feng shui

Got a Bathroom in the Center?
By Jami Lin
Feng Shui Expert and Licensed Interior Designer

While it is vital to continually evolve your Feng Shui knowledge through studying all the formulas and systems, as well as learn from the experience of as many teachers as possible, we need to remember the most critical component. The Human Factor! The root of all ancient Chinese science, symbolically and energetically, balances Man, in perfect harmony between Heaven and Earth, as defined by the workings of nature and graphically represented by the Trigrams.

While all Feng Shui systems are archetypes of this harmony, we often get so bogged down in the calculations or the overlays that we forget to be sensitive to our individual needs, or if a practitioner, to the specific needs of our clients. And often, "text book" Feng Shui doesn't work because we don't include the human factor. Every situation must be evaluated individually, according to the nuance and personality of the space in relationship to the person or people living or working there.

Case in point:
"Classic form Feng Shui" situation: A bathroom centrally located in the center of your home can cause serious health problems and it depletes all the Bagua or life-aspiration energies.
Traditional solution: A Feng Shui consultant had already provided the conventional solution and it had been implemented properly. Mirror was laminated on all interior walls to contain "bathroom chi," while at the same time, it kept beneficial house and Bagua/Pakua energies from getting flushed.

The Individual: She was a physiologically diagnosed schizophrenia and tried to commit suicide on several occasions.

Think! What happens when you stand in-between two parallel mirrors? Using the symbolic archetype of the Trigram: You standing with Heaven above and Earth below, you get caught in-between worlds of perpetual infinity.

It was no surprise that this was the bathroom most frequently used by my client. Think again! If your mental capacities were already scattered to the point of causing potential harm to yourself, what would be the effect of energy bouncing back and forth as it passes through your head and body . . .and for all eternity?! Have you ever experienced a "lighting ball" in a science store? Just imagine the erratic electron bursts as if they were thought patterns bouncing around in Your (underline) head, stimulated by the overwhelming amount of chi being ricocheted by all the mirror. While Feng Shui mirror solutions traditionally expand space, reflect and/or refract energy, in this circumstance it was detrimentally expanding mental instability.

Consultation Tip: Feng Shui, when done properly asks that you be put in the shoes of a specific circumstance. Since we humans are so similar, great insight can be deduced if you ask yourself, if I were this person, how would I feel? What would I experience, how would it effect me consciously and/or unconsciously, and what are the immediate and the long-term effects?

Additionally, consider the decorative aspects. Never have anything in your environment that you find unattractive or odd-looking. I don't know how many times I have gone into previously Feng Shui-ed situation that have been "crystal balled to death."

Not to make light of the effectiveness or beauty of crystal ball solutions, but too many times I've seen "over-crystaled" situations and/or seen them hung in the wrong place, a windchime positioned inappropriately not to catch chi that its voice can be heard, or the "worst ugly" of them all, three-legged toads, (as if their mythology had meaning for us) PLEASE have a beautiful, practical, and proper Feng Shui reasons! If a solution is inappropriate, illogical, or ugly to the person that has to live with it, no matter how effective it has been for others, the unconscious, the place where all creation begins, will rebel against possible manifestation. There is no harmony in "why is that weird thing hanging there?" In the bathroom example, it is hard to image anyone truly enjoying the four different views of themselves in "mid-stream," and in infinity

I like to have three or four reasons for each solution including practicality and function, that it is attractive to the client and decor, and it fits the pocket book. Here are the multiple reasons and solutions to the bathroom situation. It would have been very expensive to have "torn off the mirror and to replace the violated drywall, in addition to dealing with the huge dangerous mess created by snapping glass off the wall. Therefore, we covered the mirror with a shear fabric, except for right above the sink. This provided "a proper facial mirror to freshen up," and it kept the fabric far away from the sink so it wouldn't be splashed and ruined by the water. It maintained bright, clear light levels (remember the client needed mental clarity) in the small space as light was still reflected by the mirror through the sheer fabric.
When I saw her about a year later, coincidently at a Feng Shui conference, she was calm, secure and grounded. Her life was beautiful, and she was beautiful, inside and out! And what a magnificent success story!

When we approach Feng Shui challenges as if our Essence, our mind-body-spiritual Being, was the model of a Trigram, we have a greater chance of success. When you blend your Heaven line, the top line of a Trigram as ingenuity, intuition and creative ability, the Man, or middle line, as heart, thoughtfulness, and your empathetic center, and the Earth, or bottom line, as traditional Feng Shui concepts, your solutions and successes will be as perfect as Mother Nature herself.