Ultimate Feng Shui Basics for Peace and Abundance

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Interior design using feng shui basics
Table of Contents
Summary: Here are some important feng shui basics to create a calming and enriched environment that brings you more health, happiness, and abundance.
Contents

If you want to harness the power of this ancient wisdom, it’s important to be clear about the basics of feng shui. Here’s your guide to learning the fundamental principles of it.

The History of Feng Shui

The ancient Chinese art, feng shui means wind (feng) and water (shui).

It was developed over thousands of years through careful experimentation and observation to balance physical environments, promote harmony, instill a sense of well-being, and improve every aspect of your life — from health and wealth to relationships and career. 

The goal of feng shui is to harmonize and align invisible energy forces that bind the universe, earth, and humanity together — known as qi (or chi).  

Historically, feng shui was one of the five Chinese metaphysical arts classified as physiognomy (observation of appearances through formulas and calculations) to favorably align or position buildings, structures, and spaces influenced by heavenly time and earthly space.

Today, the concept of feng shui basics points to a contemporary, practical approach to arranging objects within a particular environment to create harmony, balance, and good qi.

Through the use of certain tools such as color, numbers, symbols, textures, and influencers, feng shui identifies spaces that are distorted and readjust the energy flow to promote health, happiness, and abundance.

Contemporary Feng Shui Basics

Contemporary feng shui basics grew from two very different but authentic schools, the Form school, and the Compass school:

The Form School (Three-Gate Method)

The Form School analyzes the shape of the environment, the land, and the flow of the wind and water to find a place with ideal qi.

It takes into consideration:

  • The five celestial animals (phoenix, green dragon, white tiger, black turtle, and the yellow snake)
  • The yin-yang concept
  • Natural elements (wood, fire, earth, water, air, metal, and space)
  • Important events such as the birth of a certain space or structure.

The Compass School

The Compass School is based on the eight cardinal directions or eight mansions each having a unique qi.

It uses the Luo Pan, a disc marked with formulas in concentric rings around a magnetic feng shui compass that refers to the union of heaven and earth; specifically to the electromagnetic field that holds all matter together.

Compass School feng shui is best used in conceptual architecture before construction begins.

House design with feng shui

What Are the Feng Shui Rules?

1. Qi (Chi) Energy

The always moving and changing life force. The goal is to keep chi flowing gently throughout the environment — rather than running straight through it. However, if gets stuck or blocked, chi has an adverse effect on the surroundings.

2. The Natural Elements

Fire, earth, metal, water, air, space, and wood — each is distinguished by a characteristic shape, color, texture, and set of attributes.

Feng shui balances all of these elements to create positive energy.

3. The Bagua

A chart mapping out energy centers or “guas” within a space to determine where to place objects that represent your life’s journey, and match them with corresponding energy elements.

The Bagua translates to a grid-shaped chart to map nine areas of your life:

  1. Power, wealth, abundance
  2. Fame, future, reputation
  3. Love, relationships, marriage
  4. Creativity, children, legacy
  5. Compassion, travel, helpful people
  6. Self, career, work
  7. Knowledge, wisdom, harmony
  8. Family, health, community
  9. Wellbeing, balance, vitality

Bagua is a powerful tool for manifesting your dreams and goals because of the energy centers that correspond to specific areas of your life and thus can be improved and strengthened to help you succeed.

A variety of tools are available to balance energy in a space, and their efficacy depends on the particular situation. Tools include light, water, wind, sound, color, art, growing things, mirrors, crystals, and objects significant to your goals and dreams.

feng shui at home

How Can I Improve My Feng Shui at Home?

ItHere are a few key elements of feng shui Symbolism to bring more harmony and balance into your home.

Remove your shoes before entering your home

Form a habit of leaving the stress of your work, commuting, or bad days outside and cast out the worries, troubles, and dirt of the outside world. It’s a purposeful way to allow only peaceful energy to come inside.

Decluttering

It’s an important tip in feng shui basics that can apply to anything in your life: your head, your phone, your room, and so on.

Clutter represents stuck energy. It keeps you tied to the past and prevents new opportunities, experiences, and new relationships from entering your life, making you feel that life is unnecessarily complicated.

Start by checking your home for things you don’t love, use, or need. Look for too many things in too small a space, things that are untidy or disorganized, and unfinished projects. Then clear, repair, and clean (use water with sea salt) to allow energy to move more freely.

Do a space cleansing and house blessing

Remove negative energy, sadness, fear, anger, or disappointments from the past and spread fresh energy for attracting new opportunities. Space clearing can be done by burning sage and walking throughout the house while whispering words of love and prosperity.

Let in an abundance of light, fresh air, and greenery

Open the doors and windows – invite nature’s oxygen in and let the fresh energy flow through. Allow your body’s natural cycle to slowly move towards night by using soft lights and dimmers in rooms.

Turn your home into your castle

Make your home a sanctuary fit for a king or queen. Create a space filled with love and free from tension with the things you love and from which you can feel good chi emanate. Remember it’s all about how much good energy you let circling, not about how much the objects cost.

