Uplift Your Surroundings
Feng shui helps you feel good

It is really extraordinary how often people’s health problems are clearly a refl ection of their living and working surroundings, rooted in a combination of unharmonious feng shui, blocked chi, discordant earth energies, electromagnetic overload and residual subtle imprints.
Where energy is blocked, bodies become choked. Respiratory and circulatory problems appear. Eyesight can be affected too. Headaches, shoulder and leg pains may be caused by the vibrational pressure of overhead beams or heavy items stored in the room above. Dull, lifeless surroundings and lack of natural light may result in, or be the outcome of, depression.
Just as ailments may in a way be an expression of our surroundings, a single adjustment using feng shui principles can transform a person’s health; their entire wellbeing can improve. This actually happens time and time again. It is only possible to touch the surface here, but perhaps enough to stimulate your interest in the deeper meaning of feng shui, which really is about the healthy, harmonious relationship between people and their environment.
Feng shui is a part of Chinese traditional medicine, a form of environmental healing that enables positive things to happen. The essence is to seek a balance between yin and yang, because too much of one and not enough of the other sets everything out of equilibrium. For example, if you have a room that is very calm maybe whenever you go into it you feel that you want to fall asleep. In a room that is too active, you may find you have arguments when you are in there or that very soon you are busily running out again. In practical terms, achieving a healthy balance can simply be making obvious adjustments to modify these extremes.
It is well established that colours affect people, not only through their associations with natural elements but also due to their vibrational frequencies, which can have a huge impact at a subconscious level. A client who had recently redecorated her bedroom in red sponged on to yellow, woke during the night with a rumbling stomach and dribbling mouth. Hardly surprising, since the orange frequency which this colour combination creates is known to stimulate gastric juices. Think of the red and yellow colours of Macdonalds! This example clearly demonstrates just how powerful our subconscious senses are, on duty full time, ceaslessly registering the unseen messages in our surroundings. That is why it is so important to get your environment right.
It has also been found that patients recover much faster and feel much happier in hospital surroundings that are decorated in calming, yet uplifting colours, with lots of cheerful fresh flowers and vibrant plants, gentle harmonious sounds and good natural lighting, all creating an uplifting, reassuring and positive atmosphere. The same thing happens in homes, schools and workplaces.
A key factor in achieving well being is to let go of all the useless stuff that you are holding on to, yet neither benefits nor inspires you. It really will drain the positive energy you require around you to feel well. Never have any sad, lonely or aggressive images near you, or anywhere in your place. Get rid of everything that has a negative connection, old papers and unwanted gifts. Be careful not to stack things on the floor, under a bed or in corners because unhealthy, stagnant chi will accumulate there. And not least, there is your internal clutter to be dealt with, because what we think inside will go outside. Other people can sense it as well.
Look for dead trees or bushes in the garden, creepers hanging across a window, plants that block the light. Remove them all because they are an indication of potential health problems for someone living in the property.
Identifying and treating geopathic earth energies, electromagnetic problems and residual energies from previous inhabitants or events in a place, or the land it is built on, is fundamental to having a healthy living environment If these are not right, then chances are the feng shui will not be good either. Realigning these environmental energies can make a real improvement to people’s lives.
Earth acupuncture is an exceptionally powerful means of healing. This method or specific crystals may be used to neutralise and re-earth certain geomagnetic energies. The harmful effects of an underground moving water vein cannot be neutralised though. If you unfortunately have your bed directly above it then the bed has to be moved for your protection, because the harmful energy field it produces is strongest at night. It can be reduced but not removed, so if anybody says there is a device that can do it, please question the claim for the sake of your own health. Electromagnetic and geopathic stress can also accumulate in people’s bodies and may need to be discharged from them as well.
Places always benefit from being cleansed and having old residual imprints erased by using purifying sound, light, essential oils and other traditional means When a place has been space cleansed, people ask time and time again ‘What have you done, it looks brighter?’ or ‘The colour has changed, there is a glow.’ It is no coincidence. The atmosphere really does change perceptibly. You can actually see the difference as well as feel it.
Sylvia Bennett is a leading feng shui consultant, writer and teacher based in Devon and practicing internationally for over twelve years. She is also an environmental designer and a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Contact Sylvia on 01548 580989
www.fengshui-living.com