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How to practice feng shui without rearranging your furniture

Feng shui is an ancient philosophy from China that stems from Taoism. Taoism is a philosophy that encompasses all the ways of the natural world and provides a model for living in total harmony with the universe around you.

With that in mind, you may have heard of feng shui when it pertains to arranging spaces in a specific way. The goal of feng shui is to harness energy forces and establish harmony between you and your environment.

In The Know’s Phoebe Zaslav decided to feng shui her apartment to optimize her good vibes.

“As a super basic definition, feng shui stems from the Taoist belief that how you decide to arrange pieces in your living space, can help create balance with the natural world,” Phoebe explained.

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“It’s definitely more of a holistic practice, but the idea is to harness energy and establish harmony between an individual and its environment,” she added.

Feng shui can provide an excellent model for organizing your space in a way that is relaxing, calm and productive. But like most young professionals in New York City, Phoebe didn’t have much flexibility when it came to rearranging her furniture due to the small space. So she decided to focus her feng shui on decorating.

These are the four feng shui decorating tips that worked for her.

1. Add mirrors

“Mirrors can make any space look bigger. Instead of looking at just a wall, you are looking at the room reflected on the other side. It’s an illusion, but it’s an effective one,” Phoebe said.

That means the more mirrors you put up the more spacious the room will feel.

“Making sure that your space reflects what you want to attract in your life, is also a huge factor in feng shui,” she added.

2. Clear the clutter

Removing clutter from your room will create an open space and clear the way for you to attract the opportunities you seek.

“When feng shui experts refer to clutter, they talk about how it blocks and drains you of your ‘positive energy.’ So keeping a clear, decluttered space will also open up the path for positive energy and good vibes,” she said.

3. Incorporate the elements

Earth, wood, fire, earth, metal and water are the five elements of feng shui. If you stopped and looked around you room, you’d likely notice you already have a lot of these items.

“Wood elements can be anything from flowers, plants and trees to wood furniture and even cotton and other natural fabrics,” Phoebe explained.

Fire can look like candles, sunlight, animal prints and even electronics, Phoebe said, “or any shade of red, pink or purple.”

“Earth is anything in earth tones like brown, green or sand, images of landscapes, or pieces that derive from the earth like crystals or Himalayan salt rocks,” she said.

Water elements include fish tanks, fountains, mirrors, dark-toned objects and art with asymmetrical shapes.

“And lastly, the metal element can be any type of metal, including gold or silver, rocks and stones, any round shapes and any white, gray, silver or light pastel colors,” Phoebe said.

4. Try integrating crystals

If a room doesn’t have much natural light, hanging a crystal in the window could do the trick.

“The sunlight reflected through the crystal will create light patterns on the walls, ceiling or floor and will energize your room,” Phoebe said. “A hanging crystal is also said to slow down and disperse beneficial chi energy that enters through your window.”

The crystal is able to harness the power of chi, the force that animates the universe and reflect it throughout the room, as opposed to it rushing through the window and out the door.

“You should definitely give these decorating tips a try!” Phoebe said. “Your room should be your ultimate zen space.”

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The post How to practice feng shui without rearranging your furniture appeared first on In The Know.