Beat Holiday Blues with Feng Shui

One of my favorite fall rituals is to fill my trunk with an abundance of the multicolored, unusually shaped pumpkins and gourds that richly grace the Half Moon Bay, N. California coast side where I reside. I especially love the lime- green and tangerine ones with exotic curly handles. I throw in handfuls of dry, crackly autumn-colored corn and drive happily home where I arrange them artfully around a haystack on my front porch.

Inside I arrange a bountiful ‘horn of plenty’ with the smaller multicolored gourds and mini-pumpkins along with the acorns, dry corn and colorful autumn leaves I have collected.

This is my celebration into fall. I don’t really feel it has arrived until I greedily scoop up nature and feature it prominently in my home.

The Chinese art of Feng Shui emphasizes the importance of bringing nature into our living space, which is called the Five Elements Theory. This is the part of Feng Shui that I have found the most powerful when working with my clients, and the part that I most enjoy teaching to my students. I think it must be because this teaching is so intuitive and simple, yet transformational.

As human beings we are connected to 100,000 generations of ancestors who lived in the natural world. It is embedded into our DNA to feel a deep sense of balance and well being in nature. Studies have shown that people become depressed, lethargic and unproductive when deprived of it. We don’t need science to prove the joyousness we feel sinking our feet into white sands while watching a magnificent sunset. We experience it healing our soul and nurturing our spirit.

Next: Bringing nature into the home

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Alicia T.

10:40AM PST on Nov 12, 2010

Great! Thanks!

send a green star

Barbara E.

2:03PM PST on Nov 9, 2010

thanx, I am for serene and cozy. Must be part of my inner kitty emerging. Meowwwww!!! Lol :-)

Sandra G.

9:36AM PST on Nov 7, 2010

Expert advice, and so do'able :)
Thank You Erica for the inspiration!

Sonny H.

3:38AM PST on Nov 7, 2010

Thanks!

Marti W.

10:50AM PDT on Nov 6, 2010

Thanks for the info...

chiari l.

6:39AM PDT on Nov 6, 2010

i need to get some indoor plants.

Mandy H.

5:47AM PDT on Nov 6, 2010

cheers

Annemarie W.

10:18PM PDT on Nov 5, 2010

Marilyn L.

9:49PM PDT on Nov 5, 2010

Thanks for the article.

Barbara V.

5:40PM PDT on Nov 5, 2010

I have tried to decorate my home using nature motifs wherever I can, pictures, lamps, docorative objects (one is the Buddha). The furniture is antique, and what's not antique is Arts & Crafts design, plus William Morris wallpaper and fabric. To top it off, I'm doing a mural on the living room walls of forests and lakes, which are abundant around here since I live on the edge of the Boundary Waters. Nature is the most inspiring of subjects and the most varied!