Kindred Gifts' Blog

We invited Naomi from In Your Element to share her thoughts on and passion for Feng Shui.

Naomi appreciates that our living and working environments are not the 'be all and end all' of our health, relationships, wealth and prosperity. However, she firmly believes that creating healthy living and working environments, combined with a positive attitude to life and other people can produce powerful outcomes.  Naomi took some time to share her personal insights into Feng Shui:

Fitness, frogs and Feng Shui - Guest Blog Post by Naomi Irvin from In Your Element

As a Fitness Instructor, I obviously consider physical activity to be important factor in maintaining good health. However, I have a holistic approach to fitness (and when I refer to fitness I mean in all forms: physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual) and believe that greater forces may also contribute to our well being.

There is a belief that our outcomes in life are determined by three lucks: Heaven Luck which is the unnegotiable blueprint that we were born with (e.g.: genetics and for those open to it, astrology and karma); Man luck, which refers to the notion of positive thinking and the concept that our thoughts and actions determine our outcomes (keeping physically active falls into this category). Finally, and working interdependently with the others, there is Earth Luck which is the way that our environment influences our outcomes in life.

The ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui falls into the Earth Luck category. Feng Shui was originally used to determine the most auspicious location for life and death. However, it has evolved to incorporate Western cultures to determine the correlation between one’s surroundings and their health, wealth and prosperity.

Most people are familiar with the notion Feng Shui. Some may just be aware of the term (but not too sure on how to pronounce it. FYI - It varies from between different Chinese regions, but I was taught it as "Foong (oo as in bOOk) Schway.”). Others’ Feng Shui knowledge extends to the belief that mirrors are bad and gold frogs are good (FYI – mirrors are incredibly beneficial, provided they are placed in the right location. Gold frogs are fairly pointless, unless they are attached to a regular positive affirmation).

Determining the Feng Shui of your premises is a unique and calculated task and not something that can be picked out of a how-to guide. It’s heavily based on the exact location of your premises and the year that your house was built.

I regard Feng Shui as acupuncture for buildings. A qualified Feng Shui consultant will calculate and assess the energy (Qi) flow into your home. Like an acupuncturist uses needles for the energy points on the body, a Feng Shui consultant will use colours, furniture and décor to enhance the positive energies of your home and weaken negative ones. The colours, furniture and décor that a Feng Shui consultant uses will fall into one of the 5 elements – Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. Very rarely do we prescribe gold frogs!!

For a thorough Feng Shui audit on your home, I highly recommend using a qualified Feng Shui consultant (can be found via http://www.afsc.org.au/ or http://www.aces.edu.au/index.html)

As a fitness instructor, Naomi Irvin has always held a healthy lifestyle in high regard. However, her appreciation of fitness extends beyond the gym, pool or running track. Naomi has embraced a holistic view of health and in 2007 completed a government accredited course in Feng Shui (offered by the Australian College of Environmental Science). Naomi believes that fitness needs to be thought of in terms of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and social. In many cases the environment in which we spend time can influence one or all of these components. Naomi creates positive environments through the ancient art of Feng Shui and the more modern version – Sick Building Syndrome – which assesses the use of chemicals in the home or workplace and the potential impact they have on the occupants’ health. In between her work as a fitness instructor and as a mum to 4 year old Riley and 2 year old Macy, Naomi conducts Feng Shui audits on people’s homes and workplaces and also sells a range of chemical free household products. Head to www.yourelement.com.au for more information on Naomi’s work.