Spa Magazine

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You meditate, eat well, exercise conscientiously — and yet something's still not quite  right. Sure, your body is your temple, but home is where you house that body. If clutter and poor design are plaguing the space where you seek sanctuary, your energy flow will be disrupted, and you'll miss out on total well-being.

Feng shui, a nature-based aesthetic system that originated in China thousands of years ago, is one way to increase the flow of that energy, or chi, in the home. Americans have been turning to this design philosophy since Nixon's 1972 trip to China sparked a stateside craze for all things Asian. 

Recently, however, the Indian practice of vastu has been making its way into mainstream consciousness thanks to its use in the design of everything from Pepsi's updated logo to scores of new buildings in the bustling super-city of Hyderabad, India. Rooted in the Vedic texts, which were also the basis for yoga and Ayurvedic medicine, this prana-centric practice actually predates feng shui by a few centuries and was the inspiration for the Chinese system. Both methods emphasize the importance of living in harmony with your surroundings, and both prana and chi can be understood as a vital, life-sustaining energy.

We asked Sherri Silverman, author of Vastu: Transcendental Home Design in Harmony With Nature, and Malibu-based feng shui practitioner Bellene Hong to share a few suggestions for bringing harmonious energy into a living space.

• The northeast is a sacred zone. Placing a water feature here — perhaps a trickling fountain or a beautiful bowl with flowers floating in it — will increase ease in life, abundance, and serenity.
• Sleep with your head in the south for healing or in the east to increase consciousness. Avoid sleeping with your head in the north — it accelerates the aging process.
• The north is the area of career and finance. Ideally there should be windows or doors in that direction to let in nourishing energies, but if there aren't, paint the walls a shade of green or place living plants in the area. 
• Take a look at the front door of your house. No matter what direction it faces, this entrance symbolizes your career; a front door in disrepair could mean a sagging career path. Paint it red to bring energy to your work.
• If you're trying to bring romance into your life, clear out anything in your bedroom that symbolizes singlehood — photos of one figure, for example. Create space on both sides of your bed for matching nightstands or lamps, and bring in a pair of figurines: The luckiest are wooden mandarin ducks.
• To bring wealth into your life, create an environment that is welcoming to prosperity. This can be as simple as making small fixes around the house, such as replacing an old shower curtain or rebinding the edges of a frayed rug. By treating yourself as if you are prosperous, you become so.