The Feng Shui Guy Blog

intro to feng shui with wine and chocolate

WHERE: SWERVE 8250 West 3rd St. #205
WHEN: Saturday June 25th 5-8 PM
INVESTMENT: $35 if registered by June 22nd $45 after or bring a date and get $10 off the second tuition

Join SWERVE and Feng Shui expert, Ariel Joseph for a fantastically fun evening that feels more like a playshop than a workshop! We’ll delight in wine and chocolate pairings between 2 talks about balance, flow and the truth about Feng Shui and how it can help promote a more vital, prosperous and peaceful life for you and your beloveds. Bring your questions to be answered in detail.

It’s everything you always wanted to know about Shway but were afraid to ask.

You may ask how to:

• Call in the one
• Spice up your love life.
• Kick that career up a notch.
• Get the junk out of more than your trunk(s)
• Manifest your dreams (abundance in all areas)
• Increase your energy.
• Avoid energy vampires.

THIS CLASS WILL BE CREATED AROUND YOUR QUESTIONS. GET CREATIVE. YOU CAN ASK ABOUT ANY THING YOU WANT.

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The Law of Relative Replacement

There are many approaches to feng shui: many schools, many philosophies and many cultures.

When you start to realize how much information is out there, it can be a bit overwhelming. There is the study of earth energies, influence of the suns trajectory and the magnetic energy of the north poles. There is a collection of thousands of years of study into the “right way” to lay out your space. There are ba’gua maps and cures and ancient energies called Chi.

Add in some cultural superstitions, some books that share conflicting philosphies and peoples worry about doing it wrong…sometimes this whole feng shui thing can be overwhelming!

One principle to consider in feng shui is the law of relative placement which states: that which is closest to you has the most impact on you.

If you paint a wall red on the other side of the room, or clear out your storage unit, or even fix all of the broken items leading to the front door of your space…will that help you?

Absolutely.

But what is closer to you than your storage unit, your front pathway and the wall across the room? The furniture you are sitting next to. The floor under your feet. Your cellphone/laptop and watch. The clothes on your body. Your energy system. The food you are digesting. Thoughts in your head.

Each of these environments impacts you. Studies show that color on the walls can affect your mood. Neuroscience tells us that the shapes of rooms can affect the way our minds work. The images we look at can influence what we think about: consciously or unconsciously.

And it goes beyond what can be seen with the eye. Electronics can affect our mental states, our physical health and our energy systems. Black mold and dust can be detrimental to our ability to breath which can affect our overall health. And residual chi (or the energy left over in the space from whatever happened before) can affect the new inhabitants and affect their experiences now, today.

So what can we take from all of this? Stay mindful of the environment that immediately surrounds where you spend the most time each day: Beds, desks, couches, and cars. This also goes for the cellphone you hold up to your ear, the clothes you wear (seen and unseen, as well as what you have running inside your head on a regular basis.

Every environment has an impact on your well-being, your longevity and your ability to do what you say you want to do. Start with what is closest to you and work your way outward.

Here are two fun quotes to contemplate:

“When there is harmony in the home,
There will be order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There will be peace in the world.”
-Chinese Proverb

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” -Gandhi

Have a wonderful spring,
Ariel Joseph

Feng Shui Guy on AngelEnergyTV

Recently, Ariel Joseph Towne, the Feng Shui Guy, was featured on AngelEnergyTV. Check him out in these two videos!

