9 Basic Feng Shui Cures to Change Your Life

Feng Shui employs nine basic cures in various forms. These objects can be used to:

- resolve unbalanced shapes
- fix “missing” areas of the Ba Gua in a home, apartment or on a plot of land
- adjust or re-direct the flow of chi
- activate specific areas of the Ba Gua related to different areas of your life

Personal Style is King
It's important, when using these Feng Shui cures, to pay attention to your personal style and your home's decor. While an object like a mirror or wind chimes can probably be found to blend in with or fit almost any surroundings, the danger exists of hanging a myriad of objects from your walls and ceilings that result in a cluttered look.

When you practice Feng Shui cures, your intention is not for your home to look like a gift shop in China town. Any Feng Shui cures should enhance your personal style and decor and make your home more comfortable to live in, while balancing, enhancing or redirecting the flow of chi.

For this reason, color (Basic Feng Shui cure #8) is one of the most frequently used Feng Shui cures. Everything must be a color -- why not use the elemental colors in complementary ways to balance the flow of chi?

Immediate Results
Many people see immediate results after employing one of the 9 Feng Shui cures to improve a particular area of their life -- especially when the cure is backed by strong intention. Taking action on the mundane level will increase the positive results to an even greater degree.

Often, seeing the Feng Shui cures in our home remind us of the actions we want to take to improve our lives. Taking this action, in turn, strengthens the power of the cure even more.

These are the 9 basic Feng Shui cures, which we will explore in depth in a series of upcoming posts.

1. Bright or light-refracting objects, such as lights, mirrors, crystal balls. An octagonal mirror, in the shape of the Ba Gua, is considered especially good luck in Feng Shui.

2. Objects that make sounds (wind chimes, bells and music)

3. Living objects, including plants, flowers, trees, fish bowls with living fish, aquariums and other pets.

4. Moving objects include both water features such as fountains and waterfalls, and other objects that move by wind or electrical power, such as mobiles, weather vanes, and windmills.

5. Heavy or symbolically heavy objects, such as stones, statues, rock gardens or a Yu bowl -- a Chinese inkpot with stones in the bottom -- can help “ground” and stabilize chi, creating a sense of stability and longevity.

6. Electric-powered objects, including televisions, computers, etc.

7. Bamboo flutes are frequently used in Feng Shui to raise the chi of a space and for other purposes

8. Colors - The elemental colors help balance the chi of a space

9. Others - This broad category includes the Ba Gua, as well as rituals we perform with strong intention.

Need help to figure out how you should incoporate these items into your space?

For more info, go here: Feng Shui Consultation Options

What Can I Expect During a Feng Shui Consultation?

If you're having problems related to your career, finances, romantic relationships or overall mood, a Feng Shui consultation might help. By altering your environment and surroundings under the watchful guidance of a professional, you'll be able to see positive changes take place in your life.

When a Black Sect Feng Shui consultant visits your home for a consultation, expect an interactive experience. Black Sect Feng Shui employs both transcendental (spiritual) and mundane (connected to everyday life) methods to improve the flow of chi (energy) through your home.

The Feng Shui Ba Gua in Your Home
Black Sect Feng Shui does not use a compass to determine the trigram positions or the direction in which to overlay the ba gua over a space. Instead, the Feng Shui consultant will determine the position by which chi enters your home (usually through a front door, but sometimes through another door), and lay the ba gua over the space with the front door in one of three front sectors of the ba gua.

He will also find the central palace (tai chi position) of your home, and assess the placement of important rooms (including the kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom) in relation to the central line and central palace.

After completing a site survey, in which he uses his knowledge of Feng Shui, observational skills, intuition and other techniques to assess the chi in the space, he will assess your Feng Shui needs in relation to your personal chi and the dynamics of your home.

Working with your Feng Shui Consultant
At the start of the consultation, the Feng Shui consultant will discuss with you the areas of your life you feel need help, where your priorities lie, and what your future goals are.

