So I went to a seminar a couple days ago titled "Green Chi". Essentially, it was about integrating Feng Shui and green concepts into your design. I was hesitant at first. "Feng Shui" and "Green" are probably 2 of the most over-marketed terms of the last decade, and the thought of them being combined was just a little scary.
The seminar was hosted by Linda Lenore, who is legit as a Feng Shui Master (studied around the world under 18 masters, and became a master herself in a ceremony in the Canary Islands).
There were a lot of terms and concepts thrown at us, from various schools of Feng Shui. I'm not necessarily sold on it (though not completely against it either), but here's the cool thing about the whole seminar: The idea of feng shui and green design really just comes down to the purpose of design in general: It's about using your surroundings to make you feel better physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. And that's what design is all about.
A quote she used from Winston Churchill: "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." Love it.
So it's about common sense, and making people feel good. The end.
That being said, I couldn't help thinking about some of her points and how they apply to our home.
According to her Feng Shui guidelines, the front of our house is attracting tons of good energy. For these reasons (please note I'm paraphrasing, or dumbing it down for my own sake):
1. Its position. It sits slightly uphill - this spot is referred to as the "seat". This means there's a back to the seat, which is typically a mountain, though in our case our back neighbor's house at a higher elevation, and eventually the foothills as you go even further back. There are chair "arms" to the left and right, which are ideally mountains or hills but can also be neighbors' houses in more urban locations. The back and arms protect the house. And the lower elevation at street level is the "water", so sitting slightly raised protects us from flooding.
2. It's red. Red and yellow colors attract energy. This is one reason why painting a door red is a big deal. Though in my opinion, red doors just look good.
3. The plants and their aromas attract good energy. (We just transplated our lilac bush to the front yard because our dog kept digging it up, so hopefully we'll soon have even more good energy coming our way!)
4. The path to the front door is a winding path. Apparently a straight path pushes the energy too fast and that's not good.
So we've supposedly got this abundance of good energy being attracted to our house. The problem is, I'm pretty sure it immediately leaves once it gets past the front door...