5 Feng Shui Tips to Improve Your Life.

1. Make some space or You Can’t Pick Up Something New In Your Life Unless You Put Down What You Are Holding Onto
   Our stuff, like gravity, has an effect on us whether you believe in feng shui or not. Look at shows like Hoarders which show the effects of clutter on peoples lives. Also people like Suze Orman talk about getting your home in order because it can have a direct relationship with your financial life. If you have “stuff” all around you it is like an emotional barrier to the world. The goal in feng shui is 50% stuff, 50% space. (I can suggest an easy process on how to declutter an area which requires no thought.)
2. On Purpose and With Purpose or The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
   Intention is a huge part of feng shui. You don’t just buy a plant and throw it in the corner and expect that the plant is “doing anything” to help you on your path to increased wealth or growth in business. You would actually need to place the item, visualize the end result you are intending and then do a little blessing or prayer or just say thank you. This process can be replicated over and over again throughout the setup or design of a space. It is only when our homes have pockets of unconsciousness that problems arise.)
3. Create an ‘energetic’ clean slate or getting rid of things that soap, water and a sponge can’t get to.
   For every layer of paint in the apartment building, there is a layer of energy from those past inhabitants. This is called inheritors chi (residual energy.) This energy can be positive (happy family, successful business or lots of love and passion) or negative (someone was fighting, someone went bankrupt or someone suffered—they were sick or even died in that space.) It is important to take energetic ownership of a space when you move in. Performing a space-clearing or blessing or even having a housewarming party are all good ways to take ownership of a space.
4. Cloistered Nun Position or The top reasons your space is screaming that you are single.
   When we are children we want to feel safe and protected. For this reason we would put a child’s bed up against the wall. When we are older, putting our bed into this position makes up appear closed off to love. Literally, there is no room on the other side of the bed for someone to enter. Or the bed is too small for two people. Either way, this is having an affect on your love life because you are putting forth a message that your life is set up for one person. Or that you are protecting yourself against love. And it is an invisible element that people pick up on about you, like confidence. What is your bedroom saying about you?
5. Who’s Got Your Back? Or What the Godfather knew about Feng Shui but didn’t tell anyone (or he’d have to kill them.)
   Sitting with your back to the door is a feng shui no-no. It can affect us on many levels from our health (not seeing what is behind you can trigger low levels of anxiety/fight or flight to be activated in a person which over time can erode our immune system), wealth and power (sitting like a king or a queen, or the godfather feels different than being a worker bee with your back exposed) and more…Whether it be psychological (feeling empowered) or practical (I won’t be shot in the back of the head) there are many reasons why this positioning for our furniture can help us on many levels. We can also create a feeling of protection by making sure someone “has our back” whether it be bodyguards, soldiers or images that we hang behind our desks.

Creating Win-Win Solutions

A win-win solution is one that is for the highest good of all parties involved. To me this is the epitome of a balanced exchange. It is the embodiment of symbiosis, mutualism and co evolution. In its most simplest form, it is treating others as we wish to be treated.

I love looking for win-win solutions but they don’t always present themselves right away. They aren’t easy at first, because in order to make room for something new in life we have to put down what we are holding onto. Over time, I find peoples tendencies are to get complacent, numb out and finally to stop paying attention altogether.

I think that it can be easy to let go of things that we don’t want to make room for things that we want. I also think that it is harder to let go of things that we want to make room for things that we really want. The reason this has so much meaning for me is that anything less than a win-win scenario seems to create an imbalance which is both unsustainable and ultimately unfulfilling.

A lose-lose scenario is one in which both parties feel that their needs are not being met. This environment is toxic, unfulfilling and is not likely to continue for long periods of time. This is also the most obvious example of something that doesn’t work. Win-loses can be more elusive.

A win-lose scenario is where one party benefits and the other party does not. Or it can refer to a situation where you feel fulfilled on one level but empty or uncomfortable on another.

In nature this is defined as parasitism. One entity leeches off the other and drains it. This is unsustainable because the party being drained will grow tired of being taken advantage of and the parasite is constantly wondering where it’s next “meal” will come from.

What if we are doing these things to ourselves?

I believe that people attempt to take energy from one another, or create imbalanced exchanges because they don’t know there is an alternative, they can’t conceive of how the alternative will truly work or because they don’t trust that such an exchange will work.

To change this starts with an awareness that every experience contains within it some sort of exchange. There is an exchange of energy when we purchase something, when we go to work and offer service and when we make love to one another. What are you exchanging?

-Ariel