How and When To Use a BaGua Mirror For Feng Shui

Question: Octagon shapes with mirrors, red and gold. what are they for and where should they go in the house?

If you ever visit a Chinese Souvenir shop or Feng Shui shop, you'll notice these octagonal shaped mirrors with lines (trigrams representing each section of the BaGua) painted on wood around them. Many people like the looks of them but may not know why or how you should use them.

The BaGua mirror is used to diffuse strong energy directed towards a specific point. A general guideline is that they should never be hung inside a home or business and only be used on the outside. There are special circumstances when you would hang one indoors but 98% of the time, always on the outside of a residence or business.

Examples of when to use a BaGua Mirror: If your home or business is at the end of a T-Intersection, if you have a corner or sharp object pointing at the front door, or if you are experiencing unpleasant energy from a particular area around your home or business. At that time, it would be appropriate to hang a BaGua Mirror pointing towards that direction.

The most common position is to place it over the front door for a business or home. Keep in mind that this should be diffusing energy that you find difficult and not necessarily because you just thought it should be there because it was for sale in a store.

I recently visited a home that had 6 BaGua mirrors hanging in the bedroom and hallway. I asked the individual why and they said, I don't know, because I thought that is what you were supposed to do and I always saw them at the store so I picked up a couple.

There actually was a recent law suit in San Fransisco's China Town where a store owner was suing another store owner because they placed a BaGua mirror over their door and was pointing at their business. This is the wrong approach when thinking about a BaGua mirror. It does not necessarily reflect the energy or send energy back to that location to make them suffer but actually is a method to transform the energy and disperse the energy.

So the next time you see a BaGua mirror, don't feel that you need to purchase it for Feng Shui unless you have a specific reason for placing it.

To purchase a BaGua mirror or other Feng Shui items, visit http://tinyurl.com/5j66hl.

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Feng Shui Your Business

Here is a quick example of before and after photos from a recent Feng Shui Consultation that I did for a clinic.

Keep in mind that they still have a list of items, remedies and suggestions to put in place but you can notice a difference in how the space looks and feels.

Many may say looking at this picture that they would not want to sit on the bench, the leather chairs have been moved and organized outside of the frame to provide additional comfortable seating while waiting.

Before

After

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Feng Shui Bed Problem

Question: I want to position my bed according to Feng Shui. At the moment it directly faces the door which is not good, but on the other two walls are a window and a radiator so I cannot place it there either! It is a fairly small room. There is also no space between the bed and the door when I can place a piece of furniture to block the energy. Help!

I personally would attempt to place the bed on the other wall even if there is a window there. Of course it is always best if you have a bed and a head board that is firmly attached.

This may then place you in a command position. Visit http://www.KenLauher.com for your free Feng Shui kit that discusses the command position.

If you are not able to do such a thing, then I would recommend that you hang a crystal ball or wind chime from the ceiling but low enough so that it hangs below the frame of the door. And this should be positioned in between the bed and the door.

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What are some simple FENG SHUI rules for a bedroom?

-->Great question. First step for a bedroom is to make sure your bed is in the command position. Visit http://www.KenLauher.com for your free Feng Shui kit, where it explains and shows a diagram of the command position.
There are 3 command positions but typically one stands out or makes more sense than the others. Being in direct line with the door, many people refer to as the coffin position as this was a way to present the dead. This is not a good position as you are in direct line of the chi or energy coming into a room. You also don't want to have your head on the same wall as the door. This position is called the gate keeper position and will typically result in a restless night's sleep.

Always best to have a solid head board that is firmly attached to the bed frame. I like to recommend that the bed be touching the wall to ground the bed. Also, matching nightstands with matching table lamps.

No electronics or TV's in the bedroom. Also, remove any family photos or pictures of kids or friends. Those can be place in other areas.

Next colors, use colors that bring you peace and love. Light blue, light green, pink, are good bedroom colors.

The next step is to begin to understand the different areas of a bedroom. Many mistakes people make in the bedroom is bringing exercise equipment into the room and never using it. Typically this means and shows that your relationships make be a workout.

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Question: If my front door faces south, what are suggestions for creating prosperous living space?

