outdoor feng shui
By Jami Lin

It does not matter how big your property is or how much money you choose to invest. All you need to practice Feng Shui is intuition combined with creativity and ingenuity. Remember your exterior is an aesthetic extension of your living space and the entire lot should be a balanced entity with all the features making a cohesive usable whole. Pay close attention to the proportion and scale of your features. View your site as a 3D canvas. Create your painting with considerations to the volumes, voids, textures, colors, elevation changes, height relationships, materials and movement. Are they all in balance? Can you visualize the movement of energy in an invisible flow diagram?

A good rule for balance is the asymmetric triangle rule. Locate two major features and fill the missing triangular point with the proper highlight. If you have a gazebo make sure it connects to the house with a walkway or hedges. If you have a water feature (pool or fountain) in the yard, have the illusion or feeling of water flowing toward the house. A birdbath or self-circulating fountain can bring the water element to your yard inexpensively. To illuminate areas of the property for security at night, use a light with a solar panel and sensor.

When you buy plants, ask yourself these questions:

How big or wide do they get, and how long before they reach their mature size?

Do they need full or moderate sun?

How much maintenance is required?

Does the plant go through yearly cycles, changing its aesthetic appearance?

Do the plants drink a lot of water?

Will the color and texture of the new plants be aesthetically balanced with the existing ones?

Think about the different kinds of energies that are coming into your home through the doors and windows. In your mind's eye, draw flow diagrams indicating Chi movement. Visualize your floor plan sketch in 3D. Are the energies positive?

Ask yourself how the energy feels in your body. Your body knows when you are vulnerable or safe, or if it feels at ease or uncomfortable. Learn to feel the effects and the cause. What kind of energies are there? Are they moving with the light, air, flow of water? Is the Chi moving in harmonious perfection by filling the space and gently flowing out?