually any space we spend time in. One of the most powerful of these magical tools is plants. They not only raise the vibration of our space but gift us phenomenal health benefits. This article will guide you in choosing the right plants for your home by revealing their spiritual meaning and application.

THE NECESSITY OF USING PLANTS IN FENG SHUI

Designing a space with the Five Elements – water, wood, fire, earth, and metal – is at the core of attaining balance in Feng Shui.

Indoor plants and flowers usher in the wood element, representing new life, growth, expansion, creativity, and raises chi. The color green also brings in rejuvenation for our bodies– new energy flow and health in the liver and gallbladder when live plants are added to the Feng Shui design.

Plants can help remedy undesirable design scenarios in Feng Shui. Placing live plants at corners will counteract negative energy. Setting a plant within three feet of your computer will filter electromagnetic energy. Bringing nature indoors will elevate the space.

Another beautiful benefit of incorporating plants into the home is the nurturing opportunities they gift us. Plants nurture us, and we consciously get to care for them. It’s a reflection of our inward ability to engage in self-care. Our plants are also an outward reflection of what is going on in our lives. I have seen this ring true in my life–my plants are always thriving, but recently as I was going through an incredibly stressful season, I noticed my orchids began to wilt and fade. Beloved, it is incredible how our environment often prompts us to look within and ensure we are pausing and tending to the things in our bodies and lives are getting the care they deserve.

Use the nine Bagua areas to guide how plants will serve you and those that frequent those spaces as you map out your indoor “garden.”

Family (Zhen): promote support in your family life. Use wooden containers and keep them to foliage plants — no flowers.

Wealth (Xun): usher in more prosperity. In the southeast area, you also want wooden containers. Try four pots of purple African violets, purple orchids, or purple coleus, and you should attract plenty of wealth and material abundance.

Health (Tai Qi): encourage restoration in your life. Don’t have too many plants in the center of your home to maintain traffic flow and avoid negative energy.

Helpful People (Qian): activate energies to ask others for support. Grow silver-leaved plants in earthenware or metal containers.

Children (Dui): encourage growth for any offspring or projects. Grow silver-leaved plants in earthenware or metal containers.

Knowledge (Gen): support expansion of self-knowledge and self-cultivation.

Fame and Reputation (Li): increase your popularity and recognition. Grow plants with red, purple, orange, peach, or pink flowers in wooden containers.

Career (Kan): boost wisdom and prosperity in your career. Place your plant in a black ceramic container or a metal container, such as silver, brass, or copper.

Partnership (Kun): encourage closeness and thoughtfulness in relationships. Place plants in earthenware containers with yellow, red, pink, or white flowering plants. Two plants are a good number here as it represents “pairs.”

Read more about the bagua. 

THE BEST PLANTS FOR FENG SHUI

Generally, the primary plants to avoid in Feng Shui are cacti or anything with sharp points. You also want to steer clear of having dead plants or flowers in your space as they represent the loss of vitality. It’s lovely to welcome just about any green plant into your area, but I’m including some of my favorites for you here:

Areca Palm (Scientific Name:  Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens)

Removes:  All tested indoor air toxins.
Benefits:  Very popular and easy to care for plants.  Leaves have a gracious flow that will soften the energy of any home or office space.
Placement: East, South-East, South, and North directions.

Bamboo Palm (Scientific Name: Chamaedorea Seifrizii)

Removes: Benzene. Trichloroethylene. Formaldehyde.
Benefits:  Adds a peaceful, tropical feeling to any environment. Most resistant to insect infestation.
Placement: east or southeast corner

Rubber Plant (Scientific Name:  Ficus Robusta)

Removes: Most pollutants, especially formaldehyde.
Benefits:  Will survive in dim light and tolerate cool temperatures.  Excellent ability to remove toxins from any indoor environment.
Placement: Place in a corner to soften the sharp angles. The wealth corner of the home is especially suitable.