Great question. First, I personally come from the BTB or Black Hat school of Feng Shui and not Flying Stars or other compass based schools of thought. Take a look at this Feng Shui article regarding the cardinal directions and other schools of Feng Shui.

One important difference is that most traditional schools use the compass and the absolute or cardinal directions as a way of interpreting a given place in terms of wider universal factors. The Black Sect means of doing this involves understanding the site, not in terms of the fixed directions or compass positions, but in terms of the relative direction from which the Chi enters and on the site's unique qualities.

So the first thing that I would do is take a look at outside influences. What is the shape of the plot that the house is on, are there any hills going up or down, what is around the house. I take a look at the neighborhood and to see if there are streets heading directly toward the house.

Then I begin looking at the chi energy outside of the house. Meaning, what type of shape is the landscaping, bushes, trees, plants, flowers in? Are they healthy or are they dead. Are they well taken care of? I'm also looking at the outside structure of the house and the floor plan to see if there are any additions or missing areas in the house as this can have a variety of implications.

Then I start at the front door and work my way through the house. Take a look at the Feng Shui of an entrance video for how to evaluate the front entry way. The next most important area is the kitchen and stove. Is the stove clean and working correctly. Is the stove being used? The stove in Feng Shui is how you go out and get your money. It should always be kept clean and working. Even if it is to just boil water, you should be using your stove.

Then I review the bedroom. Take a look at this article regarding simple tips for the Feng Shui of a bedroom.

Then there are other considerations to look at regarding the chi that comes into the space from the front door. Is it going right back out again through a window or door across from the main entrance? Can the energy actually get into the door, meaning is the door on the side of the house.

Each of these situations requires a different remedy or method. There is no one way to conduct a Feng Shui consultation to increase wealth. Another question is, what does the energy of the space feel like. Who lived in the space prior to you being there and were they prosperous or declare bankruptcy?

There are so many factors to address or be on the lookout for when doing a proper review of a home. It is not just about adding some coins or adding a frog and hope that solves the issue.

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I Hired A Feng Shui Consultant, Now Where Do I Hang The Crystal?

Recently, I've had a variety of clients bring me in for a consultation and wonder where they should hang a crystal, wind chime or place a fish tank. My question is always, why do you want to do that or what is the purpose and the typical answer is - because I thought that is what you are supposed to do in Feng Shui.

Many individuals have read a book or an article about how someone hung a crystal ball and automatically think they should do the same. However, each space, situation, and individual is unique and there is not one remedy that fits all of the problems. I compare this to cooking, sometimes the addition of certain ingredients are required and improve the flavor, however, you don't add all of the ingredients to every dish because it would not taste good and every dish would taste the same.

Example, I recently consulted for a business and the owner asked me if he should add a fish tank because he read somewhere in a book that it was good luck. I said that of course if you enjoy fish and they bring you peace, sure but from a Feng Shui perspective I would not. The reason was that the office already had so much of the water element represented in color and materials. If he would have added a fish tank, it would have made the place feel cold and dark when the opposite really was required.

Another example, I recently was called in to do a consultation for a large house under construction and I kept hearing the same question from the owner's friend, where do the crystals go. I sensed that the owner was not a fan of hanging crystals nor was their a true energetic need. The issues of that situation dealt with missing sections and could be fixed using other means using the addition of lights and plants.

So when thinking about Feng Shui, don't assume that you will be hanging a crystal, adding a fountain or purchasing fish. Take a moment to understand what the needs of the space are, where the difficulties are and what may be the options that work best with the space and for the individual.


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Speaking at the National Kidney Foundation Lunch & Learn

Just received the National Kidney Foundation flyer for my upcoming speaking engagement. Unfortunately, this is limited to National Kidney Foundation staff only.





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Feng Shui Your Office: Before & After Photos

I was recently brought in by a business owner to help him improve the cash flow of the business and help with the feeling of emptiness.

Many times, we can improve the look, feel and experience of a space by using what we already have. In this example, we did not add anything that was not already in the space excluding the paintings that will be hung.

There are still some items on his to do list to help improve the energy of his office and for the business but by looking at the photos below, which, office would you prefer to spend your time in?

