Basic Feng Shui: Tips To Use Today

This article builds on my introduction to feng shui with specific decorating tips in three categories. These tips are easy and mostly free or cheap to apply.

1. Purify the Air

Clean air is essential to manifesting and maintaining chi or good energy. Here are three ways to clean the air in your home:

• Decorate with air-purifying plants. Plants can remove benzene, formaldehyde and other toxins from your indoor environment. Some top air-purifying plants include Boston ferns, bamboo palms, peace lilies, mums and Gerbera daisies.
• Open your windows to promote air circulation.
• If the outdoor air is polluted or full of natural allergens, use a professional air purifier. Your health will improve, you'll need to dust less frequently, and you'll improve your home's energy.

Let your home capture as much natural light as possible. If you’d like to keep certain windows obscured, use airy drapes or adhesive faux stained glass.

You can also use full-spectrum light bulbs to promote a harmonious environment. These mimic natural sunlight. They’re not only good for feng shui, they may also help combat seasonal depression in areas of the world with little sunlight.

Another option: Use colored light bulbs in strategic ways. If your bagua suggests that some area of your home needs more red, for example, you could try adding a soft pink or red bulb.

This video gives more tips about feng shui and lighting:

Once you’ve attracted chi, don’t let it slip away! For one thing, keep your toilet lid down. Keeping it up has gross health implications because microscopic bits can fly high with a flush. But I digress... From a feng shui perspective, an open toilet is an opportunity for wealth and general chi to drain away.

For the same reason, it’s a good idea to keep river rocks over your shower drain. This will let water drain away while symbolically retaining your accumulated chi.

In conclusion, keep your air pure, welcome the sunlight and don't let chi drain away.

Here are more decorating resources inspired by feng shui.