9 Ways to Heal Family Issues with Feng Shui

Feng Shui teaches that there are certain parts of the home that corresponded to key areas of our lives. By working with these energy centers we can  identify what is going on in that area of our life, and enhance it by putting objects there that would encourage the chi (energy) to become activated.

If family relationships are not as wonderful as you would like, or you or a loved one’s health is of concern, here are some ways to strengthen the energy center of your home that is directly connected to them.

The portion that relates to Feng Shui has to do with charting the nine energy centers of your home by using what is called the Bagua Map. This tool comes out of the ancient Chinese book of wisdom and divination, the I Ching.

Bagua translated means eight trigrams. These trigrams refer to important areas of our lives such as wealth, health, love, career, self-cultivation, fame, creativity, helpful people, etc. In this article I will talk about how to locate, activate and enhance the Health and Family areas of your home.

Health and Family Defined

Health and Family is about our family as our support systems when trouble or storms come our way. It is connected to the wood element represented by a tree, which has roots that go deep into the earth. It is about good health as well as the protection of ancestors, and retaining inner stability when chaos happens around us. It deals with the healing of relationships and broken circles in the family. (Family refers to your biological family or those whom you choose to be your family.) It also deals with money and sustenance on a daily basis such as making the monthly bill payments – not the extra things in life like vacations and, boats, etc (these enhancements belong in the wealth area).  Health and Family is about making enough money to pay the rent, food, etc.

You may want to enhance this area of your home if your health or that of a loved one is poor, you are recovering from or planning a surgery, or if relationships are strained between a close friend and/or family member. You may be struggling with weight issues, or those related to self-acceptance and self-worth. Anything that relates to health and family issues would fall under this category.

How to Enhance your Health and Family Energy Center

Here are some Feng Shui recommendations for enhancing this important energy center of your home. You should choose the objects that have the most meaning to you and place them in this area. Remember, Feng Shui is not about putting something into your space that you don’t like or can’t relate to; it is about choosing objects that have personal meaning to you.

Enhancements:

• Pictures of healthy plants and landscapes. A more personal enhancement would be a picture of a tree or plant that you personally love. (See my article on your personal nature meditation).
• Written affirmations about your ideal health/outcome placed in a health and family box in this area. If you struggle to make ends meet, enhance this area with affirmations about your ability to support yourself and your loved ones. Affirmations should always be with gratitude, in present tense as if they are true now; end your affirmation with “this, or something better for the good of all concerned.” (An “affirmation” box can be a box that you love.)
• Always keep a healthy plant in this area; even if you can’t grow plants, this is the area to have at least one. (Never keep a plant that is limping along in any area of the home, especially the health and family area!) If you can’t have a live plant, pictures of plants or vibrant silk ones are the next best.
• Objects made from wood
• Floral prints, wall papers and fabrics
• Family heirlooms that carry a personal meaning to you, or are related to the person/s of concern
• Mementos from the person you are concerned about i.e. a picture of the loved one in a happier and /or healthier time, perhaps a joyous family gathering….
• Personal mementos and pictures that are symbolic of vibrant good health and/or positive family (or friend) relationships.
• Personal artwork and/or objects that represent what it is you desire to bring into your life in terms of health and family. Vision boards and collages you make are the most powerful. Make it personal and put your own positive chi into creating it.

Collage and Vision Board Themes:

• If you are working with weight issues, find pictures representing your ideal body type.
• If you struggle with self-acceptance, images of you as you are loving and enjoying life would be the most affirming.
• Do collages of the loved one you are concerned about surrounded by vibrant flowers, trees and positive words depicting what you envision for them would also be very potent.
• If you are working on getting pregnant, pictures of happy families in this area would affirm this desire.
• If you are struggling to make ends meet, this is the area to enhance (the wealth area is for luxury and the extra things in life). Get creative and make money mobiles and collages representing your ability to manifest the money to sustain you and your loved ones on a daily basis.

Look closely at this area  and make sure everything is affirming vibrant, good health, including your art work. Negative subjects might be powerful art, but it is too powerful for us to live with. Feng Shui teaches that everything in our physical environment carries an energy that is moving our lives forward in that direction. Make sure your art is working for, not against you!

How to Put the Bagua Map onto your Home and Identify your Health and Family Area

To learn more about the Bagua, my article on the The Energy Centers of Your Home will go into further detail. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to put the Bagua Map onto the floor plan of you home and locate your personal health and family area.

1. Draw a sketch of the floor plan of your space. This should be the birds-eye view as if you are looking down on it. Include all built-on decks, stairways and attached garages. If you live in a condo, apartment or one room, draw the shape of this as if you are looking down from above.

2. Draw a square or rectangle over the floor plan in the shape of the Bagua map. Stretch it out into a long skinny rectangle if need be. All of the areas of the home need to be within the square or rectangle. If your home is an irregular shape, still draw the rectangle or square around it. If it is an L shape, still draw a square shape around your L-shaped home, and any other shape your home may take. Many homes are not rectangular or square and may be missing areas, instructions as to what to do for missing areas is below.

3. Stand at the front door with the map parallel to the floor with the Entrance Quadrant touching your stomach. This will tell you the direction to overlay the Bagua map onto the floor plan of your home.

4. Now divide your home with the Bagua map overlaid on it in nine equal sections. This will identify for you where all of the key nine areas are of your home are. The wealth area will always be the far left quadrant of the home and the Love and Marriage the far right section, etc.

5. If your home is not a rectangle or square, you may be missing areas of the Bagua. If this is the case, you can do a mini-Bagua for each room of your home and enhance the health corner of each room. Treat the main entrance to the room like you would the front door of the home and lay the Bagua accordingly. This energetically brings back into the space the missing area.

6. If you have more than one floor of your home, whatever is below is above. You do not turn the Bagua differently for each floor. In which case you may have more than one Health and Family area, the same rules of enhancement apply to all areas!

Free offer to my Care2 readers:

For those who would like a copy of my Free Color Bagua Map with instructions on how to lay it over your home, Please click here. (PDF format)

Erica Sofrina is the Founder of the Academy of Feng Shui and author of the book Small Changes, Dynamic Results! Feng Shui for the Western World