Before
After


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A Feng Shui Question - My front door is actually on the side?

My front door doesn't face the street, it faces the driveway and the neighbour's kitchen window. What does this mean in Feng Shui terms and how do you remedy if there is actually a problem with it.

Answer: According to His Holiness Lin Yun Rinpoche, the front door is a key component to the Feng Shui of a home as it has to do with the chi entering the home, which results in being able to receive and take advantage of incoming opportunities and wealth.

If the chi has difficulty getting into the house, then it may feel like you are constantly fighting an uphill battle in these matters.

To correct this, place a large convex mirror outside the entrance so that you can view the entry on the lot similar to the mirrors that you see in hallways to see around a corner or on blind spots for driveways. This will allow you to see the front area of the house but also direct chi into the home to welcome wealth and abundant opportunities.

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TechSpace on 11th street

Meeting with a company in tech space and found the exposed walls interesting. And yes, the space is finished and not under construction.

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Posted by email from Ken Lauher's Posterous

A different way to raise your chi

Top Ten Reasons Why People Seek Help With Feng Shui

Ever thought about using Feng Shui to improve your current situation or certain areas of your life?

I reviewed over 3,000 of my clients and contacts on why they sought out help with Feng Shui and here is the top ten.

(1) Increase money and overall wealth

(2) Find love

(3) Improve career

(4) Experience Peace & harmony

(5) Improve marriage or existing relationship

(6) Balance

(7) Help with creativity

(8) Feeling stuck in their life or with their current situation

(9) Improve family relations

(10) Improve work relationships

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Smugglers Target `Good Luck' Trees for Feng Shui

In effort to improve good health and fortune, many are enjoying the beauty of Buddhist Pine tress. However, better be careful as many are disappearing.

"Buddhist Pine trees are considered harbingers of fortune in feng shui, an ancient Chinese practice exploring the relationship between nature and people. The rare trees are uprooted from plazas, gardens and public parks in Hong Kong and sold across the border in southern China for up to HK$600,000 each, police say."

"At least 1,000 mature pines -- or about a quarter of the territory's total -- were stolen in the past five years, Marine Police Superintendent Wong Chun-chin says."

Read more by clicking here.

Posted by Feng Shui Consultant Ken Lauher

Feng Shui Inspired Baby Clothes

Are you looking for fun gifts for a newborn that the parents will love? Consider looking at Baby Monkey, the New York based maker of organic baby clothes inspired in Feng Shui. www.babymonkeyny.com

Posted by Feng Shui Consultant Ken Lauher

How Feng Shui Is Helping The Bottom Line For Luxury Hotels

Here is a great article on how luxury hotels are using Feng Shui and space clearing to improve their customer satisfaction and revenues. Check it out by clicking here. Also mentions how it has improved the restaurant's bottom line as well.

Posted by Feng Shui Consultant - Ken Lauher

Feng Shui of Obama and McCain offices

Posted By Feng Shui Consultant Ken Lauher

Feng Shui Of An Entrance

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Feng Shui Consultant Ken Lauher

Celebrities and Feng Shui

People are always amazed with Feng Shui and Celebrities. And they are always interested in who uses a Feng Shui consultant to help them with their space, careers, and life.

Here is a link to an article about David and Victoria Beckham regarding their morning rituals and why they use a Feng Shui consultant.

How To Raise The Chi Of A Building Using Feng Shui

Many buildings in New York City and throughout the country are dwarfed by larger buildings and skyscrapers. There are certain Feng Shui techniques that you can apply to lift the chi of the building and those that occupy the interior space.

One example of how to raise the chi of a building includes placing a tall flag pole on the top of the roof. This can be seen at "The Dakota" in New York City.

The Dakota is the famous residence of the late John Lennon and current resident Yoko Ono. Other well known residents have included Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland, and John Madden.

In this picture, you get a better sense of how the larger building on the left almost casts a shadow over the Dakota and requires some type of adjustment.

For Feng Shui tips & additional information, visit www.KenLauher.com.