English Ivy (Scientific Name: Hedera Helix)

Removes: Most pollutants, especially formaldehyde.
Benefits: Another hardy plant can soften and lower the chi flow as needed. Easy to grow, very adaptable, except for high temperatures.
Placement: Trailing vines of ivy help soften any “poison arrows” that point at you where you sleep or work.

Money Tree (Scientific Name: Pachira aquatica)

Benefits: Good for enhancing abundance
Placement: Best when placed in the bedroom, office, or wealth corner of your home.

PLANTS AND THEIR ELEMENTS FOR YOUR GARDEN

Are you a gardener?

Being in communion with the earth through gardening is one of my favorite hobbies. As you plant your garden this year or provide Feng Shui consultations, keep the symbolic meaning of plants in mind. Remember, gardens are an extension of the home.

• Balance the five elements: fire, earth, water, wood, and metal into the landscaping. Doing so will harmonize and balance your garden.
• Choose plants that are plentiful and look vibrant. Great colors to incorporate into your garden are plants with red, purple, and royal blue flowers.
• Plant flowers with soft leaves, and avoid plants with thorns, spines, or pointy leaves, especially by the front entrance area. This will keep away the positive energy.

Before You Go

Bringing plants indoors is a guaranteed way to increase the positive energy of your home or workspace. Enjoy serving clients by optimizing their spaces with living plants and flowers.

Amanda Sophia is a Feng Shui Master, Celtic Priestess & Self-love guide. She founded the International Feng Shui School and training program. She also founded the Priestess Awakening School, a year-long journey of The Celtic Wheel that leads participants inward to discover, cultivate, and embody their authentic wisdom and power. Find out more.

Plants are far more beneficial than just beautiful blooms, decorative foliage or exotic luxuries. They provide our basic needs of shelter, food and medicine, as well as evocative aromas to please our senses. They will support, calm and nourish us, cleanse the atmosphere and replenish it with oxygen. In Western terms they are vital essentials for our healthy living.

Used in Feng Shui, the wood energy of indoor plants unites us with the natural environment, harmonising, balancing and replenishing our well-being. The earth they grow in and the colour of their flowers and containers can also be used elementally. Plants and cut flowers can be creatively placed in specific living areas to complement decor and visual aesthetics, ultimately to enhance the mood and welfare of the occupants.

In a 1995 study at Oxford Brooks University, it was found that when plants were introduced into certain rooms, people chose to occupy those rooms more often and they preferred to sit where they could see the plants. They reported lower levels of stress or anxiety and faster recovery from mental fatigue. Interiors were perceived to be more stylish, luxurious and cared-for. These findings will hardly be surprising to Feng Shui practitioners.

It is scientifically established that houseplants have sophisticated health-promoting and life sustaining eco-systems which replenish oxygen, rehydrate the atmosphere and absorb airborne pollutants. Whilst seeking to create a life support system for their space programme, scientists at the NASA investigated how the planet produces and sustains fresh air. Their research revealed a mutually beneficial relationship between plants and human life and found that houseplants would purify and revitalise air in sealed chambers.

Most plants release oxygen during the day, so placing a plant near a work desk helps to revive both performance and mood. Orchids are an exception, they release oxygen at night so these romantic plants are ideal in a bedroom. Breathing on a plant gives it carbon dioxide which it beneficially converts into oxygen to refresh the atmosphere. By releasing water vapour from their leaves, plants help to re-humidify indoor environments, thereby reducing respiratory infections. This therapeutic process also creates mini-convection currents of air movement, a logical explanation of why plants are so effective in Feng Shui to generate qi and vital life energy.

Sick Building Syndrome caused by atmospheric toxins and bio-effluents can be alleviated by introducing groups of vigorous, healthy indoor plants. During studies, plants exposed to environmental pollutants were expected to reach their absorption capacity after a while and die, but some increased their ability to remove toxins and actually thrived. It seems airborne microbes and contaminants were absorbed through the leaves, taken down to the root system and biodegraded by micro-organisms in the soil around the roots to create a source of nutrients for them and for the plant itself.

