Forward by Jennifer Dixon MBA ERYT 500 – Early this fall, right when we moved into our new location, I was talking about decorating our new space, and I found out that one of our very own members, Janice Lumley knew a little bit about Feng Shui. Of course, I Was super excited to have her share her knowledge, not just with me, but with all of our Thrive Family, so almost immediately, Janice sent me over this post to share.
Do you know how long I’ve been holding this back for you?!?
OH my goodness!!! Janice just had one caveat to this post, she wanted for it be shared near the New Year, to help us all set an intention and start with purpose our 2019. The goal is for each of us to be wiser, blessed, and ready to succeed.
Following, Janice shares her knowledge of Feng Shui and her love for each of us. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did. A couple of times, I couldn’t help but interject….this is deep and truly great stuff!!
Feng shui or fengshui (traditional Chinese, also known as Chinese geomancy, is a pseudoscience originating from China, which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment.) The term feng shui literally translates as “wind-water” in English. Feng shui is one of the Five Arts of Chinese Metaphysics, classified as physiognomy (observation of appearances through formulas and calculations). The feng shui practice discusses architecture in terms of “invisible forces” that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together, known as qi.
There are many, many schools of thought on Feng Shui and concepts on its use. In fact, there is still much to discover in the ideas surrounding the placement of energy. I prefer to look at it from the Energy standpoint here, feel free to investigate to see what suits your abilities to use it as a tool in your life.
The Bagua Map here is one of the main feng shui tools used to analyze feng shui energy in any given space. Translated from Chinese, bagua literally means “8 areas.” The bagua helps to separate or identify 8 areas in any given space, be it your home, office, desk or even body.
In the New Year we are usually thinking about PHYSICAL Resolutions. BUT…Did you know that Feng Shui can be applied to your body? The Bagua map can be used when applying to a person, place or thing. The Western version of Feng Shui is a simpler Bagua application. We are simply looking to the idea of the placement of our Energy. Simply put, the blocks on the Bagua are all overlaid as there is no division but a blending of energy in whatever way you apply it.
How to Apply the Bagua Map to Your Body
We could say our MOUTH is our own physical doorway/entry, like each Breath of air. This can be further refined into what we take in, for example, and even more so by taking into account for certain laws of the body; Nourishment, Movement, Internal and external sanitation, and rest and recuperation —all of these contribute to how we use or misuse our bodies. **
**(Jennifer Note Here)
I love how the center, if the Bagua map, if we are applying it to our bodies, is (at least in yoga) thought of as the HEART CENTER. Think about that for a minute. The heart is the center of our bagua map/our being, and let’s pay particular attention to the condition of our heart relative to the entire body. This could mean the very physical aspects of our heart as related to physical exercise, but it could also be the, deeper, more spiritual side of the heart, and the overall condition of our body. I’m sure you’ve met someone in need of a stronger heart (physically or the more, spiritual side) and I’m sure the effects were evident.
Another thing I love about this map is that just beside the Center—or our hearts, is the Children and Family sections of the map. I hope that we never forget that—whether it is our own DNA family and children, or the family and children we choose. To me, that represents how closely we should hold these relationships to help keep the heart center balanced and healthy.
(Going back to Janice’s post)
This means you and I should consider important choices for our diets as we evolve and adapt to our environment. We are not all alike so this requires adaptation as our bodies change from childhood through adulthood. Just as some triggers fall away or not we have to ask the question WHY?
In addition, we find new ways to move our bodies that suit our life stages. There is no right or wrong way, some prefer more active class choices and others prefer a slower paced class. A good example is in our studio where there are many variations of Yoga to suit members. I know from my personal practice for over five years changes are acceptable and have been required.
We each experience how activity influences our own body systems; Glandular, Eliminative, Nervous, Digestive, Muscular, Circulatory and Rebuilding, even our Skeletal framework. Don’t forget our skin, our biggest organ. Well Being is and should be a strong motivator.
The Body Always is our proving ground.
Rest and Recuperation is a bonus to find stress relief with our hurried lifestyles of home and work.
The chakra Image can be applied here as our powerhouse of energy our energy charging stations being our spiritual connection to our physical expression. We can examine colors associated with each chakra. Seeing how this can be applied to our physical senses of: sight, hearing, taste touch and smell along with our inner faculties. Reason, Will, Imagination, Intuition and Perception and can attune by observing how weak or strong those faculties are.
Knowing how this is setup in our bodies helps us see how we may apply Change in our physical expression to become more balanced.
-
- The Root Chakra. RED Past, Present and Future Life/Blood Vs. Death
- The Sacral. Orange …Relationships with ourselves and others
-
- The Solar Plexus Chakra. Yellow… Tied to family hearth and home
- The Heart Chakra. Green Our center Our Yin and Yang…Health or Dis-ease
-
- The Throat Chakra Blue/Turquoise…Our VOICE …Fame Career Our Expression Place in this world
- The 3rd Eye Chakra. Indigo (red & blue combined) the seat of our higher faculties in the expansion of our super conscious state as in meditation
- The Crown Chakra. Violet …Knowledge and Spirituality our Destiny
We Must Declutter Our Lives in order to receive clearer messages from our Bodies, minds, emotional guidance system and spiritual acts, otherwise, we have more physical dis-ease, mental states of confusion and blocks, emotional imbalance of highs and lows that keep us in confusion and spiritual actions tied to old ideas and beliefs that no longer serve us. The goal of Feng Shui is BALANCE. The whole idea of Yin and Yang is represented.
I hope this opens up higher thoughts on Well Being for 2019.