Feng Shui Is Not Just About Removing The Clutter Or Moving Furniture Around

Feng Shui (pronounced fung schway) is the ancient Eastern art and science of living in harmony with your environment to produce tangible results naturally.

Many believe that there is an energetic current to the flow of life, and when we live in harmony with this Way, we experience success and happiness. But when go against this innate flow, we start to have disturbances in our lives.

Living in harmony with your space does not mean removing the clutter or placing things in their proper or "right" place, it means aligning your inner worlds and desires with your outer environment.

Feng Shui involves the intuitive, aesthetic adjustment of visible and invisible objects or factors, realigning all dimensions of the environment into a balanced, harmonious state.

This allows you to begin to see and understand the direct relationship between what is happening in the energy of your space and what is going on currently in your life.

Visit www.KenLauher.com for additional Feng Shui tips and information.

How To Improve The Feng Shui of Retail Catalogs

Have you ever been aware of or been sensitive to what you feel when you flip through a home furnishings catalog? Have you ever said, "wow, they are really doing a good job" or "they have really improved their collection recently."

When evaluating a space, website or a catalog, pay attention to what emotions you feel and experience. Does it bring you peace, calmness or a sense of joy?

I recently experienced this as I flipped through the August 2008 Pottery Barn Catalog. I felt that they were improving not only their collections but the way they displayed them in the catalog. As I evaluated it further, I started to notice a shift in the way they are presenting the photos and collections.

A simple way to dramatically improve a catalog or home furnishing's photo shoot is to add items that contain life energy. This can either be living plants, fresh flowers, colorful fruit and water.

A good example of a catalog that does this very well is Williams Sonoma Home. In almost every picture in their catalog, they contain one or more of these life energy items. Or take a look at an Architectural Digest magazine and begin to count the number of life energy items found in each picture.

Although adding these items may increase the cost of the photo shoot, from my experience, it helps with the image of the brand, the experience of the reader and the overall improvement of conversions into sales.

Visit www.KenLauher.com for tips, consultations services and additional information.

Feng Shui Secret #1 - Understanding What Your Space Means

The Ba Gua, an arrangement of eight trigrams and a center, serves as a map to match various components of your life with the corresponding areas in your physical world. This can be placed over the shape of a lot, the floor plan of a house or an individual room.

The main entry point is always located at the bottom of the ba gau. So you would overlay the ba gau over a room or floor plan and see that the door would either be in the knowledge and wisdom section, career section, or travel and helpful people section.

And the back left hand side of a room is always the wealth and prosperity area when standing in the doorway looking into a room. This also means that the back right area of a room is the area associated with love and relationships.

Use the diagram below to evaluate the rooms in your home. What do you have in your wealth areas? What objects do you have placed in your love and relationship areas of your bedroom?



Visit www.KenLauher.com for the "18 Secrets Of Feng Shui... Revelead At Last!"

The Auspicious Feng Shui Cell Phone

Many people love their Blackberry, iPhone or even aspire for the Vertu cell phone but now a new option is coming to the market.

The Feng Shui appropriate cell phone is designed by bestselling Feng Shui author Lillian Too. Currently, it is only being provided by a Singapore operator but it just shows that Feng Shui can be incorporated into many aspects of your life and enhance technology related items that we interact with daily.

Relationships, Sex & Feng Shui

Many of my clients come to me looking for help with improving their existing relationships or because they are seeking a new relationship. Thought you may find this article from the Calgary Herald interesting regarding sex, relationships and how it relates to the Feng Shui of the bedroom.

Cancer Society Discusses Feng Shui

I found it interesting that the American Cancer Society actually has a page on their website defining and describing Feng Shui.

It is listed in their Mind, Body, and Spirit section with the description of "Learn how a good attitude and healthy spirit may have positive physical effects."

The Utmost or Supreme Yogas Of Black Sect Tantric Buddhism

My teacher, Steven Post (The First Feng Shui Teacher in the United States and Author of The Modern Book of Feng Shui) will be presenting the Utmost or Supreme Yogas of Black Sect Tantric Buddhism on May 3 & 4 from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm in New York, NY.

This weekend will be an intensive and in-depth exploration of all nine meditation stages of Supreme Yogas, and their application for self-development and Feng Shui.

