Discovering Feng Shui
Art: Robert Kopecky
What does your cluttered garage have to do with the state of your marriage? More than you might expect. Just ask local Susan Duffield. Nearly ten years ago, she was going through some tough times with her husband. A friend of hers suggested looking at her home’s floor plan with the eye of a feng shui professional. “Turns out my ‘intimacy corner’ was the corner of my garage,” Duffield explains with a smile. “Let’s just say it wasn’t the least-cluttered area of my home.”
That was the beginning of Duffield’s relationship with feng shui — the ancient Chinese art devoted to arranging your surroundings to influence positively all aspects of your life. Some ten years after that first big cleaning of the garage, Duffield is now the owner of Bamboo Monkey, a feng shui consulting company with clients throughout Utah.
“For me, feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is a reflection of self displayed in your surroundings,” Duffield says. “[The term feng shui] translates literally to ‘wind and water’ and ‘the seen and unseen forces of nature.’ Feng shui is about living in balance and harmony with Mother Nature.” The ancient Chinese believed that if we could live in harmony with our environment, we would attract good luck and prosperity. Slowly, this concept is becoming more widely accepted and studied in the West — and Park City is no exception.
Duffield explains that the spaces around us create a subconscious dialogue. Rearranging her surroundings and becoming more aware of them helped her open up a new dialogue within her marriage. “It’s not about decorating the home,” she clarifies. “It’s about understanding how your surroundings affect you.”
Feng shui can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Professional practitioners of feng shui realize that textures, colors, light and placement of objects all play an essential role in an individual’s well-being.
For Miranda Jacobsen, a faux painter in Park City, it’s something you can sense when you enter a room. “When you walk into someone’s home, you can feel whether or not the energy flows.” Jacobsen pays close attention to colors in her home and is acutely aware of clutter. “So much of feng shui is truly common sense,” Jacobsen says. “It’s about taking care of your environment and taking care of yourself.”
Taking care, for many, means addressing clutter that is piling up in drawers, closets and corners of your home. Reducing clutter has a direct impact on how quickly the benefits of feng shui can become manifest in your life.
Duffield recommends starting small, clearing and organizing one area at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. “As clutter is removed, space is created for new energy, opportunities and abundance,” she says.
Feng Shui is about intuition. Duffield emphasizes that if something in your surroundings doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. “Consider moving certain items in your home to different locations. If we accept things that do not feel good to us, we will create that pattern in many aspects of our lives.”
Local Michelle Skally Doilney is a certified feng shui consultant who has studied in China and Tibet as well as with Professor Thomas Lin Yun, the man who brought the feng shui system most Americans are familiar with from China in 1986. “Feng shui is such a funny sounding term for people,” Doilney says. “People imagine that a feng shui consultant is going to turn their office into a pyramid or something,” she laughs, “but it’s really just so practical. It’s about how you feel when you’re in a space — a home, a garden, an office. What it really boils down to is being mindful. What do you have in your space? Do you need it? How do you use it? How do you walk through a room? Where is the furniture placed? Are there comfortable places for people to sit? In an office, is it organized so that you can reach everything you need?”
Doilney is using her expertise not only in private homes, but now in the business sector. Married to developer Jim Doilney, who’s building the Newpark Hotel, Michelle is designing the furniture for the building with feng shui in mind. “The focus of the hotel is balance. Our motto is ‘live, work, play.’ How do we emphasize nature and find ways to bring nature into people’s interior spaces? Our goal is to showcase the adjacent Swaner Nature Preserve. We’re working on making the hotel feel warm and welcome using nature, with the view being the number one thing. How can people use these units when they are cooking, sleeping and working? Does it feel homey? How can we make it a place where special memories will be made?”
Another principle of the hotel is ‘practical luxury.’ “I’ve been designing custom furniture with Basset in Salt Lake City,” explains Doilney. “Our goal is to cut down on clutter and increase function. We’re getting away from the unnecessary. For example, we have a cocktail table that stores the sofa bed linens and has a table top that can be raised for dining while you’re sitting on the couch. We’re also designing a custom sleep system. It’s critical when you’re on vacation to get a good night’s sleep so that you have good energy. We’ve spent a lot of time getting the best bedding and building custom beds with adjustable bedside lamps and a bed frame with drawers underneath, eliminating the need for a separate dresser. That’s what feng shui is all about — using balance and comfort to enhance each day. Guests will walk into this hotel when it’s done and never know a feng shui consultant has been here. It will just feel good.”
Oftentimes, writer Katie Eldridge can be found re-arranging plants, light fixtures and anything else that will improve the ‘chi’ in her Park City home.
Feng Shui Tips for Beginners
Feng shui is a gradual process, yet with every small change, positive progress can be made. Something as simple as changing the color of a curtain or adding a plant in a room can greatly affect one’s daily life. Here are a few basic rules to get that feng shui ball rolling:
Clearing Clutter
Most likely you know the areas that need to be addressed. As you clean, organize and de-clutter, you are making the first logical step to achieving your goals. Keeping your surroundings clean and organized promotes peace of mind, happiness and efficiency.
Out with the old … In with the new
Still hanging onto that picture of the old boyfriend who did you wrong? Get rid of it. What about the textbook from college that you will never read again?
As you rid yourself of items that no longer serve your life, you will make room for new, fresh pieces that can help move you into a better space intellectually and emotionally.
The Bedroom
The bedroom is a place for rest and contemplation. Look around your sleeping quarters. Remove computers, work-related items, bills and any other objects that can promote stress. Get rid of any clutter under your bed. Do the things around you make you feel peaceful? Then you are on the right track.
Colors and Their Impacts
Different colors and tones of color suggest various moods and energy. Reds and oranges are more stimulating, while blues and greens tend to be more calming. Black is considered a more introspective color.
Light and Nature
Sunlight enhances your mood and can increase creativity and productivity. Open windows and curtains for extra energy. Plants are another great addition, promoting harmony and healing.
Resources:
Consultants/Schoolsm, Susan Duffield, The Bamboo Monkey, www.bamboomonkey.com
Michelle Skally Doilney, www.mskallydoilney.com, 435.640.1206
Books
“Feng Shui Chic,” “Feng Shui Living” and “Feng Shui Your Kitchen” by Sharon Stasney — simple and comprehensive approaches to feng shui.
“Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui” — by Karen Kingston — excellent on understanding how clutter makes you less healthy, and how it impacts your daily life.
“Feng Shui Your Life” — by Jayme Barrett — a coffee-table-style, comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide to feng shui.
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