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April is the time of year when we usually start our Spring Cleaning with a vengeance. The probability of clutter objects finding a way out of the house increases.

Why not make use of this opportunity to apply some basic Feng Shui tips to provide further stress relief without doing much other than work on our living space?

It is said that the state of our house is a reflection of the state of our mind.

So a cluttered messy home is quite reflective of our stress levels. Even if we deny it with phrases like ‘there’s method to our madness’ until a stage arrives when you need Stress Management Coaching. (Click the link to learn how I can help).

A decade ago, it was trendy in India to gift bamboo plants in beautiful containers. I remember back in my office, the Country Manager’s Executive Assistant received 4 of these plants one birthday.

Looks like we all had the same idea to wish her the Feng Shui way!

You may not know much about Feng Shui but you can learn a lot about it on the internet and the glossy section of newspapers. There are shops both offline and online selling Feng Shui products to help you with your career, marriage, health, relationships and even to protect your car!

What’s Feng Shui?

Feng Shui means ‘wind and water’ in Chinese. It’s a centuries old oriental art used to balance and harmonize surroundings, to bring good fortune, peace and health. The benefits are also felt by those around you.

Feng Shui is based on the belief that the world around us is filled with energy or Chi, similar to Prana in the Ayurvedic system. For the Chinese, wind and water are symbols of health and good fortune.

Following this premise that by boosting your Chi and by living in harmony with the world’s energy you can bring success and prosperity to your life as well as of those around you, it stands to reason that Feng Shui can also help alleviate stress.

Not everyone is into symbolism or feels comfortable carrying items in their pocket or person or having oriental objects in their home. So how do we work around that?

5 Practical Ideas for Stress Relief – the Feng Shui Way

This week, I’m sharing some ideas of how you can use Feng Shui to relieve stress without going out and buying objects or making it obvious to others what you are doing. I’ve tried all these tips myself over the years and know that they work.

These are all layman tips. If you really want to learn more about Feng Shui, please consult an expert or buy a good book to find out more.

I recommend 2 books. One is by Lillian Too which was published in 2006 but good called  365 Feng Shui Tips

The other is by Karen Kingston, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui: Free Yourself from Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Clutter Forever 

Back to my own layman Feng Shui tips, you have 3 options here.

You can continue reading to learn the tips or if you prefer  slides, view the slideshare presentation.

As a bonus, I’ve also included one of the first videos I made way back in 2014  (but was too shy to upload) until I wrote this blog post. I was still experimenting and even if it isn’t world class, it’s a good video.

Here goes!

Feng Shui Suggestions for Stress Management

Adjust your lighting: Anyone who has ever had headaches and then gone to the optician only to discover that they need spectacles all because of bad lighting will appreciate this tip!

One of the most important elements Feng Shui involves the lighting of your room. All rooms in your home or office should be very well lit to benefit from a feeling of peace and comfort.

Banish Clutter: This one is easy. In my post Want to reduce Stress? You Need to clear Clutter, I’ve written about the indicators about one’s personality and state of life including stress simply by looking at the composition of the clutter and where it was appearing in one’s life.

In Feng Shui, in order to promote calmness, everything should be in its right place.

In other words, organize your space!

It’s really less stressful to be able to pick up your car keys from its allotted place on the front table in the morning rather than first rummaging through piles of newspaper. Or looking for it all over the place, isn’t it?

If clutter is an issue for you, reduce your stress levels by joining the Clutter Free Movement.

Arrange your furniture and fixtures to support your success: When I first learned about this tip, I wanted to jump up with glee because I knew how to do it.

During my school years, I participated in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. One of the skills that I had to accomplish was basic interior decoration.

Our guide, who was a well-known Interior Decorator in India, taught us the basics and the first step was how to plan a room. She used to keep talking about easy flow in the room and preventing blockage of movement in a room.

For example, if I walk into the living room, I should be able to reach the sofa without having to zig zag via tables and other impediments.

From a Feng Shui perspective, the arrangement of furniture and decorations is important. It influences your sense of security, productivity and ability to experience calmness.

Another tip my teacher taught us and I should have guessed that she knew about Feng Shui as she was also my Ikebana instructress was to avoid sharp objects and corners in our decorations. These represent harshness and can impede stress relief actions. I practice it to this day.

If possible, do remove any overhanging shelves and objects as these too affect our sense of security.

According to Feng Shui principles, these overhanging objects are like a cloud hanging over our heads. So banish the clouds and let the sunshine in!

Decorate with nature: You’d have guessed this one from the beginning of the post and yes, gifting someone a bamboo plant is a lovely gesture. It indicates that you wish them well. The gentle bamboo plant actually helps to absorb the negative energy in the house.

How do you know its working?

Despite your taking the best care of the plant, one by one, the leaves of the plant will wilt as they absorb the negative energy. All you have to do when the plant is completely wilted is to replace it with gratitude for plant having supported you.

Other nature-based Feng Shui items include keeping fresh flowers and plants in the home to create a soothing environment.

One point that I would like to mention is that wilted flowers and plants represent tension. If you like to keep dried flowers in the house, then please reconsider.

Use incense and aromatherapy as part of your stress management tool kit: In Eastern cultures, we use incense and joss sticks as part of our prayer rituals and regularly in our everyday life.

The belief is that our prayers are carried towards the Divine through the fragrance of the incense sticks. We use scent for Chakra balancing too.

The principle is the same for Aromatherapy and complements Feng Shui helping to enhance our mood or rid ourselves of a bad mood.

So, take out your aromatherapy book (if you have one) or just Google and find out which aroma can help with your objective. You can actually remove the negative energy from your presence or uplift your mood by using the right aroma.

I can write on forever about the various ways we can use Feng Shui to enhance peace and alleviate stress, but these 5 simple and practical ideas are a great place to start the Feng Shui way of life.

Did any of them appeal to you or are you using them already? Please do share your thoughts and experiences with me!