by Julie Ann Segal

Working with Feng Shui principles in combination with decorating your interior can improve the flow of positive energy in your home or workplace to better support you and your family.

Here are a few tips that can help:

1. Clear the Clutter - Clutter creates a drain on your energy and causes confusion. Surround yourself with things you love and use to create positive feelings. It’s better to have one great thing than 3 mediocre things!
2. Have a water feature; such as a water fountain or a fish tank, if there is enough room. This symbolizes good health & wealth. Make sure you keep it clean and in good working order.
3. Take a look at the art on your walls. Are they images that you love? Do the images support who you are at this time in your life? Having art that you love and/or has meaning lifts up the energy in your environment.
4. The chi (energy) of family happiness flows best when the family room is deliciously relaxing and as indestructable as possible.
5. Use serene colors for children’s rooms to calm them. Warm pastels or rich colors such as, buttercream, lavendar, peach, and cocoa are very nice choices.

Feng Shui and The Bagua
Many of you heard the term Feng Shui, (pronounced Fung Shway) but do not know what it means. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese practice of placing objects with intention, into a space or environment to create harmony and balance within one's life. Currently I have been teaching classes on Feng Shui and I am certified.

Feng Shui enables me to combine my strong interior design skills with my spiritual side to help my clients create not only a beautiful interior, but fulfill their highest goals and ambitions. This is accomplished through working with energy, known as Chi. Chi flows through the universe connecting everything to each other. By manipulating this energy, one can improve nine areas within one's life.
These areas include:

• Relationships and Love - Pink
• Fame and Reputation - Red
• Prosperity - Purple
• Creativity and Children - White
• Health - Yellow
• Family - Green
• Helpful People and Travel - Gray
• Career - Black
• Skills and Knowledge - Blue

Feng Shui, the Bagua and Space Clearing
Each of these areas are associated with a color. When desiring to improve one of these areas of your own life, Feng Shui works with a grid called the Bagua that can be laid over a space to determine where in that space an area falls. Placing an object of the associated color in that area and visualizing what it is you would like to change in your life will activate the energy for positive results.

Some of the ideas of Feng Shui can be rather mystical, but the more one learns and practices its teachings; one can see the very practical uses. For example, clutter is considered stuck energy. Getting rid of clutter lightens your body, mind and spirit.

Clutter Clearing is one of the first steps in creating positive Chi within your environment.
Clutter is considered to be:

1. Things that you do not use or love.
2. Things that are untidy or disorganized.
3. Too many things in too small a space.
4. Anything unfinished.

Clutter drags your energy down; the longer you have it the more it affects you. Not only has Feng Shui helped me to be a better designer, it has enabled me to create a more soothing atmosphere for my family and me, and has added balance between my career and family.

If you would like a Feng Shui/Interior Design consultation or would like to attend one of my classes, please contact me, Julie Ann Segal, at (952) 920-2827 or via email.