Learn more: Feng Shui Bedroom Layout Tips for Romance, Health & Wisdom

Use enhancers

The magic happens when placing certain items in specific Bagua zones corresponding to the area of life you wish to enhance. Some have symbolic power meaningful only to you, others a real connection to the electromagnetic energy of that area — but both are placed to improve and emit energy.

What makes feng shui enhancers work, is when you see that object or symbol, you are reminded of the energy it attracts and emits. For that few seconds that you focus on it, you’re reminded of your goal or dream (the reason you placed it there), and thus your thoughts attract that energy.

For instance, if you chose an object that reminds you of a constant money flow, and you see it every day, you’re constantly reminded of abundance flowing to you. The object in itself isn’t bringing in the flow of abundance, it’s the meaning you’ve attached to it which makes you experience the flow of it, and through that gets attracted to you.

Feng shui coins attract the energy of wealth and money.

Feng Shui Colors

Feng Shui Colors

Color is one of the easiest ways to energize your home or office for good feng shui. Color is very powerful, as it is an expression of light, and way too many spaces are starving for light.

Knowing how to use color to strengthen and balance energy is a complex subject. The best is to incorporate a combination of three colors at the most and choose colors according to the energy you need to circulate.

Choose colors for harmony

  • Soft and neutral colors provide a sense of calm.
  • Incorporate blues, lavenders, greens, peaches, and other soothing earth tones into the paint, bedding, artwork, fabrics, or decorative objects.
  • Choose what colors would make you feel happy and peaceful, then find a way to introduce it into various spaces. 
  • Overuse of white can cause what is referred to as a ‘white occurence’ delivering too much cold energy, so it’s important to add other touches of color to offset this effect.

Feng Shui Sound

Soothing sounds of nature

Create a playlist of natural sounds, such as gentle waves, mountain streams, chirping birds, or a gentle breeze through the leaves. When you listen to sounds of nature, your heart rate slows down, your breathing becomes more expansive, and your nerves calm down. 

Sound healing

Incorporate a melodious tingle of large bells, chimes, or a Tibetan singing bowl. Remember to concentrate especially in dark corners where sunlight is not accessible, to move the energy into a higher vibration.

House design with feng shui

Feng Shui Intention

Good intention is the key ingredient in whether or not the steps are taken to attract positive qi will result in success or not. So everything about feng shui must be done with the intention of its effectiveness and not in doubt of its efficacy.

A positive frame of mind with a benevolent outlook, and a healthy respect for oneself and others, is the magic mantra that invites well-being.

How Feng Shui Helps You Succeed 

Just for a moment, imagine a space where you can finally breathe and exhale. Where your mind can unwind, your body relaxes with peace, and bliss becomes tangible in the atmosphere.

A space that supports you, your needs, your goals, and your dreams. Where everything is methodically designed for alignment, and to improve your health, prosperity, relationships, and overall happiness.

How do you attract money in feng shui?

If you’re specifically looking to attract greater wealth, there are several items you can put up in your home:

Final Feng Shui Takeaways

By applying feng shui, the subtle energies of your spaces support and promote your aspirations, whether for greater abundance, health, romance, and companionship or simply to reignite a renewed zest for life.

When your space is calm, your thoughts slow down and you can begin to hear the guidance of your soul. Your spirit is renewed within an environment totally set up to restore your physical and spiritual energy.

When you design a healthy living environment with the above-mentioned feng shui basics, there’s a natural sense of ease and harmony circling, in which you will feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and inspired to move towards your dreams and where everything transcends into an effortless energy flow.

A flow that brings about happiness, peace, and prosperity.

Watch the First Lesson of the Quest

Feng Shui For Life With Marie Diamond

Harness the energy of your surroundings to uplift your living and working spaces, and your life in this program with Marie Diamond: one of today's most sought-after Feng Shui mastersGet started for free

Irina Yugay

Irina Yugay

As a former self-development and self-transcendence writer at Mindvalley, Irina uses words to transpire empowering ideas, transcendental feelings, and omniversal values. She's also an ascension coach who helps her clients grow their spiritual awareness and actualize their true nature. With a deep empirical understanding of the spiritual journey, Irina shares her insights and experiences with the readers to inspire them to transcend their limiting beliefs and achieve higher states of consciousness.
Written by

Irina Yugay

As a former self-development and self-transcendence writer at Mindvalley, Irina uses words to transpire empowering ideas, transcendental feelings, and omniversal values. She's also an ascension coach who helps her clients grow their spiritual awareness and actualize their true nature. With a deep empirical understanding of the spiritual journey, Irina shares her insights and experiences with the readers to inspire them to transcend their limiting beliefs and achieve higher states of consciousness.
Marie Diamond - Trainer
Expertise by

Marie Diamond is the trainer of Mindvalley’s Feng Shui for Life Quest and Success Magic Quest. She is a globally renowned transformational teacher, leader, speaker and international best-selling author, creator of Diamond Feng Shui, Diamond Dowsing, and Inner Diamond Meditation programs. She is also the only European star in the worldwide phenomenon, “The Secret.”

Marie uses her extraordinary knowledge of energy, quantum physics, the Law of Attraction, and ancient wisdom like meditation, Feng Shui, and Dowsing to support individuals, organizations, and corporations to transform their success, financial situation, relationships, motivation, and inspiration.

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