These fascinating discoveries have been recorded by Dr B.C.Wolverton in his book ‘Eco-Friendly House Plants’, in which he describes the health-promoting properties of fifty key therapeutic house plants, all beautifully illustrated and many of them firm Feng Shui favourites.

• The graceful Areca palm is rated highest for removing all tested toxins.
• The popular Peace lily absorbs formaldehyde, photocopier emissions and other chemical vapours, making it an excellent plant for the workplace.
• Boston ferns are champions at regulating humidity.

Indoor plants really appreciate tender loving care.

• Mist them with lukewarm water to clean their leaves – their lungs- and to prevent the tips from drying out and turning brown. Better still, give them a shower if you can manage that.
• Keep the water in cut flower vases fresh and clean to support you well.
• Remove all ailing leaves and blooms, avoid prickly plants or droopy leaves.
• Amethyst and clear quartz crystals placed near plants or cut flowers have been found to help them to stay fresher, grow stronger and live longer.

Vibrant healthy indoor plants and flowers make places look and feel more welcoming, promote enjoyable feelings of relaxation and wellness and encourage better concentration; you cannot have too many of them. Plants thrive by living in proximity with us, enhancing health and well-being, uplifting minds, bodies and spirits, whilst connecting us peacefully with the natural world. If only they could talk, what a wealth of valuable knowledge they could impart to us.

Watch Sylvia’s  ‘The Power of Plants’ video presentation at a Feng Shui Society conference

Sylvia Bennett is an accomplished Feng Shui master, international consultant, writer and teacher in practice for over 25 years, based in the UK and working globally. She is also a Royal Institute of British Architects ( RIBA) affiliate member and an environmental designer.  Find out more.

Where does this go?  Where can it go?  Feng Shui isn’t all about moving furniture.  But there are components to it that require looking at the physical layout.

Feng Shui is an art and science – with many perspectives and approaches depending on the school.  It’s about energy, placement, balance, and yes, sometimes about a chair.

There are some simple things to consider when arranging a room.

Give yourself or your guests the command position.  Face the door or the entry to a room.  Do not put yourself in a vulnerable position by having your back to the door.  If this is absolutely not possible, consider a mirror or other reflective piece to give that look behind.

Remember, Feng Shui is thousands of years old.  Times were different.  And the command position is based on the concept of not letting your enemies sneak up on you.  Give yourself a view of the door. Hint: it’s good if the dog loves it.

Consider the flow of traffic.  Sometimes when we are arranging our space to create those little conversation nooks, we neglect to consider the traffic flow.  Can you move freely through the space?  And be critical here.  Your feng shui eyes are open now – don’t keep looking at your space with the old you in place.  It’s a cute little grouping but a bit tight into the kitchen; that sort of thing.  Shifts in a space happen when you let go of the “should” zone.

Think about it this way.  Right now, you have a chair that is “in the way.”  You don’t know what to do, don’t know how to move it.  It’s always been there.  But there is a niggle in your brain that says, um no.  The energy in your space becomes bogged down and darker than it needs to be.  How about move it to another room?  Maybe, move it temporarily and see how you feel?  Check it in the new room.  Maybe this shift gives you a chance to like that chair even better!  Maybe it creates a new nook where you never expected it.  Change – even if it’s not your favorite thing – is necessary.  Absolutely necessary.

FENG SHUI TIP: REPLACE THE WORD “CHAIR” IN THE ARTICLE WITH ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR SPACE THAT GIVES YOU A NUDGE. MOVE IT – FIX IT – GET RID OF IT – CHANGE IT. 🙂

***

Feeling overwhelmed about your space?  Need help understanding the traffic flow?  Things feel stagnant or you just can’t put your finger on why your space doesn’t make you feel the way you want?  We have consultants – just right for you!  Click the button to start searching!