Be prepared to think -- and speak -- in depth about the areas of life covered by the eight Trigrams and the tai chi position (the central palace). You'll want to consider strong and weak areas of your life, and how your surroundings may affect these areas. It's a good idea to brainstorm your goals in regard to these eight areas. It may help to ask yourself the following questions:

- What role does money play in my life? Do I have enough? Do I spend it (or lose it) as quickly as it comes in? Is increasing my wealth a major goal right now?

- What are my goals in regard to children? Do I want to conceive right now? Do I desire better control as a parent?

- Do I feel creativity lacking in my life?

- What is my reputation at work and in my community? Is it important to me that I'm highly regarded amongst my peers?

- Am I stuck in my career or advancing quickly? What aspects of my business life would I like to improve?

- Am I looking to further my education or take part in career development? Is this a priority right now? How are my children doing in school?

- How is my love life and my relationship with my partner? Or am I seeking a romantic relationship?

- How are my relationships with others in general? Do people help me when I need it? Do my friendships have a fair amount of give and take?

- What is my overall health? Do I have any illnesses or ailments? Do I have a lot of energy everyday? Do I sleep well at night?  

- What is my overall mood? Am I typically in good spirits?

Intention in Feng Shui
Since intention plays such a large role in Feng Shui, it's important to visualize the improvements you'd like to make in your life, and to know that the Feng Shui cures an expert implements will help you to realize these positive changes.

Learn more about working with a Feng Shui consultant to experience your full potential.

The Different Feng Shui Schools Explained

One of the most frequently asked questions/topics that I receive daily has to do with the compass direction of a person's home, bedroom, etc.

This is a big frustration for many, especially if you don't realize that there a variety of different schools of Feng Shui and different levels of understanding. As many start to purchase books and realize that each book is telling them something completley different.

All schools of Feng Shui are based on similar universal knowledge, but have developed different approaches and techniques for identifying and balancing chi.

The two oldest traditional schools are the Form School and the Compass School.

And According to His Holiness Professor Lin Yun Rinpoche (one of the foremost experts in Feng Shui), he considers the most prominent contemporary schools to be Three harmony, Three Era, Nine Stars, Southern school, Taoist schools, Ecclectical School, Yin Yan Schools, and Buddhist Schools.

This is important to know when selecting books or reading articles on Feng Shui as many people get confused because they pick up two different books on Feng Shui based on two different schools of thought and become even more frustrated.

Black Sect Feng Shui

I personally study and practice Black Sect Feng Shui. Of the Buddhist Schools, Black Sect Feng Shui contains traditional Feng Shui knowledge, mixed with the Intangible dimension concerns, having to do with what we can't see, and emphasizes the Three Secret Reinforcements.

Do I Have To Convert?

No, you don't have to convert or need to be a Buddhist to study or practice Black Sect Feng Shui, or for that matter be of any particular faith to apply the principles of this school of Feng Shui. And it can be a great compliment to an existing faith.

What Distinguishes The Black Sect Feng Shui Approach From Traditional Feng Shui?

One important difference is that most traditional schools use the compass and the absolute or cardinal directions as a way of interpreting a given place in terms of wider universal factors. The Black Sect means of doing this involves understanding the site, not in terms of the fixed directions or compass positions, but in terms of the relative direction from which the Chi enters and on the site's unique qualities.

A second difference between the Black Sect and traditional approaches is that traditional approaches emphasize tangible, objective factors, like the placement of a door or window, in appraising a location. The Black Sect also uses such considerations but tends to give a greater emphasis than some other traditions to subjective, intangible forces, derived from one's intuition, while recognizing the great importance of what is seen. Instead of emphasizing the visible and physical primarily, the Black Sect also emphasizes the power of Body, Speech, and Mind through the Three Secret Reinforcements.

In ancient times, BTB Feng Shui assimilated Buddhist teachings from India with the preexisting practices of the Bon lineage in Tibet. As this hybrid developed, it moved into China and further mixed with various cultural influences, including Chinese Feng Shui, Taoism, Confucianism, ancient healing methods, and astrology.

Though Feng Shui has been practiced in various forms throughout the world, it became particularly strong in China, where the BTB practices were integrated to become a cohesive discipline.

Keep in mind that no path has more value than any other; they all simply employ different means to the end.

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