The Utmost or Supreme Yogas combine the perfection vehicle, meaning the Ultimate teaching on what perspective or point of view to bring to your experience of life with Deity Yoga, which develops wisdom and method in one consciousness by bringing you into unity with the body, speech and Mind of the Buddha.

Whether you are an experienced meditator or a novice, here's a meditation system which brings the wisdom of the ages directly to you.

Visit http://www.geofengshui.com/utmostyogas.htm to register or learn more.

Be Set Free Fast To Help Address The Physical & Emotional

I hope you can join me at the Be Set Free Fast Workshop with Barry Gordon on May 21st in NYC from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Be Set Free Fast, developed by Larry Nims, PhD, is a highly focused Energy Therapy method for eliminating the emotional roots and self-limiting belief systems that are embedded in the subconscious mind, and which automatically determine and control most of our experience, self-expression and behavior.

These unresolved negative emotions and beliefs create and maintain psychological and physical symptoms, which automatically result in mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and life adjustment problems, including medical and health problems.

I personally have experienced great success with Be Set Free Fast and Barry is very impressive in helping to identify the root causes and then providing tools to help you when you feel as though you may slip back into that state of mind.

Call 510-912-6692 or contact Barry via email to learn more.

What Is This Feng Shui North, South, East & West All About?

One of the most frequently asked questions/topics that I receive daily has to do with the compass direction of a person's home, bedroom, etc.

This is a big frustration for many, especially if you don't realize that there a variety of different schools of Feng Shui and different levels of understanding. As many start to purchase books and realize that each book is telling them something completley different.

All schools of Feng Shui are based on similar universal knowledge, but have developed different approaches and techniques for identifying and balancing chi.

The two oldest traditional schools are the Form School and the Compass School.

And According to His Holiness Professor Lin Yun Rinpoche (one of the foremost experts in Feng Shui), he considers the most prominent contemporary schools to be Three harmony, Three Era, Nine Stars, Southern school, Taoist schools, Ecclectical School, Yin Yan Schools, and Buddhist Schools.

This is important to know when selecting books or reading articles on Feng Shui as many people get confused because they pick up two different books on Feng Shui based on two different schools of thought and become even more frustrated.

Black Sect Feng Shui

I personally study and practice Black Sect Feng Shui. Of the Buddhist Schools, Black Sect Feng Shui contains traditional Feng Shui knowledge, mixed with the Intangible dimension concerns, having to do with what we can't see, and emphasizes the Three Secret Reinforcements.

Do I Have To Convert?

No, you don't have to convert or need to be a Buddhist to study or practice Black Sect Feng Shui, or for that matter be of any particular faith to apply the principles of this school of Feng Shui. And it can be a great compliment to an existing faith.

What Distinguishes The Black Sect Feng Shui Approach From Traditional Feng Shui?

One important difference is that most traditional schools use the compass and the absolute or cardinal directions as a way of interpreting a given place in terms of wider universal factors. The Black Sect means of doing this involves understanding the site, not in terms of the fixed directions or compass positions, but in terms of the relative direction from which the Chi enters and on the site's unique qualities.

A second difference between the Black Sect and traditional approaches is that traditional approaches emphasize tangible, objective factors, like the placement of a door or window, in appraising a location. The Black Sect also uses such considerations but tends to give a greater emphasis than some other traditions to subjective, intangible forces, derived from one's intuition, while recognizing the great importance of what is seen. Instead of emphasizing the visible and physical primarily, the Black Sect also emphasizes the power of Body, Speech, and Mind through the Three Secret Reinforcements.

In ancient times, BTB Feng Shui assimilated Buddhist teachings from India with the preexisting practices of the Bon lineage in Tibet. As this hybrid developed, it moved into China and further mixed with various cultural influences, including Chinese Feng Shui, Taoism, Confucianism, ancient healing methods, and astrology.

Though Feng Shui has been practiced in various forms throughout the world, it became particularly strong in China, where the BTB practices were integrated to become a cohesive discipline.

Keep in mind that no path has more value than any other; they all simply employ different means to the end.

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