Feng Shui

A number of people have written to ask me about a comment I made in my last blog about glass front doors being a Feng Shui no-no.

The reason why feng shui experts pay so much attention to the front entrance of a home is because it's not just  the main entry port for people, but also for energies. If you read up on this you'll find there's a whole list of feng shui do's and don'ts about front doors that vary from one feng shui school to another, but something they all seem to agree on is that a solid door is better than a glass one. The reason is that people feel more secure knowing there is a solid partition rather than just a piece of glass between them and the outside world. 

Space Clearing goes one level deeper in the understanding of why front doors are so important. The front door holds such a wealth of energies that each circuit of the Space Clearing ceremony begins and ends there. Many of the space clearers I've trained have developed their skills to such an advanced level that just by sensing the front door with their hand, they can discern the nature of the most prominent energies in a place and how they are affecting the occupants.

However, this is only possible to this degree if the front door is made of wood. If it is made of metal, glass or some kind of synthetic material, it doesn't anchor energies anything like as well, and the house or apartment tends to feel considerably less homely as a result. Similarly, at the end of the Space Clearing ceremony, when the place is consecrated to new, higher frequencies, the results are not as strong or as long-lasting. 

So what can you do if you have a glass front door? Some Feng Shui consultants advise hanging a curtain up to cover it, and this does makes a home feel a bit less exposed and usually a bit less draughty, but it doesn't address the much deeper issue of not being able to truly land your energy in the space. So when conducting a Space Clearing ceremony the best advice I can offer is that instead of beginning each circuit by engaging the energy at the centre of the door as you normally would, start at the door frame instead. That's assuming the door frame is made of wood, of course. If it's made of metal or some other substance then the best I can suggest is to place a fairly large permanent wooden something close to the door (a wood carving, ornament, picture frame, or piece of furniture), and start from there.

If you don't have much experience of Space Clearing your home then you may wonder what all the fuss is about, but if you ask any professional space clearer, they will be able to give you numerous examples of what a difference it makes to have a solid wooden front door.

Comments (0) | Quote this article on your blog or website | Print | E-mail

Modern carved air vents

Traditional Balinese air vents

Continuing the topic of air conditioning that I began in Nov 2007, Amy from Florida wrote to me to ask, "What do you suggest for those of us who live in hot and humid climates where an air conditioner becomes a necessity much of the year?"

I gave this a lot of thought when building my home, hotel and conference centre in Bali, where humidity ranges between 65 - 85% and can get as high as 95% at some times of the year, which is comparable with Florida's climate. What I did was to design permenantly open vents over all the doors and windows, so that there is always some circulation of fresh air even when the air-conditioning is being used. There is a layer of wire mesh between the inner and outer sides of the vents to stop bugs getting in, and the whole design works wonderfully well.

The ornate carved version in the first photo is an adaptation of the traditional Balinese open ventilation system using plain wooden uprights (shown in the second photo), which allows mozzies and other tropical bugs to come and go as they please.

As well as the problems I mentioned in my previous blog, another thing to understand is the weakening effect on a person's immune system if they habitually use heating and cooling systems to keep their environment within a narrow band of temperature. Depending on the climate, some heating or cooling is fine during cold or hot seasons, but the immune system loses robustness if climate control is used excessively or is too controlled.

There are many hot, humid countries in the world where peoples live very comfortaby without air conditioning. The trick is to incorporate air-flows into the design at the architectural stage, such as in the lovely old colonnial buildings in Singapore. 

Comments (1) | Quote this article on your blog or website | Print | E-mail

I've been travelling for the last few months and right now I'm in the USA, where the biggest challenge is finding hotels to stay in that have windows that open. How I wish that someone would create a website listing these increasingly elusive places!

I've heard that the main reason hotels seal their windows these days are because they qualify for lower insurance premiums if they do - something along the lines of suicidal jumpers not being able to do their thing, and sealed windows making it easier to control outbreaks of fire. 

The problem with sealed windows is the lack of circulation of air, the toxifying effects of the chemicals used in air-conditioning units (refrigerants, anti-bacterial and anti-mould agents, etc), and the toxic chemicals used in cleaning products which build up in the space. There is also the constant drone of the machinery, which deeply affects a person's quality of sleep because it keeps you 'wired' all night long. The higher the pitch of the sound of the fan, the worse the effect.

And of course meditating in a room with no fresh air is almost a complete waste of time. A good circulation of chi is an absolute 'must' for both high states of sleep and high states of meditation.

One way I've found to search out hotels with windows that open is to enter city name + hotel + balcony into a search engine. These rooms cost more but it's a sure bet that wherever there is a balcony, there will be a door that can be opened to let in fresh air. Feel free to post here if you know of good hotels anywhere in the world that have windows that open. I'll be happy to post a list of them on a page on my website.

Comments (6) | Quote this article on your blog or website | Print | E-mail

Do you know that Jørn Utzon, the architect of the Sydney Opera House, came up with the design by cutting shapes out of a hemisphere?

That’s why it looks so organic. I'm sure this is also why people develop such a personal relationship with the building. I drove past it today on my way to the city and my instinct was to reach out and stroke it, like you would a cute animal.

This brass display panel (below) on the front steps of the building shows how the four cuts were made to form the roof shapes.

Up close the building's even better than from a distance. The 1,056,006 glazed granite roof tiles are a work of art in themselves.

Made from a unique material produced by a Swedish firm called Höganas, they are self-cleaning when it rains and the unusual mix of glossy and matt whites, coupled with the intricate patterning, means they catch the light in very unusual ways, ranging from shades of white to delicious salmony pink or lilac hues.

As for the interior, if you're ever in Sydney it's well worth taking the guided tour. The vaulted ceilings and ingenious use of space are very impressive. Nominated as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, it didn't make it into the top 7 that were announced on 07.07.07 but was among the 14 finalists. It's one of those buildings you just can't 'drink' enough of with your eyes, and it changes not just with every angle you look at it from but also with the time of day and seasons.

An intriguing fact about the Opera House is that when Jørn Utzon won the international competition to design it, he didn't at that time know how to build it. It took him a further 3 years to figure that bit out. Imagine the audacity of a world-class architect submitting plans for something he could conceive of but didn't actually know how to create. You gotta admire his vision and his gall.

Apparently it eventually took 13 years to build it instead of the 3 years he postulated it would, and cost 102 million Aussie dollars instead of the initial budget of AUD $7 million.

But what price can you put on a building that has created a heart not just for the city but for the whole Australian continent?

Comments (0) | Quote this article on your blog or website | Print | E-mail