Feng Shui For Beginners

Feng Shui For Beginners

Feng shui translates to “the way of the wind and water”. It is the Chinese traditional art of arranging buildings, objects and space to achieve balance and harmony within an environment. Beginning with its roots in Taoism, Feng shui is the balance of yin and yang elements. It was originally practised in China and slowly influenced Western cultures.

In feng shui, there’s an emphasis on symbols and colour. You can achieve all that is associated with the five elements of feng shui through colour and symbols. Let’s take a look at some of these elements now.

Room setup with Feng Shui


Feng Shui Tips for Beginners

For those seeking harmony in their home and aren’t sure how to go about achieving it, we’ve compiled some much-needed tips. Feng shui divides the world into the five elements of wood, fire, earth, water, and metal. If a room feels incomplete, off-balance, or slightly just a little off, it may be because these elements aren’t united. Each element inspires a different mood. In doing so, it creates a customised space that speaks to your personality and goals. Let’s break down these elements and see what we can extract from them to help create a home more in line with feng shui.

Wood

Flexibility, kindness, healing is all associated with the wood element. Wood represents growth, progress, and you might need to bring this into your home if you want to encourage more growth. For those with a new beginning, the wood element will benefit you greatly. In feng shui, wood is associated with blue, green, and teal. These colours are not only beautiful but healing and relaxing. You could also incorporate the wood element with plant wall art.

Fire

Fire is passion and emotional expression. It’s fame, inspiration, and visibility. If you’re holding your passion within, if you’re swallowing your emotions and feel them bubbling within your chest, perhaps you need an element of fire within your home. Add fire with the colours red and burning oranges. A pop of these colours here or there will speak to the passion and emotions within you. These colours inspire, they’re intense and stimulating and will be out of place of any room you wish to relax in.

Earth

Earth is self-nourishment and boundaries, stability and well-being. Earth is ground, reliable, and something you need more of when you’re feeling unstable. All in all, it’s the element for self-care. It eases anxiety and is helpful if you want to be more generous towards others. To enhance the earth element, earth-tone colours will help get you there. A splash of yellow or a dash of orange will help enhance the earth element. Or perhaps a touch of brown to further inspire grounding and stability.

Water

Wisdom, socialising, career progression—the element of concern here is water. Just like the ocean, water is deep and still, and just like a river, water is dynamic and ever-flowing. It’s the element for anyone concerned with making connections with other people. It helps to deepen our wisdom, enhance our insight, and provide us with clear intuition. Water colours are black and midnight blue. One may first think these colours are overwhelming and dominating, but we shouldn’t be put off by the dark shades. These water colours inspire deep insight within us.

Metal

Metal qualities are necessary to our lives. The metal elements are connected to joy, beauty, efficiency, and speech. An unwavering element, it concerns our rational selves, our ability to speak up for ourselves and speak out for what is right. You may notice, at times, when you have difficulty articulating your thoughts, which suggests that you may be lacking in the metal element. Bring white, greys, and metallic colours into your décor to activate the metal qualities and access logic and intelligence.

Symbols in Feng Shui

Much of the symbols in feng shui have roots in Taoism. Feng shui uses many symbols to bring harmony and peace to an environment and help to correct the flow of energy. Butterflies symbolise love and freedom in feng shui. These beautiful insects have positive energy, perfect for any wall. The koi fish is another symbol associated with water, encouraging us to swim against the current and achieve prosperity and success. More than being beautiful to look at, flowers emit positive energy and have healing qualities. They are the bright, vibrant parts of nature and bring blessings to the spaces they decorate.

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