Feng Shui and Houseplants: Filling the Voids in Your Home

Having a balanced living environment can lead to a better quality of life! Have you considered incorporating feng shui? An easily adaptable concept to Western homes, feng shui can help with our everyday lives in a positive way.

Let’s start by defining the concept. Feng shui is an ancient Chinese art that believes in energy, flow, and placement, and thus the cultivation of chi, which is defined as the essence of life or life force. The literal meaning is a combination of two Chinese words: feng means wind, and shui means water.  

Since houses in the West aren’t always built feng shui friendly, it is a safe assumption that your house has voids, which are areas that warrant a feng shui “cure” so that chi can flow easily and give everyone around a sense of well-being. Cures or adjustments depend on the issue, but some popular physical cures include:

• Light cures
• Crystals
• Mirrors
• Water cures
• Color cures
• Sound cures
• Movement cures
• Living cures (plants and pets)

Before attempting any feng shui cure, it is important to declutter the area you are working on.

Houseplants: A Great Cure

Houseplants are a great feng shui cure because they are multifaceted in their curing properties, and can serve the various aspects of your life. 

Let us explain. If you know the symbolism of certain plants, that can be used as one aspect of the cure. For example, Chinese bamboo is known as the money plant, so putting this in your wealth corner is advantageous. 

Here are a few other plants and their symbolic meanings in feng shui:

• Peace Lily: These plants are valued for purifying indoor air from toxins, and helpful in preventing a number of ailments. 
• Jade Plant: These are a symbol of prosperity and good luck. Placing one near an entrance is ideal.
• Chrysanthemums: These flowering plants help ease anxiety and promote optimism. These can be placed in the first floor of your home, in the Fame area.

Now, let’s take the pottery used to house the selected plant. This can be an added element of the cure. The color of the pottery could be used as an influencer; for example, if the color or colors are yellow, orange, or any of the earth tones, this could be used in your health corner. Or perhaps the pottery has a design with two shapes included. You could use this plant in the marriage corner, because of the two similar shapes in the design.  

It has been said that the physical cure affects chi about 30 percent. The other 70 percent is affected by your intention while applying the cure. So make sure you are focusing all of your intention on what you want from that cure.

Location, Location, Location

Placement is crucial! In an effort to keep this simple, you will need a bagua. This is an octagonal-shaped tool or symbol, like an energy map of a space. The bagua can be placed over the plan of your house or a single room. Each side represents an aspect of your life such as wealth, fame, marriage, career, family, children or knowledge. This is how you find where you need your cure to be placed.

Proven Benefits of Feng Shui and Houseplants  

Harmony, balance, and the flow of chi in our living environment affects our moods, energy, and health and gives us a sense of well-being.

Houseplants can certainly contribute to this balanced living environment. According to findings in recent research conducted by NASA, houseplants remove 87 percent of toxins in a 24-hour period.

Studies have also shown that indoor plants increase concentration and focus as well as productivity, and that they can also reduce stress. Indoor plants also beautify any space, release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.

So what are you waiting for? Start reaping the benefits of feng shui in your home today!