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Looking in all the right places

By on March 29, 2010

Photo © Elena Derevstova

 

Feng Shui, like business, operates on the principle of “location, location, location”. While most modern approaches to Feng Shui stress the importance of placing objects inside your home in the right location, the origin of this ancient art, and still an essential aspect of its practice is the location of the home in relation to the outer environment. Let’s examine some principles to consider if choosing where to purchase or build a home or apartment building. 

 

A balance between yin and yang is essential in Feng Shui; you want to ensure that you are in a relaxing and peaceful setting without it being stagnant. While you may want to have privacy, it is also important that your home be accessible; you want to ensure that the outer world can find you in order to bring you blessings. While it seems that every home in Japan is around the corner from a vending machine and down the road from the shrine, it is better to be easily found and not located in a dead end. While on the "dead" theme, being located next door to hospitals and graveyards is not considered beneficial. Certainly, being close to medical care is convenient, but better to be a few blocks away than right next door. 

 

The traffic flow outside your home has an impact on the quality of energy that reaches you. It is not suggested to be at the end of the road facing oncoming traffic. If your front door faces cars driving directly towards you, you might feel that you are fielding a lot of aggressive energy and are faced with an onslaught of tasks beyond your capacity. Real-estate agents state that homes at the end of T-junctions tend not to sell well, and there are many reports in Feng Shui circles about how residents in such homes face serious health problems (and I have seen such situations in my practice). Changing the direction of the pathway to the door and cautious landscaping can help shield inhabitants from this cutting energy.

 

The ancient Chinese had a preference for south-facing homes, the advantage being the increased sunlight bringing warmth and life-nurturing energy into your space. (Of course, if you live in the southern hemisphere, north-facing would be ideal.) Choose an area that has access to lots of light, and preferably surrounded by natural growth – but do pay attention to the foliage. If you are scouting locations in the winter, you might not realize how blooming trees in the summer can change the quality of light. Ensure that trees are not too close to the building or you might feel trapped inside.

 

May your surroundings welcome you home every day!

 

Mark Ainley is a contemporary Feng Shui consultant based in Vancouver. A former resident of Tokyo, he consults internationally for home and business owners. 

To contact him, write him at markainley@gmail.com or visit www.markainley.com

About Mark Ainley

Mark Ainley is a Contemporary Feng Shui Consultant and Emotional Stress Consultant living in Vancouver. A former 5-year resident of Tokyo, Mark consults with clients internationally to help them design living and work spaces in alignment with their goals. He also provides consulting in emotional stress management, as well as in the connection between facial structure and innate behavioural and communication patterns. He can be reached through his website: www.senseofspace.com and www.markainley.com.