HARMONY IN YOUR HOME

INTERIOR DESIGN

ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN HOME TECHNOLOGY FURNITURE LIGHTING

HARMONY IN YOUR HOME

USE THESE FENG SHUI & VASTU PRINCIPLES BY EXPERTS TO BRING BLISS TO YOUR HOME

The way you design your home can have a huge impact on energy. For decades, people have used ancient Asian sciences such as Chinese Feng Shui & Indian Vastu to set up their homes as well as choosing the right plots in order to ensure that their end-use home leads them on to greater prosperity. We speak to two experts on both Feng Shui and Vastu to help debunk the many myths surrounding both practices and delve into why one should consider either of them while designing their home.

FENG SHUI According to Feng Shui master Susanne Schutz, owner of Suzhong Consulting and a regular consultant at well-being centre Life N’ One, having a Classical Feng Shui Master is required to be able to diagnose what changes need to be done to your home. In order to do this, it is essential to have the following: (1) A detailed house plan with an interior layout of your house/apartment, which is to scale and shows doors, windows and all rooms within the house. This plan can be drawn up either by hand or on the computer, and should be emailed to the consultant prior to the site visit (if possible). (2) Birth Data of all residents (residential) or key personnel (commercial) of that property (3) Birth Data of the property: The month and year the property’s construction was completed, and (4) All questions and points of inquiries you have regarding the property.

If you plan to move into a new home,seek a renovation, or plan to build a home where you will be living in for the foreseeable future, it would be ideal for you to consult with a Classical Feng Shui Master in order to determine from the outset how you should distribute certain rooms and what needs to be done to align the Qi (energy) of your home with your life goals to ensure long-term wellbeing. “Classical Feng Shui is an ancient science that studies how Qi (cosmic energies) can be harnessed to benefit our internal and external environments. Qi is intangible, yet its effects permeate virtually every aspect of our lives. Classical Feng Shui – that is authentic Feng Shui as it has been

is not a one-solution-fits-all approach.” says Schutz. However, for a start, you can first assess your home from a basic point of view before calling in an expert. Schutz suggests examining your home within a 1km radius and to check if there are any obvious negative features that make you feel uncomfortable looking at them – for e.g. a sewage system, a busy highway, pylons next to the house, polluted water sources, etc. Any such features will lower the Feng Shui potential of your home.

On a layout level, Schutz claims that Feng Shui is not object-based. “Too many “new agers” practice a “color/numbers/love corner/ approach” to Feng Shui, which is simply ridiculous and has absolutely no basis in the actual science that Classical Feng Shui is. Because of this, there is no common enhancer that can be used for every home.” she says. “True Feng Shui is an extremely complex science that evaluates not just your home, but most importantly the environment

you find yourself in, the energy spots found in this environment, yourself and your energetic interaction with your home, as well as the goals and objectives you would like to achieve with a Feng Shui audit.”

In recent years, a simplified version of Feng Shui has taken root in the West. This so called “New Age Feng Shui” has been largely reduced to a fashion or trendy approach that no longer follows the correct and traditional principles. New Age Feng Shui focuses on colors, “object placement” and interior design – applications that have no foundation in the traditional concepts and methodologies of Classical Feng Shui. Classical, or Authentic, Feng Shui, as opposed to New Age Feng Shui as it is practiced in the West, deals with matters of energy in our environment and is personal to each individual.

Vastu expert Sujith Sukumaran shares a few cardinal rules that work for Vastu. Similar to Feng Shui, Sukumaran also says Vastu operates differently for each type of property. However, here are a few general tips he has shared that you need to look out for while considering investing in a new home or considering refurbishing your old one. These include preferring East-facing houses, avoiding a North-South configuration due to excessive polarity, and avoiding distress sale-based purchases unless you’re clear about the antecedents. “Proper natural light and ventilation hold great importance in Vastu, so make sure there is ample sunlight coming into the house and that the house has good cross ventilation. A North or East-facing flat with windows and balconies in either of these two directions is ideal. The morning sunlight brings positivity and is rich in ultraviolet rays. While afternoon infrared rays are harmful to health so having windows and entrance in South or west is not recommended. he windows on the south or south-western wall must be small in size with a horizontal shading device to protect the interiors from the harmful rays of the Sun. According to Vastu, the house should not have a common wall with the neighboring house, as this creates mixed energies, so open space should be left on all four sides of the building. Since sun rays are not that harmful in the North and East, more open space should be left towards the North and East side of the building as compared to the south and west sides. The rooms should be airy, well lit, bright, and clean.” says Sukumaran. “This rule also extends to the corners of each room. The rooms of your house should preferably be square or rectangular and the centre of the house should be an empty space. All heavy furniture should ideally be placed in a South-West direction. In the case of a duplex home, the stairs should be facing the same direction. Avoid keeping plants and water features like a water fountain, aquarium, painting depicting water, etc. in the bedroom. Placing a mirror in the bedroom that reflects the sleeping couple is a strict no-no.” Prices vary according to the size of the property. Contact: Sujith Sukumaran, T: +971 50 566 9494