SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
Lo Pan - Feng Shui Compass
Feng Shui ("foong shway") is the ancient Chinese art / science of "auspicious placement". Starting as a way of properly laying out farms and the ritual placement of burial sites, upon the movement of the population to urban centers feng shui became more of an indoor pursuit and began to make allowances for energy flow due to what we would now call interior decorating concerns.
Now whether you believe in the energy flow aspect or not feng shui certainly makes sense here in the West if you look at it as being a way of ensuring good flow patterns, not necessarily of energy but of people (and critters, I suppose). Such rules as never having the head of your bed under a window makes sense if you think of the drafts you might catch; not having a mirror placed where you will see it upon first waking? Well, what do YOU look like when you first get up? Wouldn't that be enough to give ANYONE a heart attack?
Translating feng shui into common-sense home design makes a lot of sense for older adults who might be experiencing some mobility problems. A simple re-arrangement of living-room furniture might reduce the number of bruised shins; that it would be seen by a feng shui expert as "enhancing the flow of Qi" is just coincidental. Having fresh flowers and plants in the home is a no-brainer, and although we probably can't re-orient our houses we CAN take advantage of such energy-savers as thermal gain (opening the curtains to let the sunshine in) and thermal mass (close them when the sun goes down).
If you're interested in some of the more traditional aspects of feng shui you might check out Traditional Feng Shui or join Yahoo's Traditional Feng Shui Discussion Group. For a modern Western take on feng shui check out Lillian Too's site and HGTV's take on home design.
